What must the God, who knows our thoughts and desires of the heart, be feeling when what we say in our prayers is in great variance with what is in our minds and hearts. Despite this, He answers our prayers, though there may be some delays in receiving the answers. But do we also treat others in a similar manner? We are made in the image and likeness of God and to be like Him, we must first know Him as He is.
Right way to reach and know God – Moses was born into Jewish Levite family, raised by the Pharaoh’s daughter, was well versed in Egyptian knowledge and the ways of the King’s court. He was named by the Pharaoh’s daughter as Moses, ‘saying, ‘Because I drew him out of the water’ (Exodus 2:10). God permitted the same name to continue for the greatest Prophet and leader that Israel ever had and not what his parents had called him. He was sent back from the wilderness to lead his people out of the slavery of the Egyptians. He led them through forty years of their wilderness roaming, received the Torah, the first five Books of the Holy Bible from God, defining the way mankind is supposed to live. The Jewish people were chosen by God to live in obedience to His Word and show others to live in that manner.
Moses was the link between God and his people and ‘the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend’ (Exodus 33:11-13). Moses could reach this state of closeness to God only because of his being open before Him without hiding his thoughts or emotions. When Moses was called by God the second time to receive the Ten Commandments, on his return ‘his face shone’ (Exodus 34:29-33). His stay in the presence of God transformed his skin to reflect the glory of God towards others. Time spent in the presence of God affects the whole of our beings, the mind, the heart, the soul and the body.
Into the nostrils of the form of man from the dust of the ground, God breathed ‘the breath of life; and man became a living (speaking) being’ (Genesis 2:7). God being the source of all life and light, His very breath imparted a part of His glory to man, thus equipping him for exercising dominion over other created things. After sin Adam and Eve were forced to leave the Garden of Eden, the place of God’s presence and abundant blessings. The spiritual separation was enforced by God by covering His glory in man with the ‘garments of skin’, with which they were clothed (Genesis 3:21). The spark of God’s glory remained in them, but was covered, to create an ever-present inner desire to draw closer to God, away from the darkness of sin and lies of the devil.
Lord Jesus told ‘the Jews who believed Him, ‘If you abide in My Word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free’ (John 8:31-33). When we get closer to God through His Word, the Living Word, we are freed from this bondage to sin and the lies of the devil. But the Jews answered the Lord, ‘we are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone’. Moses was sent by God to lead them out from slavery in Egypt, they were taken captive to Assyria and also to Babylon, where Daniel attained a position of authority. During our Lord’s ministry, they were ruled by Rome and yet they claimed to be free.
To be set free the first part is the realisation of our bondage. In our sinful nature, two tendencies exist in each person, one to do good or ‘Yetzer tov’ or to do evil or ‘Yetzer hara’. Apostle Peter has clarified about the various ways preached by others to reach God. He has taught that, ‘While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for a person is slave to what has control of him’ (2 Peter 2:19). This slavery could be watching You tube, over eating and also various other sins.
The second part is the desire to be free from the bondage and in this, the work of the Holy Spirit starts, who leads one to the truth of the Living Word.
The third part is submission to the truth. Lord Jesus declared, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me’ (John 14:6). God revealed His identity to Moses from the Burning Bush, ‘I AM WHO I AM’ (Exodus 3:14). Lord Jesus revealed His Divinity in His being ‘I AM’ who is truth and the way to God, being God Himself.
Any number of ways may be told about, but only He has the access to the direct presence of God the Father in heaven, being His Beloved Son and part of Him. Through His sacrifice He has granted forgiveness for our sins and with His blood we are set apart from the darkness of evil to be part of God’s family. This door is open today but who knows when the time for judgement will come, and then it will be too late. Submit to Him and turn to follow His ways and to be with Him always rather than going into the fires of hell.
Various levels of closeness to God – Hannah was barren and was deeply hurt by the taunts of the second wife of Elkanah, her husband (1 Samuel 1:10-13). She prayed to God at the Tabernacle at Shiloh and ‘spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard’. Eli, the High priest took her to be drunk and rebuked her, but Hannah denied taking any wine and said, ‘(I) have poured out my soul before the LORD’. How could the spiritual leader of Israel at that time not distinguish between a drunkard and a sincere worshipper? Hannah was broken-hearted and grief-stricken but her faith also filled her with joy, confidence and internal peace; crying and joyful at the same time. Someone has said: God has a massive communication system but it is never jammed and He is my best friend and I follow Him, not on Facebook or Twitter but in closeness to Him. The basic core of prayer is the personal, heart-to-heart, intimate contact with God to spend time in His very presence.
Our relationship with the Saviour Lord is defined by two factors; our belief and behaviour. We believe and receive Him, to be part of His family and His presence in us changes our behaviour, for we start following His ways. Then, we look unto Him, to be pleasing to Him and not what others are thinking or doing all-around us. Simon Wiesenthal suffered greatly during the Holocaust in German concentration camps and having seen such evil, he turned away from praying to God. The reason behind this was another Jew who had somehow smuggled the Jewish Book of Prayer, The Siddur, into the camp and would give it to others for prayers, in lieu of the only piece of bread they would have for themselves. He finally turned to God on being told by a Rabbi to focus on the faith of those who readily went hungry and suffered, for reciting the proper prayers and not on the evil person.
