John Bevere - Keys for Powerful Prayer
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Hey everyone, welcome to Lesson 9 of «Drawing Near: A Life of Intimacy with God.» Now, I will say this: this was supposed to be an eight-lesson course; however, there was no way I could leave out touching on this final point. So, this will be a shorter lesson than normal. I do want to emphasize that I cover this subject thoroughly in another course that I will tell you about later. I’m going to open it up by saying this: I have talked to so many people—I’ve been in ministry now for four decades—and they are walking in humility; they genuinely fear God, and yet they still struggle to get into the presence of God. What is the reason for this struggle? I believe that in this final session, we are going to cover why these genuine people struggle so hard to get into the presence of God.
I’m going to open up with Hebrews, Chapter 10, verses 19 through 23: «Therefore, brothers and sisters, having boldness—now listen to the word 'boldness'—to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, let us draw near to God with a true heart.» Okay, so we already covered that, true Alethea, right? A true heart. Now, listen to these words: «in full assurance of faith, for He who promised is faithful.» The key that is missing is the full assurance of faith.
Now, let me back up a minute here. Okay, we have the ability to enter into the holiest. Where is the holiest? Okay, here’s problem number one with a lot of believers: when they pray, they get an image of themselves walking into a throne room a couple of billion miles away. No, no, no, no, no! When Jesus was crucified, the veil of the temple—now remember, the temple was where God dwelled, okay? It was the tabernacle, but then Solomon built the temple. The temple had to be reconstructed after the Babylonian captivity, but the temple is where the presence of God dwelled. When Jesus gave up His spirit, the veil of the temple was rent from top to bottom. The veil is what separated the Holy of Holies, or the holiest, from the holy place. The Holy of Holies is where the Ark of the Covenant was; it was the cherubim that had the wings; it was where the very presence of God dwelled. The reason the veil of the temple was rent from top to bottom is that God did it; man didn’t do it. God did, because He declared, «I am moving out of this building made with hands, and I am moving into a new temple. It’s called the temple of the born-again believer.»
So when we pray, we have to realize the temple is here; the holiest is here. And so, I want you to learn when you pray to turn in—not to get an image of you walking into a throne room a billion miles away. Now, don’t get me wrong; the Bible says that we have permission to come into that throne room a couple billion miles away. Remember, in the spirit, you can accomplish two things at the same time; you can accomplish multiple things at the same time. But I find that believers, first of all, start out by thinking, «Oh gosh, I just can’t imagine walking into this throne room.» You just have to turn in, because there’s the holiest right there. The Holy Spirit is dwelling right here. Remember, Jesus said He will be in you and upon you. In other words, He’s going to be in us; that’s the temple.
All right, now listen to Hebrews, Chapter 11, verse 6: «But without faith, it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to God; for whoever would come near to God—remember, we’re talking about drawing near to God—must necessarily believe that God exists and that He rewards those who earnestly and diligently seek Him out.» That is the Amplified Bible. So, the element that a lot of people are missing is called faith. You can’t please God without faith. I don’t know why people get so upset when it comes to teaching about faith, because I want to please God, and if my Bible tells me I can’t please Him without faith, then I want all the faith I can get. Amen? I hope you feel the same way.
I’ll never forget when I was a young believer—I was probably walking with the Lord for about two years—I was still a college student. One morning, you know how college students can sleep, right? We can sleep until eight o’clock in the morning! One night, I found myself in a deep, deep sleep, but all of a sudden, I jumped up in my bed, screaming these words out of my mouth: «I’m just looking for someone to believe!» I literally went, «What just happened?» My body was covered in sweat. I turned around, and an outline of my body was on the bed sheet—it was wet from my sweat. I looked at the digital alarm clock, and it said four o’clock–4:00. I turned on the light and thought, «God just spoke to me!» But then I had the stupidest thought. I said, «God couldn’t have been a little more profound? Everybody knows you’re just looking for somebody to believe.» I turned off the light and went back to sleep. The next morning, I kept hearing in my spirit, «I’m just looking for someone to believe. I’m just looking for someone to believe.» I remember I was in the middle of the apartment parking lot, and I stopped in my tracks and screamed out, «That’s it! It is profound!»
I realized—I could close my eyes and see it—I started thinking, who were the people that grieved Jesus more in the Gospels than anybody else? Now, I’m not talking about who angered Him; the Pharisees angered Him. I’m talking about who grieved Him. It was people who just didn’t believe that He would do what He said He would do. Who are the people that delighted Him more than anyone else in the Gospels? The people who believed that He would simply do what He said He would do. If you look at the interaction between Jesus and His disciples, you’re going to find these statements. I think you’re going to see the grieving here. He says in Matthew 6:30, «What little faith you have!» He said that to His own team members. Matthew 8:25, the disciples went to Him, woke Him up, and said, «Save us, Lord! We are about to die!» He looked at them, and Jesus goes, «Why are you so frightened? What little faith you have!»
