Church before awakening
Our Sleeping Beauty
..a note for the
Man/Woman
of Prayer..
Eph 5:25
Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Logos, so that he might present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
Learning from the former awakenings
I won't ever suggest that Gd Almighty starts a new era BY our prayer. But he is merciful - and we have petitions and pleas, and we have possibility to bring them before Him.
Ephesians 6:18
1 Timothy 2:1
Philippians 4:6
Jn 7:37
MSG version
2. Prayerful persons
3. The river of the Living Water – the Holy Spirit – in us and from us.
How to pray?
We have to pray according to the original Christian form of prayer. Immediately we have two different approaches, teachings, models about the prayer:
The well-known model
The first is the well-known outline, recorded in Mt. 6:
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Mt 6:9-13
This is an outline, a prayer itinerary which helps us to develop /evolve our priestly activities ( 1Pt 2:9) vertically and horizontally via prayer.
Study on the "Our Father Prayer"
The 2 phases model
However, Jesus often used the 2 phases prayer model. We, sometimes call it: "Tabernacle of David"..or 'Davidic' prayer-tent. How is King David related to Jesus Christ? Well, we mustn't forget, this is Jesus' very own family-line & heritage:
Inside - briefing
Outside - Action
and avoiding the "seemingly good" things.
The first stage needs separated time and place for adoration & prayer. Jesus used his midnight hours for being separated / alongside with Gd.
The second needs love {agape, not simply filia}, often a team – and sometimes but not always – a good management.
The Lord taught his disciples about these phases, and we should be really grateful for the record:
{They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father.}
Jn 8:26-27
Jn 5:30
You can read more details here about Christ's 2 phases prayer model.
Although some so-called charismatic groups pay great attention to external spiritual phenomena, the source of these must be the Holy God and his Spirit who moves according to Jesus motivation. This is the healing and restoration in the New Covenant era. {nowadays}. It follows that as the Church is restored and awakens from its deep sleep, so will the active agape love and restoration flow out (spread, radiate) in the spheres of Christian communities, in different social groups and situations. This is what the eternal Voice says "the Word became flesh". The proto type of this is Jesus who became flesh despite of his heavenly position.
These two abovementioned Heaven-Earth Co-working models are timeless. This is the essence of Jesus earthly mission, has been established in the Vertical relationship (before the Throne of Grace) so we can see the results in the Horizontal relationships, in the discipleship and in the priesthood tasks also.
The apostolic teaching, not surprisingly, confirms us to follow the 2-phase model, enjoying the given grace, coming to the Lord with a trusting heart which seeks the Lord's gaze and obeys the Lord's direction:
Rm 5:2
ESV
Heb. 4:16
Luke 6:38
2Pt 1:3
The 1st two verses points to the deepened immersive phase which "gives" the believer the opportunity to restore and reinstate His/Her status in the Lord. This status gives Him back the authority, acknowledging His will, His Plan "A" in the hearts of believers. Meanwhile the 2nd statement usually helps finding the gaps /problems when local communities stuck in their religious routine, mistakingly believing that their filia == agape...
Step Zero: Prayer for & in Purity
Meanwhile Jesus appointed twelve - He also named them apostles - to be with Him (Mk.3:14) and
1Cor 5:9-13
Phillips version.
The good news is that
1Pt 4:17
Now that we understand the church's need of the preparation and judgment {which is not the judgment of the last day}, we can move on to the preparation for revival.
Copyright © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.
*Phillips translation: The New Testament in Modern English © 1958, 1959, 1960 J.B. Phillips and 1947, 1952, 1955, 1957 The Macmillian Company, New York