Don’t compare your journey with others. Don’t measure your progress by the crowd. Let your heart lead you in fervent pursuit to know and serve God with every ounce of your being.
TRANSCRIPT
Please note: this transcript is auto-generated so forgive any (or many) errors 😲 – click the timestamps to play that section directly in the audio.
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I want to share some thoughts from one of my all time favourite verses when it comes to the subject of prayer. And today I really want to talk about how you have a calling that spans an entire spectrum of engagement with God. You know, you’ve you’ve had you’ve made entrance into his family. You have been brought into the very centre of his affections, but you’ve also been connected in a vital, powerful way to his kingdom. And both of these wings of ministry must really be exercised to fully enjoy the benefits that prayer can give you.
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And I think that these are best described in the amplified Bible, one Corinthians, one verse nine. It says, God is faithful, reliable, trustworthy, and therefore ever true to his promise and he can be depended upon by him. You were called into companionship and participation with his son. Jesus Christ, our Lord. That’s one Corinthians one verse nine in the amplified Bible. You know, and what I love about this is it says that you have been called into companionship on one side and participation with his son.
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Jesus Christ. Two sides of this this one that we call prayer. Companionship is really friendship with God. Psalm 25, verse 14, Psalm 25 is just like such a ritual of revelation. But it says in the amplified Bible, the secret of the sweet, satisfying companionship of the Lord have they who fear, revere and worship him. So if you’re looking for some sweet, satisfying companionship with God, you know that you’re going to find it in that place.
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You have truly fearing, revering and worshipping him. And the best place to do that, my dear friends, is in the place of prayer. You know, it really is about seeking his face and experiencing the heart of the kingdom. And then you’ve got this other side of prayer, this partnership side participation with Jesus, participation with the Godhead. And this is really the business of the kingdom. Partnering with God in his purpose is seeking maybe not his face, but his hand in the affairs of men looking to see his power released in the realms that we are presently responsible to operate in and to influence.
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You know, I say companionship and participation, and we’re called to both of these. It’s like the dual role of a servant and a son or daughter. You know, we have this companionship, this wonderful son ship. And on the other side of that, we have a kind of servanthood or partnership, an engagement where we serve together with God to see his purpose is established in the earth. And like any like any friendship, you know, the companionship side of things takes time to deepen and to develop.
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Time really is the currency of intimacy. And if we want to know God in this way, we really do. Honestly, there is no way around it. You have to reserve hours with that end in mind. And then on the on the participation side of things. Like any business. Yeah. Like any skill that we seek to operate in, it requires it’s going to require skill. You know, we’re going to have to learn how certain things work.
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We’re going to have to learn how certain principles operate so we can then operate effectively. We need to practise prayer, hone our sensitivity and equip ourself with spiritual technologies and techniques to better serve the purposes and the assignments that have been given to us. You know, we can come in to to accomplish something in the spirit world, but really, we need a full tool belt. You know, we can’t just come in with one kind of prayer, one manner of of working in that realm because different jobs require different tools.
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How will we know when to move into the the kind of the prayer of repentance, for example, as opposed to the prayer of faith? How will we. Went to declare and when to stay silent, these are the different tools that God has placed within our hand, and there are many different kinds of prayer that the scriptures talk about that is all part of this participatory side of prayer in the kingdom. And so, you know, but unlike natural things, you know, oftentimes we can fall into the trap of thinking that prayer and spiritual growth is going to happen some other way.
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You know, we think it’s going to happen by some kind of divine accident. There’s something that, you know, that it’s something that we can’t avidly and intentionally pursue or intentionally promote. But that is not true. You know, too many saints sat around waiting for Jesus to wander by and call them out of their present state. But God has given as ushered us into a reality that’s much more exciting and far more empowering. John, chapter one, verse 12, says, as many has received him, he gave them power and authority to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.
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And I just love this. This is from the King James version. He gave them power or exclusive authority to become the sons of God, were born as children. But really, we become sons. We grow like a natural child and blossom through various stages of maturity. We are able, as we grow, to carry greater levels of responsibility and we step into a place where we have a greater understanding of how things work and how they operate. That’s the way it should be.
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That’s the way it should be for a natural child as they grow through the stages of life into adulthood. And so it should be with us as spiritual children. You know, we’ve been told that we need to grow and develop and become the men, the women, the sons and daughters that God has designed us to be. And John picks up this again in his first letter in Chapter two, saying one, John, Chapter two. Now, we were born as children, but we become sons.
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We move through the stages of maturity. And at John speaks of fathers in the faith, young men and children. Children know they’re forgiven by young men have taken on their shoulders kingdom responsibilities. And he talks about how they know and wields the word of God with proficiency and of and have overcome the wicked one. And then, speaking of fathers and mothers in the faith, they it just it says one thing of them that they know him who is from the beginning, they’ve entered into a depth of fellowship.
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And knowing that really supersedes the roles and responsibilities that we’re talking about here as so powerful. How wonderful to know that we’re not stuck. You know, we’re not waiting for a spiritual bus to arrive and carry us to the next stop on our way to our destination. Your destiny and God places you in the driving seat and you’re free to seek his kingdom with as much or as little fervency as you please. No, there’s no cap that’s been left on your potential.
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No limit that’s been prescribed for how far high or deep you can go. And in that, I just encourage you, don’t compare your journey with others, don’t measure your progress by the crowd. Let your heart lead you in this fervent pursuit to know and to serve God. With every ounce of your being in this wonderful place of prayer, we can know both the companionship, the intimacy and the closeness that we crave and participation, the usefulness and effectiveness in his kingdom purposes.
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That, my friend, is the scope of prayer. And we we’ve only even just scratched the surface of what is possible for you as you begin to seek him. Well, thanks for listening. Hopefully it’s been an encouragement to you today. If you want to connect any further, you can do so through my website at DavidLeemartin.Com. Have a great day.