Matthew 14, verse 31: «At once, Jesus reached out and grabbed hold of Peter and said, 'What little faith you have! Why do you doubt? '» Matthew 16, verse 8: «Why are you discussing amongst yourselves about not having any bread? What little faith you have!» Are you hearing the disappointment, the grieving in Jesus when He says, «Oh, if you guys just had faith?» Listen to this one: Matthew 17, verse 17. Jesus goes, «How unbelieving and wrong you people are! How long must I stay with you? How long do I have to put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.» And Jesus gave the command to the demon, and it went out of the boy, and at that very moment, he was healed. They came to Him afterward and said, «Why couldn’t we heal him?» Jesus simply said, «It was because you don’t have enough faith.»
When we doubt Him, we question His integrity! Let’s just get right down to it: we question His integrity. Did God really mean it? Is God going to do it for me? You’re questioning God’s integrity, and it is a very serious thing. I want you to write this down: this is so important that you understand what I’m about to say: God does not respond to our need. Write that down: God does not respond to our need; He responds to our faith. I’m going to prove this with two examples in the Gospels. The Bible says that Jesus, in Luke 5, was in a very large house, teaching a bunch of leaders, and it said the power of the Lord was present there to heal them. Now, who is «them»? «Them» are the multitude. There were probably a couple hundred pastors, or I’m going to say Pharisees and teachers of the Law, sitting there listening to Jesus teach. The very fact that the Bible says the power of the Lord was there to heal them means they needed to be healed because God never wastes anything. So for the power of the Lord to be there to heal them means at least a couple of them needed to be healed.
In my own experience, when talking to a couple hundred people, there are usually six to twelve people that need healing. But none of them got healed. It wasn’t until some men, who couldn’t get in the building, went up to the roof with a paralytic and let him down on ropes, that the Bible says when Jesus saw their faith, He said, «I say to you, arise, take up your bed and go home.» Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. They were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, «We have seen strange things today.» So, the leaders beheld a paralytic get up and walk home, but they were filled with awe; yet they didn’t get healed. Why didn’t they get healed? Because God doesn’t respond to our need; He responds to our faith. They didn’t have the faith that those four men and the paralytic had to be healed.
Look at the Greek woman—she was a Syro-Phoenician by birth. She came to Jesus while He was in a house, resting, and said, «My daughter is dreadfully tormented; she needs to be healed.» Jesus said nothing to her. She kept pleading with Him; He said nothing. Finally, He turned and said, «Woman, it’s not right that we give, let me just read the direct quote because I want you to hear this: 'First I should help my own family, the Jews. It isn’t right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs.'» He just called her a dog!
Okay—well, I mean, do you understand this? Now, is He being mean to her? No, no, no, no! Jesus knows how to provoke our faith. He’s not being mean; He loves her; He died for her; He laid His life down for her. But He’s doing what He knew would engage her faith. Here’s what she said: «That’s true, Lord! But even the dogs under the table are given some of the crumbs from the children’s plates.» Now, listen to what Jesus said: «Then Jesus answered and said to her, 'O woman, great is your faith! ' You know, the only two people He said, 'Great is your faith, ' to are a Roman centurion and a Greek woman. Neither of them were Jews! That’s amazing! 'Great is your faith. Let it be to you as you desire.' And her daughter was healed from that very hour.» That’s Matthew 15:28. She had a need, but He didn’t respond to her need; He responded to her faith.
Now, this is true in regard to receiving everything in the Kingdom. This is why the Bible is called the Word of Faith. We receive what God has provided for us simply by believing what He said. Faith says, «God, I believe You are good for Your word. You will do what You said You would do, and I believe that now, even before I see it.»
Let’s translate this over into coming into the presence of God. Here was my big mistake for years, and this is why I struggled to get into the presence of God. Let me tell you: last year, I set a goal every day. I said, «I’m going to connect with God. I’m going to get in His presence every day before I pray and ask for anything. I’m going to enter into His presence every single day.» That happened. It was a wonderful year. But I’ll tell you how it used to be when I was in ministry. I used to go into prayer, and I would just hope God would manifest His presence.
One day, God spoke to me, and this encounter changed my life forever. He said, «Son, did I say in my word that if you draw near to me, I would draw near to you?» I said, «Well, yes, You did.» He said, «Did I say 'Draw near to me, and I might, if I’m feeling up to it, draw near to you? '» I said, «No, You didn’t.» He said, «If you draw near, I would draw near.» I said, «Yeah,» and He said, «Getting into my presence should not be hit and miss for you. I gave you my word that if you draw near, I would draw near to you.» Oh my goodness! That changed everything!
