What is the Point?: Discovering Life's Deeper Meaning and Purpose (13 page)

T
ALK TO
G
OD

Prayer is the primary way we talk to God and He talks to us. There are several types of prayer. The two I focus on are intercession and devotional prayer. There is much to say on intercession, but I am focusing on the fire of love and therefore on the devotional aspect of our lives of prayer. If you take one thing from this book, this is the primary thing I pray you walk away with. I assure you, with confidence, if you do this one thing, all else will follow. If you connect with Jesus, you will fulfill your ultimate life purpose, and you will find your secondary life purpose and calling. You will not miss His will or miss your happiness if you do this one thing and walk it out through obedience. You will please Him.

I believe that the power of life is in conversation with God. It goes back to the garden and His original intention for man, where He is seen walking with them, talking openheartedly without shame (Gen. 3:8). Before the fall of man there were no hindrances between God and humans; there was no shame, sin, distraction, or doubt. It was, as He intended, perfect fellowship and openhearted communion. Since the cross Jesus has been restoring us to this original intention. One day He will restore the entire earth, but today He starts in the hearts of men.

So then how do we get the conversation started?

1. Faith

First come to Him, believing He is there. The key is believing that He is near. Jesus said that we have to come “to Him” when we search Scripture. It is not enough to be a student of the Bible or to be a person of action, doing many good deeds. If we are not deeply connected to Him, we are still not fulfilling our primary life purpose.

Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

—H
EBREWS
11:6

We turn inward and believe that He is there. As simple as this sounds, it is a far greater struggle than meets the eye. Unbelief is the distraction that taunts me the most because God is so invisible. You cannot please Him if you do not believe He is there, and you must believe that He will reward those who diligently seek Him. You may not have an instant rush of faith or an exhilarating heart flow, but you must have confidence that if you stay with it, He will reward you not only in the age to come but also in this life. In time you will start to feel your heart come alive, and your understanding will gradually be enlightened.

2. Manage distractions

When you come to Him, do not panic when unbelief or distractions hit your mind. Remember the enemy is a liar, and his primary tactic is to make you think something is what it’s not—like smoke and mirrors. He is trying to distract you, and one of the ways he can do that is by telling you God is not there or God is not listening. Do not get in frenzy when this happens.

In my earlier days I was very thrown off by distractions. I would freak out every time and end up in utter frustration, full of tears, storming out of my prayer closet, and brokenhearted because I could not see or tangibly feel God. I thought what He was asking me to do was impossible because my mind was too busy. I lived at the mercy of my imagination and thoughts. I often left my prayer times with deep feelings of defeat. But over time I learned to stay calm and pay no attention to unbelief or distractions by taking the reins of my mind and continually bringing it to the waters of the faith where I would drink of the Word and the Spirit and be washed. Gradually I was transformed by the renewing of my mind, but it took time.

Distractions are part of being human with a fallen nature. Your mind is a continual camera recording your days and then playing it back to you in various chronological order and random arrangements of images, words, sounds, and emotions. If we are going to become people deep in God, we must learn to control our minds instead of letting them control us. You are not at the mercy of your emotions or imagination. When you come to God, continually and calmly bring your attention back to Him again and again.

He is there, both externally and internally. I often close my eyes and picture the Holy Spirit like a fire in my spirit man. I picture that fire like the burning bush, and I speak directly to Him. Other times I paint the Revelation 4 throne scene in my mind’s eye, and I picture the Father on the throne, shining like a jasper stone. I see the angels and the elders all around Him. I see Jesus at His right hand, interceding for me. I take my place beside Him or before Him, joining in the holy conversation.

You cannot turn off the images in your head. It is impossible, so you should take control of them instead of trying to overcome them. You cannot turn off the pictures, and you cannot silence the conversation. You have been given these tools for prayer, but you must learn to use them (within the bounds of Scripture).

Some religions teach you to go to nothing and to aim for silence, but this is emptiness and wasted space. You cannot empty yourself and focus only on “being.” You have to have something to look at and someone you are talking to. Many people today are looking for a spirituality absent of Jesus. They are intrigued by meditation techniques that calm their inner lives, but I assure you, it leads to darkness. At best they will experience an emptiness that cannot be sustained.

Jesus is the only door to the Father, who is Spirit (John 10:7–9). If you try to get to the Father by calling Him the “supreme being,” “light,” “love,” or whatever language you are using, or if you try to get to Him through meditation but refuse to go through the door of Jesus, you are a thief and a robber. Meditation without Jesus is a lie, and it will lead to darkness. You must come to Him in order to connect with Him. You are not turning inward to yourself, but you are turning inward to the Holy Spirit who is your escort into the deep things of Jesus’s heart (1 Cor. 2:10–12).

There is only one door, and when we speak of deep prayer, you must start at the door of Jesus Himself. You are being transformed into His image, not an ethereal love that has no definition. You become what you behold; therefore you behold Jesus and will become like Him (2 Cor. 3:18). This is the purpose and goal of your life, and it starts in the place of prayer.

To behold Him you must believe He is there, and then you must stay and abide there, drawing your attention to Him again and again and interacting with Him. You are not just looking at a painting or a still image. Remember that Jesus sees you. He is searching your heart (Rev. 2:23). He is literally looking at you when you come to Him. Do not become an art connoisseur where you are just giving your opinion about a painting that was painted long ago, but get into the scene and interact with Him through His Spirit and Scripture.

3. Come to the Scripture

When I come to Him, I picture that fire within or I picture the throne. Then I begin to meditate on Scripture, and the conversation gets started. You must always stay within the bounds of the Bible, yet we know that we have barely skimmed the surface of that holy book. And we have barely been introduced to that holy heart. The Spirit within is eager to take us on this treasure hunt, tell us deep things, and pour supernatural love into our very frame.

