Category Archives: Intimacy with God

Faith and Relationships, Intimacy with God, Reflections on Life

Hungry for God’s presence

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Being at Bethany last week has re-awakened in me a hunger and thirst for the presence of God.  Not that I didn’t already have this hunger – but it has been stirred up significantly in recent days.   I want to taste and see the goodness of God on a daily basis.  One of my areas of ministry is preparing and leading worship for our church intercessory team and I am sensing a deep desire to see our church intercessors move more fully into the presence and glory of God.  I also desire this for our small groups and small group leaders.

But isn’t God everywhere?  True, He is.   Theologians call this “God’s omnipresence” (omni is Latin for everywhere). King David expressed his awareness of God’s omnipresence like this ( Psalm 139:7-10 ),

Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?

If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,

even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.

However, I believe that David wasn’t just stating an abstract theological truth, he was communicating an experience.  In other words, David didn’t just believe intellectually that God was present everywhere; He consciously sensed God’s presence everywhere.

Powerful experiences of the presence of God are not new.   There are many examples of this in the Bible.  Here are just a few :

  • Moses and the bush that was burning but was not consumed
  • Elijah and the fire from heaven on Mount Carmel
  • Elijah and the still small voice in which he sensed the presence of God
  • Healing miracles at the command of Jesus
  • The Transfiguration of Jesus
  • The outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost
  • Paul’s experience of being caught up to the third heaven
  • John’s experience of the majesty of Jesus described in Revelation chapter 1

Such experiences always result in a sense of awe, wonder and holy fear at the power and holiness of God.

I believe that Jesus Christ is returning sometime in the next generation.  He told us we would not know the day or the hour of his return, but he did say that we can tell the times and seasons, and he left us many signs which are being fulfilled in our day.  The people of God will be tested as never before, and there will be intense persecution.  Many will fall away before the Lord returns, but there will also be greater revelations of God’s glory than ever before, as the glorious bride (the believing, enduring church) is prepared for her bridegroom (Jesus).

If this is correct, then it is more important than ever that we learn to endure.  The shallow, soft, me-centred Christianity of much of the North American church will not stand the test.  Only a church that has learned to be intimate with the Lord will be able to stand and thrive in the Last Days.

We are made for intimacy with God and He delights to respond to our hunger for Him.  I want to see the glory of God revealed in greater measure.  We all go through many little tests in our lives.  How we respond to these little tests is an indicator of how we will do when the big tests come.  Will we be paralyzed with fear or will we confidently lift our heads, knowing that our redemption is near?  I want to be among those who are confident in God because I know Him intimately and have learned to feed on every word of His mouth and to drink of the living water of His Spirit.  I want that for you too.

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Intimacy with God, Reflections on Life

Reflections from Minnesota – Day 4

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Last night I was privileged to participate in a two-hour prayer watch at the BHOP Prayer Room.  It was a wonderful experience — both refreshing and challenging.  I soon found myself hearing easily from God in this atmosphere of worship and spiritual intimacy.  This increases my hunger to see an increased flow of intimacy and spiritual power in the intercessory ministry at my home church.

BHOP is part of a global prayer movement that is committed to the establishment of night and day prayer in every region of the globe, in preparation for an end-time harvest and the return of Jesus as King.  I am so glad that Simeon is involved in this ministry.  He seems to have found his place and his calling, at least for this season.  It is good to see him growing as a worshipper, prayer leader and student of the Word.

So many prayers have been answered, and so many doors have opened for Simeon and Heather (not without obstacles and opposition – but then nothing of value happens without opposition).  It is good to be able to see Simeon and Heather coming into their own ministry and calling.  It is good to see them involved in something that I can believe in without reservation.  It is good to be able to learn from what God is working in my children.  I am more convinced than ever that they are where they belong.

