Prayer is more than making a supplication for God to manifest His presence.  Most of the time when we pray, we’re wanting God to change the circumstances when we should be wanting God to change us; amen?  Because the “trying of your faith” is vital; it “worketh patience” in us (James 1:3); amen?  “It is good,” the Scripture says (Psalm 119:71), “for me that I have been afflicted.”  Now we don’t like that, but James tells us that we’re to “Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience,” consistency, endurance.  “Let faith have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect,” complete, mature, lacking nothing” (James 1:4); praise God.  In the midst of this process, when we’re rejoicing in the Lord—let me just remind you that rejoicing, that praise, that thanksgiving is praying; amen?  The old prayer warrior from centuries ago, telling us, and giving us this great understanding that prayer is “practicing the presence of God.”  So, it does not always necessitate articulation.  Meditation is prayer.  Waiting on God with an open heart and a willingness to respond and obey what His next directive might be to our lives is so vital in our prayer lives.  Prayer, practicing the presence of God, getting into God’s presence, shutting yourself alone with Him.

Thank God for the times that we have in prayer as we gather together as a community and we pray for specific things; but beloved, that can’t be all there is to your prayer life.  And very frankly, most of the time you won’t hear from God in these times that we have corporate praying.  They’re times when we are petitioning, supplicating on behalf of certain needs.  We hear from God most when we’re alone, when we’re in our prayer closet, when we’ve shut ourselves in; amen?  When we get quiet before the Lord.  I don’t know that we’ll get into the specifics, but we see very clearly in the prayer life of Jesus that He was continually going out early before the sun rises, before anybody else was up.  He would go and be in the presence of the Father; amen?  We saw that burning desire in His heart, and yet, He wasn’t always able to do it because they would hunt Him down, seeking ministry.  But He would try to get Himself away from the people and get into the presence of God.   We do a lot of good things in our community here, and in our koinonia and in our fellowship, but we have to get alone with God.  If you have to leave the party early, get alone with God.  If you have to show up late, get alone with God.  I’m not saying we’re not to do these other things, I’m saying we have to understand that necessity of being in the presence of God; amen?

So, in Deuteronomy, Chapter 4, we see the children of Israel as they’re making preparation to possess the blessing of God.  Now we remember very clearly the fact that Moses was given an opportunity to receive the blessings of God and all that God had spoken and promised, but He said, “My presence will not go with you” (Exodus 33:15); amen?  We can stop and think for just a moment about what if all the things that I’m believing God for right now, and all these things that are taking so much of my mental energy, and my time, praying for loved ones, praying for the pressure we’re under financially right now, the relationship pressures, etc. and we could go on, the things that are true weights in our lives—what if God was to say to us right now, “I’ll go ahead and give you all those things, and solve all your problems, since those are so important to you, but my presence is going to be absent from you from now on, after I’ve given you these things.”  “If your presence doesn’t go, I’m not going”; amen?