why it takes longer...

[Endure2]

God gave me another wonderful revelation today, that showed me somethings that i believe are critical to being all were called to be as christians, i think it will bless you and give you greater passion to pray.

psalms 51.2, 6
wash me throughly....behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.

God is not a superficial God, God is not a God that doesnt look beneath the surface, God is not a God that can be pleased by mere showmanship, God is not a God that is fooled by the actions and words of men.
but the gaze of almighty God, is always looking deep beneaths the seams and surfaces of our lives, and it think the he looks at the surface rarer than hes looking deep into our souls. God has a penetrating vision that goes deep.... that exposes hidden filth, hidden motivations, hidden uncleanness, deep inner hidden problems that even we cant see.

Gods vision goes deep....
Gods desire for you goes deep....
the bible says deep calls unto deep...
God is not only calling for your superficial words and actions to be a certain way, the eyes and desire of God call out to the depths of you to be clean and changed and renewed.

its kind of like God goes and searches out the caves and indwelling places of our souls, the deep dark regions of our innermost beings.
God is not a superficial God, God is a God who is interested in the INNER HIDDEN parts of you than even you dont know anything about.

and that is why we must tarry in prayer, thats why we must often pray longer than we intended to pray, meditate in the book longer than we intended too, stay in worship longer than we intended to, stay in church longer than we intended too, thats why God will have you lay on your face praying for more than an hour! even when you dont feel nothing happening..! becuase at that time God isnt working on your outside, but hes working on your inner places, your hidden places. hes cleaning out you on the inside, reshaping your soul, your spirit and you cant feel it or see it, But God is moving in the inner unseen parts of you.

thats why it takes longer....
thats why we must tarry in prayer to him longer, thats why we must tarry in his presence longer, becuase our usual time in his presence may be enough to wipe off the outside of your cup and vessel, but to get all the way down on the inside he has to reach and stretch and dig and wash and poke and scrub ALL THE WAY DOWN ON THE INSIDE OF US. and that takes longer.

God had me continue to lay before him today, praying in the spirit, and he let me know that at that time, wasnt working on the outer part of me, he was silently working and changing the innermost parts of me.
sometimes it takes longer, becuase God wants to do a DEEP work.

i just pray that people will get a burden to linger longer in prayer today, so that God can take the time to get all the down into our innermost parts, our hidden places of our souls, that we cant reach, touch or feel, and clean out even the inside of the cup.

Godbless
Lee.

 

[TheOriginalWhitehorse]

Amen. A really great post, as usual. It reminded me that God wants His goodness in us to be as deep as He knows us, not as guilding that perishes, but true, refined gold. I love that about God: He's about the good stuff. The lasting stuff. The real stuff. He's the only thing that is real, and yet how easy to go chasing after trinkets. You're right: only through prayer, meditation and fellowship with Him and the knowledge of Him through scripture can we regain the genuine perspective. Such a mighty King as He, wanting our time. Amazing.

Thank you for blessing us with your post.

 

[Endure2]

thankyou, again for your encouragement.
i think this is one i have the hardest time living out.
i think the one thing my flesh fights the most, is staying before him in prayer.
its easier to do painful things if you can get them over with quickly, but laying before the Lord and crucifying your desires to be elsewhere for an hour or more...while you lay there and pray... thats whats hard for me to do. thats the one thing God has been telling me to do for years, and its the one thing i have truely just not done...

i could be wrong, but i think this is why each of us can truely be a failure and miss Gods purpose on our life, i think we each have something God calls us to do that we can choose to just not do, and i guess this is myne. i think we each have a door with "failing God" written on it in our lives, and i think this is myne. but i really dont want to fail God...

well, Godbless,
Lee.

 

[Endure2]

i mean, its our choice to walk through that door, but i think we all have one.
when i didnt know God the way i do now, things use to be easier, but now, he holds me responsible for alot more, becuase i know alot more, and it isnt easy.

 

[Endure2]

man, ive gotta go pray, before something bad happens...

