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God has a plan for your life. We’ve heard that statement many times, yet how many believers still stumble forward day by day wondering if they are indeed in their Father’s perfect will?

Why does the way of God seem mysterious at times and why is His voice so often overwhelmed and drowned out by the clamour of daily life?

Outward pursuits and religious observances offer no relief for the seeker because they look to please and honour God from the outside in. Noble and holy in appearance, mere duty or restriction cannot open the door to peace and joy.

Yes, we are to be disciplined. After all, to be a disciple is to be a ‘disciplined one’. But the disciplines and delights of holy living are an overflow of inner communion with the Holy God, not the avenue to reach Him.

The Pattern of True Prayer

In the tabernacle in the wilderness, we see a picture so profound that the Lord saw fit to dedicate more chapters to its construction and function than almost any other subject in the Scriptures.

Beginning in Exodus 25, God describes His blueprints for the building of the Tabernacle.

Revealingly, He begins with the Ark of the Covenant, not the outer courts.

The pattern begins with His presence.

I think it unfortunate that we often begin at the opposite end of things, on the threshold of approach in the outer courts. Concerned with the right and wrong way to do things, imposing patterns and prayer rules before we even get started. More aware of the world around us than the hidden place of His presence, we attempt to reach a God who is seemingly far away and shrouded from view and dump our list of requests and requirements on His doorstep.

Our attempts to pray fall flat because we must first be positioned to pray. No flesh can appear before God. All of our efforts come up short because they are the works of the natural man trying to reach a distant deity.

This is religion, not reality.

Bold Humility

The position we need to take is one of humility and boldness. Seeming opposites, humility and boldness in prayer are two sides of the same coin.

Humility recognises your inability to produce any results in your own strength. You come in weakness and genuine need of grace. But the blood on the mercy seat of Heaven invites you to holy confidence, and to approach God without fear.

The Pattern Flows From Presence

Our first introduction to the blueprints for the magnificent place of God’s dwelling begins with the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat.

From here the pattern unfolds.

God’s presence is first and foremost.

Do you have His presence? Seek nothing else until you do.

Here too is the seat of His speaking.

God speaks and His plans unfurl.

Here in the place of hearing prayer is spoken, heard and answered.

There is a tangible and fearfully awesome reality to the words, “Our Father in Heaven”, when they are spoken in the presence of the One whom we address with our supplications.

Instead of cold heartless repetitions, our heart burns within us and prayer becomes a flame licking up from our inner man.

Pray Until You Pray

There is much truth in the statement, pray until you pray.

Prayer is the natural outbreathing of a spirit in the presence of the Father of Spirits.

Prayer begins in and flows from His presence.

This is why we must pray until we sense His presence and leading. Until our awareness of God overshadows our splintered attention and preoccupation with the world. When the fleshly appetites fall away hunger for eternity grips the inner man and prayer is drawn from the deep of our heart, calling to the deep of God. It is a hunger that God’s presence alone can satisfy.

In Exodus 25 I especially love verse 22 from the Amplified translation:

“There I will meet with you and, from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are upon the ark of the Testimony, I will speak intimately with you of all which I will give you in commandment to the Israelites.” (Exodus 25:22 AMP)

God’s pattern, His perfections, and His purposes proceed from His presence.

Intimate Unashamed Fellowship

God’s praying people have an invitation in Christ to come boldly into this intimate, unashamed fellowship.

“For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:15–16 KJV)

What a relief to discover that our bold approach is not based on our own holiness or strength. We come on the basis of Jesus’ perfect sacrifice, first to obtain mercy, then to be empowered by grace!

As New Testament believers this is the pattern we follow. Presence precedes prayer. Awareness of God and His ability comes before any request is ever made.

Don’t come with your arms full of your own plans insisting that He fulfil them. Come instead to His presence and the place of His intimate speaking and let Him determine your direction.

What would you have me ask today, Lord?

Holy Spirit, how would you have me pray?

First, hear.

Then speak.

First presence.

Then prayer.

Two words that should never sit on the same page are “boring” and “prayer”.

Yet for many people, prayer is a drudgery, devoid of power, a religious rigmarole. A box to tick in frustrating efforts to follow Christ stuffed alongside church attendance and Bible reading.

Yet in our hearts, we know it should be so much more. Prayer should provide a vibrant connection of Heaven to earth. We’re convinced that there’s more, but how do we discover the hidden treasures that prayer promises those who choose to pursue?

“Prayer is a spiritual technology, and you need an upgrade.”

Several years ago, I set aside some time to pray, very much in the manner I was used to, and the Holy Ghost stopped me in my tracks. He said, “Prayer is a spiritual technology, and you need an upgrade.”

Immediately, I was curious.

What does “prayer technology” look like and how does it work?

And an upgrade? In what way would an upgrade impact my present level of effectiveness and intimacy in the prayer closet?

Yesterday’s Best

For many years in the natural, I carried around a Blackberry mobile phone device. Remember those? I never bothered upgrading or trading it in. It worked, so why bother complicating things with something different or new?

The device could send messages. It received and made calls without issue. But compared to other modern smartphones, it was basically defunct. I stubbornly held to the device because “it worked”.