I then started entering my prayer closet believing—not hoping—listening to this: not hoping, but believing with all my heart that He was going to meet me, and it always happened. I remember standing on a platform, hoping that God would touch His people. I did this Sunday after Sunday, conference after conference. One day, I was in prayer, and God said, «Son, why do you hope that I will touch My people? Why don’t you believe? You’re actually blocking what I want to do because I’ve made you the minister in that meeting. You’re blocking what I want to do in those people’s lives.» And I was like, «Oh my gosh!»
So now, when I’m on a platform, I know God’s presence is going to manifest. It’s faith. It’s not faith in me; it’s faith in believing what He’s already said. If you look at what the Apostle Paul said, he said, «He who ministered the Spirit to you, did He do it by the works of the Law, by your good works, or did He do it by the hearing of faith?» He said, «You received the Holy Spirit by faith.» This is why so many people struggle with receiving the indwelling of the Holy Spirit—they don’t ask in faith; they ask hoping.
This is why people don’t receive from God: because they hope; they don’t believe. And when it comes to coming into the presence of God, God is not taunting you; He’s not playing games by saying, «Draw near to me,» and, «Ah, I feel like it; I’ll draw near to you.» No, you go in with confidence! Whenever you go into that time where you close yourself in that closet—whether it’s when you’re driving your car, taking a shower, or out on a construction site—know that He’s good for His word. He wants you to believe His word, and when you do, you will receive from Him. It’s believing first, then receiving; it’s not receiving, and then I believe. That’s the way of the Kingdom.
Let me say a few more practical things here. I find there are times that I go into the presence of God, and there are times I feel like I’m supposed to sing. There are times I feel like I’m to be quiet and just be in awe. There are times I feel like I’m supposed to go in and fight the enemy—that I need Him to back me up and say, «Holy Spirit, I need to get rid of this oppression that’s been fighting against. You know this situation.»
I’m going to liken it to a family. If you have a family situation, and some crooks are trying to break into the house, and a son finds his father and says, «Dad, I just want to tell you you’re the greatest dad! I just love you so very much!» You know what I’m going to do if I’m that father? I’m going to look at my son and say, «What are you doing? Get a baseball bat and protect your mother and your sisters!» That’s the appropriate way to handle that time. Then, if everything is peaceful—nobody’s trying to break into the house—and a son comes in with his baseball bat and goes, «I’m ready to get him!» you’re going to go, «What are you doing?»
It’s really important that we understand the timing and the seasons of our interaction. You know, my wife, I’ve been married to her for 40 years, and one thing I’ve learned is I kind of read her when she gets up in the morning. Sometimes she gets up in the morning, and she’s ready to joke right from the get-go; there are other mornings she needs space; she needs me to just, quite frankly, be honest and just sit next to her. There are other mornings she wants to talk about a deep conversation right away. We’re created in God’s image. Did you know that God has moods? Where do you think we got our moods?
Now, I’m not saying He’s controlled by moods like people are, but there are times in the Bible where He’s angry, and there are times in the Bible where He’s rejoicing over us with dancing. So, I’m going into the prayer closet, and I’m kind of sensing what is the mood of the Spirit right now. Are You saying it’s time to battle? Then we’ve got to go right into battle pretty quickly. Are You saying it’s time to adore and worship? Then we’re going there, and that’s usually the way it is. I will say that by the way, if it’s time just to be quiet and reverent, then I’m going to do it. I’m listening to my heart, because He’s put eternity in our hearts; He’s put His Spirit in our hearts.
The Bible says we don’t know how to pray as we ought to, but the Spirit helps us. Let me tell you: wise people, when they go into prayer, first thing they say is, «Holy Spirit, help me to recognize what my Father needs today.» You say, «God is neat; He wants you to pray for people that are in need because He takes their needs as His own. He wants you to pray and intercede for them.» Let me tell you something: it is a real relationship. I’ve given you the foundation: the fear of the Lord, humility, coming to God with a true heart—having faith, full assurance of faith—but it also comes down to being sensitive, emotionally intelligent, is a way of saying it, to what is the mood of the Spirit at that moment.
Remember, it is a relationship. It is interacting with one another. Don’t feel like you’ve got to act one way with people and a completely different way with God. No; we are created in His image, and He’s given us these relationships of marriage and family so that we can actually grow and learn how to interact with Him and His family. Does that make sense? Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. I hope you’ve enjoyed these lessons. Thank you!