If relationship and our invitation to friendship with God is at the heart of power in prayer, then the “war of love” is at the heart of purposeful prayer.
This is the 2nd article in an 8 part series on Powerful Prayer.
In the previous post, we looked at prayer as one part of our relationship with God. Our relationship with Him is more than just prayer as we think of it; it’s a friendship with God in which we share our lives. Close friends talk about the things that matter to them. They talk about their thoughts, feelings, and concerns. As we get to know God, we get to know His love for humanity and the planet. The degree to which we appreciate and identify with that love and concern is a measure of the maturity of the relationship. For example, fathers speak differently to children, servants, friends and sons/daughters because the relationship is different (see “4 Stages of Maturity” in a previous post for more information). He talks about and gives us understanding of things which correlate with our understanding and maturity. Our maturity in God also directly correlates to our authority and power we have in prayer.
Healthy relationships are built on two way conversations. Prayer is generally thought of as us talking to God about our needs or problems, but the richest part of relationship is when He talks to us – about anything! Some people haven’t experienced God talking to them and so they insist He doesn’t do that, but there are millions of people whose experiences are quite different. God talks to us when we respectfully ask Him questions and sincerely look for an answer. Conversation is based on real relationship. He doesn’t engage in ‘circus tricks’, but for those who know or want to know Him, He’s an amazing source of understanding and wisdom.
My observation is that God speaks to most people. It is only people in relationship with Him, however, that recognize the ‘inner voice’ or ‘intuition’ as being His voice. As wonderful as it is to hear God, the more powerful experience of God is His presence. In the first post on Prayer, I talked about the nature of the Kingdom of God as being love, joy, and peace because that’s God’s character and nature. Relationship with God brings us into His presence; that presence transforms us by His love and that brings us joy and peace. Moses recognized the power of God’s presence. He accepted God’s request to lead the Israelites on the condition that God would go with them. It is God’s presence which is marked by love that the Lord’s Prayer speaks about. God instructs us to expand the Kingdom of God and His will to the entire Earth by prayer and acts of love. It is love which is the most powerful agent on Earth because it has the power to change us and the world around us.
All of this sounds absolutely wonderful and one may ask, “Then why’s the world so screwed up?” There are 1.5 billion Christians on the planet; you’d think that should be enough to bring about some transformation. Without millions of people valuing and promoting the power of love, this planet would be hell on Earth. Could you image our Earth if there was never a champion of justice and freedom or a song or poem about love? If there was no love, what would life be? God is speaking to all of us all the time through “lovers” of the value of love, justice, and freedom.
We’re told in Scripture that we (humanity) were made in God’s image. We were created with the nature and character of God. It’s our intrinsic nature to love, be joyful, and to live in peace. So you’re asking, “What went wrong!” Our instruction about prayer from the ‘Lord’s Prayer’ tells us that if we don’t forgive, we won’t be forgiven. Remember the prayer is an parable for relationship with God (see post #1).
It is hardness of heart, as God describes it, that cuts us off from the presence of God. We’ve been offered forgiveness, but we won’t offer it to others. If our child acted this way, we would automatically know that this is an attitude which must be addressed. In the Kingdom of God, those attitudes are not allowed because the Kingdom is all about the love. Anything that’s not love must be confronted and/or removed; there’s no other option if the Kingdom is going to remain in character with its king. When we act in love, we promote and advance the Kingdom. When we act selfishly, either knowingly or unknowingly, we act in opposition to the Kingdom of God and its primary value of love. The bible calls this “evil”.
Every day the forces of evil and love collide on billions of fronts in a battle for supremacy of the planet. The Kingdom of God is not a tangible kingdom; it’s in a spiritual domain. Love can not be touched with hands. Only its ‘actions’ can be felt and when they’re felt, they’re felt ‘inside’. We use the term “heart” or “spirit” to describe that place where we feel love. It’s the part of us that can be hurt, healed, or enlivened, but it can not be touched with human hands.
The battle/war is a spiritual battle, and the battlefield is our ‘heart’. When we’re wounded, we tend to live out of that wound and ‘pass it on’ to those around us, hurting them. The more hurt we become, the harder it is to hear God’s voice, to feel His love, and to act out of love towards others. The key to success in this ‘war of love’ is for ‘lovers’ to heal the hurt that’s so prevalent on planet Earth. In the next post, I will explain a little known but extremely powerful tool God has given us to ensure our success in this battle for the supremacy of love.
Your comments are invited……
This is the 2nd in a series of 8 posts about prayer. Please invite your friends to join the conversation. The image below can be saved to your computer by right clicking and selecting “save image as” and then it can be “attached” or “inserted” into an email message. You can also become a “subscriber” and never miss a new post. Check out the “Meta” section “Entries RSS”on the side bar to the right.
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