Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart. Luke 18:1.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
The opportunity to pray is the opportunity to live under an open Heaven. And I have given you in Christ every spiritual blessing in Heaven. Prayer opens that account and makes the withdrawal to manifest in your life on earth. It is by prayer that you make heavenly withdrawals and My Kingdom shows up on earth.
“Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” Matthew 6:10. And when the Kingdom opens through prayer the Manna falls to earth. “Give us this day our daily bread.” Matthew 6:11. The bread of life for you to eat and never die. And just as an open heaven sent down the Manna in the wilderness for the glory of God’s Kingdom to manifest so too today those who seek the Kingdom first have all things added to them besides.
Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.’” Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.” Then they said to Him, “Lord, always give us this bread.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst . . . I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.” John 6:31-35;48-51.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among you and you have seen His glory.
“It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’” Matthew 4:4.
I am seeking those who pray, those who worship in spirit and in truth, for to them I can open the windows of Heaven.
It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the Words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. John 6:63.
What does it mean to worship in spirit and in truth? When I refer to your spirit, I most often refer to it as your “heart.” That is, the very core of your being where My Spirit dwells joined with your spirit when you are born again by My incorruptible Word by receiving Jesus in faith. Faith is born in your spirit, it is of the heart, not of your mind, though if your feed your mind with the Word it will respond to faith in its thoughts. You believe with your heart and confess with your mouth. And faith in your heart comes by hearing, hearing My Word, particularly My Word concerning Christ.
When you are worshipping in spirit and in truth you are praying in faith in My Word and faith connects you with Me in the spirit, yours and Mine. My Word is truth and it sets you apart and sanctifies you and your faith comes by hearing My Word.
My apostle John on the island of Patmos, where he was exiled for preaching the gospel, knew what to do. He prayed in the Spirit and wrote down the things to come and all that came in prayer in the spirit, his spirit and My Spirit raised together joined as one to hear what I was saying to the churches presently and then I raised him up higher to see what was to come.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches . . . After these things I looked, and behold, a door open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.” Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne. Revelation 3:22 – 4:2.
His time on Patmos was not a tedious place of exile. It became a joyful house of prayer, all deep within him, as he worshipped in Spirit and in truth.
Prayer is the pathway to Heaven, an open Heaven, where you come with confidence to My throne to receive mercy and find grace to help just when you need it. And you will notice on the island of Patmos that before going up higher to Me, John encountered your great High Priest, the risen Lord who began to show him things on earth and then moved on to things in Heaven that held future events. A Word of knowledge and then a Word of wisdom, of things now and then of things to come. Prayer can be filled with revelation if you will just draw close in spirit and truth. It all begins in My Word. That is how it all began in the heavens and on the earth. And that is how every prayer needs to begin, and really every thought, word, and action as well.
I want you to take your prayer time seriously as a special time of grace where I answer you and give you wisdom for all the circumstances and areas of your life. If you have questions or requests, bring them to Me openly in prayer and you will find I answer very quickly.
But there is a divine protocol for prayer. Prayer consists of three areas—rejoicing in worship and praise within thanksgiving, intercession for others, and stewardship of your own life and the talents, time, and treasure which I entrust to you. And it ends where it started, with worship and praise with thanksgiving.
Prayer is abiding in Me and Me abiding in you. It is remaining in My Word as My Word remains in you. And My Word cleanses you and raises you up to higher ways and higher thoughts for I share My thoughts with you in Word based prayer. That is called meditation in the Bible but it is actually a Hebrew word “Hagah (הָגָה)” that means to moan, growl, utter, speak, muse, make inarticulate sounds, imagine, and devise. To be constantly chewing on My Words until you can take it in and swallow it to become part of you.
I advised Joshua to meditate on My Word day and night, and to put his attention on My Word and not deviate from it so he would have good success and prosperity and conquer the Promised Land with Me. And he did and had amazing results of success everywhere his feet tread. And this was prayer without ceasing so that in everything he turned his attention to Me for answers. So much so that when he consulted Me in prayer of how to keep the daylight so he could complete the battle conquering five kings I told him to speak to the sun and make it stand still and the moon as well. And at his word the earth stopped and so did all the planets in their rotation for a whole day.
When you pray without ceasing you become powerful with My power for we are acting in fellowship as one.
Prayer is keeping your eyes on Me in love. Which means your focus is on My Word. Which means you are going only as I direct by My Word.
Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the LORD our God, until He is gracious to us. Psalm 123:2.
Prayer has to do with attention on your audience of one rather than being distracted by all the voices of the world, the flesh, and the devil. It is single minded and it is focused to go straight to the point, straight to taking down the strongholds of the enemy and not putting up with anything less than the promise I have given you in My Word. And I teach you to profit and the way you should go in the secret place of prayer. I teach you stewardship of the work of My hands and your own talents and treasures that I have entrusted to you in prayer and meditation on My Word. You can put your bucket deep down into the Spirit within you and bring up delightful treasures of revelation and impartation in prayer. Prayer leads you to the treasure vein you seek for your answer in My Word. Be skilled in prayer. I teach you to pray by My Spirit in you because you do not know how to pray as you ought. Romans 8:26.
Jesus gave you the pattern for prayer.
“And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’” Matthew 6:7-13.
Do you see the pattern? You locate your place of prayer at My throne in Heaven and you enter with your great High Priest and brother Jesus so you call Me, “Our Father.” You and Jesus. Joint heirs. And then you praise My Covenant Names with all their promises, such as the LORD my healer, the LORD my righteousness, the LORD my provider, the LORD my sanctifier, the LORD my redeemer, the LORD my refuge, and I could go on. And then you intercede for My Kingdom to come and fill the earth with the knowledge of My glory as the waters cover the sea. You seek My Kingdom first and all is added to you. And then you intercede for My Will to be done on earth, and pray for each country and place so all people be saved and come to know the Truth, and so they too can be set free.
And next you go on to provision and stewardship thereof, from daily bread to forgiving, avoiding temptation, and being delivered. And then back to praise and worship. You are thankful coming in and thankful going out of the secret place of prayer, but why not just stay there all the time by praying without ceasing?
I love you. You are Mine, you are with Me always, and all I have is yours. And the place that is made sure is prayer.