PREPARE YOUR HEART BY “LAYING ASIDE” AND “LOOKING TO JESUS”

There is a depth in Jesus that is waiting for us to dive into. He is beckoning His Bride to take the plunge, but in order to do that we must lay aside certain things that we’ve taken up and lugged around from the world. The author of Hebrews wrote it perfectly in chapter 12 verses 1-2,

 “Therefore, since we have a great crowd of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance,”

Hebrews 12:1-2

Things in our lives that, from a fleshly perspective, appear as if they serve us, but in reality they are weights, shackles, and chains keeping us stagnant and lukewarm (see Revelation 3:16) The writer continues, “and the sin that so easily ensnares us.” 

What is your “the sin”? If nothing comes to mind, take a moment to ask the Holy Spirit what your “the sin” is in your life. 

Scripture tells us that it is a sin that “so easily ensnares” you. Is it something you’ve allowed yourself to watch continually that promotes darkness rather than light? Is it pride? Addiction perhaps? Maybe it’s gossiping or slandering your friend behind her back? Jesus can and will set you free. Take a moment now to quiet your heart at the feet of Jesus, open the tight grip of your hands that are clutching onto that weight of sin, and truly repent before the Lord. His loving arms are open with forgiveness. He wants you to know that He does not offer partial freedom, but one hundred percent FREEDOM from your “the sin.” He asks us to lay it aside, not by our own strength, but through His strength. But He will not take it from you if you do not actually let it go. Letting go of your “the sin” takes daily discipline of keeping our eyes on Jesus.

Hebrews 12:1 speaks on this as it goes into a charge, “Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before Him, He endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” The New King James version reads this portion of scripture this way, “looking unto Jesus”. The word “looking” translated in the Greek is aphorao which means “undivided attention, looking away from all distractions in order to fix one’s gaze on one object” 

In Hebrews 12:2, aphorao is having eyes for no one but Jesus. Once you let it go, draw the strength from His Spirit to not pick it up again. He loves you and is for you. Jesus’ desire is for us to experience a greater intimacy with Him; to go higher into glory and plunge deeper into love with Him. He has gold that has been refined in the fire for us to purchase from Him. Revelation 3:18 “I advise you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire so that you may be rich, white clothes so that you may be dressed and your shameful nakedness not be exposed, and ointment to spread on your eyes so that you may see.”

Over the next few weeks, I am going to go through 6 different truths that Jesus desires for us to grasp. Six realities that Jesus desires for us to truly walk in that will transform your walk with Him. These key truths are straight from His heart and, if you not only grasp them, but apply them to your daily life, they will draw you into an intimacy with Jesus that will go beyond your wildest dreams.  That is what we all should be yearning for right? So grab your Bible, journal, and a hot cup of coffee or tea and let’s dive in.

1st Truth: Jesus Desires Us to Pray Like Him 

Praying Like Jesus

Part 1: Pray with Shameless Persistence 

Everything that Jesus did in His earthly ministry flowed from His communion with His Father through the power and connection of the Holy Spirit. The disciples, Jesus’ closest friends, knew this first hand. They observed it time and time again. Jesus did everything from a place of consistent, faith filled prayer. 

 In Luke 11:1-13, His dearest friends were with Him in a certain place as He prayed, which was His custom. I’m sure as they sat near Him, they listened in awe as He cried out to His Father. I can imagine that they could feel the surge of power emanating from Him; how the earth seemed to shake with His words as He passionately interceded and communed with His Father. 

They knew that when He spoke their hearts burned within them. Up to this point in their walk with Him, the disciples had already witnessed Him doing countless miracles, such as healing all manner of sickness, deformities, and disease, feeding five thousand with only five loaves of bread and two fish, and casting evil spirits out of demonized people. 

Jesus’ disciples had sat in adoration, soaking in His words as He taught. These men knew Jesus like no other human did, especially how He went about His day to day. In that intimate knowing, is where they realized that everything Jesus did and said flowed from His complete devotion to communing with God the Father. So they were compelled  to ask Him to teach them to pray.

Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”

 So He said to them, “When you pray, say:

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us day by day our daily bread.

And forgive us our sins,
For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.”

