Wednesday, 07 September 2011 06:15 Written by Jim Denison

When I was pastor of First Baptist Church in Midland, I was asked to serve on the board of trustees for Howard Payne University in Brownwood, Texas. One trip down to the campus, I decided to use the church's van. One of our activities ministers checked the van out to me, along with the church credit card for gas.

There was barely enough gas to get to Brownwood. I pulled into the first gas station I saw in town, got out, and discovered that the van had a locking gas cap. And they didn't give me the key. I looked all over the van—in the glove box, under the mats, everywhere; no key. Here I was, sitting at a gas station, hose at hand, credit card ready, and no way to fill the van. I tried to pry the cap off, and failed. Finally, driving on fumes, I found a locksmith and paid for a new key to the cap.

I've always wondered if that activities minister knew exactly what he did, or didn't do.

It's frustrating to live with no power. Don't you hate it when the weather causes power outages? When your car runs out of gas? When the batteries in your laptop or cell phone go down? We can't do much without power.

Our nation is facing a spiritual power outage of crisis proportions. In this week leading to the tenth anniversary of 9/11 we're focused on this statement in Scripture: "When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land" (2 Chronicles 7:13-14).

We've admitted that we face drought, locusts, and plague—natural disasters, financial challenges, and personal problems. The good news is that God redeems all he allows. His redemption of our struggles begins with his people, called by his name. He calls us to humble ourselves, making him our King and putting him in charge of our lives and nation. He calls us to pray for our nation and problems, positioning ourselves to receive all that his grace intends to give.

Now he calls us to "seek his face." "Seek" translates baqash ("baw-kash"), which means to search out, strive for, beg, beseech, to run hard after. "Face" translates paniym ("paw-neem"). God's "face" denotes his presence (cf. Exodus 33:16, where his promised that his "face" would go with Moses).

To "seek his face" is to seek an intimate, personal, passionate relationship with our Father. Why is this relationship so critical to experiencing his power in our lives? For the answer, we turn to one of Jesus' most misunderstood parables (Luke 11:5-10).

Knock on God's door

The first man in our story has a problem, much more of a crisis in Jesus' day than in ours. A traveler has come to his home at midnight—not at all uncommon, since most people traveled at night to avoid the day's heat. He was supposed to bake enough bread for anyone who might come to his home that night, for this was a basic requirement of Eastern hospitality.

To have someone come to your home and have nothing to feed them is for us an inconvenience; for them it was a very major failure. If you were to invite the family over for Easter dinner, then forget and have them all arrive but have nothing to feed them, you'd have this man's situation.

So he goes to his neighbor at midnight for help. This neighbor has baked enough bread; that isn't the problem. But his door is locked—this was never done in the ancient Near East unless a family had gone to sleep and did not want to be awakened. A locked door was their "Do Not Disturb" sign, never violated.

The reason was simple. Common homes in Jesus' day were one room, with one window and a door. The first two-thirds of the room was a dirt floor where the animals slept for the night. The back one-third was a raised wooden platform with a charcoal stove, around which the entire family slept. For this man to get up at midnight he must awaken his family, then his animals, just to get to the door.

All this to give the man what he was required by social custom to have anyway. If your family came for that Easter dinner and you were unprepared, so you went to your neighbor and asked to have her prepared meal to serve your guests, you might anticipate her reaction.

In Jesus' story, this neighbor gets up despite all this—the rudeness, the inconvenience, the breach of social custom—because of the man's "boldness." The Greek word means "shameless refusal to quit." He simply will not go away until the man gives him what he wants. And so he does. So Jesus concludes: "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you" (v. 9).

What does Jesus' parable mean?

Our Lord is not teaching that we can wear God out if we ask for something enough. That God is the man inside the house asleep, but if we come and bang on his door loud enough and long enough he will give us what we want. Even if he doesn't want to, if we keep asking eventually we'll receive what we want. I've heard that very theology preached: if you have enough faith, God will give you whatever you ask for. Whether you want to be healed, or wealthy, or anything at all, just ask in enough faith and it's yours.

