Quiet Times Search

Jesus deeply valued his time alone with God

<strong>Jesus sought out quiet timestrong>
"Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest" - Mark 6:31b
"Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed" - Luke 5:16
Occasional devotions are OK but should never replace our private time with God

<strong>Jesus found a quite placestrong>
"But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father" - Matthew 6:6
If you have no quite place - your relationship will be shallow and limited

<strong>Jesus urged alertnessstrong>
Jesus pleaded with them to be awake and alert in prayer - Mark 14:37-42
Be "clear minded and self-controller" so that we can pray - 1 Peter 4:7

How long? until a sense of peace and closeness with God

How much time in prayer and study? mix it up; our relationship should not become stale

"Remain in me, and I will remain in you" - John 15:4-8

• We are longer slave but sons ans daughters
• We can approach him with confidence because of Jesus

• With Jesus as the high priest,  we can confidence to enter the into the throne room of God
• Can gain a heavenly perspective
• Praise God that his resources there are limitless

• Being holy, set apart, above us
• Prayer is not just asking for something but for honoring Him

• Kingdom has not come to every nation and place nor every person
• Pray for God to open doors, speaking boldly, with wisdom
• Pray for those who server and in leading roles

• God wants us to pray about surrendering to his will
• Challenges is our life must not be avoided but have a surrendered life
• Read some command and ask yourself if you are following them
• <strong>Jesus never asked for strength to go to the cross but only that he might surrenderstrong>
• Besides pride and rebellion, unbelief keeps us from doing God's will

• Bring specific needs to God
• Must depend on God daily for our spiritual and physical needs
• Pray thorough your todo list and details
• Jesus said we could do nothing apart from God - John 15:5

• Lack of confession results in a hardened heart
• We will not mature if do not do this soul searching
• Be specific; ask others for forgiveness if needed
• Extend forgiveness; can not be forgiven by God otherwise

• What are your weaknesses? Have you faced them?
• Draw on God's power before Satan strikes

• Return again to praising and glorifying God
• All power rests in his hand

We can not be close to God in prayer if we deal only in generalities
God indeed wants to answer our prayers - how will we know what God is doing if we pray in generalities?

Abraham - Genesis 18 - prayed to save the city if there were 50, 45, 40, 30, 20, even 10 righteous people

<strong>Our lack of specific praying reveals a distance in our relationship with Godstrong>

• More specific in your gratitude - become more grateful
• More specific in confession - understand the sin you are commiting
• More specific in your requests for friends and family - see how God will work

We "should always pray and not give up" - Luke 18:1

<strong>Disciples who are not close to God are simply not being perisistentstrong>

Examples of persistent prayers:

• Elisha - prayerd 7x before the promised rainfall came down  -1 Kings 18:42-45
• Jesus - returned three time to the garden of Gethsemane to surrender to God's will - Matthew 26:36-FF
• Paul - prayed three times before given an answer he did not want - 2 Corinthians 12:7-9
• Early church - prayed all night for Peter's deliverance - Acts 12:1-17

• Elijah - with his face between his knees (1 Kings 18:42)
• Daniel - knelt in prayer three times a day (Daniel 6:10)
• Peter - knelt in prayer for the life of Tabitha (Acts 9:40)

• Moses - for 40 days (Deuteronomy 9:18, 25)
• Daniel - fell prostrate before the angel Gabriel (Daniel 8:17)
• Jesus - fell on his face in prayer at Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36)

• David - Psalms 28:2, 63:4, 88:9, 119:48, 143:6
• Ezra - Ezra 9:5
• Moses - Exodus 9:29
• Solomon - 1 Kings 8:22

• We always thank God - Colossians 1:3
• Overflowing with thankfulness - Colossians 2:6-7
• And be thankful - Colossians 3:15
• Being watchful and thankful - Colossians 4:2

• Answered prayer
• Blessings of family and friends
• Health
• Material blessings
• Church

• I will sing and make music - Psalms 57:7
• I will sing and make music to the Lord - Psalms 27:6
• Make music to your name - Psalms 92:1
• Extol him with music and song - Psalms 95:2
• I will sing and make music with all my soul - Psalms 108:1
• The Lord is my strength and my song - Psalms 118:14

Loving God is a journey

Father draws us to himself - John 6:44

Father does not change - James 1:17
Hard to understand God when we are so inconsistent

It is OK for a journey to have highs and lows

Why love God?
Why not just obey him?
<strong>Why not just "gut out" our journey with God? Because we are commanded tostrong>

What touches you most about God?

• He never quits
• Always a refuge
• Always will take you back
• He will make sure you know where you are
• Champion of the truth and the underdog
• Tender with the weak and brokenhearted
• Hammer the arrogant and pround
• Never makes a mistake

Despite all the good qualities of God - our relationship with God still takes work

An emotional response (along with fear) that succeed at undermining our love for God

A result of an uncard-for emotional wound

Matthew 18:15-17 - can resolve most issues
Sometimes we are just called on to forgive
Not forgiving is like allowing a physical cut become infected

Examples

• Esau wept bitteryly when he failed to receive the blessing - Genesis 27:34
• Israelites incrediblity harsh and treatment from the Eyptians - Exodus 1:14
• Naomi changed her name to Mara, meaning "bitterness" (losted husband and sons) - Ruth 1:21
• Hannah wept "in bitterness of soul" because of her infertility - 1 Samuel 1:10
• David's men because of the loss of their children - 1 Samuel 30:6
• Job while not understanding the discipline of God - Job 7:11
• Missing the grace of God cause bitter root - Hebrews 12:15
• Envy becomes bitterness - James 3:14

Bitterness will actively oppose any attempt to restore our love for God

Bitter or better - a channel of curses or blessings

Disciples need Jesus' example to overcome the pain of the cross

<strong>Jesus wants us to have his attitude toward sufferingstrong>

• What form do we expect our Christian suffering to take?
• Are we looking for a Christianity that does not involve suffering?

