Praying From A Place of Friendship With God

Putting together a teaching for how to connect intimately with God was harder than I thought because the minute you turn it into a formula is the minute you block the flow of the Holy Spirit who ushers us into God’s presence.  Just like when we view our prayer time like a part of our Christian daily “todo” list it becomes a chore. Life doesn’t flow from formulas and obligations.

Jesus said that He has come that we may have life more abundantly. The way to experience this LIFE MORE ABUNDANTLY is to stay connected to its giver.

John 15:7, “If you live in Me [abide vitally united to Me] and My words remain in you and continue to live in your hearts, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you.”

When we are vitally united to Jesus, the Word comes alive to us because we are connected to its life source.

Friendship With Jesus

John 15:9, “I have loved you, [just] as the Father has loved Me; abide in My love [[a]continue in His love with Me].”

 Did you catch that? To the degree that the Father loves Jesus, Jesus loves YOU!

 “If you keep My commandments [if you continue to obey My instructions], you will abide in My love and live on in it, just as I have obeyed My Father’s commandments and live on in His love.”

This isn’t about coming back under the law verses grace. Most of us when we read scriptures like this think of, don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t do drugs, don’t have sex outside of marriage, don’t curse or watch R rated movies. But these things don’t make us more holy. Abstaining from these things is not the mark of a mature Christian and neither is the ability to prophecy or heal the sick. LOVE is the mark of maturity. We must “LIVE ON IN HIS LOVE”. As we mature in God’s love those other areas of our life come into submission to God.  His love changes us, but our actions don’t give us access into God’s presence. Jesus’s act on the cross already did that. Trying to make away for ourselves by “doing all the right things” cheapens what He did for us. It also sets us up to fail so that the enemy can then tell us we are no longer welcomed into the Throne room until we can be good enough again. It takes us back in time before Jesus death on the cross. When He died the veil that had separated us from entering into God’s presence was ripped in two as a sign to us that nothing could separate us from God any longer.

 

 “I have told you these things, that My joy and delight may be in you, and that your joy and gladness may be of full measure and complete and overflowing. 12This is My commandment: that you love one another [just] as I have loved you. 13No one has greater love [no one has shown stronger affection] than to lay down (give up) his own life for his friends. 14You are My friends if you keep on doing the things which I command you to do.”

Jesus is a good friend to us and demonstrated His great love for us when He lay down His life and died for us. Are you ready to be a friend to Him and lay down your life for HIM? I am not talking about getting yourself killed. Jesus has commanded us to love one another as He has loved us. Now let me just tell you that sometimes that is a more painful death than a knife thru the heart! It is a sacrifice to love others sometimes. But this is His commandment. This is how we lay down our life to be a friend to Jesus.

    15 I do not call you servants (slaves) any longer, for the servant does not know what his master is doing (working out). But I have called you My friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from My Father. [I have revealed to you everything that I have learned from Him.]

    16You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and I have appointed you [I have planted you], that you might go and bear fruit and keep on bearing, and that your fruit may be lasting [that it may remain, abide], so that whatever you ask the Father in My Name [as [b]presenting all that I AM], He may give it to you.

God has not called anyone in this room to be a servant! He has chosen you to be a friend. And as a friend He will reveal everything that He has learned from the Father to YOU! What are you responsible to do?

     ”This is what I command you: that you love one another.”

John the Beloved:

Jesus disciple John was often referred to as John the Beloved. The other disciples seemed to thank that Jesus favored Him and this use to bother me. The bible says that God is not a respecter of persons. He does NOT have favorites. IF Jesus is also God than how could He have a favorite? And if He had favorite I had to wonder if He had favorites now too. Being that I had never been anyone’s favorite before I was pretty sure that if He did have a favorite it sure wasn’t me. So, it bothered me. And I asked Him about it. This is what I feel like He showed me.

It is true that John’s relationship with Jesus was different than the others, but NOT because he was the favorite. John was closer because He pursued Jesus heart above anything else.  Any of the disciples could have come to lay their head on Jesus chest, but only John did. Maybe the other disciples wanted to, but they didn’t feel worthy. Just like sometimes we stand back watching others go deep places with God that we wouldn’t even consider to be so bold as to think we could go there too. We deem them more worthy than we are. Maybe the disciples missed out on the level of intimacy that John knew just because of the way they saw themselves.

I spent most of my life in God feeling like I was on the outside looking in. Believing God for anything more than a ticket to heaven would be prideful or so I thought. I never felt special to Him but I WAS!! And so are you. I have become that person, the one I use to envy. Sometimes people look at my relationship with the Lord and they are glad to just be able to draw from what God has poured into me. But my greatest passion is to share that everything I have in God is for you too. I am not anymore special than anyone else in this room. Once I broke through the same lies that are holding some of you back, it’s like God cupped my face in His hands and said, “ Let me show you my heart. Here it is and it belongs to you. “

You want to access God’s heart? All you have to do is seek it and you will find Him..

GETTING STARTED

Have journals ready.

Find a comfortable place in the room.

Use your treasure box:

-worship music

-scripture meditation

-journaling

-prayer/talking to God

-tongues

-stillness

 

Your time with God may incorporate all of these or just one of these.  Follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit to see where He is resting.

Then listen for His promptings:

Clarity to a situation you are dealing with, direction, revelation, impression, a knowing in your heart, peace, scripture, vision, dream, word of wisdom, word of knowledge, discernment or the ability to see in the spirit realms (if God is birthing this seeing, God is always enormous and the enemy is small)

Whether you are a journaler or not it is a great tool for sharpening your ear to hear God’s voice. And then it is a great confidence booster when you look through it later to see how God really was speaking to you. I have been making myself write down every little thing He tells me lately because I want be more confident in knowing I have heard Him as I am being stretched in ministry. Stewarding God’s words to you is very important. God doesn’t just talk to hear Himself speak. We must be attentive to what we hear.

Remember:

Prayer is communication and communion. All prayer is prayed to the Father through the Son in connection to the Holy Spirit.

How do we approach God? Hebrews 4:16 (NKJV) “ Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”