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I have a question for you. Are your imaginations moving? Okay?
I want to you imagine that the richest person in the world.
The most famous person in the world.
An extremely good looking popular person...
...let me think about some here, like... well...
...I'm thinking of a good looking guy... Orlando Bloom.
Or a movie star, like Jessica Alba.
Or what about a pop star, like Bono.
Or a rich person like Bill Gates.
Or a politician like, Hu Jintao.
Or an athlete like, Yao Ming.
Somebody really, really, famous and important. Right?
Contacting you through their public relationship agent...
...and asking to have time alone with you.
Alone with you! Okay? How would you get ready for that?
Would you sort of just be casual and go whatever?
You know? And stay in your pajamas... and just, you know...
Look in the refrigerator and see if there is something left over to serve them?
What I'd like to ask you to do is to turn to the person next to you.
Take one of these, you know, famous, significant persons...
...in your mind and imagine getting ready to meet with them.
How would you do that? Okay? Would you do that right now?
Pick somebody that you would... ... that would be the ultimate thing.
How you would get ready to meet with them?
Okay, lots of ideas coming.
My guess is, if it was somebody really important...
...you would take quite a long time to plan for it pretty carefully.
You'd want it to be all that’s its supposed to be. Am I right?
How many of you said that you'd cancel all your appointments...
...and you'd make sure that you had the time to do this?
Anybody get that one? Okay, alright?
And I'm imaging the young ladies were thinking about what they would wear.
Okay. And the guys are thinking, "Hmm, I wonder what their agenda is?"
"I'd better make sure that I'm really ready to meet them in their point of interest".
My point in all of this is, probably obvious huh?
Somebody even more important than anybody you could...
...imagine on earth has asked to have time alone with you.
You know who I'm talking about.
I'm talking about the Creator of the universe.
The richest, most powerful, most famous, most loving, most creative...
...most amazing person that exists anywhere in the entire universe...
...wants to meet with you alone.
You say "well, yeah I know that, but are you sure"?
I am absolutely sure because in the book of Revelation chapter 3:20.
If you have your Bibles you can turn there with me.
Jesus literally says this. He says; "I'm standing at the door".
What door? The door of your heart.
And He says; "and I'm knocking. "
"If anybody hears my voice and opens the door.
I will come in and eat with him and he with Me".
I can't even imagine fully what that means.
But sadly, at least in my life, there are times I have to admit.
That when He is knocking to have time with me.
I either would rather sleep, or I am more interested in checking out. You know?
I am saying I'm sorry I'm busy right now. Maybe later.
And I take for granted the fact that He wants to be alone with me.
I don't if you've ever experienced that or not. We actually forget.
We don't realize what a privilege, how significant it is...
...that we would have time alone with Him.
Another place in the Bible, in James chapter 4, it says;
He's actually jealous of the time that He'd have with us.
When we choose other things, He's going...
..."uhh why are those things more important than me?
Don't they really care about me?".
And I know that in our hearts we do.
And so we understand why David in his life.
He actually prioritized having time alone with God above everything else.
And he did it by starting his day alone with God.
And we read about that in Psalm 5:3 he says;
"In the morning, oh Lord, you hear my voice".
Why? Because I am making the time to talk to you.
"In the morning I lay my request before you, and I wait in expectation".
The expectation of connecting personally, intimately with the Lord Himself.
And then there's another wonderful verse found in the book of Proverbs chapter 8:34.
And it talks about how we are to look forward to it...
...wait and watch and connect with Him.
It says here; "Blessed is the person, the man who listens to me...
...Watching daily at the doors, waiting at my doorway".
And what I'd like us to think about is;
How we can make the most of our time alone with Him?
First of all, priorities.
Obviously we need to figure out that it is the most important part of our day.
And starting in the morning isn't a bad idea. Why?
Because obviously it sets the tone for the whole day. Because God is spirit.
As we connect with Him personally and intimately at the beginning of the day.
We are able to be with Him through the rest of the day.
And then in the evening. Did you know that while your sleeping at night...
...your subconscious mind is still functioning?
In fact its preparing in many ways so that the next day...
...is built upon what happens during the night.
In fact the Bible talks about how while were sleeping God wants to speak to us.
So many people, not only start the day with Him...
...but they make a point just before they turn out the light...
...of turning their thoughts and the heart towards the Lord.
And connecting with Him in such a way, that there with in throughout the night.
And you know it doesn't take a lot of time, but, quality time takes some planning.
So I'd like us to look at some of the important aspects...
