Thanks for joining us on the Line of Fire.
Classes are now in session in the School of Prayer. Michael Brown here to infuse you with faith and truth and courage to help you stand strong on the front lines. Thanks for listening. Thanks for sharing this podcast, this radio broadcast, this YouTube episode with your friends. And remember, we are listener and viewer supported. So thanks for standing with us. You can do that at thelineoffire.org.
Just click donate. All right, today we're going to talk in the School of Prayer about deepening our relationship with God. Deepening our relationship with God.
We ended yesterday talking about the importance of thanksgiving. Colossians 3 15. Let the peace of Christ ruin your hearts since as members of one body you were called to peace and be thankful. Hebrews 13 15.
Let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God. And let me take you to Luke, the 17th chapter. There's an amazing account there when Jesus heals 10 men suffering from leprosy.
It's a severe skin disease different than what we know as leprosy today but a severe skin disease and one that would cause people to live in isolation. So it says in Luke 17, now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, 10 men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, Jesus master have pity on us. It was remarkable when in other accounts like Mark 1 for example, Jesus touches the leper and heals them. They are unclean. You don't touch them.
That's why they stand at a distance. Have pity on us, Lord. Have pity on us, Jesus. When he saw them, he said, go show yourselves to the priest. And as they went, they were cleansed. So of course Leviticus 13 14 lay out the rules for cleansing of someone with this terrible skin disease or a house with mildew, this infectious disease in the house and the cleansing rites that you would go through. So he's telling them, go to the priest. In other words, I'm going to heal you.
You go. And as they go, they're cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. So looked at as an outcast by the Jewish community. Jesus asked, we're not all 10 cleansed.
Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner? Then he said to him, rise and go. Your faith has made you well.
So for sure, this man is now whole on the inside and the outside. We don't know what happened to the others in terms of lasting healing, because they didn't return and give thanks. It's really, really important that we regularly give thanks to God, not as some religious ritual, as if he wants it. You didn't thank me today.
I won't bless you. It's not the kind of God he is. It helps us understand him. It helps us have a right attitude towards him. It builds our faith. And that's one reason for thankfulness.
All right, so let's go deeper. If we are to pray effectively, we've been saying that we must align our lives rightly with God. John 15 7 quoted it yesterday. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, Jesus says, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you.
You say, oh, cool. So if I remain in Jesus and his words are in me, then I can ask him to show me who's going to win all the sports events so I can gamble away my money and get filthy rich. No, if you're spending quality time with the Lord, if you're abiding in Jesus, you're living your life in him, not just doing your own thing and living in the flesh and his words in your heart and mind, what you pray is going to be in harmony with him.
Ah, it's different. That's why in Psalm 1 that the man who daily meditates in the word, meaning he recites it, he repeats it, he speaks it, but he thinks about it. The man who does that, the man who does that, whatever he does will succeed. Everything he does will succeed.
Why? Because he's in harmony with God. Because he's doing God's will. He's not just doing the will of the flesh. Okay, so if I really meditate in the word and get the word in my heart and mind, then I can pray that I can like, I'm going to crush all the competition in business and they're all going to go out of business. No, you're not going to pray vicious prayers to hurt your enemies when you're in harmony with God.
Psalm 37 4, delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. You see, as we're delighting in him, loving him, we're not going to pray bad prayers. We're not going to pray carnal prayers. We're not going to pray stupid prayers. We're going to pray prayers that are in harmony with his will, and that's what we're going to want because we're being changed. We're being conformed to his image. So let me say this again. Prayer is not a formula.
It's a relationship. We can't delight ourselves in the Lord and expect God to answer every selfish desire we have because we won't be doing that while we're in right relationship with him. If we truly remain in him and delight in him, then our hearts and desires will be aligned with his and he will not remove our personality, our creativity.
He won't turn us into robots, but he's created us in such a way that when we come in harmony with him, then we really thrive. The things that I love to do the most in life and ministry are the things that come out of my relationship with God because he made me a certain way. In other words, to share the Word with you. I love doing it. I would do this day and night.
If you came over to my house to hang out, I'd love to just share the Word and teach and mentor. I love to do it. If I'm having a debate with a rabbit, I love to do it. Going overseas to preach to the nations, I love to do it.
