Seeking God's Presence Through Prayer

Sep 9, 2024

Lecture Notes on God's Presence in the Wilderness

Introduction

  • Speaker expresses gratitude and humility for the opportunity to speak.
  • Emphasizes the personal need for the reminder of God's presence in the wilderness of life.
  • Encourages the audience to remember that God is with them in their trials.

Main Contention

  • The greatest need today is extraordinary prayer for the fullness of God's presence.
  • Importance of prayer in personal lives, families, churches, and broader communities.

Personal Church Experience

  • Describes a Sunday service focusing on extended prayer and fasting.
  • The church experienced a unique movement of the Spirit, leading to prolonged worship and prayer sessions.
  • People confessed sins, prayed for each other, and witnessed healings and conversions.

The Power of Prayer

  • Prayer nights led to people coming to Christ and confessing deep personal struggles.
  • God answered prayers in unexpected and miraculous ways.

Need for Extraordinary Prayer

    1. Assignment We Cannot Fulfill:
      • We cannot do God's work without His presence.
      • Only God can accomplish His work through us.
    2. Privilege We Cannot Forsake:
      • We have the privilege of direct access to God’s presence.
      • Examples from OT (Moses, Solomon, Isaiah, Ezra) of awe in God’s presence.
    3. Family We Cannot Forget:
      • Moses prays for God’s presence with all His people, not just himself.
      • Urges church leaders to pray for the presence of God in their congregations.
    4. God We Cannot Fathom:
      • God responds to prayers, moving His hand through intercessions.
      • The longing for God’s glory should drive us to prayer.

Scripture References

  • Exodus 25-40: Instructions for Tabernacle as a sanctuary for God’s presence.
  • Exodus 33-34: Moses' encounter with God, plea for God’s presence.
  • 2 Chronicles 7: Solomon’s prayer and dedication of the temple.
  • New Testament:
    • John 1:14: Jesus as the dwelling place of God, the ultimate fulfillment of the Tabernacle.
    • Acts 2: Pentecost as the Spirit filling all believers, not just one place.

Application and Call to Action

  • God’s presence should lead us to confess, pray, and seek Him earnestly.
  • Encourages believers to take the Gospel to the unreached.
  • Emphasizes the importance of church unity and spreading God’s presence globally.

Eschatological Hope

  • Revelation: God’s ultimate dwelling with humanity in a new creation.
  • Encouragement that all current suffering will end in God’s eternal presence.

Closing Prayer

  • Prayer for the church to experience the fullness of God's presence.
  • Acknowledgement of the need for God above all else.

These notes capture the essence of the speaker’s message on the importance of seeking God's presence through extraordinary prayer, supported by biblical texts and personal church experiences.