Jun | 13 | Wonder Down The Wire

Dream Word – PREPARE

Matthew 6:6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. NKJV

Wonder Down The Wire

It was at the beginning of the 21st Century that American based company 'Verizon Wireless' came up with several catchy phrases to boost its already substantial market share. Those two major catchphrases were “Can you hear me now?” and “It’s the Network.”

The former catch phrase was placed in the mouth of a horn-rimmed spectacled, everyman type of guy who represented the thousands of Verizon employees travelling North America verifying the Network’s signal strength. The latter phrase, clothed itself in the same ‘Network Test Man’ but this time, he was visually backed by a vast crowd of other support employees, all dressed in various work outfits and posing in different support situations but ALL, I say ALL attentive to the but one customer, making the but one important call, on THE Verizon network. Well, so what?

Prayer for most of us is a very lonely endeavour. Yet still, for safety's sake, for authenticity’s sake, for fellowship's sake, Jesus instructed us to move into a solitary place with the Father. Yet once all the excuses for not being able to get alone with God are rightly placed in the garbage, our fearfulness of being alone with ourselves, of being alone with God is still one of the most profound hindrances to private prayer. Maybe my following observations will cast some interesting light on this fallacy of being alone with God?

Rightly or wrongly, my practice when praying has been to ask God for privacy between us. At the times when I do get alone with God, I often then ask to be alone with God, just me and Him. No you didn't misread that. Indeed, I often ask for a booth with smoked glass reflective windows, thoroughly insulated walls and a private line to boot, for what I am about to say, is just between me and Him alone. Yes, within the secret place, I go even further in asking for this especial request of privacy with God for a couple of reasons.

The first is that, like the Verizon wireless network ad suggests, we are never really alone with God. Attendant angels, attacking demons, the choir of similar saints moved by the Holy Spirit to pray in the same way, righteously voyeuristic angels, that maybe great crowd of heavenly onlookers, all looking on, many maybe kneeling and praying with me, who knows? Never the less, when I am alone with God, I am often quite conscious of far from being alone. The spiritual world is a busy and noisy place.

The second reason, is that there are some things I do not want the enemy to hear. I need a ‘data scrambled’ prayer line. My enemy knows too much already. I’m not sure his ear muffling is automatic though? No, I wonder if the accuser of the brethren, like some guilty playground bully, has already run to the headmaster to tell lies on the beaten, bruised and broken little boy coming running, weeping with his complaint, knocking on His kind and understanding study door? Yes, the devil often goes before us, and he being there upon our arrival, is ready to pick up some more ready ammunition to throw back on us and on God, so, I therefore often ask for the devil to be removed, together with all his ugly lackeys, so I can be truly alone with God. Well, without the devil anyway!

Remember tonight then, that Christ has commanded you to pray and when you do so, to get alone with God.

Remember tonight then, that when you get alone with God, you are rarely alone with God and sometimes, often times, you need to ask for privacy. Think about that. Be sure to get a private line

Listen: - Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven,"Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time." Revelation 12:10-12 NKJV.

Pray:- Lord in the many private places placed before me tomorrow, grant me a private line, a clear connection and wonder down the wire, in Jesus name I pray, amen.