It is a real exchange, not an imaginative one. We use our mind’s eye, but the spiritual exchange is real. That fire is real, and we are meant to experience it. There is no greater feeling than when the love of God touches our hearts. It is God revealing God to us. One of the greatest gifts that has been given to us is the Bible. So often we accuse God of being silent, distant, and hard to figure out, yet He has laid Himself bare and opened His holy heart to us by giving us the “transcript of His soul.”

I know many people who have signed up to pray. They shout and clap when the conference speaker gives them a rally call to go deep in God and to change the world through prayer. But when it comes time to actually praying, they rarely do. One reason they don’t pray is because they don’t know what to say once they are in front of God.

My prayer time used to go like this, “I love You. You love me. OK . . . now what? Help me? Thank You . . . ” I had no idea how to fill an hour with prayer, much less how to make it meaningful and enjoyable. When I was about twenty years old, someone taught me how to pray the Bible, and I am not exaggerating when I say it revolutionized my life.

The Scripture is living. It is as though it is a pulsating heart. It is the heart of God Himself. I often picture myself coming to Jesus in my mind’s eye. His mouth is moving, but I cannot hear a word He is saying until I turn up the volume knob. The volume knob is the Bible. It is the language of His heart, and what you will come to discover is that it is the language of yours too. Praying the Bible is the most powerful thing on your mind. It will change you, because it is living and active. It will transform you, because it is powerful. It will renew you and wash you.

When you come to the Scripture in order to pray and have conversation with God, you approach it differently than if you were studying it or just trying to get the general flow of a book. You cannot speed read when you are meditating. The goal is not to see how much you can read but how deep you can go. If you are a beginner at prayer, start with the Gospels or the Book of Psalms. These books are the easiest to pray and have many on-ramps into sweet dialogue with Jesus.

Another good thing to do is to pray apostolic prayers since they are written as prayers. The apostolic prayers are the prayers of the apostles that are written in the New Testament. They are already directed to God and will give you language to know what to say when talking to Him.

• Prayer for revelation of Jesus’s beauty that we might walk in our calling and destiny by God’s power (Eph. 1:17–19)

• Prayer to receive the Spirit’s power that Jesus’s presence be manifest in us so we experience God’s love (Eph. 3:16–19)

• Prayer for God’s love to abound in us by the knowledge of God resulting in righteousness in our life (Phil. 1:9–11)

• Prayer to know God’s will, to be fruitful in ministry and strengthened by intimacy with God (Col. 1:9–11)

• Prayer for unity in the church and to be filled with supernatural joy, peace, and hope (Rom. 15:5–6, 13)

• Prayer to be enriched by all the gifts of the Spirit, including powerful preaching and prophetic revelation (1 Cor. 1:5–8)

• Prayer for the release of grace to bring the church to maturity, especially to abound in love and holiness (1 Thess. 3:10–13)

• Prayer to be made worthy (prepared or made spiritually mature) to walk in the fullness of our destiny in God (2 Thess. 1:11–12)
²

When you come to a passage of Scripture, be prepared to stay with it for a while. Always have a notepad or a computer where you can take notes easily. Although if you are like me and prone to compulsion and addictive behavior, I recommend you stick to a notepad during prayer instead of your computer. I tell you the truth, I have lost more prayer times because I impulsively kept checking e-mail, social media, and impulsively doing Internet searches under the name of “Bible study.” My prayer time becomes “personal time” instead of actual prayer, and I end up disconnected from God. So if you are like me, be honest with yourself and stick to the old school way of pen and paper. You can always transfer it to your computer later.

For example, you come to the Psalm 23. Close your eyes and picture the Lord either on the throne or Holy Spirit within you. Sometimes I just picture Jesus sitting in front of me. Read the first verse, “The L
ORD
is my shepherd; I shall not want.” Pause and direct the words to Him, “You, are my shepherd.” Stop and ask, “What does this mean that You are my shepherd?” The Holy Spirit is the teacher, and He is the counselor. He is eager to teach you. Then pause and meditate on that phrase, thinking of each word in the sentence.

When I do this, I start to put it in my own words, still directing it to Jesus, “Thank You that You are my keeper. You take care of me. You are guiding me. You are mine, and I belong to You. You tend my heart.” I develop what it means and pray, quietly and slowly, directing the words to Him. Sometimes I do not even speak them aloud. I thank Him that He is this involved. I thank Him for the truth that is highlighted in this passage. Then I write down the phrases I am praying, and I feel them on my heart. Then I look right at Him and tell Him. I start to feel His presence as I talk to Him about Him.

When there is a scripture that is a command, talk to Jesus about it and set your heart to obey. When it is an exhortation, set your heart to believe it. Talk to Him about it. When it is confusing, ask questions.

Another way to meditate on Scripture is to put yourself in the scene. Take the passage where Jesus is washing the disciples’ feet. Paint the picture in your mind. There you are at the table. You are Peter. You see Jesus stand up and prepare Himself like a servant. You are confused by what He is doing. Then He fills the basin with water, picks up a towel, kneels in front of the first guy, and begins to wash his feet! You are appalled! You can’t imagine the God of all creation kneeling down and serving. Next He comes to you. There He is kneeling in front of you, as a servant. Your heart breaks because it seems wrong. You refuse to let Him serve you. The argument goes on, and He breaks your pride with His insistence that you let Him serve you or you will have nothing to do with Him. Now you are weeping because you wanted to earn something. You thought you had to come to Him clean, but here He is meeting you in the darkest places and demanding that you let Him love you there. On and on the story goes. When you put yourself in the scene, it is powerful on the heart.