Maybe my comparison is limited in scope. I’m still not fussed to have the latest, greatest phone in my pocket. If it does the job it needs to do, I’m content. The point I am making is this, and it’s the point I believe the Holy Ghost was making to me when He spoke to me – we sometimes get stuck using old technologies because they are familiar, but in doing so we rob ourselves of a richer, more colourful, more dynamic experience of God’s ways and His world.

I dare say for many their prayer life feels like the old analogue phone, or maybe a bonfire on a hilltop, rather than an up-to-date all-singing-all-dancing communication device.

It’s very easy in our spiritual walk to stick with the Blackberry or to use a fax machine instead of email. To a degree, they accomplish the same end, only slower and less effectively.

A Workman Not Ashamed

Another way to look at this would be to think about a workman’s tool belt.

A hammer is a technology. If you want to knock a hole in the wall, or drive a nail, it’s perfect for the job. But what if you want to place a screw into some furniture, paint a picture, or carve an intricate design. Swing the hammer all you like, your results are going to be less than satisfactory.

Different jobs need different tools, tools designed to get results.

So it is in prayer.

Often we have experienced a level of success with one form of prayer, so we blindly apply it to every situation.

Pray for the sick? Hammer.

Repent of sin? Hammer?

Seek deeper intimacy with the Lord? Hammer.

Hammer. Hammer. Hammer. Hammer.

Prayer though is not a one-tool track. It’s a deepening journey into the heart of God, one in which He will entrust you with greater and more effective tools the further you walk together with Him.

Paul urged the Ephesians to pray “with all manner of prayer”.

“Pray at all times (on every occasion, in every season) in the Spirit, with all [manner of] prayer and entreaty. To that end keep alert and watch with strong purpose and perseverance, interceding in behalf of all the saints (God’s consecrated people).” (Ephesians 6:18 AMP)

There are different tools and technologies, designed by God to accomplish various outcomes in the spiritual realm.

Progressive Principles

The Holy Ghost wants to equip us for intimacy and for victory.

What worked yesterday will most likely still work today to some degree. Principles are principles. But there’s a difference between a manual screwdriver with one flat head and a power tool screwdriver with many heads and settings.

God can take the foundations you have laid in the secret place and build upon them. Every practice in the private place of prayer can be “souped-up” and injected with fresh revelation and excitement. In some cases maybe even be superseded and replaced.

Maybe like me, you feel it’s time for an upgrade in the prayer closet?

Maybe there’s more to be explored in prayer than we’ve been led to believe?

If your prayer life feels lifeless fear not. The Lord of life has opened a new and living way for you. His blood has paid the price of entrance and wonder awaits beyond the door.

Let’s forever banish boredom from the prayer closet, for the two things do not belong in the same space!

Prayer, The Great Adventure

Prayer is the greatest adventure any man or woman will ever embark upon. Don’t settle for drudgery. Resist the idea that some are called to deep satisfaction but you are consigned to spiritual mediocrity. It is simply not true.

I want to crack open some ideas and practices that have helped me move from hammering away at every challenge I faced, to the much more nuanced and richly satisfying experience I now enjoy behind the prayer closet door.

I have found by allowing the Holy Ghost to challenge my status quo, and to put new technologies into my heart and hand, whole vistas of possibility open up. The majesty of prayer stands before you. There’s so much more to discover and the adventure of intimacy never ends.

Take us deeper, Lord. Make us more powerful in prayer, and more effective in every way.

Equip us with fresh insights so we can upgrade our lives with the technologies of Heaven.

In the course of life, we write many words but not all of them carry the same weight. The shopping list hastily scribbled on a scrap of paper doesn’t measure up to yesterday’s diary entry for example.

But of all those words, what are the most important words you will ever write?

The Most Important 500 Words You Will Ever Write

If you are still breathing, which you are, the most important 500 words you will ever write are the next 500!

With that mindset you will always be ready to sit down and make sure they are delivered to the page. It is way too easy to rest on the laurels of yesterday’s successes, or dream of the misty day when your bestseller will finally hit the shelves.

Neither of these mindsets will lead you where you need to go.

Your value did not dry up when you declared The End on your last project. Nor will it ever be realized if all you have to say remains consigned to noble intentions and to a tomorrow that never comes.

Don’t get caught in the trap of staring at a 100,000 word mountain in your mind and never take the first step. That hill, however big it looms, will be scaled one small 500-word step at a time.

That’s why the only words you need to be concerned with right now are the only ones that matter. The next 500. And as soon as they are on the page, the baton is passed to the next 500, and so on.

Hundreds of books can be written this way. Thousands of mountains conquered, and a legacy body of creative work allowed to impact generations to come that would otherwise go to the grave with the dreamer who never took their first step.

If you believe you have a book in your heart crying to be written start pouring it own the page today.

Sometimes those 500 words will just be the warm up for the real thing. But you’ll never discover the gold without first digging the dirt. Your actions today in the dark unearth the light of your tomorrow.

To open the flow you’ll need to prime the pump with persistence and daily discipline. Set yourself to put at least 500 words down each day, even if they are just the ramblings of a tired mind. With every stroke of the pen or strike of the keys you’ll feel your creative muscles ripple.