 

[TheOriginalWhitehorse]

Lee, I know the feeling. Sometimes I just know, I KNOW that the Lord is faithful because I've seen it so many times and in so many manifestations but I get discouraged. I get impatient for Him to unfold everything right now. And He's been very tender with this tendency, but now my flesh wars against my spirit because it's tired of disappointment even though God has always shown me afterward that all the things that disappointed me at the time saved me from some serious problems later down the road.

I can say that prayer is something where, when I'm finally settling in, all the distractions hit. The dog tosses her cookies and so of course I'm now off to the store to try yet another food in hopes of finding something that won't completely disgust her. But she's allergic to the ones she likes.

Then I come back and try to pray. And wouldn't you know, that's when a friend calls and desperately needs to talk. So after the conversation we decide to pray together, and my friend's other line is ringing. Then my other line rings but it's not for me so we end up getting off the phone. So then I try to pray and someone else needs something. Or I have problems and have to go to the emergency room. So then I see a woman crying and I try to pray for her, but then the nurse comes to ask me questions and then sweeps me off to xray.

I feel hindered at every turn. But I will say this: you have done so much to encourage me to be persistent and not to give in. You're building my resolve, which inspires me to pray for you. So please be expecting an answer from the Lord. I will pray that the Lord sweetens prayer for you, that He makes His presence known so you can feel Him with you, and that He gives you a quick answer to your prayers so you can see the fruit they're bearing. I'll pray He encourages you because you've done so much with your posts. We rarely see the fruit we bear in others' lives, so I think you should know you do so much.

Even our common struggle with prayer can keep us striving, and sometimes that's what the Lord may be trying to produce in us.

I'm very concerned about what you feel will happen that is bad. Please PM me if you'd like to talk about it.

Many blessings to you.

 

[Endure2]

friend i am truely greatful of your love and faithfullness, thankyou for your encouragment. and i give all glory to God for anything good hes done through me.

i can so easily relate to what your talking about, its only when you decide to pray that the phone rings and all your relatives have something to talk about or ask. or its only when the Lord specificly tells you something to do, that things come out of the wood work to complicate it. ive even seen the Lord give me a specific word for my life and people, and the same night a man of God that i respect preaches something i feel completely disagrees with what i know God just told me, and thats really hard, for me anyway.

but im learning we must be men of resolve, and be able to judge in our selves what is important and what is not, sometimes you just dont pick the phone up, and sometimes God will tell you to just stay home and pray. i think little children in Christ has a tendency to jump on whatever boat that comes by, but we have to men of God with wisdom and resolve and understand and just say "no...thats not God. "no...thats not important" "no...thats doesnt matter" "no...God says do this instead".

i remember my brother in Christ, Calvin.
he is a true, powerful, man of God, i look up to him in many ways.
and he was leading our mens class, in the absense of the regular class leader.
he was leading the class in worship to God and the power of God was moving so strong in the class, and the lights where out.
but when the usual time to stop worshipping came, one gentleman simply stood up and turned the lights on as he expected and assumed it was time to stop worshipping and hear the teaching. and the rest of the men just followed the man and stopped worshipping becuase it seemed like the thing to do.

but i watched calvin becuase i knew he was a man of God and could hear from the Lord, and i really didnt feel what the gentleman had done was appropriate or what God was wanting to do in the class that day.
calvin told someone to turn the lights back out and we continued to worship.
the other gentleman im sure felt slightly embarassed, but im sure God spoke to him in someway. and God went on to do some powerful things, up there in that little class room in the dark, several grown men up there laying in a dark room crying like little children and seeking the Lord in an unbashful unashamed way. grown men were crying out, grown men were weeping, grown men were screaming, grown men seeking God through tears and heart ache, seeking the power of God in their lives.
and God showed up and moved powerfully, speaking into our lives.

but it wouldnt have ever happened, if there wasnt a man whos name just happened to be Calvin, who could look past the usual ordinances and importances, and see into the spirit and see what God was saying, regardless of what another gentleman felt was the thing to do.
you have to be able to see past the flesh and this world, and see into the spirit, and hear from God, and follow him. or else we would have had a nice little teaching, and some people may have shouted and some people may have learned some stuff, BUT IT WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN WHAT GOD WAS WANTING TO DO, AND PEOPLE WOULD HAVE LEFT EMPTY AND BROKEN, BECUASE WHAT GOD WANTED TO DO, WAS NOT DONE.

