The greatest adventure you and I can embark on is
prayer. Prayer has the ability to take the deepest thoughts and feelings of you
and me before the Creator. At the same time, prayer brings the nature,
character, and purposes of God into the heart of man. Prayer can chart and
change the course of human history. It can calm the heart in the midst of a
raging storm and refresh the weary saint in the battles of life.
Prayer opens the possibilities of all that heaven has to
offer humankind. Yet, this adventure into the life of prayer cannot be taken
lightly. When we enter the life of prayer, we walk on holy ground. We come into
the presence of a living God. Many have never entered into the life of prayer
because they lack understanding of prayer’s true nature. Perhaps this is why
the disciples slept when Jesus prayed. And perhaps this is why the church
sleeps in this generation while the world slides further and further into
immorality and rebellion against God.
THE NATURE OF PRAYER
Prayer is the heart of man in communion with the heart
of the Father. It is the heart of the Father bestowing grace and mercy upon the
heart of man/woman. And it is the whole heart of a person seeking to know the
whole heart of God. Prayer is essentially the communion of two hearts.
C. H. Spurgeon said, “True prayer is not a mere mental
exercise, nor a vocal performance, but it is deeper far than that—it is
spiritual communion with the Creator of heaven and earth. God is a Spirit
unseen of mortal eye and only to be perceived by the inner man; our spirit
within us, begotten by the Holy Spirit at our regeneration. Prayer is a
spiritual business from beginning to end, and its aim and object end not with
man, but reach to God Himself.”
This view is quite different from the modern practice of
prayer. We live in an “instant” generation. We live in a technological society
that can fulfill our desires immediately. We have everything from instant
potatoes to instant reports on the stock market. However, there is no instant
fellowship with God. We cannot rush in and out of God’s presence. Prayer takes
time. We must learn, as Psalm 46:10 says, "To be still and know that He is
God."
There are two important aspects to communion with God.
First, we must understand that we only have access to communion with the Father
through Jesus. Second, we must learn to wait upon the Lord and meditate on His
Word.
JESUS, THE WAY INTO COMMUNION
Jesus is our mediator because of His uniqueness. In His
earthly life, He was the God-man. He was the total expression of the character
and heart of God in human flesh. And yet He felt the hurts, sorrows, and
temptations of humanity. No one but Jesus has ever been or will ever be
qualified to act as a mediator between God and man. Jesus is the way into
communion with the Father (John 16:24). Prayer becomes an adventure because we
are escorted into the presence of the Father by the Son. There is complete joy
to be found in the presence of God.
Jesus is the exact representation of the nature of God. If
we are ever to know the heart of the father intimately, we must learn to look
to Jesus. The purity, compassion, and wisdom of the Father are clearly
understood through the Son.
WAITING ON GOD
If we are to come into the presence of God, we must
learn the art of waiting upon God. There is no hustle and bustle in the
presence of God. David is known in Scripture as a man after God’s own heart. He
continually speaks in the Psalms of waiting upon the Lord. If we are to be
God’s men and women, we must also learn to wait upon the Lord.
Waiting upon God recognizes two important truths from
Scripture: the helplessness of humanity and the sufficiency of Christ. As we
wait upon God, we understand Jesus’ words, “Apart from Me you can do nothing”
(John 15:5).
Andrew Murray wrote, “The deep need for this waiting upon
God lies equally in the nature of man and the nature of God. God, as Creator,
formed man, to be a vessel in which He could show forth His power and goodness.
Man was not to have in himself a fountain of life, or strength, or happiness .
. . . Man was to have the joy of receiving every moment out of the fullness of
God. This was his [man] blessedness as an unfallen creature.”
God created us to know and love Him. Without daily
communion with Him, it is impossible to serve Him effectively. Many Christians
believe that they can work for God
without being with God. To live
without waiting on the Lord is to embrace humanism and wrap it in Christian
trappings. The philosophy of humanism begins with man, continues with man, and
concludes with man. However, Christianity begins with God. God reaches down to
man, and man finds his only hope in Him (God). Man does not find purpose,
power, and direction for his life in himself; he finds everything that he needs
in God through Jesus Christ. Man must learn to live in absolute dependence upon
God.
