Burning Ones- Divine Conversations - Session 3

Prayer is not a monologue.  We aren’t leaving voicemails for God!  We are being invited into the dialogue of the Godhead, the Trinity.  We are being invited into interactive intercession with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Heaven is relational.  Heaven is collaborative. 

God wants to be known.  He wants to be known by you.  Possibly, this is the highest longing in His heart.  He desires to be known!  We have this same need in our own lives.  We want to be understood, we want to be seen and known.  We have hearts that long to be unveiled in friendship… in love.  Of course we do, we are made in His image. 

How is your life in God?  What is He revealing, unveiling about Himself, in your life right now?  This is the highest question, and apparently, it is the eternal question.  Eternal reality surrounds His unveiling, and is completely captivated.  He desires for you to know Him.  I don’t know what it is exactly about saying that one statement, but it does something astounding in my heart.  Instantly, I am caught up into His invitation for my life.  He wants to be known…by me.  God wants to be known by you!

I. THERE IS AN OPEN DOOR

A.   When we were first born again, we were told the truth and then we had to come into to the truth.  Though the truth was complete, Jesus had died to save all men on the cross, the truth was not good news for us until we believed and entered into it.  There is a doctrine being aggressively preached today that states that the completeness of the cross is for all men whether they receive it or not.  Essentially, that all men are saved whether they want to be or not.  While the sun shines whether we are indoors or not, we only receive the warmth of it’s rays if we venture into it’s light.  It must be received.  Salvation must be received. 

B.    When we were first born again, many of us had to remind ourselves of the truth.  We had believed a lie for so long, had been alienated from God and His love for so long, that we had to be washed in the truth to remain in our belief.  We let the Word of God wash over us… we were no longer held in our sins, we were no longer enemies of God, but we had been reconciled!  Those days required that we learn truth, and come into the discipline of applying it.

C.    In the same way, many of us have spent so many years praying through voicemail that we have to be washed in truth to come into the experience of a better truth.  We have been granted access.  We have an open heaven.  We are loved and chosen and desired.  We are significant before the Lord because He says that we are.  We are valuable because He declares us so! 

Matthew 13

[44] “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

[45] “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, [46] who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

D.   You are the treasure in the field.  You are the pearl of great value.  It was you.  He came in search of you!  He sold exchanged what He had for you!

Philippians 2

[5] Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, [6] who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, [7] but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. [8] And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

E.    He chose you over equality with God.  He emptied Himself for you.  If we believe these things… if we know these things, why would we think that He would withhold Himself from us?  If He gave all for us, we can be confident that He desires us in fellowship.  He loved us while we were sinners.  There is a door standing open for you!  It’s time to enter in to what He has for you.

Revelation 4

[1] After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”

John 14

[19] Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. [20] In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. [21] Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

F.    He loves us and will manifest Himself to us.  Let’s believe this for our lives and for each other.  We are to be a people of revelation.  The revealing of Jesus is to be our reality, our ongoing inheritance. 

John 15

[9] As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.

G.   You are the beloved of God.  The truth, when received, changes everything about everything.  The Lord desires you.  Open your heart to this powerful truth.  Let your heart believe.  Let your heart receive the affections of God for your life.   I promise you, this will change everything. 

II.  HEAVEN IS RESPONSIVE

A.   When we read through the descriptions of heaven in the scriptures, one thing becomes certain: heaven is not stagnant. The atmosphere surrounding the throne is dynamic.  There is ebb and flow, a crescendo and then a decline.  There are divine unveilings and then divine restraint.  There is time allotted for the heavenly gathering to respond.  The response of the angels, and the living creatures and the elders and the saints are part of the dynamic. Heaven is responsive.  Our God longs for interaction.  It matters to Him that what He is revealing is received.  He’s not satisfied to just expose Himself.  There is a longing in the heart of God for intimacy. Likewise, God is not a peeping tom!  We are made in His image, and so we have a longing for intimacy that cannot be satisfied by voyeurism. 

B.    That’s the thing with counterfeits… it promises satisfaction without meeting the actual longing.  That’s all the devil can do.  We were made to long for intimacy with God and with each other.  We were made for this.  Pornography is the promise of satisfaction without interaction.   It will not, it cannot meet the longing in your heart for intimacy.  In the same way, saying prayers via voicemail, cannot satisfy the longing in your heart for intimacy.  You were not made to say prayers.  You were made to commune with God.  And while the act may look the same, praying and communing can have very different results.  I’m not trying to play a game of semantics.  My desire is to awaken your heart to what will bring you the greatest joy, the greatest fulfillment and meet the longing that is there. 