That is absolutely not the point here. Jesus is using a very common rabbinic teaching technique known in the Hebrew as the qal wahomer. Literally, "from the lesser to the greater." Applied here, the point is this: if a neighbor at midnight would give you what you ask if you ask him, how much more will God answer our requests when we bring them to him.

Jesus' parable is the promise that when we seek God's face, running hard after an intimate, personal, passionate relationship with him, we will receive what we seek. We will know him in a powerful, life-transforming way.

Choose intimacy with God

How do we "seek his face"? First, value your relationship with God above all other priorities.

Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius stated, "The true worth of a man is to be measured by the objects he pursues." What is the highest priority of your life?

I've been reading Oswald Chambers' My Utmost For His Highest every morning since 1993, and find that God speaks through it to my soul every day. Here is the most powerful paragraph in the entire devotional to me: "There is only one relationship that matters, and that is your personal relationship to a personal Redeemer and Lord. Let everything else go, but maintain that at all costs, and God will fulfill His purpose through your life. One individual life may be of priceless value to God's purposes, and yours may be that life" (November 30 reading).

It has been said, "All who have walked with God have viewed prayer as the main business of their lives." Martin Luther believed, "To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing." Luther translated the entire Bible into German, organized Christian schools, wrote more than 400 hymns (including "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God"), and sparked the Protestant Reformation. How did he do it all? He explained: "I have so much to do that I cannot get on without three hours alone with God."

Second, start where you are. God does not call us to begin with three hours each morning. Begin seeking his face now, and know that your relationship with God, as with all relationships, will grow over time. Praying is learned by praying. It has been said, "When you cannot pray as you would, pray as you can."

Third, begin at the beginning of the day. Mark 1:35 reports that "very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed."

C. S. Lewis observed, ""The moment you wake up each morning, all your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists in shoving it all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other, larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in."

Make an appointment to be alone with God. Find a place where you won't be distracted. Buy a good study Bible such as the NIV or ESV Study Bible. Get a notebook so you can write down the thoughts which God gives you.

Fourth, structure your time with God. I follow every morning the ACTS model: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Submission.

Begin your time with God by adoration, and worship. Scripture says that we "enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise" (Psalm 100:4). Worship draws into communion with the King of Kings, as we adore him alongside the saints of the ages and the angels of all eternity.

Next comes confession. As we draw closer to his light, we see ourselves as we truly are. Ask the Spirit to show you anything wrong in your life, and confess what comes to your thoughts. Claim his forgiveness and grace.

Now we come to thanksgiving. Scripture teaches us to "give thanks in all circumstances" (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Be specific in expressing your gratitude for God's goodness to you.

Finally we come to submission. Ephesians 5:18 commands us to be "filled with the Spirit." The phrase means to be controlled by God's Spirit, yielded and empowered by him. Place yourself and your day at his disposal. Pray through the decisions and issues of your day, giving each of them to him. Ask the Spirit to empower you, lead you, and use you. And know that he will.

Fifth, walk with God through the day. The Bible instructs us to "pray continually" (1 Thessalonians 5:17). It means to practice the presence of God, to spend the day with him. You can be with someone in a movie or worship service without speaking to them. You can be with God whether your eyes or closed or open, whether you are speaking to him or thinking of him. His Spirit will speak to your spirit all through the day, if you'll stay connected with him.

Last, expect to experience God. When we pray we connect ourselves to the greatest power in the universe. God's greatest servants have discovered this fact. For instance, John of the Cross (died 1591) discovered that praying is "nothing else but a secret, peaceful, and loving infusion of God, which, if admitted, will set the soul on fire with the spirit of love.

When you are connected with the King of the universe, you cannot remain the same.

Conclusion

Seeking a personal, intimate, passionate relationship with God is critical to the spiritual awakening we need. Gypsy Smith, the evangelist who crossed the Atlantic 45 times in preaching to hundreds of thousands, was asked how revival comes. His answer: "Go back home, lock yourself in a private room. Take a piece of chalk and mark a circle on the floor, get down on your knees in that circle, and pray for God to start a revival in it. When your prayer is answered, revival will be on us."

When will you draw that circle today?

 

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