Rabbi Schneider - You Can Be Satisfied
A lot of times when people think prayer, automatically their head goes to religion. But prayer is not about religion. I don't even like talking about those two words in the same sentence. Because God's not about religion. God created you and I in His own image so that we could walk with Him, so that He could have a relationship with you and I. We were created to know God. We were created to experience His glory and to love Him back. And that's really what prayer is. Prayer is about creating that connection between our Creator and ourselves so that we can live in our destiny.
The Bible tells us that eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and never has it even entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those that love Him, for those that are called according to His purpose. And what are these mysteries that the Spirit is talking about? The greatest of the mysteries is simply knowing God. We're talking about authentic prayer. Jesus said, "This is eternal life..." Now think about this. We have been called to receive eternal life. That's the gift of God. To as many as believed Him, to them He gave the gift of eternal life. But what is eternal life? Jesus said in the Gospel of John, "This is eternal life, that they would know God and Jesus Christ, Yeshua HaMashiach, Yeshua of Nazareth whom the Father sent".
So prayer is all about entering into a state, if you will, of knowing God in our deepest kishkas. Kishkas is a Yiddish word. It means the deepest of our inside. The goal of prayer is to know God. We can pray about a lot of things and we should talk to God about everything. But if we're really living in the type of mindset that God wants for us, our greatest prayer is going to be to know Him. Jesus said, "This is eternal life: to know God and Jesus Yeshua of Nazareth whom the Father has sent". You see, part of authentic prayer is being, first of all, concerned, beloved one, with what God wants for you rather than what you want for yourself.
If you and I are ever going to be satisfied... And you can be satisfied. Because Jesus said that, if we would yield to Him, if we would submit to His mastery in our life, His Spirit within us would become like a well of living water springing up to eternal life so that we would hunger and thirst no more. Yeshua said, "If the Son set you free you will be free indeed". You and I can be satisfied. Jesus said, "I have come to give life and to give it more abundantly". But the challenge for many that are naming the name of Jesus is that they're looking for this abundant life, they're looking for this satisfaction that Jesus spoke of by asking God to add to their life the things of the world.
But the Bible says, "All that's in the world, everything that we see is not from the Father, but it's from the world". "For all that's in the world," the Scripture says, the lust of the eyes, you know, everything that we see, you know, "Oh, I want that. Oh, I want that. I want that". We see it, we want it. But the Bible says, "All that's in the world," the lust of the eyes, those things that we see that we want, the lust of the flesh, food, sex, the boastful pride of life, we want to be somebody in the world, the Bible says, "all those things are not from the Father, they're from the world". See, what God has for you and I is at a totally different level. It comes from way down deep. It comes from knowing Father, knowing that security of relationship with Him, knowing who you are to Him, knowing that you're loved. It's building this relationship so that you don't feel alone anymore.
So the goal of our prayer should not be religious language and somehow learning how to pray like some religious technician. It's not about memorized prayers. The goal of our prayer should, first of all, be, beloved one, that we would know God. This is what the whole purpose is: that we will be conformed to the image of His Son. And what is the purpose of the Son? The Son existed for the Father. Remember, Jesus said, "I have food that you don't know about. My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me". So when we speak about authentic prayer, we have to understand that if we want to move into the deep places in our prayer experience with the Lord, we have to let go of wanting so much and praying so much about those things that we desire that are from the world. And we need to instead be asking ourself, "Father, what do You want from me? What's Your desire for my life? Where do You want to connect with me? What do I need to forsake? What do I need to let go of? How can I enter into a deeper place with You so that I can fulfill Your purpose for my life?"
Authentic prayer happens when we transition from just asking from the Father the things that we want that are from the world, to instead say, "Father, I want the deeper things. I want to enter into a reality that the world can't take away. I want to lay a hold of you so that when I get old and my hairs are gray my leaf will not wither. That I'll have joy even in my old age because my joy won't be dependent on the world or my status in the world. It'll be dependent on the relationship that I have forged with You on connecting with You in the deeper realm".