...of what it means to be alone with God.
And the first one is sort waking up and being ready to connect meaningfully.
And one of the ways we do that is just by stopping...
...and thinking about Him, and being thankful in our hearts.
It says in Psalm 34:1 it says; "I'll extol the Lord.
At all times His praise will always be on my lips".
So I like to start by thinking about who He is.
You can imagine again meeting with someone important.
Your mind will be just racing with who is this person, and what are they like...
...as your excited and looking forward to meeting with them.
And one of the passages I like to think about is in Exodus 34:6-7.
And there God is describing Himself.
He says you know, I'm compassionate, I'm gracious...
...I'm abounding in love, I'm faithful.
And so I like to think about that and go yeah, that’s who He is.
And then I like to think further about what He's done for me.
How He's created me. I wouldn't be alive without Him.
How He's given me life twice. You know?
A physical life and then through His sacrifice on the cross and His forgiveness.
And His presence with me giving me eternal life.
An all the blessings, my lovely wife and children that I have, and our grandchildren.
You know how I have never been totally hungry.
He's protected me and cared for me.
And my heart just begins to rise in gratitude toward Him.
And then I like to think about what He has said about me.
The notes He sent me through His word.
How much He loves me and How much He treasures me.
And by the time my heart is being awaked this way...
...I'm really getting ready to meet with Him in a meaningful way.
It just takes a few moments to turn our thoughts in that direction.
And the final part for me in getting ready is...
...taking a shower, so to speak, getting cleaned up.
And that’s where I ask Him to search my heart.
To say would you show me Lord is there anything I have thought...
said or done that might have made you sad or grieved you that I am not aware of?
And He is so faithful to bring those things to my mind.
And I just ask His forgiveness and cleansing.
And then sometimes I am so burdened by something so heavy
I'll say Lord and I need to give this to you too.
Because along with sin, this stuff would...
...kind of get in the way of our connecting today.
So now my heart is awakened and excited. My heart is clean.
I've given Him some of the heavy burdens on my life. What do I do next?
I open the door, and I say Jesus I welcome you.
WOW! What a privilege it is to be able to have this time alone with you.
And then, I look forward to Him talking to me cause I want to here whets in His heart.
And so I begin by turning to His word.
And I open up His word and have a plan of how I'm reading through the Bible.
And of course in your Church or where ever you can get one...
...its important to be able to read through and no just kind of go...
"well today I think I'll try this one" you know?
But have a little plan, but in the midst of reading the word of God.
Rather than it being a "religious responsibility"
"Christians need to read the Bible".
I don't know about you but the Bible gets really old and boring...
...when I just do it cause I'm supposed to cause its good for me.
But when I'm looking at it as being you know an e-mail waiting for the Lord so to speak.
And He wants to talk to me. I read expecting Him to speak to me.
And so there’s a number of wonderful scriptures...
...that talk about this where is 2 Timothy 3:16...
...it talks how through His word we receive...
...really important truth that helps to strengthen us and train us.
How as we take His word into our hearts it protects us and guides us from Psalm 119:11.
And then in 1 John 2:14 it says that when we...
...take this into our hearts and its inside of us.
It makes us so strong that we're able...
...to overcome the enemy, and triumph in these things.
And when we delight in His word, these are promises, the benefits of reading His word.
Its says when we meditate in His law day and night...
...we're going to experience is blessing and prosperity in everything that we do.
So, can you believe it?
I get to hear Him speak to me what’s in His heart.
And on top of that my life is strengthened.
My life receives direction and my life is blessed in every way.
Missing out on reading God's word each day is really not wise.
Its really a privilege and its our first point...
...of real communication connection from Him to us.
Be sure to have a pen or pencil ready or a marker and kind of underline.
In my Bible I like to you know mark;
Put colored stuff on the places where God's really said stuff personally to me.
I love to go back that.
And I'll say in just a few moments. I like to also...
...jot in a little memo book that I carry.
I changed my pants this morning, I should have had it with me.
I usually carry it in my pocket.
When something stands out at me, I want to remember it...
...because its a personal communication to me from God's word.
And then its time for me to respond back to Him.
And so even though I might have given Him...
...some of the big huge stuff that I was carrying.
Now its time to pour my heart out to Him in even the little stuff.
How are you feeling today. That’s what you do...
...when you meet with somebody in a personal way.
You share deeply. The scriptures tell us is Psalm 62:8 it says;
"Trust in Him all times, Oh people, pour out your hearts to Him. For God is our refuge".
I don't know about you, but its hard for me sometimes...