and man when you do this, when you reach that place, your life will become like a mountain, and a stable fortified city, that cant be moved, becuase you are led and spoken too, and protected by almighty God, and you cant be deceived by the enemy any longer.
i remember Jesus was asked a question by nicodemus, and Jesus response was not the asnwer to the mans question...but it was what God was saying to the man, it was what was urgent and important. and Jesus walked in this power becuase he knew God, and had a deeper understanding.

man, i want this....
man im doing great, i was just being convicted by the Lord about somethings.
and i dont want to rebel agaisnt him, becuase like a good father, he does discipline his children, and i dont want him to have to do that. but man im great. but i can so relate to all you said, that is so the struggle i face everyday, and its good to know im not alone in it.

well Godbless you my brother in Christ, my brother in the fox hole with me,
Lee Myers.

 

[Endure2]

oh im sorry, its so easy to just talk about myself and ignore the nice things people say about me and not show my appreciation.

your prayers were effective and powerful in my life, and for this i am forever grateful, thankyou so much.

 

[TheOriginalWhitehorse]

Thank you so much. This so hit home with me. SO what I needed to hear. And I felt convicted when I was doing my devotions this morning. It fit right into what we were saying, I told you about my impatience with prayer requests and having a hard time dealing with distraction. Here's what I read:

1 Kings 18:43

Go again seven times.​

Success is certain when the Lord has promised it. Although you may have pleaded month after month without evidence of answer, it is not possible that the Lord should be deaf when His people are earnest in a matter which concerns His glory. The prophet on the top of Carmel continued to wrestle with God, and never for a moment gave way to a fear that he should be non-suited in Jehovah's courts. Six times the servant returned, but on each occasion no word was spoken but "Go again." We must not dream of unbelief, but hold to our faith even to seventy times seven. Faith sends expectant hope to look from Carmel's brow, and if nothing is beheld, she sends again and again. So far from being crushed by repeated disappointment, faith is animated to plead more fervently with her God. She is humbled, but not abashed: her groans are deeper, and her sighings more vehement, but she never relaxes her hold or stays her hand. It would be more agreeable to flesh and blood to have a speedy answer, but believing souls have learned to be submissive, and to find it good to wait for as well as upon the Lord. Delayed answers often set the heart searching itself, and so lead to contrition and spiritual reformation: deadly blows are thus struck at our corruption, and the chambers of imagery are cleansed. The great danger is lest men should faint, and miss the blessing. Reader, do not fall into that sin, but continue in prayer and watching. At last the little cloud was seen, the sure forerunner of torrents of rain, and even so with you, the token for good shall surely be given, and you shall rise as a prevailing prince to enjoy the mercy you have sought. Elijah was a man of like passions with us: his power with God did not lie in his own merits. If his believing prayer availed so much, why not yours? Plead the precious blood with unceasing importunity, and it shall be with you according to your desire.

With me it really hit home because I get so discouraged when I have to wait or struggle praying for something, and right now it's the salvation of a couple of people and a ministry opportunity I've been chipping away at for five years now. But I'm getting stronger through the Lord's grace!

That sounds like an awesome meeting, and you're right. That's when the power comes. And in the face of distraction, it's resolve. Not getting caught off guard, but thinking in advance that these things may happen, and to prepare by not answering the phone instead of thinking I have to answer it just because it rings after all, we do have an answering machine.

Thank you so much. I needed to hear it today.

 

[Endure2]

amen amen and amen.
i dont really know much to add, but God just quickened a certain scripture to me that is relevant here.

in jeremiah, and i think one of the minor prophets also, God says
"...break up your fallow ground..."
if you do a word search on fallow im sure youll find the scripture.

but fallow ground is ground like in a garden, that is tilled and broken up, to be seeded, but it wasnt seeded... and overtime it crusted over and again and got hard again... so now, in order to seed it, you have to start over... and go all the way back and break it up again, you cant just start where left off anymore. you have to start over.
and sometimes, we cause ourselves extra problems by stopping halfway, and not finishing the work when he tells us to.

for instance,
you can be in prayer and God tell he wants you to move to africa, but you dont finish praying...you leave the ground fallow, and you just jump up and go to africa...when God was about to tell you to move to africa 2 years from now. and you cause yourself extra problems because you didnt finish the work. you have fallow ground.