Remember, when Jesus taught us to pray, He said, "Pray in this way" And of course, we know the Lord's Prayer. But how did Yeshua end the Lord's Prayer and how did He begin the Lord's Prayer? He said to pray in this way, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven". He made the prayer. When He taught us how to pray, listen, He made it all about the Father's will. "Pray in this way: Hallowed be thy name". That's where we begin. "Our Father that is in heaven," right? "Holy is Your Name". He was, first of all, focused on the Father and the holiness of the Father and being pleasing to the Father. He wasn't looking to the Father to first just meet His personal needs. He was first of all concerned about the glory of the Father. "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven".
Now, some of you, this might not be of interest to you. And if it's not, it's possibly because you're not connected to the Lord in the right way. But for those of us that hear deeper heartbeat of the Father, I trust that the words that I'm speaking are resonating with your soul. The Scripture says, "Why are you searching for me in cisterns that hold no water, and you forsaken the fountain of living water"? Of course, the Lord is speaking of Himself as the fountain of living water. Remember the woman at the well. She said to Jesus, "How are you going to get some water out of the well? The well is deep," she said to Him, "and you don't have anything to get down there and draw the water out with". And what did Yeshua say? He said, "Woman, if you knew who was speaking to you right now, you would ask and I would give you rivers of living water".
This is what a heartbeat is in prayer, beloved, to receive the river of life so that our heart won't grow cold and so that our leaves will never diminish. I will be like a tree planted by rivers of living water. Authentic prayer is about questing after the real things. I mean, I'm so thankful the Lord has blessed me in so many ways. But I promise you this before the Lord. I never walked or looked for or desired or pursued the outer things first. My quest has been to know God, to have victory in His Spirit. And so authentic prayer is about desiring the things that God desires for you, rather than coming to Him simply for Him to fill in the missing blanks in your life, those things that you think are needs, which oftentimes are just temporary, fleshly things that the world has to offer.
So what we did last time, we turned to Psalm 51 as an example of authentic prayer. And of course, Psalm 51 was written by David. We call him Dovid Melech, the king of Israel. And David wrote Psalm 51 after he had sinned with Bathsheba and ordered the death of her husband. And David began his prayer in Psalm 51 by asking the God of grace to blot out his sin, his transgression in his compassion. And this is where we begin in prayer. We first have to repent. We have to realize that we are in need of mercy. You see, authentic prayer, beloved one, begins with a humble heart. Paul realized that he was a sinner saved by grace. Paul realized that he was still striving in his life to overcome evil. Paul wrote in the book of Romans, "I find that evil dwells in me," Paul said, "the one that wishes to do good". He said, "God, who's going to help me"? Then he said, "Thanks be to God that gives us the victory".
We come to the Lord looking for mercy with a humble heart. We don't come before Him proud, with some kind of religious spirit. Some people when they pray, you know, they pray sometimes to be seen in front of other people praying. That's what Jesus accused the Pharisees of. He said, "You guys, you know, you say these long religious prayers. You think God's going to respond because you're many words? you do everything to be noticed by men". Some of us don't realize that when we're in church or we're praying with Christian friends that when we're praying we're really not praying out of a humble heart before the Father of grace. What we're really focused on is how religious and sanctified do we sound to the people around us that are listening to us pray. We got to separate ourselves from that demonic, defiled mindset. It doesn't matter what anybody thinks. We don't do what we do to be noticed by men.
Authentic prayer requires a humble heart. You know, it's interesting, I think about in the tabernacle... Remember in the book of Exodus where the Lord told Moses, he said, "I want you to build me this tabernacle". In Hebrew it was called the mishkan. It was the place where God met His people. And the Lord told Moses, "Now I want you to build me this mishkan, I want you to build me this tabernacle because I desired to meet with you there. I want to dwell with you". So the mishkan gives us insight into where we can meet God and how we can allow God to dwell with us. And then the Lord told Moses, "Now, you need to build this tabernacle," the Lord said, "exactly, according to the pattern that I show you".
