What God Seeks: A Call to Worship, Prayer, and Intimacy with the Holy Spirit

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. It's good to be here with everyone today and I agree with Apostle Eddie. My house will be called a house of prayer. I'm gonna go ahead and open in prayer. So Father, we just come before you, the throne of grace. I thank you for the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit who will lead us and guide us and teach us how to pray. So we thank you that universally that you are anointing the body of Christ with fresh oil in this regard, that you're rising up within us, that you are causing a fire to burn on the inside of us to hunger and thirst, not just for your word which is ultimate and our foundation, but to be that house of prayer so that we can open up the door for you to do what you desire to do in Jesus' name, amen.

1:11 So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna teach for about 20 minutes and then we're gonna go ahead and enter into prayer. My title today, the Holy Spirit gave it to me about two weeks ago and I perfected it this morning. The title is What God Seeks, What God Seeks. But before we get into this, I want to say by way of introduction that we are going to do two kinds of prayer today. We're going to do the prayer of worship first and then we're gonna go into the prayer of intercession. Ephesians 6, 18 tells us that we are to pray with all manner of prayer or all kinds of prayer and there's all different kinds of prayer spoken of in the word of God.

1:56 Today we're gonna focus on these two specific prayers. That we're gonna allow the Holy Spirit to lead us and to guide us as we enter into this river of prayer. One thing for me personally is when I first began to learn how to pray, I went into a closet, I took Matthew 6, 6 literal, went into a closet, shut the door, I prayed first of all according to 1 Timothy, for those that were in authority, and then one day the Lord said to me, I want to lead you and guide you by my spirit in prayer, just like I lead you and guide you as a daughter of mine in your everyday life. So that's what we are endeavoring to do.

2:38 We're endeavoring to not just have our list and our preconceived things in our mind that we're gonna pray about, but we also want to allow the Holy Spirit to lead us and to guide us. Now it is our hope here with all of us at Love and Unity that these times of teaching and prayer will carry over into your personal and devotional time with God. Our prayer time, and this is what heart, does not end here. We want what you learn here to carry over into your personal devotional time. As Jesus said, as the disciples said, Lord teach us to pray, he is teaching us on these once a month Saturday Book of Acts prayer.

3:22 On this time, he is using the leaders, he's using us to teach you and bring you the word of God, but in your own devotional time, I want you to remember what 1 John 2.27 says. It says, the anointing that you have received abides in you, you need not that any man teach you, although we're teaching you, but the anointing will teach you how to pray. So you have to trust the Holy Spirit, you have to use the word of God, and it'll drive out the frustration and the boredom that I hear so many people talk about in their time of devotions with him. And it takes patience, it takes devotion, and it takes love.

4:07 So why do we pray? We pray because number one, we love God. Number two, we love people. And number three, we have to always remember that prayer should always be born out of a heart of love and not out of duty or works. But I will say this, prayer as we learn and develop in prayer does go from, it goes from a sacrifice to a joy. So in other words, in the beginning, when you're learning how to pray, it's gonna be like, I don't understand what's going on, your mind's distracted, so on and forth, so forth. But eventually you'll enter into a rhythm and into a zone and it'll become a joy.

4:51 It's just like working out. Now, we know it's the first of the year, we all know the gyms get really full, everyone makes a New Year's resolution that they're going to get in the gym and get in shape. Well, we don't start with an hour on the treadmill, especially if we haven't worked out for a while. We start with 15 minutes. We begin where we are so that we don't become discouraged. So it's just important to remember that prayer goes from sacrifice to joy, from a desire to a discipline, and then to a delight. So I just wanna encourage those of you that are new, just to be patient with yourselves, that God is developing us, he's showing us, he's revealing himself to us.

5:35 So when the disciples said to Jesus, Lord teach us to pray, that was a real question. And I believe that's what he's doing with us here now. So what God seeks, number one, I just learned this as by revelation, something that God is actually seeking is worshipers. God seeks worshipers. First John, we'll go ahead and read it, John 4, 19 through 24. The woman said to him, you know the story about the woman at the well, and he told her everything about her. She said to him, I perceive you are a prophet.