Love to do it. It's not like he's just going to zap you and you become this robot. Yes, Master, I will obey. Rather, in harmony with him, friendship with him, collaboration with him, you now become co-workers with God. That's language Paul uses. We're his co-workers. We, as his children, through prayer, become co-workers together with God. Wow! That's massive.
That's more massive than anything we could conceive. Amy Semple McPherson said, you better pray until Jesus glory is in your eyes and then you can make him glorious to other people. So, when you really look at how beautiful the Lord is, the psalm of Psalm 16, shiviti adonai l'negedi tamidah, set the Lord always before me. By the way, because many verses in the Hebrew Bible I've memorized in Hebrew, it kind of triggers the verse better. I remember it better in Hebrew. When I say it in Hebrew, I feel like the English has even more thrust to it.
That's why I'm doing it. Not to show off I know Hebrew. Plenty of people know Hebrew better than me.
That's not the issue. It's just the way it just comes up from my heart. I love to share it like that. So, as you're spending time with the Lord, he becomes more beautiful, more wonderful to you. Then you can pray more effectively because you see how good he is.
Is this making sense? What about longing for God? Hungering for God? Just last night I was praying over some of these very verses and saying, God, I want to hunger for you more deeply.
Long for you more deeply. Not just for ministry effectiveness, not just to reach more people, not just to see your work succeed in the world, among the Jewish people, in the church. But no, just hungering for God. Just for God.
Just for God. You know, when you're going to be married and you're longing just for that deeper union with your spouse's husband and wife, you're not thinking about all the benefits of marriage and all the things that you'll do together. It's just you want that union together. You want to come together as one and have that full embrace as husband and wife and devote your lives to one another.
That's what you're thinking about. And many times we come to God in a utilitarian way. Lord, I'm coming to you so that you will do this. I'm coming to you because I have a need.
And that's fine. We are dependent. That's why he teaches us to pray to our Father in heaven, because we're coming with needs. We're coming as kids. We're coming with, Lord, I don't know what to do. I need help.
I need wisdom. He delights in answering prayer. But there's something deeper, which is hungering for God as God, not hungering for God for a breakthrough.
And that's great. That's important. Hungering for God for miracle. That's important. Hungering for God for wisdom.
That's important. These are things that God puts in his word, wants us to pray about, and delights in answering our prayers. But then there's something else, which is just a hunger for God himself. So Psalm 63, the superscription says that this is written as David is fleeing in the wilderness of Judea. So there could be two times, either when he was fleeing from Saul, when he was fleeing from Absalom. And to me, it's certainly the latter, because he references the king at the end, speaking about himself. And it seems that he was worshiping at the tabernacle, but now couldn't worship at the tabernacle because he had a fleece.
So he couldn't be in the presence of God that he uniquely enjoyed there. And he starts by saying, Elohim, Eliyatah, O God, you're my God. Tzamadachan ashi, my soul thirsts for you. Kamachthik ha-basari, my body longs for you.
As in a dry and thirsty land without water. So I've seen you in the sanctuary. To see your power and your glory. So there's a hungering and thirst for you. For you, Lord.
Not just for the benefits, not just for the answers, for you. Psalm 42 says, as a deer pants for streams of water, ken ashi tarogelech ha-lohim. So my soul pants for you, longs for you. Psalm 84 uses similar language, long and thirsting for the courts of the Lord. And I prayed a lot over those verses in recent days and said, God, I want to see you move, I want to see you act, I want to see you work in my life, I want to see you bring you more and more and to conform to the image of your son. And I've needs here and there, I'm asking you to meet these needs. But I said, God, I need to hunger and thirst for you in a deeper way than I have in years. I'm just longing to be with him. Is that your heart? If not, don't condemn yourself.
Don't beat yourself up. Just pray, God, make me hungry. Make me hungry for you. You know, one of the best signs of health, if you've been really sick and you can't eat, is when your appetite comes back. Your appetite comes back.
Oh, yes, that's a good sign. I know some of our appetite is a little carnal, a little too hungry. We want more food than we need, bad food.
But I'm talking about that healthy appetite. A hunger for God is a great sign of spiritual growth. We will be right back. spiritual growth.