...to put into words how I'm really feeling.
I think guys have a hard time with that.
It feels a little bit sissy. You know?
When so says to you how your doing? "Fine thank you, I'm ok how are you?".
You know its kind of tough guy.
But its really hard to connect deeply with guys that are "fine thank you".
And God is wanting to meet us.
Jesus wants to come in sit down with us and connect so deeply with us...
...that He's able to encourage us with the things that we're facing.
He's able to comfort us and help us with the stuff underneath there that blocks us.
Not just in our relationship with Him, but in our relationship with others.
And so beginning to say well today I'm kind of feeling a little bit uneasy.
Not sure about what’s going to happen here and I'm really worried about my finances.
I think I'll survive, but shoot, I've got so many bills I need to pay today.
I don't know If I have enough time to do everything, and I’m behind.
I've got six zillion e-mails I haven't answered yet.
And all these people are upset and me.
And I begin to just share what I'm feeling and what’s going on with Him.
Because why? Because I'm alone with Him.
And the awesome thing is He's interested in every detail.
You know a lot times when I share my feelings with somebody they go,
"yeah, uh ok. I got to go now" and their like uuh.
You go, I'm not going to share with them again.
Because I was sharing some pretty personal stuff.
But when you share your heart with the Lord, He not only hears, He cares.
He feels what your feeling. And we're able to pour our heart out to Him.
And then it's time to do something else.
Not only to read from God's word and listen Him, but to take a few moments say;
"and Lord Jesus is there anything You want to say to me".
And here's where I like to say something to Him.
I say, "Lord Jesus, today, I'd like to bring joy to your heart.
I know I do that in just being me.
Because You created me and You like me the way I am.
And you see my hearts desire to bring joy to You.
But is there anything today that You'd like to say to me...
...that would help me to tune in to what would be important to You?
What would be your priorities for my life today?
How can I bring you joy?". And you just wait quietly.
Remember when we talked about hearing the voice of God, right?
And How that works. Well this is the time.
We've prepared out hearts. We've opened the door for Him.
We've taken time to listen to what He wanted to say to us through His word.
We've shared our heart with Him in detail.
And now its time for Him to share His heart with us in any way He wants to.
And we just relax and enjoy being with Him.
I'm always amazed the thoughts that come into my mind.
And this is where we write it down.
And I have in my journal, and if your coming to the gateway camp you'll have a journal.
In fact a journal that reminds you...
...of some of these ways to make the most of your quiet time.
And there will be in there a little guide for some scripture that you can read.
Things to meditate on that will help you.
But then there's a place to write down: This is what the Lord said to me.
Some scripture that stood out that was meaningful.
And these are the things that He's sharing with me He would like to do with me today.
Some real priorities. And then as I close, we close together in prayer.
And I say together because He's with me in His prayers.
And we commit the details of the day to Him.
"Lord I've got to go and do this, and then I've got to...
...go shopping, and then I've got to do this".
I just quickly pray through the plan of the day with Him.
And then, finally I say, "Lord, I'm so glad we don't have to say goodbye.
I'm so glad we can spend the rest of the day together.
My minds going to be on a bunch of other stuff.
But I want to be with You, I want to abide in You.
I want to know Your presence with me. And You know what?
I'm going to do my very best with Your help to have more time alone with You tonight.
Lets go for it".
And I start out another day having had a wonderful time alone with Him.
And I hope that this will be much more than just...
...again, a religious duty or a thing I should be doing.
I want you to know that its so important to Him that is you ask Him to help you.
He will awaken your heart in the morning. Before the alarm clock goes off.
And the Holy Spirit will help your heart to be excited about this.
And He will help you to grow in such a way in your...
...relationship with Him that this becomes your favorite habit.
Something that’s a part of your life everyday.
Whether for a few minutes or longer.
Time alone with God.
One of the most important times we can spend with Him...
...is to join Him in what is His most important focus.
Do you know what Jesus is doing right now? In Hebrews chapter 7:25 it says this;
"He ever lives to make intercession for us".
Now why is He doing that? Did you know that God has a problem?
You say "come on, He's so big, He's so great.
He's so awesome, God doesn't have problems.
We're the ones with problems. " Well actually God does have a problem.
A very big one. Let me explain to you what I'm talking about.
You see God decided to create us in His image.
Not to do stuff for Him as we talked about before.
But so that we could actually join Him.
Become one with the Father Son and Holy Spirit in relationship.
That’s His plan. We're going to be with Him forever.
And in order for that to happen, He didn't make us His robots.
