CTN TV Episode 14 You Don't Have To Hide From God Part 1

0:00 You pray it and he can answer it. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. God will put the prayer in your heart to pray so that he can answer it. Goes into the hearts of the people, doesn't return void, it produces results. I want to welcome you to our broadcast and I'm your host, Margie Florent. Today's title is called You don't have to hide from God. Now, unfortunately, a lot of believers, they hide themselves from the presence of God. They're afraid to pray. They don't want to come into the presence of God. And there's all kinds of reasons. Today on this broadcast, I'm going to address just a few, and then we're going to dive into the fact that God wants you, wants me to have a deep and close, intimate relationship with him through prayer and through meditation and his word. Okay, so let's talk about why people don't pray. Hosea 4, 6 says that my people are destroyed because of a lack of knowledge. The reason people don't pray is because they don't understand God's character. They don't understand his heart. They don't understand his love. They don't understand their place positionally in

1:30 Christ. And therefore, there is a lack of knowledge and it keeps people from entering into the presence of God. Number two, the Bible says where there is no vision, the people perish. So a lot of times people just don't have a vision of why they need to pray or a vision of what their prayer focus should look like. So that's the beauty of this broadcast. We are explaining the power and the purpose of prayer and why it is so necessary, specifically in the prayer of intercession, which we're going to talk about. As we move forward, you're going to come to know and understand that we have to have a vision when we pray because it's the vision that keeps us running the race.

2:20 It's the vision that we have that keeps us focused in the place of prayer. So why don't people pray? Because of a lack of knowledge, because there is no vision. And also the Bible says. Mark 4, 14 about the condition of our heart. So the Bible says in the sower sows the word. And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts. And likewise, there are those. who when the word is sown, it's sown on stony ground, when they have heard the word of God, immediately they receive it with gladness, but they have no root in themselves, and so therefore they endure for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word's sake, immediately they stumble. Now, these are the ones sown among thorns, They are the ones who hear the word and what happens to them and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, the lust of other things enter in and choke the word. So sometimes people don't pray or enter into the presence of God. It's because of the condition of their heart. I think personally, mainly it's because

3:51 the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, the lust of other things. enter in and these. sayings can choke our prayer life. What do you mean by that? I mean, we get too busy. We get too overwhelmed. We get too distracted. There are so many things that are keeping us from the presence of God. And that's another reason why people don't pray. I know I have to fight that every day of my life because the cares of the ministry come upon me. The cares of the things that I have to do in my everyday life. There are just so many distractions. And therefore, I find myself not entering into the presence of God and making room for him in the secret place. Number four, another reason why people don't pray is because people get discouraged with their prayer life. Jesus said himself, men ought to. Always pray and not faint. Don't faint.

4:51 Don't get discouraged. Jesus said it himself. And oftentimes I find that people get discouraged in their prayer life. They haven't seen the answers that they want to see. They haven't seen the time frame. They haven't seen God move as quickly as they would like. And therefore they just stop. Praying. That's why it's important for you and I that when we pray to hold fast the confession of our faith without wavering, having done all this stand, just keep standing. Therefore, hold fast to God's promises. We don't want to become weary in well -doing because in due season, my friends, we will reap our prayer fruit, the things that we have desired. God's timetable. is not our timetable so therefore let us not grow weary and well -doing let's not let discouragement enter in and choke our prayer life okay what's another reason why people don't pray Well, another reason is because there's a lack of discipline, okay? It's just like going to the gym, right?

6:01 We have a vision of what we want to look like. We have a vision of how we want to be healthy in our latter years. So therefore, we go to the gym, we work out, we eat healthy, and it's a discipline. Well, prayer too is a discipline. And I know you've heard me say it. Prayer goes from sacrifice to joy, from a desire. to a discipline and to a delight. So a lot of times people don't pray because there's a discipline to being a man and a woman of prayer, especially when it comes to what I call closet praying. Now, there's another kind of praying we're going to get into again as we move on, and that's continual prayer or praying in your in your bed. But generally speaking, it's a discipline to have an awareness of the presence of God, that he's within you.