So every piece of the tabernacle, which later became the temple in Jerusalem, it was the tabernacle when they were in the wilderness moving towards the promised land. It was a temporary structure that they picked up and carried whenever they moved. But when they finally entered into Israel the place of their destination, then they took the pattern that God gave Moses that they built the tabernacle out of, and they transferred it into building a permanent temple there, applying the same principle and the same furnishings that were in the tabernacle. So all of it was through a divine blueprint. And it all means something.
And so the Lord said to Moses, "I want you to build it exactly according to the pattern that I show you". And what happened was when you enter the tabernacle and when you enter that holy place in the temple, you entered a room. And in that room, it was completely cut off, it was completely concealed with animal skin, so there was no wind that was able to enter the room. It was completely cut off from the natural world. The only light in the room was through a seven tiered menorah, candle, that was continually burning, symbolizing the Holy Spirit. That we must live not by the natural light of the sun but by the supernatural light of the Holy Spirit. There was no natural light in the tabernacle. There was only the supernatural light from the menorah. But also in the tabernacle, which is the point that I was driving towards, also in the tabernacle, in that holy place, beloved, was an altar of incense. And the Bible tells us that the incense represents the prayers of the saints.
So let me back up again because I know I'm speaking many words. Inside the holy place within the tabernacle there was an altar of incense that continually was burning. And the Scripture tells us that that incense that was burning in that meeting place where God met His people, the tabernacle, mishkan, that incense represents the prayers of God's saints. And remember what I said a moment ago. There was no natural wind that could get in because it was completely covered with animal skins. Which means that as that incense was burning, the smoke ascended straight up because there was no wind. Like, if I lit incense where I'm at right now outside, the smoke of that incense would not go straight up because there's wind blowing here. It would go off to the side. It would go with the direction of the wind. But in the tabernacle, the smoke went straight up. It ascended right to Hashem, right to Father God.
What's my point? True, authentic prayer, beloved one, ascends straight up to God. Unfortunately, many of those that name Jesus when they pray, their prayer is not ascending straight up to God. It's blowing to the side towards the people next to them because they're more focused on impressing the people next to them, they are more focused on making a good religious impression on the person standing beside them than they are with actually talking to God. And that type of prayer, beloved, has to stop.
If we want to be heard by the Lord in such a way that He responds with joy to our prayer, if we want to move His heart, we need to be humble. We need to recognize we're standing in His presence. And we need to talk to Him not trying to impress other people. David in Psalm 51, he started his prayer with a humble heart. And so he began saying, "Lord, I know I'm a sinner, blot out my transgressions, and remove my sin from me, for I know that you're a compassionate God". And then David went on to ask God to wash him.
Paul, like I said earlier, he realized that he was still dealing with the principle of evil inside him. Paul said in Romans, he said, "I find within myself that evil dwells in me," Paul said. "I'm wanting to do good. I agree with God and yet I find that there's still evil in me". So David continues his prayer and he said, "Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know," David said, "my transgression and my sin is ever before me. Against You, and You only, I have sinned..."
Today, beloved, let's take a moment, let's humble ourselves before the Lord. When the two sinners went to pray, the one... When the Pharisee, I should say and the sinner prayed next to each other, the Pharisee congratulated himself. He said, "Lord, I thank you that I'm not like one of these sinners". We all know the story. The sinner said, "Lord, forgive me, a sinner".
Father God in Yeshua's name, I confess on behalf of all those that are in agreement with the truth right now, Father, we're sinners. Thank you for Your loving us. Thank you for your compassion. Father, we ask you now to wash us and to cleanse us thoroughly and completely of our sin. Father, thank you for making us blameless in Your presence. And thank You for washing us by Your word through the regenerating power of the Ruach HaKodesh.