Prayer and Worship: Drawing Near to God's Presence

It's a it's a terrific passage, but it has this amazing promise, draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. I mean I mean, what a statement that if I take the initiative of prayer, if I take the initiative of getting close to God, he promises that he is going to respond to that and draw near to me, but he's waiting for me to draw near to him. You get it? A lot of people are just hoping that their Christian life will get better by doing absolutely nothing. That's laziness. [01:03:51] (38 seconds)  #DrawNearToGod

I gotta speak in tongues. And if I'll spend a day where I haven't spoken in tongues, and I'm starting to feel, where is God? I mean, because when you're when you're speaking in tongues and and and you're worshiping God, there's this presence that starts to be around you, just hang around you. And it's easy then just to be instant in season and out of season just to be there. He said, well, it's alright for you. You're the passer. You've got lots of time. No. We we do it I I speak in tongues when I'm doing whatever I'm doing, shopping, driving, worship, and you build this presence around you. It's part of the kingdom of God, my friends. It's a protocol. [01:22:36] (54 seconds)  #SpeakInTonguesDaily

I mean, what a faith position to build your prayer life, your relationship with Jesus' life upon. I built my life upon that that those two verses. Man, I remember when I read that and heard about it back in the nineteen seventies. I just built my life on it. Have you built your life on it upon one of the greatest promises in the whole of the Bible? If we pray according to his will he hears us, and if he hears us, we know that we have the request that we ask of him. I mean, that's a wow promise in the Bible. [01:18:01] (39 seconds)  #PrayAccordingToHisWill

Scott, it's not personal preference. It's the manifest presence of God because God inhabits the praises of his people. And then I got back, and suddenly I'm there in his presence again. That's worship. I I love to do that. I love to just lie on my bed and wait on the Lord, but do you do it? Have you taken a day out of your life just to spend worshiping God? Go to the beach and put your earphones on and just spend three or four hours just walking the beach or sitting in the beach or somewhere and just letting the presence wash over you. It's absolutely awesome. [01:14:21] (47 seconds)  #WorshipDayRetreat

And we know that. The Bible says that he'll move. He'll he'll meet the need that we're praying about, that we already know that we have the requests that we ask of him. Somebody was like, god never answers my prayer. Well, I would say to you, well, you're probably because you don't flip and pray. I mean, come on. Because the principle is so simple. Pray according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us, because the Bible says he hears us, then we've got the request that we ask of him. [01:17:25] (36 seconds)  #GodAnswersPrayer

Christianity is not an instant coffee. Right? Oh, I think I'll have a coffee. So you get out of flipping instant coffee. I mean, it's horrible, isn't it? I mean, instant coffee. I mean I mean, I I think, you know, that's like the devil. Instant coffee drawn near to that coffee, and so yeah. That's not Christianity. Christianity is us. Us taking initiative to pray, to seek God, to see if we can touch him, drawing near to him, and and he sees that, and he responds to that. I I think that's absolutely awesome. [01:04:29] (43 seconds)  #NoInstantFaith

Now that's you know how you know how you do that? That's three chapters a day and seven chapters on a Sunday, and you will read the whole of the bible in a year. Now you do that over a ten year period of time, which is not long in your in in the course of things, I mean, you'll get pretty familiar with what the bible talks about and what it says. You gotta read the Bible. A person says, I don't know the will of God, well, have you been reading the Bible? What's the matter? Well, have you? Yes? No? No? Well, why not? [01:19:22] (34 seconds)  #BibleInAYear

I love that stuff, but that's how we worship God. We we we get into something that helps us, and your heart shifts with that approach. And I also understand something else about worship that's really important. Worship has a dynamic in it that changes who you are because you be always become like the thing you worship. Now the Bible teaches that in Psalm a 115 verse eight. Those who made them, speaking about idols, become like them, everyone who trusts in them. [01:08:40] (47 seconds)  #WorshipTransformsYou