6:52 that he said, I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. I am with you always. And it's a discipline, Isaiah 26, 3, to keep your eyes stayed on him, your heart focused on him, even though you're going through your everyday life, even though you're vacuuming the floors or driving in your car. It's a discipline whereby you harness your mind. hook yourself up to the inside, and you know that Jesus is with you, you know the Father is with you, and therefore you make a commitment in your heart that you are going to communicate with Him, talk with Him, walk with Him, and I just heard in my spirit, the Spirit of God say, and abide. in him now lastly what is another reason why people don't pray because prayerlessness is a form of hiding from god and that's our subject matter in this broadcast you don't have to hide from god and we're going to find out in this broadcast the reason why people hide from god is because of a lack of knowledge of his character and just a lack of knowledge as to who we are positionally in Christ Jesus.

8:16 Okay. Before we dive into more of our teaching and get into the depths of this teaching, we're going to take a break here and I'll see you when we come back. My book Contend, Stewarding the Hearts and Destinies of Our Children Through Prayer, is one of my most favorite projects thus far. In this book, I teach the reader how to pray effectively for their children, their grandchildren. and the rising generations that are in the earth today, make no mistake about it. There is war over the hearts and the destinies of our children. And this book will equip you as to how to pray effectively to those young people. In this book, I teach you about the power and the purpose of praying in tongues. I show you what a prayer alert looks like. There are sample prayers. Not only that, there are outlines at the end of each chapter so if you run a Bible study you can use this book as a springboard to teach others how to pray for their children go to my website at Margie Florent org and pick up your own copy we left off with our last point as to why people don't pray and that is because oftentimes we hide from God prayerlessness is a form of hiding

9:49 from God now before we get into the teaching you think about your own relationships as humans oftentimes people hide emotionally from one another because they don't trust one another there's a lack of communication there's a lack of trust and therefore they hide from one another they don't always express everything that they're thinking they don't allow their walls to come down emotionally and therefore there's not the intimacy or the joy of that relationship because we are hiding from one another well the same thing holds true in our relationship with god there are times that we can hide from god now we're going to go ahead And we're going to read Genesis chapter 3. And I want you just to stay with me because I'm going to go ahead and read several verses. Now Genesis 3, 6 through 13 says, Now Adam and Eve fell. We know the story. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, now this is the temptation, and the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate.

11:03 Now we know what happened. She also gave it to her husband, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together. and made themselves coverings. And then they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord among the trees of the garden. So Adam and Eve fell. They disobeyed God. They ate of the forbidden fruit. Here they sew themselves coverings. And we find that they're doing what? They're hiding themselves from the presence of God. Then the Lord God called to Adam and he said to him, Adam, where are you? And he said, I heard your voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. And God said, who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree which I commanded you that you should not eat? And the man said, The woman you gave me to be with, she gave me of the tree and I ate. And the Lord God said to the woman, what is this that you have done? And the woman said, the serpent deceived me and I ate. So we see from the scripture that Adam and Eve disobeyed

12:36 God. They fell from the presence of God. They disobeyed him. And suddenly they knew that they weren't covered. They knew that they needed to cover themselves. believe that God used to walk with Adam and Eve. He'd come down in the cool of the day and he would have fellowship with them. He would talk with them and he enjoyed their company. But all of a sudden something has changed. They're hiding from the presence of God. The trust is broken. And where there was faith, there is now an exchange. And the exchange is faith. has turned to fear. So instead of having this loving relationship with the father, loving devotional time with him, they are afraid there. They find that they're naked and they're hiding themselves from the presence of God. OK, now there's a remedy for that. And the remedy is Jesus Christ. came to the earth and he bridged the gap between god and sinful man and therefore man is now restored back into right fellowship with him as we confess him as our lord and savior believe in our heart that god raised him from the dead we are born again alive unto god and that relationship is once again restored because Jesus is referred to as the second Adam, but we're not going to go there right now. I want to emphasize some word that is right here in

14:09 this verse where God said to Adam and Eve, he said, where are you? So I want to camp right here on this word where. Everyone say where, where. He said, where are you? Where in this verse is a unique and powerful word, especially in this context. God is not asking for Adam's physical location because he knows where Adam is. He's all knowing. He knows everything. He is referring to something different. Okay. He is saying, where are you? Meaning I'm inviting you to reflect. on your spiritual and your moral position because you disobeyed me, something has changed. I know where you are physically, but where are you in your heart? What has happened to us? Why is there some kind of change? Why is there some kind of disconnect? Adam, where are you? We walked together in the cool of the day. We had sweet fellowship. I gave you everything you could possibly want. Where are you? Where did you go? Now the Hebrew word is A -Y -Y -E -K -A and it means in the Hebrew, where are you?

