CTN TV Episode 17 The Secret Place of Prayer Part 2

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. It goes into the hearts of the people, doesn't return void, it produces results. Hello my friends, welcome to Prayer and Purpose. I'm your host, Margie Florent. Now in this teaching, we're going to dive in deeper. And I'm going to teach you exactly how to develop intimacy with God, with your creator, with the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm a very hands -on teacher in this regard. I'm going to teach you some practical steps, some practical ways that you can enter into the presence of God, which... On the inside of each and every one of us, we all crave and we all desire to be intimate and to be close with him. The Bible says, David said, My God, you are my God. Early I will seek you. My flesh longs for you. I thirst for you in a dry and thirsty land. So our hearts crave God. Our hearts want God. Our hearts desire to know him. But there are ways whereby we can learn how to put that into action. So we're going to talk today about how to know God for yourself. And I'm going to give you some very practical steps. With that in mind, let's go ahead and begin reading at

1:30 Mark chapter four. Now, Jesus is speaking to the crowds and he's. teaching the crowds in parables and and there's a bunch of people gathering around and it says and with many such parables he spoke the word to them the crowds as they were able to hear it in other words he could only go so far with them he could only teach them so much but then it goes on to say in verse 34 but but without a parable he did speak to them meaning his disciples without a parable. He did not speak to them, his disciples. And when they were alone, I want you to hone in on that word alone. And when they were alone, he explained or another translation says he expounded all things to his disciples. So in other words, he was only. able to go so far with the crowds that reminds me so much of our public assembly our public services when we all gather together and we to continue to gather together the bible says forsake not the assembling of yourselves together as a manner of some is but we should do it more especially as we see the day approaching and it's good to gather together it's good to go to bible study it's good to go to small groups and and services

3:03 and seminars but there is more to our walk with god other than just the public gathering. And I think that this scripture speaks into that. It says that Jesus spoke to the crowds as they were able to hear it or understand it or able to receive what he had to say. He was limited. But when we came to his disciples, the people that were closest to him, the Bible says when they were alone, He expounded or he explained all things to his disciples. So this is secret closet prayer. Let's go over and let's read what Matthew 6 says, what Jesus said about prayer, secret prayer. It says in Matthew 6, verse 5.

3:59 And when you pray. You shall not be like the hypocrites are or the pretenders, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets that they may be seen of men. Assuredly, they have their reward. But he says, but you, me, you and I, when we pray, let's go into our room. And when you have shut the door, pray to your father. who is in the secret place and your father who sees in secret will reward you openly. So this is the call to secret prayer. This is a call for you and I to spend time alone in the presence of God and whereby we can get to know him in a greater way and in a greater measure on another level. So he says here, when you pray, go into your room. That word room, it's also translated closet. And it denotes in the Greek a secret chamber, a place where it's just you and God. And the scripture says, and when you do that, your father, he sees what you're doing. He sees what you're doing in secret. And he will reward you openly. So we're talking about time alone with God, where

5:30 it's just you and God, where we are getting to know God for ourselves. And I don't know about you, but for me, that is super exciting. Now, I heard somebody say one time, this person said, you know, prayer is just boring. Well, I mean, that's fair, because when you're new to prayer, or you've neglected your prayer life or you're like in have a lot of things going on in your life when you try to enter into the place of prayer you try to go into your closet you try to to spend time in the presence of god if we're not focused and if we're not intentional it literally can become boring so i get it but i'm going to teach you how to come out of that place lethargy and come into a place whereby prayers no longer boring prayer is fun we said this before you've heard me say it prayer goes from sacrifice to a joy from a desire to a discipline and then to a delight Your prayer time and your time along with Jesus can come to a place where you're so connected with him that when you leave that place of prayer, you not only leave with an awareness of his presence, but you leave that place of prayer with a connection with the secret thing in your heart that you've connected with the God of the universe. And when you walked away

