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"Developing Intimacy With God"  Part III

1. Laodicean deception:

• Revelations 3:17
• The deception of self-satisfaction... can not see I.
• God honors hungry, desperate seekers.
• The Enemy numbs us with our own comport, wealth, success, charm or goodness.
• This deception lulls us into having no appetite for God... and no desperation is a silent killer.

2. Pride: 

• This is a cunning enemy.
• It leads us to boast of the past, be consumed with appearance and exalt our programs or buildings. God will not visit arrogance.
• Pride always leads us away from bowing our knees and repenting.
• Lack of repentance deadens our ears for hearing from God.
• He cannot honor pride, because He resists the proud.
• When pride walks in, God walks out, but He honors a humble and contrite spirit.

3. Religion/Phariseeism: 

• Luke 18:11
• Too often good-sounding prayers are merely a platform for puffing ourselves up.
• Self-righteousness is religious snobbery, which exalts itself against the grace and glory of God.
• Religious tradition, self-righteousness and legalism are futile masters.

4. Idolatry: 

• Desiring to be worshiped was the downfall of Satan.
• Satan camouflages his most alluring temptations in worship of "good things."
• We can not make idols of our church, our success, our accomplishments, our past, our image and our reputation.
• This is rebellion to God’s clear command, "You shall have no other gods before me."
• The object of a church’s faith becomes its god.
• Are we willing to pray, "Ruin/remove everything that is not of You?"
• Are we willing to let go of everything that is not all of God?

5. Control/power/division: 

• Control by any other spirit than the Holy Spirit is serious evil, even if it wears a "churchy" mask.
• Control may be obviously authoritarian or more subtly manipulative.
• The church too easily takes on the idea from our idea of earthly government: the body of Christ is not a democracy.
• When desire to control gives way to division and separation, God must be grieved.

6. Prayerlessness: 

• The depth and intensity of our corporate prayer life is the measure of how dependent we are on God.
• A proud, independent, self-sufficient spirit in a church is at the root of prayerlessness.
• When we are talented, capable, well-staffed, well funded and organized, we usually operate in the power of what we can do for God-as opposed to needing God!
• Listen to what a church prays about or doesn’t pray about together to see what it thinks is really important.
• Prayerlessness equals powerlessness.

7. Greed/materialism: 

• Greed is obsession with position or things and ambition to succeed.
• It is idolatry when His church bows to these gods (of this World).
• Jealousy, envy, selfishness, competition and territorial protection are always symptoms of the sin of greed.

8. Judgementalism: 

• Judgementalism manifest itself in criticism, self-righteousness, the elder brother syndrome, accusation, fault-finding and even litmus tests of right Scriptural beliefs. (e.g. pro- life)
• Cold hearts and cold love are the antithesis of the winsome grace of
• Jesus, which is always loving and redemptive.

9. Compromise w/ the World: 

• This may take the form of tolerated sins, double-mindedness, cultural racism, being conformed to worldly values, sexual immorality and the evil of this world or our sinful flesh.
• When you comprise, you can not distinguish between the holy and profane in entertainment, language or activities.
• God’s Word says that He turns His face toward the pure in heart.

10. Little passion for Jesus: 

• Revelation 2:2-4
• Jesus tells the church at Ephesus that they were "doing" church very well, but He had one very serious thing against them: they had left their first love... of Him!
• We too often get so busy in the work of the church that we grow cold in our passion for the Lord.

11. Unholy fear:

• Those people or things that we fear losing our our idols: fear of people, fear about finances, preoccupation with the keeping the numbers up, fear about our reputation... etc.
• If we are seeking to know the holy fear of the Lord... than we need not fear any person, any organization and any other power.
• When we have no fear but God, we break the yoke of the adversary off our church.

12. Unbelief: 

• When we are not willing to step out in faith... not willing to step out into a God-sized vision.
• When we take matters into our own hands- doing things in our own strength and not relying on Him.
• You can out run God with your own agenda, ideas, plans rationalizations (like Saul did in I Samuel 13:7-14). 