"I LOVE YOU. WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO DO"?
He made us with a free will just like Him. He made us with emotions just like Him.
He made us with an intellect, maybe not as good as His...
...but a processing that’s similar to His. Okay?
His problem is that these that He's made in His image that He loves so much.
Loves as much as the God head love each other.
If that’s not a mind blower I don’t know what is.
God loves you with His whole being!
These very ones that are His darlings have used their...
...free will to turn away from Him to reject His love.
Its actually broken His heart.
He could easily go "Just a minute" and grab us and...
...force us to come back, but that wouldn't be relationship.
That would be slavery.
It would be "Yes Sr. I will". You know? It would be that. Not real love.
So He waits and He waits.
But even worse than that He faces having to judge.
Right? Send to hell.
He didn't create hell for people, He created it for the enemy.
He never planned for anybody to turn away from Him.
But having to judge and send His own darlings that He loves so much.
I mean can you imagine having to punish and destroy somebody that you loved?
Would that be a problem? A very big problem.
And God waits. And what’s going to happen here, and what can He do?
I'd like us to read about this problem in the Bible.
If you turn with me to Ezekiel chapter 22:30
We read about how God searches for somebody...
...anybody that cares enough about Him, to help Him with His problem.
Lets read it together here;
"I looked", this is God speaking, "I looked a man among them".
I'm sure it could be a lady too.
"Who would build up the wall and stand...
...before me in the gap on behalf of the land...
...so I would not have to destroy it, but" with these sad words, "I found nobody".
Everybody was so busy.
Not only too busy to have time alone with Him.
But to busy to care about Him enough to help Him with His problem.
That’s this, "if there is somebody out of their...
...own free will that chooses to invite God to come.
To influence that persons life to bring them back to Him.
Then He is able to get involved in those situations.
He's responding to an invitation from us. Jesus is praying for that to happen.
But He's looking for those that will join with Him to make it possible...
...for God to show mercy where otherwise He must show judgment.
I'd like to kind of do a drama. To demonstrate that together.
So, we've talked a few minutes ago to each of you and we've found some willing actors.
So I'm going to invite right now, if you would come, Lisa.
And she’s going to represent a person that doesn't really understand who God is.
Doesn't know about Him very much, maybe has never heard about Jesus.
She has made wrong choices in her life.
She's broken God's laws, and she's just thinking...
...about herself, and she's turned away from God.
Would you cross your arms.
And I want you to represent people that are separated from God.
And now we're going to have somebody who represents somebody who loves God.
Who wants to be God's friend. Who cares about God;
Is asking Him how to bring joy to His heart.
Jesus has said to him, "Would you help me in this situation.
I am looking for an intercessor".
That means somebody who stands between a situation and God.
Would you come in and represent an intercessor.
Okay? Standing here.
I'm going to ask you so kneel down.
And he's taking time now to ask God, "God what’s in your heart?
Is there somebody that you would like to...
...show me that I can represent to you in prayer.
And so, just for the sake of time, I'll play the part of God the Father. Okay?
So I'm saying to this one who loves God, you know there is this person over here...
...and they've turned their back on me and I've loved them so much.
Would you speak to me on their behalf?
And so what Menta does is, he begins to pray representing them to God.
What is he praying? He's not praying for himself, right?
He's praying for God's sake and for the sake of the person he's representing.
He's saying, "Oh God, I am so sorry".
He's identifying that we have turned away from You; that we've broken your heart.
"Please have mercy on us. Please come and show...
...your love to this person, and work in their life".
That’s what an intercessor prays.
Not out of their own thinking, but the Holy Spirit...
...gives them understanding of how they are to pray.
That is what the Bible tells us.
In the meanwhile, though, there's somebody else that comes into the picture...
...who doesn't want this person to turn back to God.
He's very happy that this person has turned away because its bringing God pain.
This being hates God.
The person I am going to call up here is a wonderful loving person, Yohann.
He's agreed to play the part of Lucifer. Satan.
And so he's coming now to further confuse and distract this person that’s turned away.
As the intercessor is praying, we read here, they do two things.
They build up a wall. What is that?
That means to come against the enemy in Jesus name.
So now the intercessor, being led by the Holy Spirit...
...in faith comes against the enemy and pushes him away in Jesus' name.
So that he is no longer distracting them or bothering them.
In fact in prayer he comes, and this person is so bound up.
If you can step forward just a little bit here. Just stand right there.
Undoes in prayer the bondages on their wrists.
Its like their wrists are tied together.