6:17 Our father worshiped in this mountain, and you know that the Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship. Jesus said to her, woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the father, you worship what you do not know, what we worship, what we worship for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming and now is when the true worshipers will worship the father in spirit and in truth, listen to this, for the father is seeking such to worship him.

7:02 God is a spirit and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. So this really ignited something in me this past month that God is actually seeking people, those that would worship him. And I like that. So how do we worship him? If he's seeking those that would worship him, you see, worship gets God's attention. Well, I don't know about you, but I want to have God's attention. I want him to, I want to be one of those worshipers that he's seeking for.

7:43 So how do we worship? We worship with words that we know, whatever native tongue you may have, with words that we know. We worship with adoration and expressions of our love to him. We can worship with scripture to get us started in our time of devotion with him. My favorite scripture is actually found in Psalm 63. I'm not gonna read the whole thing, but I love this Psalm. It's one of my favorite Psalms, one of my life scriptures. It says, oh God, you are my God. Early will I seek you, my soul thirsts for you, my flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.

8:26 For I have looked for you in the sanctuary to see your power and your glory because your loving kindness is better than life. My lips will praise you. Thus I will bless you while I live. So we can go into the presence of God. And one way to get focused in on him is through worship, by our words, by using a scripture. It helps us to shut off our minds. I like to put it like this, hook yourself up to the inside, allow your inner man, the hidden man of the heart, to rise up and look out, not just with these eyes, but with the eyes of your heart.

9:09 And then you begin to focus in on him. It's like Hebrews 12, one and two, you look unto him, the author and the finisher of your faith. I was looking up last night when Kennedy Hagan had many, many visions of Jesus. And one of my favorite, which I couldn't find to read to you was when Jesus came to him, he said he looked into his face and he looked into his eyes and his eyes were like liquid wells of love. So worship can bring us into that place where we get our eyes off of the distractions and we put our eyes on him, but it is a discipline.

9:52 It is a place in prayer where the Bible says, I will keep him in perfect peace. Whose mind has stayed on me. It's a place in prayer where spirit, soul, and body, you're looking at him. And when you look at him, he's looking back at you like Kennedy Hagan said, with eyes of love and eyes of compassion and eyes that say, I love you with an everlasting love and no good thing will I withhold for you. I desire that that which is in you is completed and that work I've called you to do is completed. So we begin by words, a scripture, and then this is what we're gonna do today.

10:35 We can pray and worship in tongues, which many of you who've been doing this as long as I have about 45 years know that back in the day, people used to worship God in spirit and in truth. In spirit meaning in tongues, praying in the spirit, singing in tongues. And we used to be, I don't know how many of you remember this, but we used to be in meetings where everyone was harmoniously singing and worshiping God in tongues. I believe it was beginning of the charismatic movement and it was the Holy Spirit that was orchestrating the sound and the hymns and the spiritual songs.

11:22 And that's when the Holy Spirit would manifest. And I remember times people would have visions and dreams and see angels and even actually hear the angels. Because the Bible says we speak in the tongues of men and of angel. So when we worship, let's not stay on just this one level, which is fine. Worshipping God by using the scripture is good, but let's also use our prayer language. The apostle Paul said, stir up the gift of God that is in you, right? We need to stir up the singing of tongues more in our prayer times because it sets an atmosphere for God to work.

12:04 It sets an atmosphere where God is attracted because he's seeking those that would worship him. So let's just read it. 1 Corinthians 14, 14 says, if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfrunkable. What is the conclusion then? I will, notice it's an act of your will. I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the understanding also. And then here's what we're gonna do today. I will sing with the spirit. I will also sing with the understanding also. And when you sing in tongues, even in your devotional time, you can pray that you can interpret.