We will be right back. Are you tired of feeling rundown, constantly battling colds, flu and infections? Trivita's Elderberry with Zinc and Vitamin C is here to give your immune system the boost it needs. Trivita's Elderberry Zinc and Vitamin C supplement is a three in one capsule scientifically formulated to support your immune system naturally. Elderberries have been cherished for centuries for their wellness benefits. And now Trivita has harnessed the immune system supporting power in every bottle of Trivita's Elderberry enhanced with Zinc and Vitamin C to help you fight off colds, flu and infections. Now is the time to boost your immune system and the immune systems of those you love with Trivita's three in one Elderberry Zinc and Vitamin C supplement today. To order Elderberry with Zinc and Vitamin C for yourself, order today and use promo code BROWN25 to receive 25% off your order.
As a new customer, 100% of the proceeds from your first order will go to support the Line of Fire radio broadcast. So call now 1-800-771-5584. 1-800-771-5584. 1-800-771-5584. Or online at T-R-I-V-I-T-A.
Trivita.com. Thanks for joining us on the Line of Fire. By the way, just talking right before the break about healthy eating versus unhealthy eating, healthy hunger versus unhealthy hunger. So many of you know my story. My life radically transformed 10 and a half years ago. Went from 275 pounds to a little under 175 pounds now just through healthy eating, getting rid of the bad food. So that's the key.
I know we're talking about in the new year. Just another reminder. And then I use these great health supplements from Trivita. If you never checked them out, you can go to Trivita.com if you like. And check out the different products there. If there's something you're interested in, you can use the code BROWN25 which makes 100% of your first order donated directly to the Line of Fire. More than a tithe of all subsequent orders donated there.
And you get the best discount available. So thanks for the partnership with Trivita. We appreciate it deeply.
All right. Psalm 63, earnestly I seek you. I seek you early. Seek you earnestly. I thirst for you. My whole being longs for you. Verse three, because your love is better than life. Verse four, I'll praise you as long as I live. Verse six, on my bed I remember you. I think of you through the watches of the night. I cling to you.
Can you relate to that at all? You say, this is foreign. I'm a believer. I gave my life to Jesus. I believe he died for my sins, rose from the dead. I'm convinced of the truthfulness of scripture.
But I don't know. I can't really relate to what you're talking about there. Don't condemn yourself. Take out the Psalms. Take out your Bible. Go to Psalm 63 when you have some time and read it out loud.
Then say, Lord, I'm reading the words, but they're not real to me. Show me what this means. Show me how to be hungry. Show me how to be thirsty.
Show me how to go deeper. Show me what it means to hunger and thirst for you. Psalm 42 is the dear pants for streams of water.
So my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. So how do we deepen that relationship with the Lord?
Let me give you a bunch of principles and see how much of this I can get through today. Building a relationship takes time. In the natural, we often simply want to get to know someone and talk to them.
But how much more with God? Get to know him. You say, he doesn't talk back to me.
That's all right. You have the Word of God. You talk to him. You share your heart with him.
And little by little, you'll get to understand his heart more and you'll sense his heart more. Prayer is not for people in a hurry. There are prayers you pray in a hurry, and that's the only time you have. But a prayer life, not prayed in a hurry. You cannot cultivate intimacy with anyone if you're always in a hurry.
As a New Yorker at heart, always on the move. Even if I get to the airport, my flight's delayed two hours. I'm now there three hours early. I'm still like, why is this person taking so long getting through security here? Why is this person taking so long at the counter here?
Always in a hurry. That has to be changed if you want to cultivate intimacy with God. There is no set time of, how much should I pray? The Bible doesn't say 10 minutes a day, 15 minutes an hour, two hours, three hours.
It doesn't say. But all of our lives and responsibilities are different. There are times in life when you have more time to pray than others. Single versus married, married before kids, married after kids, getting extra job, certain educational things, physical condition. There are times we'll have more time to pray, less time.
You can't make that some fixed thing. There was a time when I was in high school, I had a very light schedule, before I started working full time when I was 18 and a summer job before I started college. And with discipline, I spent between six and seven hours alone with God every single day without fail for at least six months. At least three hours in prayer, two hours reading the Bible, one hour memorizing scripture. And I could memorize 20 verses every day. I did it, 20 verses a day memorized and they stuck with me. For at least six months, I could do that in one hour reading the Word, two hours praying at least three, so at least six or even seven hours with the Lord every single day without fail. And that was focused.
