Prayer. Only three things it says for your life and prayer without ceasing is one of them. So it's
got to be real important. Real important. Because your whole life is supposed to be worship to God.
Your whole life is supposed to be glory to God. Your whole life. So if you want, and so you've got
to have direct contact. You've got to have that dir... If you don't have that everything else is
shallow, on the outside. You've got to have the direct thing.
It's like if you have a marriage and you never have direct contact, there's something wrong.
You want God's will for your life you've got to be directly in touch with Him. That's got to be
a joy. The Bible speaks about the secret place. The secret place. You know I will meet you, you
know I will see your form in this, let me see you in the secret place. Hide me in the secret place.
See, you need a secret place with God every day. You need a secret realm with God in your life
every moment. You need to have that. But you need to have secret time with God. You know remember
what God said? I will dwell with them but you've got to make me a place. You've got to make me
a, a ten... and it was secret. Holy of Holies. Nobody went in there except the high priest once a
year. It was a secret place. What is that saying? God's power is most strong in the secret place.
God's glory is most strong in your life in the secret place. So you need a secret place.
You need a place that is secret from everything else. That is even secret, this is going to sound
weird but it's even secret from Christianity. And what I mean by that is all, there's a million
Christian things and it's all, many of them may be good. That's fine. But that's, that's maybe
the holy place. The, the secret place, it's just you and God. Away from religion. Away from, away
from everything else. Now you need all the rest. I mean all the rest is part of life. You know it's all
part. I mean we need ministry, we need this. But it begins in the place that's just you and God.
You're, you're not, you know it's like even if you've been a great minister you need to
get away from that to be with just God and then you can go back to that with the power of God.
You need a secret place with the Lord. It's just me and you. Me and you. ... well what about,
yeah and then you can love your, then you can love your spouse. But it's you and Him first! It's,
it's, and it's a place that, Lord it's just me and nothing else. You need a time in your life
and you need a place every day of your life where you are separating from everything, where you're
just making contact. You're in contact. You're in communion. And it's important to have a fixed time
too. And it's not saying that you can always do it. Things come up. But, in that, with a Tabernacle
God made that, said make a Tabernacle. It was a fixed space. They couldn't just do other things
because if they didn't have that fixed place you know they're going to start selling things
in there. They're going to start doing a million things in that place. So in the same way in life
if you don't have a fixed place, a fixed set time in your life, a fixed space for God, everything's
gonna crowd it out. Nature hates a vacuum so everything in your life, business, busyness, you
know the television, the web, is going to crowd it out. So that even your problems will crowd it out.
So you need that. Lord, no matter what, I am with you at this time. And it may be ... occasionally
emergencies come up. Well now okay. I'll be, I'm going to make that time here. But you need
it. The problem is if you don't fix it in some way it's not going to be there. I want to look at the
words, some of the words that are used for prayer. And I want you to see kind of, some revelations
of this. One of the words for prayer in the New Testament. I'll do it the best I can ...
Everybody. No, no, no. No, no, it was the whole thing, not just the ... It was the S L ... although,
forget that. You don't have to know that. But here's, we have to know
the word in Greek means to determine. The word for prayer here means to also to determine.
Why? Prayer determines everything else. Prayer determines, will determine your day.
Prayer, being in God's presence or not will determine the rest of your day.
Prayer even can determine the history, the changing of history. Prayer determines.
Another word for worship in the New Testament Greek is, is ... which means also, which means
to minister as it's used to be, to minister the Lord. So it's not only that you're praying,
you're actually ministering to the Lord. You're blessing the Lord.
Another word is proskuneo. Try that one. And that is a wonderful word because it means to kiss.
The word for prayer, proskuneo also means to kiss. You say, well kiss? Well some people get like
you know okay, you're talking about kissing God? Yeah, I am. Not physical, not carnal. Spiritually.
You are one spiritually. What is kiss? It's an expression of love. It's joining to another
person. Proskuneo. To kiss God. Well what does it say in the Song of Solomon? Let him kiss me
with the kisses of his mouth. It means that it's deep. It means that it's love. It's like kissing.
Here's another one. ..., which means literally be in the face of or in the presence of,
before the face of ... Some prayer is you're just, you just want to be with God. Sometimes you
have to be quiet, and stop talking, and just be with God. Lord. Just be with the Lord. Just, just,
Lord, in your presence, in your presence. Worship. It says pray without ceasing.
Pray without, what does that mean? Pray without ceasing? Some people take this and run with it,
in the wrong way. Sometimes you know, you know you can be at a, at a, at a prayer meeting and someone
just takes it. I mean, God bless them, but nobody else can get a word in after that. We're going to
pray Lord for the people in Africa, by name. Every one of them. Run to, you know. Alphabetically.
An hour later I'm up to Abu Abbas. Oh no, they're still in the A's, you know.
Or sometimes you're at a, at a din .... Listen, listen, it's not, we are to be able to pray long,
but don't pray for the sake of when you're with other people and you're showing how much you pray.
Ah, you know you could be at a diner you know and I, we always give thanks and say grace and I think
it's also a good witness to do that, that people see believers you know. But some people, oh Lord
we beseech thee and manifest our gratitude for the tuna melt and the happy waitress special and,
and now Lord we ask for your mercy on the condiments, so now you have the ketchup.
It's not about how much you do. You know you can you know the, the, the Lord said don't think it's
your length of prayer you're going to impress anybody. The pagans do that. They just go over,
repetitious, that, that's not, that's not it you know. But, but it's not that. Or you know,
sometimes you know ... you ever been with, with believers and they're going on and on and listen
it may ..., but it's, it's just that it's going on and on, it's not so much and sometimes you say,
amen! And you're not saying amen because you're spiritual. You're saying amen to stop the prayer.
Have you ever done that? You've amend somebody to stop the prayer. You're trying to amen them
in a submission. Well it's not that, but on the other hand what does it mean we are to be able to
get into God's presence. See again God is never looking at the words and he's never looking at,
at how much, what we do outwardly. He's looking at the heart. And we do need to be in his presence
but with Him ... and we do need to ... But what does it mean to go on, it says pray without
ceasing. Well that's something different. It's not just the experience of prayer it's talking about.
It's talking about the practice of prayer. It's talking about, see if you, if it's just hey I
prayed the prayer, that's not what it's ... I prayed my prayer. If I prayed my prayer the prayer is over.
And there are prayers that say, that are over. But what it's saying is something deeper. God wants us
to be in a state of prayer. That means, it's does not mean that you're always saying this and you're
always having your eyes closed but you're always in a state of communion with prayer. You make it
your practice. It's not based on feeling. It's not based on, on, on an experience. It's the way,
it's my state of being. I'm first of all, I'm that I make prayer a regular part of my life
in everything. That is my decision. I have to choose that. I, because I do it when I, when I
feel like it, and I've got to do it when I don't feel like it. That's the practice of prayer there,
and, but then I that I am continually, Lord I'm with you at every moment. In every situation.
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