God says there are times when if you dont go all the way through with it when he tells you to, and you let that thing grow cold again... youll later have to go back and start all over again.

and even though some people probly wouldnt agree, but i think thats the case with some of the things we pray for.
actually God just showed me an instance of that in my own life, but it can happen when we are praying for a miracle...and God answers our prayers and tells us how to see it happen... but we dont go and doit, and the miracle doesnt happen.
and later if you begin to seek the Lord about that again, you may not be able to just go and do what he once told you to do anymore, becuase now things are changed.
but you have to go all the way back and seek him again, and get another answer which is probly a diffrent one if your miracle involves someone else, and then do that.
does that make sense?
the fallow ground?
i think youll get what im saying...
and sorry, i didnt mean to make this long post.

we need to pray through, pray all the way through...
Godbless,
Lee.

 

[TheOriginalWhitehorse]

You're right-we do need to. For years I had this dream and I tried to make it happen. It was a ministry idea. But left and right I was hindered, and the spiritual warfare hit from every direction you can think of. I mean every direction. I wondered if it was just my idea and not His.

And yet, in the worst storm of my life, I prayed for some spectacularly impossible things and got them. It still leaves me reeling to this day. But just more and more opposition regarding my ministry idea. So, I figured the ministry was my idea and perhaps not the Lord's, and I prayed and said if it wasn't the Lord's will, which it seemed not to be, I was going to give up on the idea all together.

But every time I did that, something would happen without my control that would reinvolve me at a small but very effective level.

So then I marched in full force and reaped a whirlwind of both trouble and blessing.

Right now I feel called to leave it simmering on the back burner, but I'm still not sure it's over. Part of me wants it to be, and part of me wants to rush in. So I think I'm going to just wait until the Lord moves me.

But I wish I knew now what His will was. I know from experience to just to wait on Him and let Him move my feet in His providence, but I still feel like, "What should I be doing?" Even though I know the more immediate thing He wants me doing, I think? I don't know. But He always seems to be operating in a realm outside my worries, letting me know regularly and in strange ways that He's very, very much involved in my daily affairs. I love Him so much.

But I'm still not sure what to do... Hm.

 

[shaaz_99]

Endure 2............Thank you for this thread .
I feel the Spirit of God has been dealing with me concerning my innermost parts recently.....
Bless His Name!!
He desires our changing much much much more than we do

 

[Endure2]

shazz-99
thats so true, and thankyou for your reply, your kind words are encouraging, be blessed man.
Lee.

whitehorse
yeah man, i am in the same situation in my life. not with a ministry but with a lady that i think im falling in love with. part of me is saying YES GO! and part of me worries about it being God or not. and i remember times when i was so sure God was saying "yes this is it" and then i remember times when i felt like God said "no, stay away from her". and im still not exactly sure what Gods will here is. im confused.
but i just try to stay simple and remember what the word of God says, that if anyman lacks wisdom or understanding let his ask of God for God gives to all men freely. so i know, i know in my spirit and faith, that he will let me know for sure, though my mind is so confused that it feels like giving up on hearing any clear answer from God. and to make things more complicated, i have an accountability partner, and me and him both feel like God has told us to be in agreement in any large decisions that we make. so i also have to wait until God tells him also, and my flesh reeeeaaaalllyyyy doesnt like that.
but i feel like its good, i think God told me the other day that me and him wouldnt make it without each other.

but i feel like the Lord lead to pray in a slightly diffrent way than ive been praying, i stopped praying that he would "tell" me , but rather he would "put it in my heart" what to do. becuase i believe God will give us the desires of our heart. not give me what i desire, but cause me to desire what he desires. give me desires.and from then on, ive only wanted to be with her more and only felt like it was Gods will. i dont usually pray that way though.
but i will more now.

well man i know that God will come through, and as you venture deep into prayer he will show you what his will is. thanks man, i hope we continue to help each other and stay in touch.
Godbless
Lee.

 

[TheOriginalWhitehorse]

Amen.