TRUE PRAYER ~ ENCOUNTERING GOD, NOT FANTASIES
Summary
TLDRThe transcript emphasizes the necessity of genuine prayer, which requires setting aside our preconceived notions and fantasies about God. It discusses the importance of humility and recognizing our distance from God's holiness. The script highlights the transformative power of prayer, where the humble heart finds renewal and eternal life, while pride leads to spiritual darkness. It calls for a willingness to let go of the 'old man' within us, to embrace vulnerability and change, and to demonstrate our desire for healing through obedience and love.
Takeaways
- π To truly pray, one must set aside all fantasies and preconceptions about God, as these can create a barrier between us and the reality of God's presence.
- π A marriage thrives when both partners are willing to recognize and love the truth of the other, rather than clinging to romantic fictions.
- π Drawing closer to God involves facing not only the beauty and glory of God but also the painful reality of how far we are from Him.
- π The condition of our heart in prayer determines whether we will truly know God, with humility being key to receiving His grace and presence.
- π Pride is a major obstacle to knowing God, as it fills us with lies, deceives us, and blinds us to God's holiness.
- ποΈ Humility in prayer is essential for renewal and eternal life, while a proud heart falls deeper into darkness.
- π The lives of the Saints demonstrate an intimacy in prayer, showing great humility before God and recognizing their sinfulness in contrast to His holiness.
- π Prayer is a serious matter, confronting us with life and death, and requiring a humble heart for renewal and eternal life.
- π To encounter the Living God, one must be willing to let go of the 'old man' within, which can be painful but necessary for spiritual growth.
- π± Answering Christ's call to be healed requires more than words; it involves demonstrating obedience, love, forgiveness, and resistance to temptation in our daily lives.
Q & A
What is the primary barrier to truly knowing God according to the script?
-The primary barrier to truly knowing God is the fantasies and imaginations we have about God, which stand between us and the reality of God's presence.
How does the script relate the concept of marriage to our relationship with God?
-The script suggests that just as a marriage thrives when both partners recognize and love the truth of the other, our relationship with God thrives when we encounter the Living God as He is, not as we imagine or want Him to be.
What does the script say about the role of pride in our relationship with God?
-The script states that pride prevents us from truly entering the presence of God. Pride fills us with lies, deceives us, and blinds us to God's holiness.
How does the script describe the process of drawing closer to God?
-Drawing closer to God involves facing both the beauty and glory of God and the painful reality of how far we are from Him. It requires humility and the willingness to let go of our fantasies about God.
What does the script imply about the nature of prayer?
-The script implies that prayer is a serious and important matter that confronts us with life and death, requiring humility and a willingness to change and face the truth about ourselves.
How does the script discuss the concept of sinfulness in relation to God?
-The script discusses sinfulness as a barrier to God's presence, but also emphasizes that God is willing and able to overcome our sinfulness through His continuous offer of intimacy and grace.
What is the significance of the 'old man' in the script's discussion on prayer?
-The 'old man' represents the old self that must die in prayer. It symbolizes the need to let go of our old ways and be vulnerable to change in order to enter deeply into the presence of God.
How does the script encourage us to approach prayer?
-The script encourages us to approach prayer with humility, recognizing our sinfulness and our need for God's grace, and to demonstrate our desire for change through obedience to Christ's commands.
What does the script suggest about the role of the Saints in our understanding of prayer?
-The script suggests that the Saints, through their humble prayers, can inspire us to seek more of God. Their understanding of their sinfulness in light of God's holiness helps them draw closer to God.
How does the script view the outcome of prayer for those who approach it with humility?
-The script views the outcome of prayer for the humble as a renewal of the heart and a finding of eternal life, contrasting with the proud heart that falls deeper into darkness.
Outlines
π Encountering the True God in Prayer
This paragraph emphasizes the necessity of setting aside our preconceived notions and fantasies about God to truly know Him. It draws a parallel between a successful marriage and a genuine relationship with God, where both parties must recognize and love the truth of the other. The text also highlights the painful reality of acknowledging our distance from God, which is not merely due to sinfulness but also our hearts' condition. The willingness to face this reality in prayer is crucial, as it leads to a deeper understanding of God's love and holiness. The Saints' humility in prayer, recognizing their sinfulness in contrast to God's holiness, is presented as an example to encourage us to seek a more profound relationship with God. The paragraph concludes by stating that prayer is a life-and-death matter, where a humble heart finds eternal life, while a proud heart falls into darkness.
π‘οΈ Overcoming Pride in Prayer
The second paragraph delves into the destructive nature of pride, which fills us with lies and blinds us to God's holiness. Pride is depicted as a barrier that blocks our vision of God's perfection, leading to spiritual death. The text suggests that to truly encounter the Living God in prayer, one must be willing to let go of the 'old man' within, which represents our sinful nature and attachments. This process is often painful, as it involves giving up comfort and reassurance. The paragraph calls for a genuine desire for change, demonstrated not just in words but in actions that align with Christ's commands, such as obedience, love, forgiveness, and resistance to temptation. It concludes by emphasizing the importance of offering our lives to God in prayer, beyond mere words, to see beyond the fantasies and confusion created by our imagination.
