Drawing Near in Prayer
#fasting&prayerseries
(This Weekly Prayer Summary was written by Lisa Ang, assistant director of the CBC English Prayer Ministry, and edited by Brigitta Tedja)
Click here to watch the video
Pastor James opened the service by reading and praying the following verses:
Ephesians 1:17-18 “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened”
Ephesians 1:1-18 HCSB: I pray that the perception of your mind may be enlightened that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints
For the past couple of weeks, we have been talking about the practicality and the discipline of fasting. The next couple of weeks, we will dig deeper into the topic of prayer.
You probably have heard a lot of definitions on what prayer is:
Prayer is communicating with God
Prayer is talking with God
Prayer is asking God for what we need
In this sermon, Pastor James brought us to a different dimension of prayer. He wanted us to look at prayer from a new perspective that is “Drawing Near to God”.
The book of Hebrews uses a Greek phrase “proserchomai“ multiple times. Seven times is found in Hebrews 4:16, 7:25, 10:1, 10:22, 11:6, 12:18, 12:22; the same translation is used 86 times in New Testament.
Proserchomai (Greek) means TO DRAW NEAR; to come unto; to come before.
Another Greek word is also used (in the book of James), which is “engidzo”: draw near, to join one thing to another.
Based on those definitions, we can conclude that as we draw near to God through prayer; He will draw near to us. Two different and separate entities (us and God) are now joined into one.
People often say that prayer is simply asking God. While that may be true, it is not entirely true. There is more to prayer than just giving God our entire laundry list of things we want Him to fulfill. There are times we declare and simply speak a thing.
Some say prayer is just talking to God. That is also not entirely true; there are times we listen and are silent. We are not always talking. We need to listen and let God do the talking so we can get a download of new revelations.
Prayer, and our dynamics of approaching God in prayer, looks like a lot of different things.
We, in our own doing, have no right to draw near to Almighty God:
From the Israelites example, the people of God would approach His presence and glory through a high priest
They would offer sacrifices to atone for the sins of the people on a regular basis
The people did not draw near to God on their own, the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies once a year
The Bible mentioned that in the old covenant, the Israelites drew near to God through their high priest who would present some type of sacrifices to God a few times in a year in a tent where God’s tabernacle resides. The high priest had to go through a purification process and make sure he is holy, or he risks death when coming near the tabernacle. The Israelites were afraid to draw near to God. If it is not done correctly, and if they are not the select few like the high priests, drawing near to God could mean their lives. They needed a mediator to draw near to God. Under the old covenant, drawing near to God was done through a high priest, it was done for me, not through me.
Hebrews 9:11-15 NKJV “But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come [that have come], with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, ]sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this reason, He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance."
When Jesus came, He became the Mediator (High Priest).
Hebrews 10:19-22 NKJV “Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest [Holy of Holies] by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us DRAW NEAR with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”
In Hebrews 10:19-22, notice how the tone changed. There is boldness to draw near to God, through the new mediator, Jesus Christ. The fear, shaking, and trembling when coming to God in the old covenant (without Jesus as the mediator) has now been replaced with boldness. The “new and living way” is Jesus’s body that was broken for us to allow us to draw near to God. It is a complete reversal of what the old covenant is.
Through Jesus, we now have the rights to enter the Holy of Holy as we draw near unto the presence of God; as sons and daughters of God.
We draw near to God by way of the Mediator of the new covenant:
“A new and living WAY through the veil”; Jesus says, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life”
“No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
He IS the way to the Father
Prayer, or drawing near to God, is made possible because of Jesus’ blood and His sacrifice for us.
Attributes of Prayer
Prayer is Relationship
The Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6:9-13 said: “Our Father in heaven, Hallowed by Your name”:
Introduced and established an entirely new relationship from which we pray.
Abraham, Moses, Elijah, all these men of God said, “I am Your servant, Lord” when they communicated with God.
Jesus brought a new revelation of the identity as SONS and DAUGHTERS of God. What Jesus did on the cross is what gives us the rights to be sons and daughters of God.
