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This is the word of the week from Pastor Dion.

"If you want to know Me, Talk to Me." 

Note: If you cannot make the video fullscreen, then you can click here:  Talk to Me also you can follow Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo.

Talk to Me

“if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJV).

Today I want to talk about the importance of prayer, talking to God. Almost thirty years ago, when I began walking with the Lord in earnest, I read the Bible all the way through and kept a journal of what I had read, and what translation I had read them in. I listened to the Bible all day at work and every sermon that I could get my hands on.

Over time, I gained a lot of information about God, but I did not “know” Him. My prayer life was mostly repetition. I was sincere, and I talked about God all the time, but I just couldn’t seem to talk to Him properly. Because of that, my walk with Him lacked intimacy.

For any relationship to thrive, there has to be good communication. It was years into it before I learned how valuable prayer is. It is what moves heaven to invade earth.

One day I went to church early to prepare for the evening service. I was a deacon and had a key so I unlocked the church door and went inside. We had a traveling evangelist visiting our church that Sunday and he had stayed at the church between the services.

When I walked into the sanctuary, he was dancing all around the room, hands in the air and praising God. He was wearing head phones and had his eyes closed so he didn’t see me. I just watched in a mild shock.

I had never seen someone so in love with Jesus. It reminded me of David dancing before the Lord with all his might. When he finally saw me, he gave me a quick wave and just kept on. I learned there were levels of intimacy that I had been unaware of. He shared later that he was a man of prayer and that if he was allowed to, that he would pray all day. At the time, I couldn’t pray ten minutes.

Jesus never committed a sin, yet He prayed all the time, sometimes all night long. So I set out to learn more. I grabbed a pillow, went into my room, put on some worship music, set an alarm for one hour, and laid on the carpet and poured my heart out to God. I prayed for a while, listened to the music a while, then prayed some more. There were times of crying, laughing, singing, but at the end of an hour, I was convinced. There is nothing like spending quality time with the Lord.

Why do we pray?
* Prayer builds our relationship with Jesus. We get to know Him by talking to Him through out the day.

* It helps us overcome temptation. In the model prayer Jesus told us to pray: “Lead us not into temptation.” In the garden of Gethsemane He told the disciples “Pray that you may not enter into temptation” (Luke 22:40) because there was a trial coming and prayer was the answer.

* Helps us determine God’s will. The night before Jesus chose the twelve apostles, He spent all night in prayer to get their names from the Father.

* Prayer brings the power of heaven into our earthly realm to accomplish the will of God. Jesus told us: “Most assuredly, 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 My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it” (John 14:12–14 NKJV).

* Spiritual Warfare. Prayer is our weapon. Paul wrote: “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints” (Ephesians 6:18 NKJV).

* Spiritual awakening or revival. Every major move of God can be traced back to a group of people somewhere that gathered for prayer. Humility, repentance and persistence opens the heavens above us.

* Our prayers are precious to God and are incense in His throne room. “Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints” (Revelation 5:8 NKJV).

When Jesus was on the cross, He said, “It is finished”, and was soon taken to heaven where He sat down at the right hand of the Father. Jesus has done all that He is going to, until His return.

From here on out, it will be His people on earth working with the Holy Spirit, and the communication is done through prayer.

“On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified” (John 7:37–39 NKJV).

Jesus and the Father are in heaven, while the Holy Spirit is here on earth with us. Jesus told the disciples before He left:

“If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you” (John 14:15–18 NKJV).

Also: “Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you” (John 16:5–7 NKJV).

Jesus promised that when He left, that He would send the Comforter, the Holy Spirit.

Jesus was crucified during the passover feast, resurrected on the feast of “first fruits”, and then ascended to heaven forty days after His resurrection. Nine days later, the Holy Spirit came down. Pentecost is the celebration of the day that the law was given at Mount Sinai. It was fitting for the Lord to send the Holy Spirit on that anniversary, replacing the law of Moses, with grace. God now puts His word inside of us by filling us with His Holy Spirit.

Luke wrote: “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:1–4 NKJV).

This started with 120 people in the upper room, then spread throughout the land. This was the start of the first church, and they added 3,000 people the first day that it began.

Now the Body of Christ, is interconnected, networked together, and filled with His Holy Spirit. God works through His people and that is why His timing is so right on sometimes, when we are flowing in the same stream.

When we were starting this online church, Sylvia and I sat down and calculated that we would need $2,500 to get it online, and that was using an old server that we had in the closet. We didn’t have it, but prayed about it and felt that we should go forward with the idea. So I pulled the server out of the closet and began formatting it, and within thirty minutes someone donated $2,500. It was the exact amount that we needed.

We had a need, we prayed about it, and the Holy Spirit led someone to help us. He lives in us, He lives in them, and we are Interconnected as the body of Christ, networked together. It is people guided by the Holy Spirit, helping each other.

The heart supplies blood to the lungs, but the lungs supply oxygen to the heart. We help meet the needs of others, and others will in turn help meet our needs. Give, and it will be given to You. It kind of makes sense when you think about it.

We are to pray and make our requests known to God and not “assume” that He will just take care of it. Paul wrote: “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 understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6–7 NKJV).

Jabez prayed and God gave him what he asked. “And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” So God granted him what he requested.” (1 Chronicles 4:10 NKJV).

Jesus taught His disciples to pray always and not give up: “Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart” (Luke 18:1 NKJV).

When Job was in the middle of a horrible test, where he had lost all of his children, livestock, and crops. When he took a moment and prayed for his friends, God reversed his situation and gave him double of what he previously had. “And the LORD restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before” (Job 42:10 NKJV).

The Lord is always seeking those that will stand in the gap for others. Ezekiel wrote: “So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one” (Ezekiel 22:30 NKJV).

When God had enough of Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham interceded for them and moved God to spare the city if 50 righteous people were in it, then 45, then 40, 30, 20, 10. Then Abraham stopped. God went as far as a man would ask Him to.

Jesus sometimes spent all night in prayer. Luke wrote: “Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God” (Luke 6:12 NKJV).

Praying is simply talking to God. The more that you do it, the easier that it will become. God invites us to pray and you should make it a part of your life every day. When you pray, take a moment to listen, for sometimes the Lord may speak back. Jesus said “My sheep hear My voice.”

Communication is key to building a strong relationship, and couples that never talk, inevitably drift apart. He is my “Invisible Friend” and I talk to Him throughout the day.