12:46 And I think you'll find that easy to do because the interpretation will be songs of adoration and love to the heart of the father. And that would actually be a good place for some of you who are new to start. So God seeks worshipers. And just one little highlight here, I'm not gonna get into all of it. For those of you that want to continue in your intimacy with God and develop your intimacy with God, I would encourage you to practice continual prayer. Continual prayer. I'm not gonna get into the whole thing, but what is continual prayer? How do you practice that? You can practice by worship. The Bible says in Ephesians six, five, therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

13:35 Do not be drunk with wine in which is in excess, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in songs and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody where? In your heart to the Lord. So when you go about your daily business, whether it's cleaning or walking the dog or driving in your car, it's being God inside-minded. That God is in you. He is an ever-present help in the time of need. And he is your friend that sticks closer than a brother.

14:18 And so our prayer time shouldn't just be our closet time of prayer or our corporate time of prayer like we're doing now, but what about continual prayer? Where in your heart, you have a melody that goes on and on and on before the throne of God. Revelation 5, 8, and you become a sweet-smelling savior before the throne of God, just while you go about your everyday walk. How is that done? It's done by singing songs that you know by Jesus culture or Hillsong or whoever, or by just singing and making melody in your heart, singing on the inside in tongues.

14:59 That is worshiping God in spirit and in truth. I just wanted to interject that. What else does God seek? God seeks loyal and surrendered hearts. And this is a scripture he gave to me for us for today. 2 Corinthians says, the eyes of the Lord, or Chronicles says, the eyes of the Lord. Think about it. He's seeking worshipers, right? I don't know about you, but I want God's attention, right? Not by my works, not by all my good deeds, but by what I do within my heart that nobody sees. So he says here, the eyes of the Lord run to and fro the whole earth.

15:43 I'm feeling this. To show himself strong on the behalf of those whose hearts are loyal to him. So he's seeking hearts that are loyal. He's seeking those that would say yes. He's seeking those that are surrendered, right? So what else is he seeking? Number three, this is something I've learned this week because I'm on a getaway to get some direction. God seeks to reveal himself to those who love him. Okay, John 14, 21 in the Amplified says, the person who has my commands and keeps them is the one who really loves me.

16:33 And whoever really loves me will be loved by my father and I too will love him and show, reveal, manifest myself to him. I will let myself be clearly seen by him. And I like this and make myself real to him. What about that song? Show me your glory, Lord, show me your glory. What about that song? I wanna see your face, see? The more we develop our love and our intimacy to God and the more we in our hearts, keep him on the throne of our hearts as first, the more he's going to reveal and manifest himself to us.

17:22 So God seeks to reveal himself to us, but he's gonna reveal himself to us, to those who love him. So let me ask you a question. Has your love grown a bit cold? Pray with intention to get to know him in a greater way. So, all right, so I've had that happen. We've all had it happen. We all get busy, the cares of the world, the disciples, the riches, lots of other things come in, choke the world, but can also choke our prayer line, right? We get busy. So if our love that we sense on the inside that we're not where we used to be or where we want to be, what is a way to get us out of that state? Pray with intention.

18:04 That's the discipline. I'm praying with intention. I'm gonna walk the floors, Lord, you sit. If I seek you, I will find you. I don't feel anything, but I'm like, Apostle Calvin taught me, I'm not pressing in. I'm leaning into you because I wanna come to know you and understand you and perceive the wonders of your person because I know that there's heights and depths and breaths and lengths of your heart and your love that I haven't yet come to know. So I wanna know you. So it starts off with a discipline. And as you practice this kind of prayer where you're leaning into God when you don't feel like it, your love for him is going to grow.

18:53 So you will need to pray with intention to get to know him in a greater way. Again, has your love for God or for people grown cold? We've all had people that are like sandpaper or people that we may not like, right? So has that ever happened to any of you? I guess not, it has happened to me. But love for people grown cold and pray for a revelation for the love of God is found in Ephesians 3, okay? So we can pray, Lord, I pray that you'd open up the eyes in my heart. I pray that I would have an understanding of your love and your revelation of your love.

19:35 Lord, this is a good prayer. May I see as you see, love as you love. Let the love that is in Christ be manifested through me to those who I come in contact. Has your vision or your purpose in life grand all? Well, pray, stir up the gift of God. When you pray in the spirit, here's a little secret. You're praying on a purpose and not a destiny. According to, I think it's Ecclesiastes 3 that says eternity is in our hearts. So when we pray in the spirit, let's say we're praying with intention for ourselves, not the prayer of intercession, which is for other people.