15:34 Now this word is different from all the other times this word where is mentioned in the word of God. This word carries something different. It carries a deep. Now, I want you to hear what I'm saying today. This is very important. And it's very difficult for me to share this teaching with you without sensing the heart of God rising up and my emotions getting involved because I can feel the heart of God towards you. And he's saying to many of you, where are you? I am calling you. I love you with an everlasting love. I want you to come into me all. you that are laboring and are heavy laden if you would come to me i would give you rest but i'm waiting on you to trust me i'm waiting on your obedience i'm waiting on you he's saying where are you come to me when you come to me i will in no wise cast you out i am like all the men that you have experienced in the earth i'm not like them i'll never leave you i'll never forsake you i'll never divorce you i'll never reject you i am with you always even into the ends of the earth i want you to come to me so in this verse the heart of god is where are you and it carries a deep emotional weight especially in context While the word itself is grammatically a simple question, many Jewish

17:06 and Christian interpreters through the centuries have understood it to express much more than a request for a location, like I said. So let's talk about the literal versus the emotional meaning of this word, where are you? The literal is, where are you? Right? Where are you? There's an emotional, relational meaning to this word in the Hebrew. It says, in essence, in the emotional translation, where have you gone? Where have you gone from me? Or, what happened to our closeness?

17:49 Okay, we're going to take a break right here, and I can't wait to share with you what else this word conveys. In this text, there are several prayers spoken of in the word of God. The prayer of intercession is just one of those prayers spoken of in Ephesians 6 .18. And this particular book, Marked for Intercession, teaches the reader how to pray for your family, how to pray for your friends, how to stand in the gap for a nation, how to pray for leadership, and it goes on and on and on. I would encourage you to get this book and dive in deep so that you can be that man, you could be that woman that would stand in the gap and put up the hedge and be the love of God expressed in the earth. You can go to my website at margieflaurent .org and not only will you find my book, but I also have a workbook that goes with the subject of marked for intercession.

18:50 So God says in Genesis 3, 9, where are you? We already said that God is omniscient and he already knows exactly where Adam is physically. But he's referring to where is your heart? He's talking about where are you relationally with me? Now, let's talk about the emotional nuance of this word A -Y -Y -E -K -A. It is the cry in the Hebrew of a broken relationship. Many commenters, especially in Jewish and Christian theology, see this word as a divine lament. God is expressing sorrow, not confusion. So when we run from God or we hide from God or we're too busy for God, the inside in God's heart, He's saying, I miss you.

19:55 I long for you. I want you to come to me. I enjoy you. You're my child. You are my sons and daughters. I created this family and they created this family so that I could have fellowship with you. Where are you? It's a divine lament. God is expressing sorrow, as I said, and not confusion. God is never confused. He's not the author of confusion and he's not confused. I think sometimes we need to locate ourselves. Where are we in our walk with God? Where are we in our prayer life? Where are we in our devotional time? Are we too busy for God? Here we have a loving heavenly father who longs for us to fellowship with him. intimacy with us who so loved the world that he gave his son so that when we believed in him we would not only have everlasting life but we would be restored back unto him in fellowship and in righteousness okay so God is saying what happened it also refers to it's like a green parent calling out to a child who has gone astray now those of you that are parents understand the scripture there that says if you then being natural parents know how to give good gifts to your children The Bible says, how much more does your heavenly father want to give good gifts to those that ask him?