This is famously coined the title, “The Lord’s Prayer”. These words are a very powerful model for us to know how to pray, and are mighty in and of themselves, yet He did not intend for us to rigidly recite this as a religious ritual, but to pour out our prayers following this model.  If you’ve been a christian for some time, you may think that His teaching ended here, but He actually takes it further. He continued teaching them how to pray in verses 5-13

 He also said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend and goes to him at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,  because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I don’t have anything to offer him.’  Then he will answer from inside and say, ‘Don’t bother me! The door is already locked, and my children and I have gone to bed. I can’t get up to give you anything.’  I tell you, even though he won’t get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his friend’s shameless boldness, he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

Jesus was and IS still saying, “Beloved, pray and keep praying, ask and keep asking, seek and keep seeking, knock and keep knocking persistently when you do not get an answer immediately. Don’t give up”  We are to keep asking, keep seeking His face, and keep knocking on heaven’s door in our prayers. Not so that we may overcome God’s reluctance in responding to our prayers, that’s not who He is! Our heavenly Father is willing and ready to answer our prayers as they align with His will, but there is a holy stretching of our spirit man that takes place in the season of delay. 

There is a place in the garden of our hearts that He longs to take us. A deeper maturity that He calls us to walk in. 

 A beautiful deepening happens to our prayer life in the holy delay that causes us to dig deep within the well of our hearts, clinging to Holy Spirit’s strength as we build our faith in Him.  

He is after building your character in Him.

Just think about it, if we got everything that we asked God for immediately we would be like spoiled toddlers in the spirit. Friend, our God calls us to maturity in Him. 

I love how the Passion Translation reads verses 9-10

“So it is with your prayers, Ask and you’ll receive. Seek and you’ll discover. Knock on heaven’s door and it will one day open for you. Every persistent person will receive what he asks for. Every persistent seeker will discover what he needs. And everyone who knocks persistently will one day find an open door.”

In these verses, the imperatives, “go, seek, and knock” are in the Greek present tense. This indicates a continuous asking, seeking, knocking. We are His children so we can boldly approach His throne! (See Hebrews 4:16)

 Our culture today is inundated with the expectation of instant gratification, yet that is not how the kingdom of heaven works. Our Father loves us too much to keep us in the shallow waters of our maturity in Him. God is always working on us, crafting us into His image.(See 2 Corinthians 3:18)

Have you experienced this holy season of waiting in prayer?

Check out the words “shameless boldness” in Luke 11:8. Jesus is teaching us how to be persistent in our prayers and to pray with a sense of urgency and boldness. Shamelessly flooding heaven with our incense of worship and prayers. How do we do this? We discover what God’s word says about the situation that we are praying for and we then pray His word right back to God; coming into agreement with Him to accomplish His will over the situation with a tenacity and determination that even the gates of Hell cannot shake. 

We are not just to fire up one “arrow” of a prayer, checking it off of our mental to do list, thinking, “There, I shot a prayer up, now I can relax and not think about it again.” No! Stay persistent.  Keep speaking His word out loud, keep asking, keep knocking. 

Jesus did not only teach on this once. He taught this very lesson another time in Luke 18:1-8

One day Jesus taught the apostles to keep praying and never stop or lose hope. He shared with them this illustration: “In a certain town there was a judge, a thick-skinned and godless man who had no fear of others’ opinions. And in the same town there was a poor widow who kept pleading with the judge, ‘Grant me justice and protect me from my oppressor!’ “He ignored her pleas for quite some time, but she kept asking. Eventually he said to himself, ‘This widow keeps annoying me, demanding her rights, and I’m tired of listening to her. Even though I’m not a religious man, and I don’t care about the opinions of others, I’ll get her off my back by answering her claims for justice and I’ll rule in her favor. Then she’ll leave me alone.’ ” Jesus continued, “Did you hear what the godless judge said—that he would answer her persistent request? Don’t you know that God, the true judge, will grant justice to all his chosen ones who cry out to him night and day? He will pour out his Spirit upon them. He will not delay to answer you and give you what you ask for. God will give swift justice to those who don’t give up. So be ever praying, ever expecting, in the same way as the widow. Even so, when the Son of Man comes back, will he find this kind of undying faith on earth?”

Friend, in whatever you’re facing right now; whether it is sickness, a marriage on the brink of divorce, or a child who has turned his or her back on the Lord, whatever it may be, Jesus is calling you to pray His will over it and to not lose heart because I’m here to tell you that your God will give swift justice if you do not give up. Stay on your face in your prayer closet, pushing past the point of discomfort, and allow Holy Spirit to pray His will through you.

Ask yourself “Do I have undying faith?” Jesus is looking for those who have persistence in their prayers with a faith that is unshakable. 

Spend some time in prayer about whatever you’re facing and be encouraged that God is doing a work in and for you as you walk through the season of waiting. Your answer is coming swiftly, do not lose heart. You are greatly loved.

Stay tuned for part 2 of how to pray like Jesus!

More scripture about persistence in prayer:

• Ephesians 6:18: “Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere”
• James 5:16: “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results”
• Colossians 4:2: “Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving”
• Romans 12:12: “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer”
• 1 Thessalonians 5:17 “Pray without ceasing,”