12 FOUNDATION STONES - CLASS 3B COMMUNICATING WITH GOD PRAYER, PART 2.1 ------------------------------------------ Section 1: Our Relationship with the Lord ------------------------------------------ > A good relationship It takes time and effort to build a good relationship with someone. Let's look at some of the ways we can apply the lessons we learn with people to our relationship with the Lord. We need to invest time into building a relationship and give the person our attention. - We talked in the last class about focusing on the Lord when we pray, even visualizing Him if we can. We should talk to Jesus as we would to our dearest loved one. In a good marriage or relationship, one person doesn't do all the talking! So we need to be sure to not only talk to Him, but most importantly, listen to Him. A good relationship also needs lots of appreciation and thankfulness and not taking the other for granted. We need to thank the Lord for what He gives us and does for us. A good relationship is one where we can trust and confide in our partner, knowing he or she will listen and keep on loving us unconditionally. Our partner will comfort us when we need it, and he or she will honestly point out our shortcomings when we need help in facing things. But no matter how we fail or what mistakes we make, he or she will keep loving us. That is how Jesus is with us. > The story of Mary and Martha Whatever happens, we know the Lord wants us to draw closer to Him. We should not get so wrapped up in our work and the day-to-day grind of living that we forget that we need to be close to Jesus, and that that is very important to the Lord! All our activities and work might be good and necessary, but we should not neglect our relationship with Jesus. We can be assured that everything else will fall into the proper place as long as we keep close to the Lord. Let's look at this in the Bible. The following could be acted out as a skit, getting the students involved: Luke 10:38–42 - Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. (39) And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard His word. (40) But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me." (41) And Jesus answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. (42) But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her." ------------------------------------------ To consider: Who do you identify more with - Mary or Martha? If you were Martha, how would you have reacted to Jesus' words? ------------------------------------------ > What if you feel you've failed? When we slip and fall because of sin or disobedience, it's easy to feel condemned, like, "Oh, I can't possibly be close to the Lord because of my sins, because of all my faults and shortcomings!" But you must not let the Devil - or even your own heart - condemn you. 1 John 3:20 - For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. Romans 8:1 - There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Even if you have disobeyed the Lord, if you're sorry for your sins and you sincerely desire to be close to Him, He forgives you. Psalm 103:8 - The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. Psalm 37:24 - Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the Lord upholds him with His hand. I John 1:9 - If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Psalm 51:17 - The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart - these, O God, You will not despise. A lot has to do with your heart, with your attitude. If you sincerely want to please the Lord and do His will, love Jesus and live for Him, then He will certainly "draw nigh unto you" when you call out to Him. David of old wrote: Psalm 145:18 - The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth. Psalm 34:18 - The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit. So regardless of any feelings of discouragement or condemnation that the Devil may try to barrage you with, if you know you're truly seeking to love and please the Lord, obey His Word and follow Him, then you're close to Him! - Whether you happen to feel close to Him or not! ------------------------------------------ > The Lord is always there, no matter how you feel We've talking about concentrating and we've talked about visualizing the Lord when you pray, and we've talked in the previous classes about the gifts of the Spirit, but maybe you haven't felt any different. Maybe you don't feel close to Jesus. The Bible makes it very clear that we're not supposed to go by our feelings, or by any of our physical senses! 2 Corinthians 5:7 - For we walk by faith, not by sight. The Lord loves each of us very much and promises to be with us. Whether we feel we are close to Him or not, we can know from His Word that He is close to us! His Love for us is unchangeable, unwavering. Hebrews 13:5b - For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." Isaiah 54:10 - "For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace be removed," says the Lord, who has mercy on you. Poem: Three men walking on the wall. Three men were walking on the wall - Feeling, Faith and Fact. Feeling had an awful fall. Faith was taken back. Only Fact remained. So Fact pulled up Faith. And Faith pulled up Feeling. And they walked on the wall again. ("Fact" is the Word!) ------------------------------------------ Don't rely on feelings If we start trusting or relying too much on our feelings as an indicator of how well we're doing spiritually, we're going to be very unstable! We'll be continually tossed to and fro by every wind of feeling that happens to come along. James 1:6 - Let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. We'll never know how we're going to be doing tomorrow, as that would be determined by how we feel when we get up in the morning. Regardless of how we may happen to feel, if we love the Lord and are walking by faith and obeying His Word, then we know that our relationship with the Lord is still firm. Some people do feel close to Jesus. Some people just have more creativity to be able to picture things. We all have certain personalities, and some of us are much more emotional than others. But just because some people don't feel a big emotional closeness to the Lord, they don't need to sit around feeling sorry for themselves or feel that they are not close to the Lord. We all just need to take things by faith! There aren't too many verses in the Bible on going by feelings, but there are a lot about faith and trusting the Lord and believing His Word! Even if you can't feel any closeness at all, you can still know you're close to Him if you're doing your best to love the Lord and please Him and obey His Word and do what you know He has said. We've got to just go by the Facts, by the Word, and your faith in His Word, your obedience and yieldedness have nothing to do with your feelings! So it doesn't really matter whether you feel close to the Lord or not. You don't have to feel that emotion! ------------------------------------------ > The closer walk How do you get close to Jesus? You get close to Jesus by obeying His Word and yielding to His will and taking time with Him! Jesus says, John 14:23 - If anyone loves Me, he will keep My Word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. If you're obeying what He says in His Word, if you're spending time praising Him, talking to Him, listening to Him, and reading His Word, then of course you're close to the Lord! - He'll come and make His home with you. Paul says, Hebrews 10:22 - Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. Poem: Feelings come and feelings go (By Martin Luther) For feelings come and feelings go, And feelings are deceiving; My warrant is the Word of God, Naught else is worth believing! Though all my heart should feel condemned, For lack of some sweet token, There is One greater than my heart, Whose Word cannot be broken! I'll trust in God's unchanging Word, Till soul and body sever; For, though all things shall pass away, His Word shall stand forever! ------------------------------------------ * To consider: How do you usually pray? Do you have a set time or a set place or are you more spontaneous? What occupies most of your time in prayer? Praise; pouring out your heart to the Lord about personal situations or trials; asking the Lord for things you need; praying for others? What do you find most distracting when you are praying? Have you found any ways to overcome this? ------------------------------------------ (continued in part 2)