THE ANATOMY OF PRAYER

THE ANATOMY OF PRAYER

                When it comes to Bible study and prayer, God most definitely wanted us to use our imaginations. Jesus taught us the principles of His kingdom in parables and stories, lost coins, lost sheep, lost sons, seeds and soil… Jesus taught in word pictures so as to engage our imaginations. He wanted us not only to know the facts, but to experience truth. That which we learn we often forget, but that which we experience will stay with us for a lifetime.

                Truth in the Old Testament was given in types and shadows, visual aids that would plant the foundations of salvation deep within their hearts and the heart is best reached by imagination. We can only experience that which we can picture and since God’s kingdom is spiritual and invisible to us, imagination is the only way that we can picture it.

                The tabernacle of Moses stands as one of those arch-types of truth and God designed it in such a way that it provides an almost infinite array of patterns for us to follow. It provides for us a picture of God as a triune being. It pictures for us Jesus Christ in His incarnation…heaven in its three levels of paradise, the city and the throne of God. It pictures for us heaven and earth with earth being the outer court and the third heaven being the Most Holy Place of God’s abode. It even shows us how Satan took over the 2^nd heaven as the prince of the power of the air. And since the middle compartment also represents man’s soul, it shows us how we lost communion with God in the fall and how our spirit (The Most Holy Place) died leaving us with no way back to God. Thus it demonstrates for us the triune nature of man as body, soul and spirit and what our High Priest must do in reconciling us to God and re-planting His Spirit in us when we are born again.

                The tabernacle demonstrates for us the plan of salvation through the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, the cleansing water of the Word, the laver, our mental relationship with God through the Word, the Holy Spirit and prayer and the faith by which we can boldly enter within the veil through the High Priesthood of Christ. Each of these visual aids invites us to use our imagination in order to meditate upon the great truths of our salvation and our relationship with God.

                The word “Image” is closely related to imagination. The pagans, for instance, thought that they needed to create images by which to imagine their gods, but God wanted nothing to do with things made with human hands. He is much bigger than this. Idols kept them earth-bound and worshipping demons rather than reaching out by faith to the true God of heaven.

                God chose to represent Himself and our relationship to Him in the sanctuary so that we would have a true picture of the truth as it is in Jesus.

                God also gave us the tabernacle as picturing the anatomy of prayer. First of all we can only come to God through the blood of the Lamb. This is why the lamb was sacrificed at the outer gate of the tabernacle. We should always begin our prayers by confessing our sins and being washed in the blood of the Lamb. That is our first and only access to God.

                Second we must offer our bodies as a living sacrifice to God. Nothing short of full surrender to Him will gain us entrance before the throne. Here we offer our imaginations to be sanctified by God. Here we sacrifice our to do list, our wandering minds and the evil that can so easily creep into our minds even when we are praying…maybe even especially when we are praying.

                In Genesis 6:5 it tells us that every imagination of men’s hearts was only evil continually and God was sad that He had even created the human race. So, if we are to use our imaginations for godly things then they must be sanctified by God so that those things which we imagine are guided by His Holy Spirit and not by our flesh.

                Notice if you will that the outer court of the temple had no roof over it. This tells us that nature provides an entry level experience of worship, of thanksgiving and praise. The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows for His handiwork. All of nature cries out that God loves us and that He created beauty and wonder for us to behold. Even pagans were held accountable to God for His attributes are clearly manifested in that which He has made.

                We enter His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. Even on the basis of nature itself, we have much for which to be thankful. Every bird and flower and tree… every river, lake and stream… every mountain and peaceful valley speaks to us of His love, His power and yes, His imagination in conceiving of all that we see from His own infinite mind. Therefore even on the physical level, in stewardship of our bodies and our world we show thankfulness to God.

                Now as we enter the first veil, we enter the realm of the soul or mind. Having our conscience made clean by the blood of the Lamb and by the washing and renewing of our minds, we may now have fellowship with God through His Word as lighted by the Holy Spirit and prayer.

                Notice, if you will that the only source of light in this room comes from the Menorah. It is a man made light that burns with the oil of the Holy Spirit. WE are people of flesh, but our minds can be illumined by the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit lighting our minds, the room is completely dark. The word is there, but we can’t see it. Only the Holy Spirit can give the kind of understanding that transforms us. Even our intellect without the Holy Spirit will cause us to read a dead Bible. It is the Holy Spirit that breathes life into God’s Word and into our minds as we read it.

                The table of Shewbread is called in exodus 25:30 the bread of His presence. The Word of God when lighted by His Holy Spirit contains the very presence of God and we can partake of this bread of heaven and be satisfied. But this was as far as they could go in the Old Covenant times. The book of Hebrews tells us that the way into the Most Holy Place was not available while the first tabernacle was still standing...

                Hebrews 9:8, 9 tells us saying: “The Holy Spirit is signifying for the time then present that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed while the outer tabernacle was still standing, which is a symbol for the time then present according to which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshipper perfect in conscience.   That is to say that in Old Testament times the blood of animals could not gain them entrance into the Most Holy Place (which represents our spirit) because only the blood of Jesus could do that. Only the New Birth can give us a new spirit.

