Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.

God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 1 Corinthians 1:9.

Indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. 1 John 1:3.

Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:

I will make you joyful in My house of prayer. Jesus likened His body to My temple. John 2:19-22. And now as you live your life IN CHRIST and are indwelt by My Spirit, you too can be a house of prayer and a gate of Heaven as you pray IN CHRIST JESUS your Lord. You pray directly to Me but your prayer comes to Me through and from your position in Jesus. He fits your humanity into My divinity and My divinity into your humanity and He has cleansed you and set you apart for fellowship. This was foreshadowed in the cleansing and purifying of the Levites and the offering of the sin and burnt offerings for them before they could enter into the holy places of the tabernacle and minister to Me. Numbers 8:5-22.

And that is today’s life lesson in our series on how to live your life in Christ: “A Life of Prayer (Fellowship).” I have told you that My Will for you IN CHRIST JESUS is that you rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give constant thanks. Today we look at prayer without ceasing which is constant fellowship with Me through and in Jesus.

You pray from your position in Jesus, and that position is seated with Him in Heaven. And when He overcame He sat down on My throne with Me. Revelation 3:21. So guess where you are seated? With Me. And that is where you are praying, right on the throne of grace with Me. You are not praying from below, you are praying from above at My right hand with Satan under your feet.

And the highest form of prayer is worship, for that is what is taking place around My throne spontaneously in the glory and overwhelming perfection of My presence, and I am enthroned upon (dwell in) the praises of My people. Why? Worship puts you into the atmosphere of Heaven and that is the atmosphere from which miracles flow and it is the place in Me which the devil cannot enter or touch you in. 1 John 5:18.

I tell you to pray without ceasing, that simply means we are in constant communication. And not only like an employee with his boss, a servant with his master, or a soldier with his captain, though there is an authority in Me to direct you in right paths, but My relationship with you IN CHRIST is as a father with his child, or as close and united spouses, but above all as friends, partners in business, and those in first love. There should be no one you are closer with than Me because there is no one else that knows you and loves you as I do. I planned you from eternity and knew you before you came forth from your mother’s womb. I formed you and knit you in your mother’s womb, and all My good plans for your life were written in My scroll before one day of them had been lived out. David understood by My Spirit and sang, “O LORD, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thoughts from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down and are intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue, behold, O LORD, You know it all. Psalm 139:1-4.

If you set Me in your heart and at your side in the Spirit and keep up communication with Me during the day and night, you will be surrounded by the shield of My good will. It is like a hedge of protection around you for you are in an atmosphere that the devil cannot exist in, as he must crawl in the dirt and filth of the world, that which is below and not above. He brings torment, even in the guise of freedom and pleasure. But he cannot penetrate into realms of light. He must pull you into darkness to take you captive to think his thoughts and do his will. He cannot stay in My presence and hide.

If you keep aware of My presence in constant prayer you will not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead you will expose them in the light of your life. Your life will convict the sinner without you even speaking; for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret, for immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among believers, and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. All things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light.

If you keep your heart in the atmosphere of constant worship, speaking to yourself in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to Me, always giving thanks for all things in the name of Jesus unto Me, your Father, you will find that you can hear from Me for direction, correction, mercy, and grace for help just when you need it. And healing flows in such an atmosphere for sickness has no place in Heaven.

I want you to place great importance on prayer. Do not just make it something you do as a last resort in trials. Constant, consistent prayer is very important. Very important. Why? It is the way you communicate with Me in a personal way. And you need to hear from Me to live the life of good deeds I prepared for you in advance. You need to hear from Me to prosper and be in good health. You need to hear from Me to make wise decisions.

Prayer is from the beginning. It all started in a garden, walking together in the breezy time of the day with the first man and woman. And I am a garden dweller, and you were made to be thus as well, surrounded by the beauty of flowers, trees, lush greenery, and quiet healing waters of peace. It is time for you change your inner atmosphere from the barren and empty waste that demons move in to occupy to grow a garden of prayer in your heart, a garden enclosed, a secret place where we can meet face-to-face and all the demons find is a “Do not disturb” sign on a locked and sealed door, for I have sealed you in the Holy Spirit when you believed in the gospel of your salvation. Ephesians 1;13.

But I am not speaking of mindless, idle, or uninformed prayer. I am speaking on a prayer that is based upon going deeper into My Word with Me, you cannot know Me and the One I sent, Jesus Christ, in a personal, intimate way and all that entails without meditating upon, speaking, hearing, and letting Me reveal Myself in My Word to you. Find the promises in My Word that cover your situation and pray them out with Me in faith. You cannot pray the prayer of faith, which is effective and hits the mark, without knowing My Word.

So when you pray do not think the sheer multiplication of your words, especially those that do not match Mine, will accomplish anything. It will only be frustrating for you and meaningless for working out My purposes on earth. So do not “pray to yourself,” as the Pharisee did, but actually focus on Me to see what I have to say and reveal. You cannot do all the talking and chatter away in your prayers with no meaningful path. Jesus prayed with purpose and He prayed My Word.

The disciples saw that Jesus prayed in a very intimate and reverent way with Me that empowered Him to do amazing works I showed Him and to have purpose and direction and they asked Him to teach them to pray. And He gave them a pattern for prayer that begins with worship and fellowship and moves on from there. In this, you see the aspects of prayer: Fellowship, Partnership, and Stewardship, and all of these wrapped in worship and praise throughout the day. Prayer will keep you in the atmosphere of Heaven.

So let us consider again the pattern of prayer that Jesus gave you, for it was the pattern of His prayers as well. Just read His prayer in John 17 and you will see the pattern even there in His great prayer of intercession for you.

“Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name.” And here begins worship of fellowship. This begins when you first awaken in the morning, the greeting and the conversation. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.” Revelation 3:20-21. You are seated with Me in Jesus. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:4-6. And you are coming to Me in Spirit and in truth with Jesus as your Great High Priest, good Shepherd and brother. I am His Father and your Father since you are in Him and when you received Him, you received the authority to be My children. Prayers come through Him but you talk directly with Me by My Spirit in you.

And this is where you cling to Me in love for you know My Name, and I reveal more and more of My Name to you as I did to Moses. “Because he has set his love on Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name.” Psalm 91:14. And I share My Name with you, just as I did with Jesus. “Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are.” John 17:11.

It is in fellowship that you ask Me questions and I answer them and I ask you questions and you answer them. It is here we share our thoughts, dreams, and very nature. Here is the place of answers, of revelation, of impartation, of bonding and union. Worship and adoration, praise and honor belong here. It is a holy sanctuary. Sanctify Me in your heart. It is you as My dwelling place, you as a temple of the Holy Spirit and that temple is holy. “For the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.” 1 Corinthians 3:17. It is a place of awesome wonders. It is where you touch the holy and the holy touches you. “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.” Revelation 4:8. “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.” Revelation 4:11. I bring you to My holy mountain, Zion, and make you joyful in My house of prayer. Fellowship is a time of joy, the joy of a bridegroom with his bride. The joy of family union.

There is much more to talk about in fellowship, but let us move on to the next aspect, “Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” This is partnership. This is getting Kingdom business done on earth. This is where your prayer goes out to every person, land, and nation as My Spirit directs. Here is where you intercede with My Son as directed in the Spirit. I do nothing without first revealing it to My prophets. Why? It is you who must speak out My plan into the earth so I can perform it. Here you are sending out My Word to deliver, save, heal, and bless. You are stopping storms, devastations, evil schemes of the devil against lives, stopping crimes, murders, insurrections, and wars. You can turn around governments and kingdoms if you will only take the time in prayer as I direct. You can stop earthquakes, tsunamis, and tornadoes.

It is in partnership that you fulfill the promise of Jesus, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.” John 14:12-14. Here is partnership in prayer. You intercede and Jesus performs the work in and through you.

Will you take the time? Intercessory prayer is powerful. It was the intercession of Moses that kept Me from destroying the people of Israel for their blatant sins of idolatry. I pardoned them more than ten times because of his intercession. And that was even why I parted the Red Sea. Moses cried out to Me in reverence as the people cried at him in irreverence.

Jesus called the disciples to be with Him (fellowship) and to send them out to preach and cast out demons (partnership). “And He went up on the mountain and summoned those whom He Himself wanted, and they came to Him. And He appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach, and to have authority to cast out the demons.” Mark 3:13-15. “Jesus summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.” Matthew 10:1. And he told them, “And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give.” Matthew 10:8.

And next, “Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.” This is the stewardship aspect of prayer. Stewardship is about managing your life; it involves managing your heavenly account responsibly. It is here I teach you how to profit and the way you should go. The parable about the Master giving talents to his servants applies to this aspect of prayer.

I have blessed you in Christ Jesus with ALL spiritual blessings in the heavenlies. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” Ephesians 1:3. This is the account that Jesus spoke of, that moths and rust cannot corrode and thieves cannot break in and steal. It is your heavenly account that Paul mentioned in the law of giving and receiving. And Peter spoke of your heavenly account also. In this account there is healing, health, provision, protection, deliverance, wisdom, redemption, sanctification, righteousness, understanding, counsel, fortitude, strength, prosperity, and all you need for the life of good deeds I prepared for you in advance. In this account there is all sufficiency for you and an abundance for every good work. In it is all you need for life and godliness. It is unlimited, for I have given you the Kingdom. You can never exhaust it. As you use it and bless others as well, I put in a hundredfold interest.

And it is here in stewardship that you tithe, both spiritually of your spiritual gifts and physically of the finances, time, and gifts I give you to sow into My Work on earth. And both of these tithes are paid into the partnership account. You can think of each aspect of prayer as an account you are sowing into and giving out of. You sow into the fellowship account by spending time in communication (receiving back revelation, knowledge and impartation), worship, praise, and thanksgiving with Me. You sow into the partnership account with your tithes and offerings, whether they be spiritual or physical, intercessory prayer, praying in the spirit, and by giving of yourself to the work at hand that I point out to you and lead you to by My Spirit and by your good Shepherd. But all done in communication with Me. Unceasing prayer is the key to guidance and victory, to harvest and abundant life to the maximum.

Stewardship is of your own life and the gifts, talents, and spiritual blessings I have endowed to you. It is up to you to withdraw what is needed and manifest it into your life and world. I supplied it by grace and you take it by faith. In prayer I show you how to manage and expend your account. Lavishly. “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us.” Ephesians 1:7-8. Do not be like the servant who buried his talent.

And in in stewardship, petition is made for things needed. It is here you come with confidence to My throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace to supply the need right when you need it by making your withdrawals with Me. Hebrews 4:14-16. It is here you cast all your cares on Me because I care for you. It is here that Philippians 4 is fulfilled, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7.

And how does the pattern of prayer given by Jesus close? Back to the worship of fellowship, “For Yours is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory forever. Amen.” For that is what it is all about. And I share all that with you in Jesus. And that closes the day of unceasing prayer. And it starts again when you wake up. Each morning My mercies are new. I have something amazing and new to show you every day, and more than one thing, I fill your days with good things.

I love you. IN JESUS you are dwelling in My house of prayer and you too are being built up into the same. Keep in constant communication with Me and I will show you great and mighty things you could not know. And I will keep you from the wiles of the devil. I will show you his strategies just as I showed Elisha all the strategies of the enemy army coming to attack Isreal so that the enemy was thwarted every time.