20:19 If you're praying for yourself, for direction, for purpose, for whatever the case may be, pray, praying in tongues, you're praying out of destiny. You're praying out of the root of who you really are in Christ Jesus. Before you were ever formed in your mother's womb, he knew you and he ordained that purpose. The purpose is on the inside. So when you pray in the spirit, you're hooking up to the mind and the will and the purpose of God. You may not get the direction right away, but eventually that's where you cannot get discouraged. It'll be a temptation to get discouraged.

21:01 And people think, oh, I prayed and God didn't say anything. Well, the answer needs to rise up and bubble up and take form and come into your mind. So when we pray in the spirit, he eventually will cause your desires to be in line with his desires, your thoughts to become agreeable with his thoughts, then your plans will succeed. Then he's showing you the way in which you are to go. Then he gives you a piece, then he gives you a check in your spirit so you will know what to do. That's why the Holy Spirit always knows. That's why we pray from a place of knowing when we pray in the Holy Ghost.

21:42 Okay, lastly, prayer produces intimacy. So if all these things have happened, right? Your love for God has grown colder, your love for people. Just remember this. For me, prayer is everything. Prayer produces intimacy. It produces intimacy with the one you pray to, the one you pray for, which is a good thing to do if you have an enemy or you have somebody you don't like, you will begin to see them the way God sees them. And hurting people are people. And with the one you pray with. So that's the beauty of corporate prayer in the churches that when we all pray together, it produces intimacy in and amongst us.

22:25 Okay? So I'm just gonna ask that we unmute and we're ready to pray. So what we're gonna do is we're gonna begin with worship. Like we said, we're gonna begin with worship. And this is an exercise. We begin with worship. And when we worship, as a discipline, cause your focus and your eyes to be turned away from distraction. And intentional or with intentionality, look unto Jesus. What does he look like? Well, there's many scriptures in the Bible.

23:06 I just like to, if I could say the word pretend, I like to just picture his form, his eyes, his being. Sometimes I get a scripture, but put your attention on him. Focus in on him, spirit, soul, and body. Okay? And posture your heart. Like my intention, our intention today is to worship him. And we're gonna begin in tongues. And then we're gonna go into the prayer of intercession, which is not the prayer of worship. The prayer of worship is when you adore him, you worship him. But the prayer of intercession is when you shift gears and now you're loving people.

23:47 You're loving the city. You're loving the nation. You're praying out the plan and the purpose of God. You're the watchman that's on the walls of your family. There's a change here in the prayer. So that's what we're gonna do. So why don't we go ahead and just so you know, we're going to pray, our intercession focus is going to be on California. And if you're not from there, this is what I learned. God will give you a heart for that region because prayer produces intimacy, right? So we're gonna pray for the state of California. We're gonna see how the Lord leads us. Obviously, we're going to pray specific prayers because we know in the natural how to pray, protection, and so on and so forth.

24:32 But we'll let the Holy Spirit will allow him to help us, help us Holy Ghost. So let's begin with worship. Let's begin with worshiping him in tongues and in words, you understand, however you wanna do it, but let's all begin to pray together. That's what the book about is, It's the name of Jesus Christ. Father, mother, father, father, mother, mother. I The Lord be with thee. Son of man, take not on that which God hath made you. And be of this time. The Father God be with you. And be of that which God hath made you.

25:45 I'm just a child, so I'm just a poor little black man, who took one of my worries. Yo, but Rihanna was a part of the whole list. So I'll get down to the end of the bus, man. But Rihanna, you never find Mr. Godfrey the one you need. I'm a pretty much gay. You're a pretty good mom. I'm a pretty good mom. But Rihanna, I can't get it in. I'm a pretty good mom. I think the number he was, that isn't so bad. We're not buying chocolate, but we can use it. Put on her growth cycle, put on everything. H superb MIZ おおー DRıld regulation lot of ungoal but but I've got problems.

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29:41 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.