There are five levels of prayer and closeness to God. The first is of those who seek Him to answer their prayers for their own needs. This is the preliminary state. The second is of those who are filled with love of God and realise others’ pain to intercede for them. They are strong in faith and reach out to others for their healing and salvation, like the seventy, sent by Lord Jesus into villages where He would visit later (Luke 10:1). The third state is of those who are involved in spiritual warfare with the forces of darkness around us. Apostle Paul urged all believers to serve others with goodwill (Ephesians 6:6-11). He also warned to ‘put on the whole armour of God to face the enemy, the principalities, powers, the rulers of the darkness of this age and spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places’. A person who is close to the Lord and also sure of His relationship is equipped to face the demonic forces to free others and lead them to the Lord.
In the Synagogue at Nazareth, Lord Jesus, declared fulfilment of the Old Testament prophecy in Himself with the Spirit of the LORD anointing Him (Luke 4:18). His three-fold ministry was to ‘preach the Gospel to the poor’, who were then filled with the need to turn to God. ‘To heal the broken-hearted’, their physical and emotional healing and finally ‘to proclaim liberty to the captives’, those controlled by the demonic forces. As a believer we are supposed to do all the three, for His promise of ‘life of abundance’ includes all these (John 10:10).
The fourth level is the prophetic ministry and prayers. They are blessed by the Lord with wisdom and understanding to reveal God’s plan for an individual or a group, as revealed by Him. They are equipped to hear, discern and declare the will of God to others.
The final level is contemplative prayer, when it is not asking God for something but being in His presence and let Him lead. This leads to inner transformation and empowerment for more effectiveness in ministry/prayers. This level of closeness to God at the final stage, leads to anticipating His work and then living in obedience to that.
These are all progressive and not isolated, for an intercessor is involved in spiritual warfare and prophetic declarations with God’s presence being absolutely true. We move close to God through all this and each level brings His peace, presence and power to enable us to do good to others. The Saviour Lord occasionally retreated to a solitary place alone to be with God the Father. It is not that He was not always in His presence but for a more intimate level of oneness. It was due to this that He could declare before calling out Lazarus back from the dead, ‘Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me’ (John 11:41-42).
Moving into an intimate and close relationship with God is a continuous work of studying the Word of God, meditating upon it, reaching out to others in faith and daily communion with God.
Expected changes from closeness to God – Apostle John had experienced the presence of the Son of God by being close to Him as the ‘disciple whom Jesus loved’ (John 13:23). In the final years of His ministry, around AD 90-95, he wrote the Gospel and the three Epistles. He could, thus, write, ‘That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life’ (1 John 1:1). Whatever he thus taught was absolutely true to reveal about God and mankind’s relationship with Him. He could say, ‘He who does not love does not know God, for God is love’ (1 John 4:8).
Apostle Paul also, while listing out the behavioural change through the fruit of the Spirit in us, lists love as the first (Galatians 5:22). Many consider only our expression of love of God, being this love. But love is about loving even the most unlovable people, the sick, both of body and soul and those deep in sin, for we hate sin and the sinner. The first change of closeness to God must be love, like Mother Teressa and her Missionaries of Charity, who care for the extreme suffering of the physically and emotionally sick. Then those who are filled with hatred, will react with evil towards us but we must still express love.
Apostle Paul has defined the purpose of our Lord for us, ‘who were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight’ (Colossians 1:21-22). He has done His part on the cross and on the Day of Pentecost through forgiveness of sins, cleansing with His blood and with the indwelling holy Spirit.
Adam and Eve were provided all that he needed and the task was ‘to be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion……over every living thing’ (Genesis 1:28). What was there on the earth that they were to subdue and how? They were visited by God to help them grow strong in knowledge and wisdom and expand God’s kingdom from within the Garden of Eden to the rest of the earth. They were to do this by not letting the forces of the devil take control and that is what they allowed to happen. The Israelites were given the Ten Commandments and the Torah (Exodus 20) to live according to that and thus show mankind the way to live right. They continued to stumble and through turning away from God, suffered.
The Son of God revealed His role ‘to give eternal life to as many as You (the Father in heaven) have given Me’ (John 17:2-3). The exact definition of this eternal life, as per Him is to ‘know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent’. As believers, we claim this eternal life but do we really know the ‘only True God and His Son? The task of the Great Commission ‘to make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit’ is given to every believer. To those who move in this manner He has promised ‘I am with you always, even to the end of the age’. In His letter to the Church in Sardis, first Lord Jesus termed them as a ‘dead church’ with no struggle (Revelation 3:3). But then He provided the answer, ‘remember, therefore, how you have received and heard’. When we remember the state we were in when we were saved and our present state, we grow near to Him and are able to revive back to life any aspect of the work of the Holy Spirit in us as seen in His fruit in our behaviour.
Closeness to God leads to obedience, with an intense desire to imitate Him and be like Him to put Him on as the expression of our whole being. Then, we exalt Him in our daily life, in every word we speak and all that we do.
When God appeared before the Israelites on Mount Sinai, the whole mountain was covered by fire, smoke and lightning. God the Holy Spirit also works like a purifying fire in us by burning out the dross and transforming us into His likeness from within. The change starts from the inside out and like Moses, a believer’s face reflects the goodness and glory of God in his behaviour. His strength starts working in us to face all challenges and temptations and be an overcomer!