Part II

The creation of you for Him:

1. God calls His chosen people whom He formed for Himself to declare His praise (Isaiah 43:21)
2. This is a close and personal relationship... intimacy or worship.
3. We are sealed to Him to the praise of His glory. (Eph. 1:14)
4. We belong to God to declare His praises, because He called us out of darkness into His wonderful light. (I Peter 2:9)

God is still looking throughout the world for those who are willing to really worship Him... as He speaks about in John 4:24

• Praise is a prayer strategy that will facilitate bringing the nations of the earth to knowledge of the Savior.
• Worship is emerging in the church all over the world.

Religious sacrifices from hearts that are not completely His are a stench in God's nostrils (Psalms 50:8-14, 51:16-17; Isaiah 1:12-15)

But the sacrifice of our holy praise is a sweet aroma (Psalm 141:2)

This is praise in times of despair, trial, grief of the soul-praise that comes to God at all times...

Praise transforms:

• Sure military defeat into triumph, because praise is mightier than armies. (II Chronicles 20: 20-27)
• An insurmountably defended city into rubble, because praise is stronger than stonewalls. (Joshua 6:21)
• Imprisonment and abuse into freedom and salvation. (Acts 16:22-34)
• Sickness into health as we abide in God in complete dependence on Him. (Psalm 84)
• Weakness into strength as we abide in God in complete dependence on Him (Psalm 84)
• Mourning into joy. (Isaiah 61:1-2)

So how do we become the kind of worshiper that David was... how do we become a person after God's own heart? How do we avoid the lukewarmness that Michal had and that God hates?

The answer is simple. But, it takes courage. You simply worship. Pouring out your heart to God... asking Him to create a hunger within you for Him.

We let the songs of praise rise within your spirit... as you praise Him- praise then places a deposit in your heart that grows as an insatiable desire to worship Him more.

Part I

The fragrance is made of up holy, worshiping, interceding/praying lives. What does God smell when He smells us? Is He drawn to settle down and make His home in the sweet aroma of God-centered lives? Or does our rebellion, Lukewarmness, pride, or complacency make Him want to spit us out of His mouth?
 
II Cor. 2:15 We are to God the aroma of Christ!



What good is prayer as being the focal part of your life? 

We pray because...
God infinitely desires to have fellowship with us. Psalm 91:15, I Cor. 1:9, Proverbs 15:8 
God invites us to pray.- Jeremiah 33:3 
By prayer we acknowledge our blessed dependence on God.- Psalm 40:1,4 
We can’t live without.- Hebrews 4:16, Psalm 27:4 
Through prayers of surrender, God conforms our will to His and makes us more like Jesus.- Matt. 26:39, 42; Romans 12:1-2 
By prayer we stay filled with the Holy Spirit.- Acts 4:31, Ephesians 5: 18-20 
By prayer we have victory over temptation and the evil one.- Mark 13:38, John 17:11, 15 
By prayer God intervenes in the affairs of earth. Matt. 6:10, Ezekiel 22:30 
He comes in power. Acts 4:23-31 
Prayer is important in preaching the Gospel. Mark 1:14, 35 
Prayer opens doors of opportunity for the gospel. Colossians 4:2-3 
Prayer is effective. James 5:16 
Prayer accesses God’s reviving power. II Chronicles 7:14 
God commands it. Thessalonians 5:17; Romans 12:12 
Jesus wants us to be a house of prayer. Mark 11:17 
The alternative is losing heart and giving up. Luke 18:1 
by prayer God enlarges our too-small vision. Acts 11:5-9 
It glorifies God. John 14:13 
It is the antidote to worry. Phillipians 4:6-7 
Prayer brings joy. Isaiah 56:7a 
Prayer is an act of submission to God. Luke 22:42 

There is a major difference between believing in prayer and really praying! A difference between talking about prayer and really praying!