Revelation 5

[1] Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. [2] And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” [3] And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, [4] and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. [5] And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”

[6] And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. [7] And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. [8] And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. [9] And they sang a new song, saying,

            “Worthy are you to take the scroll

                        and to open its seals,

            for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God

                        from every tribe and language and people and nation,

            [10] and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,

                        and they shall reign on the earth.”

C.    Our prayers, our dialogue is part of the reality of heaven.  We are included into the dynamic of eternity even now.  It’s easy to think that eternity is something that begins at our last breath, but for us who believe, knowing the Father is eternal life.  And so this reality is now.  Jesus is inviting us into His reality and He is promising to answer within ours.

John 14

[13] Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. [14] If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

D.   This is almost too much for me to take in, but when I think back to some key moments in my life, there was always this invitation to ask the Lord to act.  When I was overdosing on cocaine, the Lord asked me to call out to Him.  He could have prevented my overdose, but He waited for me to ask.  More recently, the Lord gave me an assignment for the Citrus Bowl and told me to ask for it.  He could have saved me without partnership and He could have released favor for the bowl without me, but instead He invites us into partnership.

E.    This is altogether profound.  He is not distant.  He is not a far off God.  He is cultivating you into a significant role before the throne.  He is granting you influence in the heavens with Himself!  Are you hearing this?

III.  SPIRITUAL ALERTNESS

A.   When Isaiah has his encounter with the Lord (Isaiah 6) the Lord sent him to proclaim this message:

Isaiah 6

[8] And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” [9] And he said, “Go, and say to this people:

            “‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;

            keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’

            [10] Make the heart of this people dull,

                        and their ears heavy,

                        and blind their eyes;

            lest they see with their eyes,

                        and hear with their ears,

            and understand with their hearts,

                        and turn and be healed.”

B.    The message is about spiritual dullness.  It’s about being unwilling to see, unwilling to hear and unwilling to understand.  There can be an accusation in us, in the church, that God is withholding Himself from us. In the very last chapter of Acts, while imprisoned in Rome in his appeal to Ceasar, Paul quotes this very passage from Isaiah 6.

Acts 28

[23] When they had appointed a day for him, they came to him at his lodging in greater numbers. From morning till evening he expounded to them, testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets. [24] And some were convinced by what he said, but others disbelieved. [25] And disagreeing among themselves, they departed after Paul had made one statement: “The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet:

            [26] “‘Go to this people, and say,

            “You will indeed hear but never understand,

                        and you will indeed see but never perceive.”

            [27] For this people's heart has grown dull,

                        and with their ears they can barely hear,

                        and their eyes they have closed;

            lest they should see with their eyes

                        and hear with their ears

            and understand with their heart

                        and turn, and I would heal them.’

[28] Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.”

C.    The final message to us in the Book of Acts is about guarding our hearts from this dullness.  We must cultivate a heavenly awareness.  We must cultivate intimacy.  It’s not a given.  Being born again and being intimate with God is not the same thing, just as a wedding and marriage is not the same thing. 

IV.  CO-LABORING AND BUILDING A LIFE TOGETHER

1 Corinthians 3

[9] For we are God's fellow workers…

A.   Everything in God is one big invitation.  He’s constantly incorporating us into His plans and work.  We are participants with the God of the universe.

Isaiah 1

“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

Ezekiel 4

[11] And water you shall drink by measure, the sixth part of a hin; from day to day you shall drink. [12] And you shall eat it as a barley cake, baking it in their sight on human dung.” [13] And the LORD said, “Thus shall the people of Israel eat their bread unclean, among the nations where I will drive them.” [14] Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I have never defiled myself. From my youth up till now I have never eaten what died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has tainted meat come into my mouth.” [15] Then he said to me, “See, I assign to you cow's dung instead of human dung, on which you may prepare your bread.”

B.    This may be one of the strangest passages in the Bible, but it always touches me.  Here’s Ezekiel, called by God and willing to do all sorts of things as a prophetic sign for the people of Israel for the Lord, but he draws the line at cooking over human excrement.  And the Lord relents.  God is the initiator of our callings, but he longs for input. 

Acts 9

[10] Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” [11] And the Lord said to him, “Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying, [12] and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” [13] But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. [14] And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.” [15] But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. [16] For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” [17] So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” [18] And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized..

C.    Here’s this other account of dialogue, this time between God and Ananias.  We see Ananias interacting with the plan and yielding, and we see the result.  These accounts should help us.  We aren’t kingdom robots, but are valued and loved co-laborers.

D.   God is inviting you to reason with Him, to interact.  This is your inheritance.  No more voicemails.  It’s time to enter into the divine dialogue.

Prayer:

Father, open my eyes to see and my ears to hear.  Thank you for giving such a significant place in your heart.  I make room for you to take your place in mine.  I want to be intimate with you.  Draw me closer.