Soon, you’ll be looking forward to the adventure of discovering what the most important words you’ve ever written are going to say, and you’ll discover them every single day.

Continuing and concluding our journey through Genesis 26 and on into the tabernacle builders of Exodus, I want to encourage you in your own creative and entrepreneurial pilgrimage.

Last time we looked at Exodus 35:10:

“Every wise hearted among you shall come, and make all that the LORD hath commanded”

An array of artists and artisans harnessed their gifts and in worshipful synchrony brought God’s invisible plans into plain sight.

I believe you can do the same. That God is still today calling gifts and skills into the sanctuary and sending them forth with marching orders to deliver life-changing creations to the world.

Does that mean we’ll all be household names? Hit the billboards and blitz the media? Does successfully using our gifts guarantee an abundant increase in income?

It could be all or none of the above.

The key factor is not the outcome, it’s obedience.

No outcomes are even possible without first steps of obedience being taken.

When God told Isaac to sow in the hard famished ground the outcomes were uncertain. When Israel passed through the Red Sea into an inhospitable desert the future was not crystal clear.

Each had to take their next step in faith, believing God for the increase and provision He promises to those who faithfully follow.

And as we keep taking those steps, the possibilities open up, and hitherto hidden potential is uncorked.

I cannot promise prosperity in the moment, but I can guarantee that every deposit of obedience service you render will not go unpaid. Here or in eternity there will not be one tear left unbottled, one act of grace unnoticed or unrewarded, or one decision to pour your creativity out for the King ignored.

One sows. Another waters. God gives the increase.

Sow bountifully.

Water others with prayer, praise, recognition, correction, and encouragement.

Let the One we honour with our gifts and our giving bring the rewards.

A while ago I wrote a short manifesto for creative Christian marketplace. Ministry. You can download a copy at https://www.davidleemartin.net/manifesto.

The manifesto was originally titled ‘Made To be A Maker’.

You are created in God’s image with creative DNA infused with Christ’s anointing to serve the world.

Reading today I was reminded of my Manifesto and felt impressed to share a few more thoughts to encourage your creative, entrepreneurial journey.

Sanctified Skill

The seedbed of inspiration for me is found in some of the final chapters of Exodus.

One of the most interesting portions is found in the record of building of the tabernacle. God anointed certain people to give tangibility to His designs and purposes through their artisanal skills.

Take these words from Exodus 35:10 for example:

“Every wise hearted among you shall come, and make all that the LORD hath commanded” (Exodus 35:10 KJV)

The wise-hearted come and make, as directed by the Lord.

Here is a directive we can all choose to take hold of.

First Come to God

“And every wise hearted among you shall come.”

Wisdom teaches us that first we come to God to hear His directions.

A person can gain the whole world and lose their own soul. How foolish would it be to become a creative success story and ultimately fall into the inevitable and abysmal end that selfishness leads to?

Your creative destiny is not about you! There’s a bigger picture at play that we are invited to enter into.

The wonderful truth is, like the artisans of old, God calls upon our current learning and skills and sanctifies them toward his habitation and purposes. He inhabits the praises of His people, and your honest service offered through the passionate and purposeful use of your gifts. The skills, expertise, and experiences you have worked to acquire can become something extraordinary when they are consecrated to God.

Your making becomes praise to the Maker.

And Make

“…and make…”

It is wise to make things, to exercise creativity, and apply yourself diligently to creative endeavors. Making is a mirror of the Maker Himself at work in and through you.

Works of service take many forms, and your unique gifts can be used by Him in powerful and profound ways.

Bezaleel and other wise-hearted artisans may not have realized how pivotal their artistic skills were. Even today there’s a danger that a handful of skills are considered sacred whilst others are frowned upon as secular.

Scriptures show however that we can be “filled with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship.”

These men and women brought an array of practical skills designed to bring beauty to the world. They were not preachers or priests in the conventional sense. Yet God’s anointing came upon them and guided their hands just as much as it came upon the Levites in their realm of spiritual service.

The artist’s “making” was a powerful means of service to the King, and to His people.

The Maker’s Blueprint

“all that the LORD hath commanded”

One of the most inspiring lessons the tabernacle can teach us is that God has, and shares with His people, detailed plans.

As a Christian Creative, tuned to the voice of the Creator and the Shepherd of your soul, you too can build according to His plans. Every detail of the tabernacle was intricately communicated.

Today in Christ we are told:

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10 KJV)

Consider carefully how the Master describes your life. Do you think the attention He gave to the design and implementation of the tabernacle is any less than the attention He has lavished upon preparing plans for you?

David understood this wonderful truth when he exclaimed:

“How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!” (Psalm 139:17 KJV)

God has a pathway for you to walk, a purpose for you to fulfil in Christ. It is His design and making, and the wise-hearted will seek it out so they can follow His instructions.

It may not be easy, and the noisy ambitions of the flesh will seek to drown Him out, but the still, small voice still speaks.

“And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.”(Isaiah 30:21 KJV)

Our part as anointed artists and artisans is to listen carefully, and obey fully. It’s the wisest thing to do.