21:27 So here we as natural parents, we want our kids to be okay. We want our kids to be safe. We want our kids to be provided for. We love our kids. If anything's going on in our children's lives, we lament. We think about it. We hurt for them if they're hurting. We want solutions to problems if they're having problems. They need counseling. We want to get them counseling. We'll do whatever we can do to make sure our kids are safe because that is the love of a parent. Well, Jesus said in Matthew 7, 11, if you then be a natural parent, know how to give good gifts to your children and want your children to be taken care of. He goes on to say in the scripture, and I love it.

22:10 He said, how much more? will in context your heavenly father give good things to them that ask him in this regard it's talking about the holy spirit but think about it if you love your children the way you love your children god says in this scripture how much more do i love you his love is so big there's a height a depth a length a breath and the length and the love of god it passes knowledge ephesians 3 says it's so wide it's so vast we cannot even comprehend the love of god it passes all of our understanding well i just really want to know that kind of love i want to tap into that kind of love. And I believe you want it as well, because on the inside of you, God has created you for intimacy.

23:02 God has created you for fellowship. God has created you with a heart. I think it's Colossians 3, like Paul said, I want to know you. I want to become more deeply and intimately acquainted with you, perceiving and understanding the wonders of your person. So on the inside of each and every one of us, there's this capacity. Can I say it like that? To know God and to want to be known by him. So here we say, how much more will your heavenly father give good gifts to those that ask him? So in this verse, Genesis 3, 9. This is an invitation. Where are you? It's an invitation, not condemnation, which is, I believe, why some people hide from God because they're condemned. But in our next broadcast, we're going to get into that and we're going to starve your doubts and feed your faith so that you. can go boldly to the throne of grace and obtain mercy and grace in your time of need, even if you have sin. Okay? So this, where are you, is an invitation, not condemnation. Now, if you've had any kind of negative parental circumstances or experiences, you hear the word father and you automatically get afraid because your father was abusive. or your father was mean, or your

24:33 father would hit you, or your father would ignore you if you did something bad. Well, God is not like our natural father. He is, the Bible calls, a perfect father. So he's not like these earthly, imperfect parents that every single one of us was raised with. But God is a perfect God. You know what I love about him is that he is consistent. He said, I am the Lord God. I change not. I keep my word. I am reliable. He is. consistent. Okay. So we're going to do some more of that. Starve your doubts. We're going to be feeding your faith when it comes to the character of God, because the reason we hide from God is because we don't understand his character. We don't understand his heart. We don't know who he is. We think he's schizophrenic. He's mad at us one day and, and, and he's accepting us the next day. No, that's not who God is. He said, I am the Lord God. I change not. Okay, so where are you? So rather than confronting Adam with anger, God begins with a gentle question. This reflects his mercy, his love. If you ever want to know the character of God, read 1 Corinthians 13.

25:57 Love or God, God is love. Love is patient, kind. It is consistent, never fails, and so on and so forth. So God is love. And this where are you question is a reflection of his love. It's a reflection of his mercy. That's why the Bible says we can draw boldly to the throne of grace or the throne of mercy. It's also. A desire for reconciliation. Well, what I did is just, I'm just too far gone. There's nobody too far gone. Look at Paul or Saul. On the road to Damascus, heading in the wrong way on his own road, persecuted the church, murdered Christians. He wasn't too far gone. Are you that bad? Well, it doesn't matter anyway, because sin is sin, whether it's big or little. Where when I was raised, there were venial sins and mortal sins in God. The only sin that we will be held accountable for is our rejection of Jesus Christ. So it says here, where are you? you, this is a desire for reconciliation and it's a chance for Adam to come forward and confess. So God was reaching out to Adam and in his mercy and in his love, he's saying, where are you? He's not mad at you.

27:25 He's not angry with you. He loves you with an everlasting love and he wants you. He wants me, all of us. To come to him and obtain mercy and grace and fellowship with him in our time of need. Okay, we're going to have to stop here. But in our next broadcast, we're going to dive in deep as to how we can approach God and not hide from him. You pray it and he can answer it. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails. God will put the prayer in your heart to pray so that he can answer it. It goes into the hearts of the people. It doesn't return void.

28:11 It produces results. Thank you so much for tuning in to today's podcast. It has been such a joy sharing this time with you. For more inspiration and resources on today's topic, please visit our website at margiefloran .org.