They are praying for them to be set free...
...from the lies and the things that have bound them.
As he is reaching out to God, God is invited now to come...
...and to extend mercy where otherwise He can only judge.
He's waiting for someone to invite Him. He's found an invitation to an intercessor.
God begins to bring special conviction and influence upon this person.
He doesn't force them, but He begins to open their eyes.
He begins to bring conviction to their hearts.
They can still turn away, but now the way is open.
In many situations, when people have that new...
...revelation, they do open their hearts to the Lord.
And the intercessor has the tremendous joy of seeing reconciliation happen...
...between that person, between that family, that situation and God.
He or she experiences the joy that comes into the...
...heart of God when He is able to bring his darlings back home.
That’s the privileged call of an intercessor. Isn't that wonderful?
Thank you so much. Each of us can join with Jesus in intercession.
Its our privilege. Its part of being God's friend.
During the Gateway camp and during our outreaches...
...we're going to make a point of not only spending time alone with God.
Not only asking Him how we can bring Him joy.
But then actually spending time with Him in intercession.
Praying the prayers that He gives us.
Standing against the enemy, and seeing God's heart brought great joy.
As He is able to extend that mercy and love and see His darlings come home.
What a privilege. What a joy.
You might say, "How does intercession happen in our everyday living?".
I remember one time I was walking the street in the town where I was living.
As I was walking along I was just talking to the Lord, and saying Lord I love you.
What’s in your heart? Anything you want to say to me today?
As I was talking to Him, suddenly a guy across the street...
...really stood out to me and I sensed maybe I was supposed to talk to him.
I crossed the street and went over.
He was sitting on a wall looking kind of "burr". You know?
As I walked up to him I said hi and tried to be really friendly.
He looked at me kind of angry. He said "what do you want"?
I was really surprised. I said "I would just like to talk to you".
He said "are you a Christian? If you are, I am sick and tired of Christians coming. "
He was in my face. He said I don't want to talk to you.
I said I'd like to. Then he talked about hitting me.
"You want a knuckle sandwich"? I said "Not really".
I just backed off and walked away.
I was really kind of surprised and disappointed.
I said, "Lord, I thought you pointed it out to me and...
...You wanted me to reach out to him. What happened?"
Then I realized something. Oh my!
I've just run into God's problem.
This young man obviously has a lot of hurts in his life.
He's obviously turned away from God. His heart is closed, and he's blind.
He's deaf spiritually speaking. He can't hear. He can't respond.
He needs somebody to represent him before God in intercession.
I went over and sat on a park bench and said, "Lord I don't this guy from Bo.
What’s in Your heart for him?"
I started to wait quietly and prepare my heart and silence my own thoughts.
Resisted the enemy; yielded to the Holy Spirit, and I waited.
I began to have thoughts come to my mind from God about how much He loved him.
About how this guy has had a really difficult life.
I started to care for him with a care that was coming from the heart of God.
I begin to feel the way in which God wanted so badly to reach him.
I actually started to feel tears coming to my eyes as I began to pray for him.
Just for a few minutes. I identified with this young man.
I said "You know what God? I have turned away from you.
I've done bad things. I have grieved your heart too.
You have forgiven me, but I can identify where he's at".
Please have mercy on us.
Please find some way to open our eyes, open our ears so we can really hear you oh God.
I was crying out as the Holy Spirit helped me.
Then I stopped praying and went on with my day.
I was walking along, and I hoped I would meet him again, but I didn’t see him.
And I was coming back from the store...
...I saw him coming down the same side of the street towards me.
I thought well I wonder what’s going to happen.
I was kind of bracing myself for the knuckle sandwich or something.
As I came up to him, I said "Hey, Hi do you remember me?".
He said "Yeah I remember you".
I was shocked at how different he was.
I don’t remember exactly what I said to him but it was like...
"You got a few minutes, would you like to talk for a little bit?".
He was totally open. He said "sure".
I thought is this the same guy?
We sat down together and we started to talk.
And he began to share with me about his life.
Things that had go on and it was really tough...
...what he had gone through with his dad, and difficulties he's had.
He was out of work.
People had stolen stuff from him, and all kinds of stuff.
He really opened his heart to the Lord.
He didn't make a decision to give his life to Jesus that day.
But I invited him to come and meet with some other guys that I knew.
About a week or two later, he did yield his life to Jesus, and his life was changed.
The power of intercessor prayer to open the way, to push the enemy back...
...to open a way for God to meet with people deeply. It's such a privilege.
Its so powerful. Its our privilege.