We live in a technological generation. We want quick
results. As a result, many in the church have turned to the marketing industry
to promote God’s kingdom. The kingdom of God, however, cannot be built on slick
publicity. Neither can it be built on any other form of human ingenuity. The
kingdom of God will only be built by those who have the mark of the King upon
their lives—the mark from having been in His presence.
Many consider waiting time consuming and nonproductive. The
man who waits upon God is not a mystic who hides from the hurts of humanity. In
fact, he is quite the opposite. Those believers that have learned the art of
waiting upon God have affected Christian history the most. The Apostles waited
on the promise of the Father, and as a result, they were able to turn the Roman
Empire upside down for the glory of God. Paul and others waited upon God in
Acts 13, and as a result, the gospel was brought to the European continent. The
accounts of men and women who waited on God and broke the spell of the ages are
countless, D. L. Moody, John Knox, George Whitefield, John Wesley, Charles G.
Finney, etc.
Waiting upon God breathes fire into the souls of men. It
moves men/women into the battle for the souls of humankind; but the man/woman
of prayer does not burn out. The Christian that has learned the art of waiting
will never be destroyed in the battle (Isaiah 40:31). Waiting upon God opens a
new dimension to Christian living. It opens all of heaven to the believer. The
Christian begins to live and walk by the Holy Spirit rather than by his/her
strength and power. Therefore, it is important to understand the meaning of
waiting upon God.
First, one must understand what waiting does not mean.
Waiting upon God is not seeking after an experience. Too many Christians have
made the mistake of attempting to emulate the experiences of other Christians.
We read of the experiences of great men and women of God in the past years and
we attempt to duplicate their experiences. After hearing of a Christian friend
that had an extraordinary experience with God, we may begin to seek that
experience rather than God.
What Then Is Waiting
upon God?
There are three primary types of waiting upon God in
Scripture. First, we wait on Jesus’ Second Coming (1 Thess. 1:10). Second, we
wait on God to accomplish His will, which includes waiting for instruction
(Psalm 25:4-5), for answers to prayer (Luke 18:1-8), and for courage (Psalm
27:14). Many blessings and answer to prayer come after waiting upon God over an extended period of days, months, or even
years. Third, we wait on God when we wait quietly before Him in prayer (Psalm 37:7). This type of waiting is not a
time for speaking to God. It is a time for listening and thinking—a time for
the inner man to be quieted before God. It is a time to reflect upon the
goodness and greatness of God, of meditating on the character and the works of
God.
Perhaps one of the great needs of this generation is for
thinking men and women. The advent of the computer has brought artificial
intelligence to the world. Many Christians have ceased to be thinkers in an age
of computers and televisions. More time is spent in many Christian homes in
reading the newspapers than in reading the Word of God. We watch murders and
adultery on TV, yet we have little time to think and meditate on the splendor
and glory of God. No wonder adultery and divorce are rampant within the church.
The church has become powerless to reach and transform such a needy generation.
We become what we think. And creative Christian thinking is a result of
meditating on the biblical revelation of the Creator of the universe.
WAITING AND THE WORD OF GOD
The Word of God is the one indispensable tool for waiting
on God. If we are to meditate on God’s character and works, we must have a
clear understanding of who He is and what He has done. If our view of God is
incorrect, then, study of church history shows that the church becomes
ineffective when she forsakes Scripture. Scripture is a testimony of Jesus.
Therefore, it is necessary to spend time daily in the Word, the Bible.
Andrew Murray stated, “Little of the Word with little
prayer is death to the spiritual life. Much of the Word with little prayer
gives a sickly life. Much prayer with little of the word gives more life, but
without steadfastness. A full measure of the Word and prayer each day gives a
healthy and powerful life.”
Therefore, we need to come into the presence of God with a
Bible in our hands and praise in our hearts. As we wait quietly before the
Lord, heaven will open. Prayer has the ability to touch the soul of men and
women deeply. It is as timeless as eternity. Prayer reaches back into history
and moves the faith of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob into the present. It leaves
its impact on future generations. It transforms tragedy into triumph. Prayer
has the Word of God as its limitation.