Mindmap
Keywords
π‘Prayer
π‘Fantasies
π‘Imagination
π‘Marriage
π‘Union
π‘Sinfulness
π‘Holiness
π‘Humility
π‘Saints
π‘Presence
π‘Change
Highlights
To truly pray, we must set aside our fantasies and imaginations about God to truly know Him.
A long marriage thrives when spouses recognize and love the truth of each other, not romantic fiction.
Drawing closer to God makes us face the beauty, glory, love, and painful reality of our distance from Him.
God continually offers intimacy to overcome our sinfulness, but our separation results from the condition of our hearts.
Humility in prayer allows us to receive God's grace and presence, while pride prevents it.
The Saints demonstrate humility and intimacy in prayer, recognizing their sinfulness in light of God's holiness.
Prayer is a serious matter, confronting us with life and death, and the need for a humble heart.
Pride fills us with lies, deceiving and blinding us to God's holiness and perfection.
To encounter the Living God, the old man within us that once ruled must die, bringing pain and vulnerability.
Prayer often involves putting the old man to death, leaving us vulnerable to change and God's presence.
When Christ asks if we want to be changed or healed, our answer must be demonstrated through obedience and striving to love and forgive.
Our determination to resist temptation and strive for obedience is our answer to Christ's call for healing.
To see beyond fantasies and confusion, we must come to God in prayer with lives offered beyond words.
The Saints' prayers should encourage us to seek more of God through humility and recognizing our need for Him.
Humility grows as we recognize our unworthiness in comparison to God's perfect goodness and love.
God draws the humble closer to Himself, allowing them to receive His grace and presence in prayer.
Transcripts
to truly pray we must set aside all
fantasies that we have about
God set aside everything that our
imagination has conjured up about God
and who God is because these things
stand between us and truly knowing God
these things we create create in our
imagination or a barrier between human
beings and the reality of God's
presence a long marriage will only
Thrive if the man and the woman are
willing to truly recognize and love the
truth of the other
person if one of
the spouses tries to cling to some kind
of romantic fiction about the other
person then there will be no true Union
and the marriage will will
fail and so it is with God we must be
willing
to encounter the Living God as he is not
as we imagine and not even as we want
him to
be but drawing closer to God makes us
face up to not only the the Beauty and
the glory of God the the love he has for
us but also makes us face up to the to
the reality of how far we truly are from
him it is a painful reality that we must
face in prayer how far we have removed
ourselves from God's
presence this distance we place between
ourselves and
God isn't just the result of our
sinfulness
the sinfulness and God's holiness
because God assures us that he is
willing and able to overcome our
sinfulness he continually offers himself
to us he continually offers an
intimacy that can reach the very depths
of who we are beyond our
sinfulness God
continuously cuse us to enter more
deeply into the mystery of Christ
but our separation from God
results from the condition of our
heart whatever sins terrible sins we've
committed in our lives whatever terrible
lives we may have lived it is the
condition of our heart when we come to
God In Prayer that determines whether we
will truly know
God
and if we stand before God in humility
he will receive
us but if our hearts are tainted with
pride we cannot know
God Pride will prevent us from truly
entering the presence of
God in the lives of the Saints we
see an intimacy in prayer when we read
the
words of the prayers of the Saints they
should encourage us to seek more of God
because in their words of prayer we we
immediately
recognize the great humility they have
before
God the
Saints understand their sinfulness not
because they they wallow in guilt but
because they they truly see and
understand how different they
are to the Holiness of God they they
recognize his perfect goodness his love
and how unlike they are to all of
this and in recognizing
this their humility grows and in this
condition God draws them closer to
himself because in humility they are
able to receive him receive his grace
receive his
presence prayer is such a an important
and serious
matter because every time we turn to God
In
Prayer we're confronted with life and
death every time we pray we are
confronted with life and death The
Humble heart in prayer is renewed it
finds
life eternal
life while of course the proud
heart only Falls deeper into darkness
because the the proud heart is
truly refusing to see the truth of
God
Pride fills us with
lies Pride deceives
us Pride blinds us to God and God's
holiness and so
Pride builds walls of falsehood between
us and
God walls that truly shut out the
vision of God's
Perfection and there is another death
that we must face when we come to prayer
and if we truly want to encounter the
Living
God the old man who once ruled over us
must
die he must be put to death
this is why prayer is often so painful
brings pain of
heart because the old man clings to us
and we cling to
him the pleasures the sensations the
feelings that the old man has brought to
us can be a great comfort a
reassurance and it leaves us vulnerable
to put the old man to
death but we have to be willing to be
vulnerable to the change God
brings if we are to enter deeply into
the presence of God In
Prayer when Christ asks us do you want
to be
changed like the man at the pool do you
want to be
changed our answer mustn't be just
words it mustn't give excuses or even
just simply plead in
words if we want wholeness if we want
healing if we want eternal
life when Christ says do you want to be
healed we must show our answer in more
than
words we must we must demonstrate our
answer in the way we strive to be
obedient to Christ's
commands in our struggle to love and
forgive each other our our struggle our
determination to resist
temptation this is our answer when
Christ says do you want to be healed
then show me let me see this he says to
us and only when we come to God In
Prayer with lives that are are offered
to him beyond
words can we ever hope to see
beyond the fantasies and the
confusion that our imagination
creates and it is truly a barrier
between us and the truth of God
to for
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