Prayer: The Access of Spiritual Growth

Prayer is the contact point. For the engaging of the spirit, for the growing of the new life you have in Christ. But Dr. Tony Evans says the real reason we communicate with God is much deeper and much more personal. Prayer is the The heart of a child interacting with the heart of a day.

This is the alternative broadcast, featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans. Many of us think of prayer as us talking and God listening. But there's an intimate relational side of prayer that's often overlooked. Let's join Dr.

Evans as he takes us to Hebrews chapter 4 for today's message. God has provided a power source. for our growth that's internal and that is the Holy Spirit. Even though you cannot see him. Just like you don't see electricity, you don't see the wind.

His effects are clear. His job is to empower The believer To develop into A spiritually mature Christian. His job is to make the parts work.

However, it is possible to have a home that's well wired. With all the electricity working. And still not experience its benefits. In other words, you can have electricity and it still be dark. You can have electricity and the appliances.

Not work. Because there is A point of contact. And the job of this point of contact. is to let what is already there flow. If you've accepted Jesus Christ, you've gotten a new nature.

New working parts. And there is a new resonant power source, the Holy Spirit. But there must be a point of contact.

So important. is prayer to spiritual growth that Paul says Don't leave home without it. He says in 1 Thessalonians 5. 17. Pray without what?

In other words, he says Never not do it.

Now that doesn't sound like an event to me. Let me ask you a question. Do you schedule breathing? Yeah. I'm a breathe now.

Let me spend 20 minutes breathing. No, you don't leave home without it. You don't stay home without it. In other words. It's a necessity.

For functioning in this world, you have to breathe without ceasing. Prayer is the Contact point. For the engaging of the spirit. for the growing of the new life you have in Christ. It is God's prescribed way.

To link our world with his world. It is the access point of the new covenant whereby the Holy Spirit is engaged for our growth. Prayer is your passport to heavenly places. You know what a passport does? A passport gives you access to a foreign land.

Now we know we live in heavenly places because God says so. We know we're seated alongside of Jesus Christ's right hand because God says so. But you must admit, sometimes that seems like a foreign land. I can't speak the language there. I don't know the customs because I'm used to living in this world, but all my power is in that world.

All my victory is in that world. All my peace is in that world. All my joy is in that world. Everything I need is in that world. But I don't know how to speak the language.

Guess what the job of the Holy Spirit is? to teach you the language of that world. In fact, the Bible says in Romans chapter 8 that he intercedes. He makes sense of stuff you don't understand. He's so good at being able to interpret the language.

He says that we ought to pray without ceasing because prayer is the link between. The physical world and the spiritual world. And since the spiritual world controls the physical world, getting to the spiritual world. affects your functioning in the physical world. Prayer is the link.

Because what the Holy Spirit does is link up. With prayer, in order to work in the spiritual realm. and bring about the growth and transformation. The author of Hebrews, who is actually unspecified. Wants to tell these saints that they have something available to them.

In order to assist them. as they move forward in their spiritual development. Since Hebrews 4, 14 says, we have a great high priest who's passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. Don't quit. We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one.

who has been tempted in all things as we, yet without sin, let us therefore draw near. That's prayer. With confidence to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help. in time of need. What is this concept of prayer?

For many people, prayer is like the national anthem before a football game. It's nice to get started with, but absolutely has no connection with what's happening on the field. For others, prayer is like a rabbit's foot. It's my lucky charm. Let me give you a very simple definition of prayer.

Prayer is relational. Communication With God. Please notice I didn't say communicating with God. I said relational. only communicating.

With God. In other words, Prayer is not ritualistic Communication. with God. Talking because I'm supposed to. And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.

Prayer has got nothing to do with whether you know all the fancy words and have all the sophisticated posture. In fact, he says you do your best prayer when nobody's around. He says, go into your secret closet. But if that's not enough, he says, shut the door.

Now, why I need to shut the door if I'm already in secret? He says, because it's just you and God. And he doesn't say you and God, he says you and your father. Because prayer is a family discussion. Our Father who art in heaven.

Hallowed be thy name. Prayer is relational communication with God, not ritualistic. Conversation. You can have devotions every day and not be praying. Because you are fulfilling a ritual program and not a relational conversation.

It's talking to daddy. He says. It's a father-child conversation. When people say, I don't know how to pray. What they're basically saying is.

I don't know how to talk like them Christians do. I haven't learned all the right words. Put all the right sentences together. I don't know how to, I don't know Christianese yet. Prayer is the heart of a child interacting with the heart of a dad.

That's why he describes it in Hebrews chapter four as drawing near. Drawing near has that image of intimacy and relationship, not merely external performance or fulfilling a job description or believing a prayer a day will keep the devil away. Prayer is my expressing. to somebody I love and to somebody who loves me. How I feel.