Marion and I know how much of a blessing our parents were to our children, and we want to bless our grandchildren with good memories and lots of love and encouragement.  Since we won’t be able to see Sophie often, we want to plan for special family events that she will look forward to and remember.  One step we are taking is to make plans for an annual summer getaway in either Upper Michigan or Northern Ontario – somewhere approximately midway between Ottawa and Bloomington.

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Faith and Relationships, Intimacy with God, Reflections on Life

Learning to listen

The other day at work I was listening to a conversation at coffee break.   The conversation was about sentencing for people who do Internet kiddie porn.  One of my workmates made the comment that if someone is sick enough to do kiddie porn, they could probably never get better.

I wanted to say “That’s not true – Jesus can heal anyone”.  Instead, I just stayed silent and listened.  I listened to my workmates – but I forgot to listen to the Holy Spirit.

Why didn’t I say anything?  Because I couldn’t see a way to jump into the conversation with a faith perspective without sounding forced or unnatural.  I didn’t want to preach to them – I wanted to share with them.  After all, I have to work with these people.  My goal is to share my faith with them in a natural way that leaves doors open for future conversation.

This morning I woke up and realized what was wrong with this picture.   Very simple – I was relying on my own ability to say the right thing, rather than being led by the Holy Spirit.   At that particular moment, I was more conscious of my own inability than of God’s ability – so I said nothing.

In an atmosphere of skepticism such as we probably find in most Canadian workplaces, it is easy to lose sight of God’s presence and power.  This little event reminds me of how important it is for me to listen to the Holy Spirit every day, in every situation, then learn to do what He shows me.   I understand this but I still need to keep training myself to practise it every day.  I need to keep fresh in worship and prayer every day so that my faith is built up and I am able to hear from God and see His perspective – so that I have fresh bread to share with people who are hungry for hope.

God, give me another opportunity like this one – and help me to be led by Your Spirit in how I respond!

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Intimacy with God, Reflections on Life

Affecting genetics through prayer?

A recent National Post article reports on groundbreaking research at McGill University.   The research seems to show that physical and emotional abuse in childhood can alter the genetic code of a child.  The same team has previously done other research supporting the idea that life experience can affect and alter the genes that we inherit from our parents.

While this underscores the depth of the devastation that can be caused by abuse, it also gives us concrete evidence in support of a biblical belief system.  If genes are affected by life experience, we have a clue as to how a very important spiritual principle operates on  human biology.  We see patterns of sin becoming part of a family’s inheritance – the sins of the fathers literally being visited upon the children in their genetic code.

Although this is significant, I’m far more intrigued by the positive implications of this research.  If there is an interplay between our life experience and our genes, it ought to work on both the positive and the negative side of the ledger. The insights provided by this study help us to envisage a mechanism whereby the grace of God can affect our concrete life experience.   We don’t need scientific proof that the prayer of faith is powerfully effective – generations of praying believers have known it to be so – but I find it exciting when science provides supporting evidence of how the realm of emotions and relationships affects the systems that govern our physical health.   If negative experiences can affect our genetic makeup, setting us up for misery and suffering, why can’t an atmosphere of faith, hope and love affect our genetic makeup as well, setting us up for vibrant wellbeing?

Of course, faith doesn’t depend on scientific proofs – but in a scientifically-oriented age, this research supports the faith perspective that our genetic code is not our predetermined fate; it is just what we start life with.  The article cited above mentions other research by the same team supporting the idea that positive experiences can also affect our genetic code.  Believers in Jesus know that His redeeming power affects every area of life, and that we are children of destiny, not fate.  As we respond in faith to the call of God, it is possible that even our genetic code – once thought by science to be a sort of predetermined fate – can be transformed.   This may offer new insight into how prayers of generational healing and blessing might operate on a physical level.

History records that during the Healing Rooms ministry of John G. Lake, the US Government declared the city of Spokane, Washington to be the healthiest city in the nation.   The Acts of the Apostles similarly report that during an early period of vibrant faith, when more and more people in Jerusalem were turning to the Lord, crowds gathered in the city as people from all the surrounding towns brought their sick, and all of them were healed.