7:00 from that place of prayer, there is also a. an awareness that you can't wait to get back into your prayer life prayer closet that is because you crave the presence of god okay so the lord said to me one time he wanted me to write this book it's called encounter god through prayer and you can get this book on my website margieflorent .org, or you can get this book on Amazon. And this particular book goes from nuts to bolts. I teach what I'm going to be teaching you today in this book. So if you want to know more about how to develop your alone time with God, I would encourage you to get this book. But I wrote this book because the Lord said to me, you know what, Margie? He said, many desire to draw near to me and get close to me. He said, but many of my people just don't know how. And I want you to teach them how to pray. And, you know, that's the same thing that the disciples said to Jesus when they came to Jesus, when they came to Jesus, they watched Jesus and they watched his lifestyle and they watched that he was. always a man who operated in the wisdom and revelation and discernment.

8:25 He operated in the power of God, demonstration of God. And they noticed that he was a man who would at times leave where he was and go up into a mountain and disappear, or he'd go out into a desert place. And I believe the disciples realized that the secret to Jesus's success was his power. prayer life his time alone with his heavenly father and so they came to jesus one day and they said lord teach us to pray and we know the very famous you know prayer the you know the our father he goes on to teach them about the the heart of the father and so on and so forth but that's what we're doing we are teaching you how to pray so before we get into it i want to just ask you a question What is your personal motivation for learning how to pray and developing your secret time with God? What is your motivation?

9:29 I just want you to think about that for just a second, because that motivation is what's going to drive you, so to speak, into the presence of God so that when some things come your way, distractions and cares and tasks in this earthly realm, when they try to stop us from praying, you're going to need that motivation to rise up on the inside of you. Would you like me to tell you my motivation for secret prayer? My personal motivation. came from watching Kenneth E. Hagin. And I knew and I could see that he had intimacy with God, that he knew the voice of God, that he operated in the flow and the rhythm of the Holy Spirit. But he also said something that changed my life. He said, Jesus is more real to me than my wife laying next to me in the bed. And I thought to myself, Jesus is more real to him than his wife laying next to him in the bed. In other words, Jesus, who he couldn't see, was more real to him than what he could see in this natural realm. And that's my motivation for prayer. I want to know Jesus like that. I want to have a friendship with that. Like that.

10:54 You've heard me say before that Moses, the Bible says, The Lord spoke to Moses face to face as a man would speak to a friend. And I would say to myself, well, if Moses spoke to you face to face as a man would speak to a friend, how much more under the New Testament, where we are washed in the blood, where the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, can we as believers go boldly to the throne of grace and obtain mercy and grace in our time of need? and have that kind of intimacy with our Father face to face. If Moses had it, how much more can you and I have this type of intimacy and closeness with our Heavenly Father?

11:41 As a matter of fact, my friends, we have it better than Adam and Eve. You know how it was with Adam and Eve. the bible says that god would come down in the cool of the day and he would talk with adam and he would talk with eve so adam and eve would wait for god to come down to in order for god to fellowship with him and them with him well we have it better than adam and eve because we don't have to wait for god to come down we can draw boldly to the throne of god we can pray to god anytime any place Because we are the house of prayer. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit.

12:24 Jesus said, I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. I'm with you always. So it's up to us to draw near to God and for him to draw near to us. So my motivation is friendship with God. I love the scripture that Moses was a prophet. He knew God face to face. That was his legacy that he left. That's another motivation. What do you want your legacy to be? I would like my legacy to be that Margie Florent was a woman, not just in ministry and preaching and teaching, but a woman who knew God face to face. I think that's the greatest legacy. that we can have i personally often think of when i leave my body and i go to heaven i personally think so often about how when i stand before my jesus i don't want to stand before a perfect stranger I want to at least have a knowledge of the essence of Jesus, who he is, what his heart beats like, you know, just an understanding of his love.