We didn't have cell phones then, computers, cable TV. I mean focused prayer, time in the Word. And then I would go to multiple church services a week.
I had that time when I started working a full time job. I didn't have that time anymore. And I felt condemned like something's wrong with me. You're not praying enough. You're not reading the Word enough. I didn't have the sense and the understanding because no, I had a special season.
That season doesn't always exist. So homeschooling mom with a toddler and a one month old and other kids seven, nine, and 11 that you're homeschooling, no, you don't have the time that you did when you were single working a part-time job and living at your parents home. Obviously, don't condemn yourself with that. But determine in the midst of this, you have to find ways to pray. In the midst of this, maybe it's one night in the week when your husband can say, hey, I'm just going to step in and recover things. Or we get a babysitter and the babysitter is not for you and your husband to go out. That's another time. But for you to just get alone. And maybe, sir, you got a really busy job with business and juggling a bunch of things.
It's a startup company and it's taking 50, 60 hours a week. Plus, one of your kids is in sports and you're involved. Understand it. But make prayer a priority anyway. Make it a priority. Determine, I've got to deepen my relationship with God.
Nothing matters more than that. And what's remarkable is when we practice Matthew 6 33, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. What's remarkable is we put that into practice. We see that our schedules change. When I was in college and trying to do all my classes and write all these papers and so on, and I'd be frustrated. I couldn't get this done.
I couldn't get this done. I didn't have time to pray the way I wanted. Then the next day, I sought the Lord. I prayed until I felt I broke through, got where I needed. And then in what took four or five, six hours a day before I got done in an hour. Look at that. You'll often find that to be true. Put him first and he can bring blessing on the rest of your schedule.
Put him last and there's not going to be any time left. Our lives and responsibilities are different. Our attitude should be, God, my whole life is yours. You know my life, my responsibilities, my family needs. How much do you want me praying? And can my life through the day be like a constant prayer?
I don't mean that you have to be hyper-spiritual and try to create some false spiritual atmosphere. But you're a computer programmer. You're a landscaper mowing lawns. You're busy with the kids. Whatever you're doing, there can still be this sense of, oh God, during the day, Lord, I need your help. Wow, this kid is a doozy. Lord, give me wisdom.
God, I'm real tired. You kind of live that life together. He's your soul mate.
He's your soul mate. Oh, may we get hold of this. When you feel the Lord drawing you in a special way, don't fight the pulling of the Lord into prayer. You do not know what might happen or what you might miss. Obedience to simple, specific proddings from the Lord is very important.
What do I mean? Out of the blue, you have a burden to pray. You're about to eat lunch, but you have this heavy burden to pray. Okay, put the sandwich away for the moment. Put the lunch plans on hold for a moment.
If you have to get in the bathroom by yourself, you've got a burden for some reason. Go with it. It may last a minute.
It may cause you to skip lunch. It may become something that deepens in your heart over the days to come. But when you have one of those specific burdens, as much as you are able, go with it. And trust me, I've had times where I've had to get out in my car. I couldn't be away from people. I had this heavy burden. I just had to get in my car and drive away where I could just cry out.
I've had times where I've just had to get in the bathroom. You know, family vacation or something like that. Sharing, you know, Nancy and I in the bedroom. Maybe with the kids too. We're all just sharing one room when they're little.
You know, just travel one night. And I got a burden to pray. Go in the bathroom. You can't make a lot of noise.
You can't cry out because you've got the family sleeping. And you never know what happens with those specific burdens. They've birthed things in my life. They've been part of leading me to pray for other people or write books or different things. So in your life of prayer, learn to go with the specific proddings of the Spirit. You don't know what you're missing if you don't.
Hey, remember, something else you don't know what you're missing. If you're not getting our monthly frontline newsletter with an inspirational message, great testimonies, Hebrew word study, excerpts from my books, all free, all digital, go to TheLineOfFire.org. TheLineOfFire.org and click subscribe. We can't wait to send it out to you.
This is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks so much for tuning in. Just a reminder that we are listener supported. If we have been a blessing to you, if you're being enriched in the Word and prayer and your own walk with God through this broadcast, then stand with us so that we can reach many, many more and bless many, many more. Together, friends, we're making a difference. So go to TheLineOfFire.org. TheLineOfFire.org and click donate.