Can it be so where you and I live?  I see no reason why not.  But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?

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Apologetics, Faith and Relationships, Intimacy with God, Reflections on Life

Asking the right questions about prayer

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Marion and I are part of a small group that has been doing a study of the latest book by Philip Yancey.  It’s a look at the activity of prayer, and asks the question “Does prayer make any difference?”  I’ve been finding this study both rewarding and frustrating.  Rewarding because at times Yancey raises some very pertinent and challenging points.  Frustrating because I often find that he is asking the wrong question about prayer.

To adapt an old analogy by Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse, asking whether prayer “works” is like asking whether withdrawing funds from a bank “works”.   It works if  the funds are drawn on an account to which you have legitimate access and a big enough line of credit to handle your request!  Cynics would argue that it also works if you successfully practice identity theft – but that’s where the analogy breaks down, because God is smart enough not to get fooled by identity theft in prayer.  With God, you can’t draw on someone else’s account – unless, of course, the account you are drawing on belongs to Jesus.  If you have surrendered your life to Jesus, then his account becomes your account – and his account has an unlimited line of credit!

So if Yancey is asking the wrong question – although admittedly a very common one – what would be the right question?  I’d like to suggest that a better question is not “does prayer work” but “how does it work”.  I won’t try to give a complete answer to that question here, but I’d like to suggest that a large part of our problem with prayer is a problem of perspective.   To be fair, Yancey does address this point in his book, quite helpfully at times, but I still come away feeling that his personal struggles with prayer have injected a heavy dose of skepticism, so that we end up with a very mixed picture.

Yancey suggests that even Jesus had the experience of unanswered prayer.  I beg to differ.  Jesus did pray some prayers that have not yet received their answer in full, but His relationship with the Father was so intimate that He was able to say I know that you always hear me.  That doesn’t sound like unanswered prayer to me.   Jesus understood the Father’s heart and only did what He saw the Father doing.  Even in his most agonizing prayer, when struggling with His upcoming sacrifice, He ended up in a place of surrender and trust.  Not only that, He made it abundantly clear to His disciples that the reason for His struggle was so that they would be able to come to the Father with complete confidence and know that their prayers were always heard.

So although I, too, struggle with prayer at times, I am fully convinced that the problem is on my end, not on God’s.   If we prayed with more of Jesus’ perspective we would find prayer far more consistently satisfying and fruitful.  I know this to be true both from Scripture and from experience – my own experience, and that of countless others who have learned to base their prayer life on Jesus’ relationship with the Father.

So what do I mean by praying with Jesus’ perspective ?   Here are some keys.

  • Jesus was completely confident in His Father’s goodness and assumed that His Father’s will is always good
  • Jesus prayed with confident access to the Father.  The one exception was his cry from the cross – My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? – but the whole point of his undergoing that experience of rejection by God was so that we wouldn’t have to
  • Jesus understood spiritual warfare and knew that there is no neutral ground
  • Jesus consistently listened to the Father’s voice and rejected the Enemy’s enticements – which of course is only possible if you are intimate enough with God and His word to know the difference.
  • Jesus understood that the prayers which consistently get answered are prayers that are aligned with God’s purpose which is to overthrow the Kingdom of Darkness and establish the Father’s Kingdom
  • Jesus’ own will was completely aligned with His Father’s will
  • Jesus understood perseverance and knew that victory comes to those who don’t quit
  • Jesus taught and modelled the unity of believers and the prayer of agreement

You may say “yes, but that was Jesus – surely we can’t be expected to pray like He did?”  Well – that’s not what Jesus said!  He fully expected that we would be able to do His works.   I’ve seen glimpses of this at times – not the full picture, but enough to convince me that His promise is real.  I believe with all my heart that before Jesus returns, there will be a church that prays with all the authority and faith of Jesus and the apostles – and with similar effects.   I want to be a part of that end-time prayer movement that shakes kingdoms and sees the Father’s will established on earth!  How about you?

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