Intimacy With The Most High – Archbishop Dr Goddy Okafor – Psalms 47:2, For the LORD most high is terrible; he is a great King over all the earth.
Psalms 57:2, I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth all things for me. Psalms 57:2-3 ERV, “I pray to God Most High for help, and he takes care of me completely! From heaven he helps me and saves me. He will punish the one who attacks me. Selah God will remain loyal to me and send his love to protect me.”
You are strong and powerful by depending and communicating with God. God gives the life we live on this earth meaning and purpose and makes it worth living. With Him we would be able to make a difference that would out live us even after we have left the earth. However, we need to try to find tiny things to hold on to, so that we can continue living for the Lord.
The recognition of a higher power is the beginning of living a higher life. You cannot be a higher flier without being in connection with the Most High God. Prayer is the very thing that reminds God of his commitment to take care of you. In prayer we remind Him His promises.
Isaiah 43:26, Put me in remembrance: let us plead together: declare thou, that thou mayest be justified. The essence of prayer does not consist in asking God for something but in opening our hearts to God, in speaking with Him, and living with Him in perpetual communion. Prayer is the distinguishing feature of a Christian. “If thou art not a praying person, thou art not a christian” -Bunyan
The first view given of God in the Lord’s Prayer is not His majesty but His paternal love. To the listening disciples this must have been a strange expression from the lips of their Lord as a pattern for them. Never had Jewish ear heard God so named, at least in His relation to the individual. He was never addressed as a father. Jesus was criticized for calling God His father.
John 5:18, Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God. Luke 11:2, And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.
“Our Father” lifts each of us at once out of ourselves and circumstances and drops us at the throne of grace. Where we are automatically made members one of the household of Our Father God. Before the throne burdens are lifted and crushed. “Have you any days of fasting and prayer? Storm the throne of grace and persevere therein, and mercy will come down.” John Wesley
“Perhaps you will have to spend hours on your knees or upon your face before the throne. Never mind. Wait. God will do great things for you if you will wait for Him. Yield to Him. Cooperate with Him.” John Smith. A. B. Simpson, in his book, “The Life of Prayer” said, “The Name “Father” expresses the most personal and tender love, protection, care, and intimacy; and it gives to prayer, at the very outset, the beautiful atmosphere of the home circle and the delightful affectionate and intimate fellowship of friend with friend”.
Awesomely, prayer is not asking God for bread and butter, but union with divinity, God and man yoked together for a common purpose. The true spirit of prayer does not consist in asking for blessings, but in receiving Him who is the giver of all blessings, and in living a life of fellowship with Him. Therefore, Prayer is the desire to possess God Himself, the Source of all life.
“There is no exercise in which the differences of Christians melt away as when their hearts meet together in the unity of prayer, and there is no remedy for the divisions of Christianity but to come closer to the Father, and then, perforce, we shall be in touch with each other — A. B. Simpson,
From the house of prayer comes Divine wisdom, power and glory by which we wage war against evil forces. Therefore, prayer is more than asking for things. We need to enjoy it. When men make prayer a painful occupation, it becomes boring, dry, colorless, tiresome and exhausting after five, ten, thirty minutes or an hour.
God will always answer and rewards with much much more! Ephesians 3:20 ERV, “With God’s power working in us, he can do much, much more than anything we can ask or think of.” Ephesians 3:20 AMPC, “Now to Him Who, by (in consequence of) the [action of His] power that is at work within us, is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly, far over and above all that we [dare] ask or think [infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams]–”
2 Thes. 3:1-3, Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you: And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith. But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.
Prayer is not a painful effort to gain from God help in the varying needs of our lives, it our only link to the heart and store house of Christ. “ALSO [Jesus] told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not to turn coward (faint, lose heart, and give up).” Luke 18:1 AMPC