And he says, I want you to do it without ceasing. Like breathing.

Sometimes when you're breathing, you know it. Could you walk fast or something happening? You're conscious of it. It's right there in front of you. Or something happens.

You almost hit a car, a car almost hits you, and you go. Woo! You breathe and you were conscious because it was a crisis moment. And so you were conscious of your breathing because something happened that made you focus on it. But that's not most of our breathing.

Most of our breathing. is not where it's formalized. Scheduled. Most of our breathing Is the natural in and out inhaling and exhaling. Watch this now.

of our dependency on oxygen. Every time you inhale and exhale, what you're saying is, oxygen, I can't make it without you. Oxygen, I need you. I need you oxygen so much. That every second I'm going to lean on you.

Now you can you can get oxygen and say oxygen. I ain't into you right now. What? I'm getting too old for this. If I go without breathing.

It's gonna show up. If I go without breathing, I'm going to be hurting. Because I am desperately depending on hair. To get me to where I need to go. Oh, I can walk to my car holding my breath, but I ain't gonna be the same when I get there.

He says, I want you to treat your communication with me like you treat breathing. I want it to be a way of life, not an event. Or not only. And eventually I want you to draw near. Dr.

Evans will tell us how prayer can become more than a one-way conversation when he continues our message in just a moment. First though, I wanted you to know that today's lesson is part of Tony's seven-part series on the power of prayer. It's a practical look at how to move our prayers beyond the ordinary and start experiencing real results, including spiritual breakthroughs, wisdom for life's decisions, and the peace that comes from knowing God hears you. We'll send you the full audio series as our thank you gift when you make a contribution to help us keep Tony's teaching on this station. Plus, we're including Tony's new book, Anchored by Prayer, a devotional guide designed to help you pray boldly, consistently, and in alignment with God's will.

It's a perfect resource to help if you've ever felt stuck, distracted, or discouraged in prayer. This special double offer will only be available for a couple more days, though, so visit tonyevans.org. You'll find a prominent link right on the home page. Or if it's easier, you can call us day or night at 1-800-800-3222 and let one of our team members help you. I'll repeat that contact information later on.

Right now, let's rejoin Dr. Evans for more of today's message. And let me tell you why this prayer is so important. This concept of prayer, relational communication with God. Because when you are communicating with God as a lifestyle, sometimes formal, sometimes informal, sometimes verbalized, sometimes not verbalized, but the idea is I want to maintain ongoing close contact with my Lord.

When that becomes a lifestyle prayer, you will experience what you've been longing to experience, and that is a two-way conversation. See, ritual prayer is a one-way conversation. You may be talking. But you don't hear anything coming back. But relational prayer.

It's a two-way conversation. Prayer is relational communication with God. And Jesus told his disciples that when you pray, please know you're talking to me. He is a unique person.

So he can feel what you feel. but he's divine.

So he can fix what you feel. He is unique in his person. He's also unique in his position. He says, we have a great high priest. who's passed through the heavens.

Now the high priest job was to represent the people before God. He went into the tabernacle, into the tent where nobody else could go. And he went before them on the day of atonement in order to. Bring the sins of the people that they might be forgiven and bring back out to the people the grace of God. He was a uniquely positioned person.

To represent the people before God and represent God before the people. That was the high priest. He was the intermediary. He was the mediator. He was the in-between link.

There were many priests, but then there was the high priest. Chief priest in charge. It says Jesus is our great A high priest. who has passed through the heavens. The Bible declares that there are three heavens.

The first heaven is the atmospheric heaven. Where we live, the heaven of gravity, the heaven of clouds, the heaven of oxygen. Oxygen. Then there is the planetary heavens. the stellar heavens where the stars and the planets exist.

Then the Bible talks about a third heaven. The throne room of God where Deity. Concentrate, Liz.

Now. If you're living on earth. Where you want to go is the third heaven. Where the throne room of God is. The problem is.

How do I get there? I can't get to the clouds unless somebody take me there. I I can't get to the planets until somebody gets me there. We have a high priest. who has gone where no plane has ever gone before, who is gone where no shuttle has ever gone before, because he's passed through the heavens, that is the first two, and he's now seated at the big heaven.

Which is the third part of the tabernacle. which is the very throne room of God. In other words, we can skip a lot of stuff. Yeah. When you go to God.

Because you've hit the contact point of the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ makes sure it gets to the proper location, and that is the very presence of God. Because we have a great high priest. Jesus the Son of God.

So he's a unique person. Because he's man and God. Holding a unique position. able to get us into the very throne. Room of God.