13:38 So that's my motivation. I want you to think about what would be your motivation for getting to know Jesus in a more personal and intimate way. Revelations 3 .20 says, Here I am, Jesus said, I stand at the door and I knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person and they with me. This symbolizes the eating together symbolizes in biblical culture. It represents fellowship. And here it is again. Friendship. God desires communion with us. He desires what the Bible calls Konania, which is fellowship. which implies a deep relational connection with him, not just formality or distance. And it brings me back to what we talked about a couple of broadcasts ago. When God came to Adam and Eve, he said to Adam and Eve after the fall, he said, where are you? He knew where they were physically. But that word means. Where are you in your connection with me? What happened? There's been a break here. Where are you? That closeness that we once had is broken. So I have a question for you.

15:03 Where are you? Have you ever heard God say to you, where are you? You hear him calling you. You hear, you know, your heart being drawn to him. But we're so distracted and we're so busy. Well, let's come to him. Let's come back to the heart of the father. Let's come back. Let's draw near to God and he will draw near onto us. As a matter of fact, he will restore to you all the years that the locusts and the canker worm have eaten, the times that we've missed it, the times that we were distracted. He will restore it. And I believe super abundantly above all, you could ask hope. dream or desire. Okay. Before we go any further, we're going to go ahead and take a break here and I will see you when we come back. This is my book decision time. Everyone should read this book, especially those of you who are in a crossroads in your life. You don't know what to do. You don't know how God is leading you. This is the book where you reach a place where you say, Lord, not my will, your will be done in my life. I also include in this book, how to hear the voice of God, which is important when you're making decisions. If you go to my website at margieflaurent .org, you will see that this book is available to you. So we've been talking about secret closet prayer and the

16:34 fact that it's important for us to get to know God. for ourselves and nobody can take that from you. I was speaking in a prison in Ocala, Florida, and in these prisons, they tell you where to go, what to do, when to get up, when to go to bed. They are completely controlled. And when I was speaking in this prison, the Lord said to me, You tell these women and these men. that nobody can keep them from closeness and intimacy with me. Nobody can control what goes on on the inside of their hearts. You see, my friends, you and I are as close to God as we want to be.

17:17 We just need to stir it up. We just need to discipline ourselves. We just need to make room for God, okay? So let's dive into our teaching. Secret closet prayer requires faith. Requires faith. We don't pray because we feel like it. We don't pray because we feel God all the time in our prayer closet. No, we pray because we know that by faith, he is in the room with us. By faith, he is with us. By faith, his eyes are upon us, the Bible says, and his ears are open to our prayers. We know by faith that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man are being heard and they are availing much. So in practicing secret prayer, my friends, we have to have faith.

18:20 The Bible says in John 20, 29. Jesus' words to Thomas after his resurrection. It says in the scripture, blessed are those who believe and have not seen. Thomas believed because he physically saw Jesus. He didn't have faith. But those of us under the New Testament, he's risen from the dead. He's alive forevermore. He's seated at the right hand of God the Father. We must believe that he is when we come to God. Okay? Whether we see him physically with our eyes or not. And it requires faith. And the scripture says, blessed are us when we believe. And we have not seen.

19:10 OK, now Hebrews 11, 6, I already quoted it. It says here in this verse, without faith, it is impossible to please him. So again, here, secret prayer requires faith. For he that comes to God must believe that he is and he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. OK. Let me just tell you a story about feelings versus manifested presence. How important it is for us not to be led by our feelings, but when we enter into the presence of God, walking by faith. I had been seeking God week after week after week after week. after week going into my prayer closet shutting the door and i'd spend time in the presence of god i'd pray in the holy ghost i'd pray the word things were going to be teaching not only in this broadcast but in the next one and maybe the one after that as well and i was seeking god and praying to him and i honestly didn't really feel anything i just knew that by faith he's here I can't see him with my physical eyes, but I know he's here. And I just walked by faith, not by sight. And I was praying and praying and praying. And I put the kids on the bus and they'd come home after my prayer time. And I went about my day. And one day, it was a very special day.