Bible command us to get rid of all bitterness
Two ways to overcome bittereness:

• Forgive - Ephesians 4:32
• Trusting God is at work in all things for our good - Romans 8:28

The other emotional response that undermines our love for God

Perfect love drives our fear - 1 John 4:18
<strong>Fear greatly affects our ability to love; renders lifeless our love for Godstrong>

Fear one of the most powerful and universal tools Satan uses for:

• Keep man from the knowledge of God
• Experience of God's power
• Experience grace in our lives
• Taking our eyes off of God and onto our circumstances and insecurities

There is healthy fear (like fearing God) but unhealthy fear is one that controls us and causes us to turn away from God's direction
Fear is rarely rational

• Why are you so afraid - Matthew 8:26
• Don't be afraid - Matthew 14:27
• Don't be afraid - Matthew 17:7
• Don't be afraid - Matthew 28:10
• Don't be afraid - Mark 5:36
• Don't be afraid - Luke 5:10
• Don't be afraid - Luke 8:50
• Don't be afraid - Luke 12:7
• Don't be afraid - Luke 12:32
• Don't be afraid - John 6:19-20
• Don't be afraid - John 12:15
• Don't be afraid - John 14:27

God understands the destructive nature of fear
He simply commands us to deal with our fears through our relationship with him

• Are Hardworking
  
• Have Persevered
• Are Intolerant of Evil
• Endured persecution

• "We are not compatible anymore"
• "We have both changed"
• Think about an old boyfriend or girlfriend

• Because of Jesus we can be one with Him
• He has not changed
• He is thinking of me, I am I thinking of him?

• Was from the beginning
• We have heard
• We have seen with our eyes
• We proclaim

• The good news that Jesus is the Christ - Acts 5:42
  
• Proclaimed the Christ there - Acts 8:5
• Jesus is the Christ - Acts 9:22
• "This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ" - Acts 17:3
• Testified to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ - Acts 18:1-5

• Who can be against us? No one
• Who will bring any charge against us? No one
• Who is he that condemns? No One

• If you start too fast, you can die
• The most important thing is finishing
• Cannot compare myself to anyone else or I will get thrown off
• I think about walking when I think no one is looking
• Envy people standing on the sidelines
• Finish line seems to literally pull me along

It is good to be reminded of who God the Father is:

1. God's love is unconitional

• Thomas, the douber, was forgiven
• Peter, who deied the Lord, was forgiven
• Paul, killer of Christians, was forgiven

<strong>The only ones who dail to receive forgiveness are the ones who fail  to ask for itstrong>

2. God always comes through

God is faithful, he can not disown himself (2 Timothy 2:13)

3. Nothing is impossible for God

God's power is absolute
He can change anyone and anything
It is never an issue of whether or not God has power, it is if we believe

4. God never makes a mistake

He knows what we can bear - he is always right

Here are some false 'Gods' we can create in our mind:

• He get "attitudes" when we misbehave
• He does not really forgive
• His power is limited to people's choices
• He has no reason to his plan
• He does not always answer prayer; too busy
• He thinks we ask for too much stuff
• He does not want to "over-bless"
• He will bless when you have earned it
• He looks are the results of our performance
• He barely tolerates our presence

<strong>All of these ideas are false, contridict the Bible, and are from Satanstrong>

If this is my "Father", I will have a turbulent relationship with "him"

We must wafe through our fog of experience and except the truth about God

<strong>We can not love a God who is created in our own imagestrong>

God's timing doesn't always make sense to us:

• Sarah - 25 years before blessing her with a son
• Moses - was 80 years old before God
• Joshua - 40 years of preaching outside of Jersalem
• Jesus - 40 days of tempation in the dessert for about 1000 days of ministry

Some of us have bad days, maybe years. How do we return to God?

Our only hope is to believe in his promises more than we believe in our own perceptions

• Spirit was present at creation
• God anoints men with his Spirit
• Spirit credited with giving David the plans for the temple
• Engendered Jesus in the womb of Mary
• Was at Jesus' baptism in the form of a dove
• Lead Jesus into the dessert
• Did the healing in Jesus' ministry

• Spirit's circumcision of my heart - Romans 2:29
• God pours his love into my heart via the Spirit - Romans 5:1-5
• God's Spirit lives in me - 1 Corinthians 3:16
• Holy Spirit within me cries out to God - Galatians 4:6
• Credit for all wisdom and revelation goes to the Spirit - Ephesians 1:17
• He himself testifies to us that he lives within us - 1 John 4:23

• David knew he could go nowhere to escape God Spirit - Psalms 139:7
• Spirit lead David to "level ground" - Psalms 143:10
• David pleaded for God's Spirit to remain with him - Psalms 51:11

• Who has bewitched you?
• Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law or believing what you have heard?
• Are you so foolish?
• Trying to attain your goal by human effort?
• Suffered so much for nothing?
• Does God give you his Spirit because you observing the law or because you believe?

• close to the Father's heart (NRS)
• lives in the closest intimacy with the Father (Philips)
  
• exists at the very heart of the Father (The Message)
• lives in intimate communication with the Father (Dios Habla Hoy)

1. Marked by close acquaintance
2. Relating to one's deepest nature
3. Innermost
4. Marked by informality
5. Very personal