A good Father gives good gifts. Who gives a stone when his son asks for bread? Snake for fish?
“Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”
Submission to the will of God
Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
Provision, forgiveness, temptation, deliverance
"For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen."
Prayer is not taught with a curriculum because it is, in essence, a relationship.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NKJV “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."
Second shortest verse in the Bible!
Pray without ceasing
Relationship does not stop, and therefore, communication within a relationship does not cease. It is an unbroken fellowship. That is what prayer is!
Prayer engages directly with the things in the heavenlies.
In previous sermons, Pastor James talked about the differences in the “heavens”. Please go back to the sermon archives to hear more about it.
The things of the Spirit, the spiritual, the unseen yet the more permanent and more REAL
Prayer bridges the gap between the seen and the unseen
As we draw near to the things of God, we are drawn out of things that are merely in the flesh
Prayer ought to be the lifeblood of our lives as followers of Christ.
Just like human needs oxygen to flow through our bodies to survive; prayer is the lifeblood of our lives as followers of Jesus
“All who have walked with God have viewed prayer as the main business of their lives. Prayer was no little habit tacked onto the periphery of their lives; it was their lives. It was the most serious work of their most productive years.” (Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster)
Implications of Prayer
1. Prayer REVEALS God’s will
This is the part of prayer where we need to listen. We have to listen to know God’s will.
“Listening to God is the necessary prelude to intercession. We must hear, know, and obey the will of God before we pray it into the lives of others.” (Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster)
The book of James mentioned that the prayer of the righteous avails much. How can I pray an effective, fervent prayer if I do not know the will of God for a situation?
Many times, He calls us into His presence, calling us to DRAW NEAR through prayer to
LISTEN and to CATCH HIS HEART.
How many of you have spent time praying and just sat there overwhelmed by God’s presence?
As I draw near to the Father, His heart and His will become evident to me.
They become my own.
Out of this place, flows the prayer that Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane; dropping sweats of blood, Jesus was reluctant to do what He was assigned to do knowing what He had to go through. Through prayer, Jesus was able to submit His will to His Father’s will and say, “Not My will, but Yours, be done."
Romans 8:26 NKJV “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groaning which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”
2. Prayer CHANGES Us
Romans 12:2 NKJV “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing, and perfect will.
Romans 12:2 NLT “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know [HCSB: discern] God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
Pastor James shared his life testimony:
He is a reformed frat-bro-turned-pastor
Surrounded himself with a culture of sex, drugs, and alcohol
The more you did of any of these, the more glorified and revered you were
Going to a party: sex, drugs, alcohol all around him.
That was his old fraternity life
He shared his encounter with God and how he did a 21-days of prayer
He believes those 3 weeks changed the course of his life
What he did not recognize at the time was that God began to remove worldly desires off of him
Later on, he met Sharon Tan, who became his wife
The more you get in front of Jesus, the more you begin to look like Him. Talk like Him, love like Him, speak like Him.
DRAW NEAR to God and let Him transform you into His likeness.
Romans 8:28-29 NKJV “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
If He brought you into His family, He has already planned for you to conform to the image of Jesus Christ. It is already in the books for your life. Prayer is what makes that destiny your reality.
Draw near unto Him in prayer, and let the will of God be revealed through your life as He transforms everything about you to look like Jesus does.
Prayer Points:
Pray for God to open the eyes of your heart, your perception of things, the way you think, the way you understand things, and hear God’s truth. Pray for you to be able to catch God’s Word.
Pray for God to help us understand a new perspective of prayer that it is a way to draw near to God and build relationship with Him.
Pray so you understand Jesus’ sacrifices as your Mediator (High Priest) that allows you to draw near to God without fearing for your lives as the Israelites did in the old covenant.
Challenge yourself to pray without ceasing and to make prayer as the single most serious work of your productive years. Pray through your circumstances and see how God brings breakthrough to your life through your tenacious prayers.
Challenge yourself to learn to listen to God when you pray instead of just talking to Him about what you want or need.