But look at this. He's also unique in his passion. Verse 15 says, For we do not have a high priest. who cannot sympathize. Yeah.

With our weaknesses. But one who has been tempted or tested in all things as we are, yet without sin. That's a sermon by itself. You have a high priest. An intercessor.

Who's both man, Jesus, and God. Who can sympathize? Oh, I wish I had time to deal with the theology here. To sympathize means to feel it. With you.

It me to feel it with you. Why do we need a high priest who can feel it? It is now. God the Father. Knows everything.

He knows everything actual. And he knows everything potential. There are no facts of which he is not fully aware.

Now, watch this. But while God the Father has. Full knowledge. of everything. Watch it now.

God the Father does not, does not, does not have Full experience of everything. He has full information of everything. He can tell you about anything that was, will be. Or is But even though he can tell you all the facts. What the father cannot tell you is all the feelings.

But God the Father wanted to be able to relate. to you and me. on the feeling level. He wanted to know by feeling it with us. What we meant when we went.

He wants to know on the feeling level. He wants to emote with you.

So what he did was Sanction the second member of the Trinity. Jesus Christ Why don't you go put on a body like they had? Why don't you get emotions like they have?

so that you can feel it. Because I want to feel what they feel. And if you feel it, I can feel it because we all walk. We are one in essence, and so God, the Son. Put on a body.

And the Bible says, and he was hungry.

So whenever you're hungry God the Son says, I know what you're talking about. The Bible says he was thirsty. Whenever you're thirsty, God, the Son said, I know where you're at. I'm feeling what you're all up in my grill. I know what you're talking about.

The Bible says he was rejected.

Now if you ask the father, the father could tell you what he meant, but Jesus can tell you how it feels. Because he feels it with you. Yeah, but I got all this sin on me. Jesus says, I fail you. Not because I have sinned, but because I have borne sin, not my own, so I had to feel it.

I had to feel it. I wasn't feeling mine. I was feeling yours. But I want you to know it hurt. Mm.

We have a high priest who can simplify. in a hospital operating room. where no bacteria is allowed. Any bacteria. It's a problem.

See, the purity of the room. makes anything not like the room. A major emergency. You and I don't feel the bacteria around us.

So, we don't wash our hands before we do any and everything because we don't feel it. It's there and we learn to live with it. Not in an operating room where purity. It's perfect. They feel anything, so they wash with everything, sterilize everything.

The purer you are, the more you feel it.

So, for Jesus to sympathize, he can sympathize like nobody else can sympathize because he can feel it like nobody else can feel it. Because of his perfection. You say, but Jesus, you've never done it. Yeah. Uh you don't have to A doctor have doesn't have to have had every disease.

Yeah. to know what you're going through. He's just worked with it so long. And then he's unique in his provision. Let us draw near.

That's prayer. With confidence. Don't hold back. Don't hold back. Don't think you're wasting your time.

Don't think what good is this gonna do. Draw near. Because it's relational. Prayer is relational, not ritual. It's relational.

Draw near. Come close. Come close. Come close. Come close.

Dr. Evans will return with a final word about what we can expect when we approach that throne.

So stay with us. First, though, if you'd like to review today's message on your own or share it with somebody you care about, you can get the full-length version by checking with us about the title Prayer: The Access of Spiritual Growth. Better yet, this lesson is one of seven messages in Dr. Evans' current teaching series called The Power of Prayer, a compilation of sermons available on digital download as well as on either CD or USB flash drive. And for a limited time, we're bundling Tony's brand new book, Anchored by Prayer, along with each copy of the Power of Prayer audio series requested.

Both are yours with our thanks when you make a donation to help support the alternative broadcast ministry. Just visit tonyevans.org or call 1-800-800-3222 to make your request. That's TonyEvans. Or call 1-800-800-3222. Prayer is often where we talk to God about what we want.

But tomorrow, Dr. Evans will tell us about the benefits of paying more attention to what God wants as he conveys an important lesson about prayer. Right now, though, he's back with these closing words for today. I like the way James 4:6 says, He giveth more grace. I watched this.

Okay. He gives more grace that we may receive mercy and find grace. To help. In time. Of need.

Grace is given. Based on The need at the moment. God gives us what we don't deserve, can't pay for, could never earn from a throne that never runs out. to the knee based on our drawing near. Hey.

In other words, the throne has grace. But you got to draw near to the throne to get the grace that the throne has.

So, a prayerless Christian is a graceless. Christian. A Christian that is not praying as a lifestyle is not growing in their life. Because they are not hanging around the throne which dispenses grapes. But he only gives you enough grace to cover what the need is right then.

And he's not going to give you tomorrow's grace till tomorrow. He's going to give you the grace you need for today. Today, if you draw near.