                This is why Jesus said to His disciples in John 14:17 that the Holy Spirit was WITH them, but would be IN them after His death and resurrection and the consequent outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

                Thus Jesus has made it possible not only to study and pray and to have a mental faith relationship with Him, but through the New Covenant we can now enter within the veil into the Most Holy Place and speak with God spirit to Spirit.

                I had a friend once confide in me that he didn’t put much faith in the book of Hebrews. He said that it was full of mistakes; the most glaring one being that the writer didn’t even know which compartment of the temple the altar of incense was in, for he shows it being in the Most Holy Place which it was not.

                I didn’t have an immediate answer for him, but I brought the matter up before the Holy Spirit to give me an answer and one day as I was meditating on this very subject in prayer, the answer came to me like a Holy Spirit epiphany. There are at least two reasons why the writer of Hebrews placed the altar of incense in the Most Holy Place when writing about the Melchizedek Priesthood of Christ. There are no accidents with God and where   things that don’t make sense to us; there is usually a deeper lesson to be learned.

1.       The veil between the Holy and Most Holy places was torn in two from top to bottom at Christ’s death so that in Him, the two rooms become one.

2.       When we are born again, the Lord places a new spirit within us. Our third compartment is now alive and not dead. As such we are instructed to pray in the Spirit. We can do something that Old Testament people could not do. Our spirit is alive and so we can worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. In other words the ability to pray in the spirit is a gift of the Holy Spirit and we are instructed to pray in the spirit at all times and to sing in the spirit. So praying in the spirit places our altar of incense within the veil in the Most Holy Place, the realm of the Spirit.

                Actually, as Christians we are to pray in the spirit and with the mind, to sing with the spirit and with the mind as well. This we can do because the spirit and the soul are both reconciled to God through the cross and God has placed His new creation spirit in us. (The one that Adam lost in the fall.)

`               This is one of the great mysteries that Paul deals with for he says that when we pray in tongues our mind is not fruitful simply because we can’t understand what we are saying. That is why he tells us to pray with the spirit and also with the mind. Well, then some will ask why do we bother to pray in the spirit at all? For this Paul explains that when we pray in a tongue our spirit is edified, built up.

                This is why our prayer and worship must include both. Notice by review if you will that in the outer court God is revealed by that which He has created… that which we can see. Then in the Holy Place, we relate to God mentally as guided by the Holy Spirit. But in the Most Holy Place there is absolutely no source of light other than God Himself. In the Most Holy place we can worship God spirit to Spirit and the language of the Spirit is not known to the intellectual mind, nevertheless our spirit is built up continually in His presence so that we can live by the spirit and not by the flesh. If our spirit is weak, then our flesh will be strong, but if our spirit is strong then our flesh will be made weak.

                We offer our flesh upon the altar of sacrifice in order that we can live by His Spirit. We also lay our own will upon the altar for we are no longer going to live by our own will, but by His will. This is the process of enthroning God as King and Lord upon the throne of our hearts and this is the only posture by which we can come before the throne of Almighty God, our King.

                Prayers that are offered half-heartedly with no intention of obedience and service will never make it within the veil. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. We are addressing the King of the Universe through the precious blood of Jesus. We have laid down our own will in favor of His will. We have invited Him to live in us and to be the source of our new life. We must pray as we are covered by the blood of Jesus and dressed in His robe of righteousness and then we must pray in the spirit for only the Spirit knows what we should pray. We have no righteousness of our own. Jesus is our righteousness. We come to God on the basis of who Jesus is and not who we are.

                 All of this may seem complex, but think of it this way. Instead of going through life blinded by your cares and concerns, take notice of the beauty around you. When you see God’s handiwork in nature, give thanks. When you see His presence in the kindness of others, give thanks. Come to Him in the simplicity of a child. Offer yourself to Him and ask that His precious blood cover your sins and that His Word will wash you and transform you by His Holy Spirit. Come to the altar of incense before the veil. Ask the Holy Spirit to pray for you. Ask that you may have access into the presence of God through the righteousness of Christ. Ask The Lord to teach you how to live by His Spirit rather than by the flesh. Tell Him that above all you want to bear the fruit of His Holy Spirit so that your life will be a sweet smelling savor before Him.

                We spend so much time praying about lesser things… our wish lists, our finances, our difficult decisions. All of these things the Lord already knows even before we ask. What He really craves is our fellowship, our communion, our oneness with Him. Then our God will supply all of our needs according to His riches in glory. If we can learn how to live and walk in the spirit all things will work together for good for those who are called according to His purpose. Ask rather to fulfill His purpose in your life and the rest will be added.

                Pray for others. Pray for your children. Pray for our nation. Pray for our leaders. Pray that God’s will be done on earth even as it is in heaven. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem as the word has instructed us to do. Here in the Most Holy Place God is not far off. We are seated with Him… looking out at the world through His eyes...praying in agreement with Him concerning the affairs of this world. We are not slaves, but sons and daughters seated with our Father in heavenly places. In prayer we are learning how to co-reign with Him. In this place we have authority over all the works of the enemy… to bring them to naught in our lives.

                We can pray without ceasing. In the spirit we dwell in the timelessness of God’s realm. There is no rushing here… no emergencies, for God knows the end from the beginning. Learn to walk with Him in the spirit and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.