20:37 I put the kids on the bus and I went back into. my prayer closet, which happened to be my office at the time. And the minute I opened the door, I was encountered with the presence of God. It was like he just fell on me. I didn't open up my mouth. I didn't say anything. But I knew that the minute I walked into that room, I was hit with the presence of God. And the Lord spoke to me face to face as a man would speak to a friend. I didn't see him, but that time I felt him. And I took out my journal and he began to speak to me about my life. And one thing he said to me, I'll never forget it. He said, I have watched over you and preserved you even unto this present hour. And I just began to write in my journal all the things that he was saying to me in that moment. You see, my friends, prayer is communication. It's not just us always talking to him and verbalizing our request to him or our intercessions to him or giving some thanks.

21:48 It's also where God comes down and he speaks to us. And in that moment, the Lord just began to speak to me about my life and about my future and just about some very private, personal things that I wrote in my journal. Now, that was a feeling. God came. The presence of God manifested. But it's not always like that. That's why, my friends, it's very important that you stir yourself up. Get into the presence of God. Walk by faith and not by sight. Spend time with him. and i promise you he will encounter you the bible says draw near to god and he will draw near to you because he he knows the motivation of your heart he knows the intention of your heart and he knows okay He or she is going to be seeking me at such and such a time, and I'm going to meet them where they are. Whether you feel him or whether you don't, he is there. The Bible says, I'll never leave you. I will never forsake you. You can trust God that he is true to his promises. And you don't realize it, and I didn't realize it, that when I spend time in the presence of God, I am being changed. literally changed, changed, the Bible says, from glory to glory to glory.

23:15 You don't see it right away. You don't feel it right away. But as you go along in your walk with God, you will see that the times that you spend with him, you are being transformed and changed into the same image from glory to glory. You see, my friends, you become what you behold. And when you behold him. As in a mirror, you are being changed. You are being transformed. Well, I don't feel like I'm being changed. Trust me. The word of God is true. If he said you are being changed, you are being changed. Okay? Now, before we close, we have a few more minutes.

23:59 We're talking about secret closet prayer. It's important that we make closet prayer a habit. habit everyone say a habit the practice of secret prayer is developed through time practice and patience just like any new habit think about the habits that you want to change in your life that are bad it takes time it takes patience it takes commitment and you're going to mess up one day, and then you're going to take a hold of it the next day. It just takes a commitment.

24:40 In general, it takes 21 to 28 days to develop a new habit. Aristotle once said, we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit. Mike Murdoch once said, habit is a gift anything you do twice becomes easier god uses habit to stabilize your life daniel prayed three times a day david prayed seven times a day jesus as was his custom went into the synagogue if i see what you do daily i can predict your future so we must make secret prayer and our time with god a habit we must make it a priority in our life you know what i like to say to people put it in your calendar we're going to get into this later but put it into your calendar find a time that works for you and put it in your calendar and make that your time alone with god and don't let anything take you from his presence it has to be A priority of our day, like we said in our last broadcast, if we are going to survive in the times and the seasons that we are in.

26:08 Okay? James 4 says, draw near to God and he will draw near to you. You are as close to God as you want to be. We said there are levels of intimacy with God. All of us, as with unveiled faces. continue to behold as in a mirror the glory of the lord are constantly being transformed into his very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another for this comes from the lord who is the spirit john 6 37 says all whom my father gives to me will come to me and any Anyone who comes to me, I will most certainly not cast out. Amplified says, I will never, no, never reject one of them who comes to me. So when you make a decision that you're going to develop the habit of secret prayer, just know that when you go to God, there's not anything you possibly could have done that will ever keep him from rejecting you. Not anything.

27:26 And if you have sinned, well, the Bible says he is faithful and just to forgive you of your sin and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Now, before I close, I just want to give you some more practical things. Before you get started in your intimacy with God in the secret place, purchase a Bible. I would encourage you to purchase a physical Bible, one you can understand. If you're doing this for the first time, go to the store or go online and buy a brand new journal. Number three, become familiar with BibleGateway .com or download a Bible app into your phone because you're going to need it. Because God is going to begin to speak to you and you're going to want to know what he is saying. And in our next broadcast, I'm going to teach you how to develop closet secret prayer. So we'll see you next time. 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.