Greetings MOL Family!
Quite often I have certain things that I need to study, in order to either meet some problem in my life, or to help me meet the problems of somebody else. This helps in my decision about what should be studied, in communion with God. But sometimes, I just visit with the Lord and ask Him to direct me to something. I don’t worry whether it’s the right thing or not. I can strike in any place and know I’m going to get something good. But, I watch again and again as the Lord directs me to something, and not always in the same way…
Studying With God
I’ll tell you another way I get help in finding something; when I’m looking for something else. Sometimes when I am looking in the Bible for a text and I think, “Where is that text?” It’s over in Isaiah, but I will look and look through Isaiah. But on my way to finding that verse I pick up some other things. You see? — The same in looking up in the Testimonies. I think there are many different ways. And God may have a pattern in leading you to find something in His Bible or the Spirit of Prophecy, different from anything that I have mentioned at all.
Another thing that helped me and I had this experience *when I was younger: I got interested in memorizing certain chapters in John — John 14, 15, 16, and 17. I took a verse, or two, or three to memorize day by day. That I have enjoyed very much. In later years, I haven’t been able to do that so much because I have had to study a number of varied things. But I recommend that for you, to take a certain chapter, some Psalm, or some beautiful passage like those chapters in John, and memorize verse by verse.
You can read the Bible without doing what we’re studying in this lesson. You can memorize without doing what we’re studying in this lesson. What I’m talking about is, with the open Bible, down on your knees, talk to God about what you’re reading and let Him speak to you through those words. And if you’d like a reference on that, you’ll find it in Vol. 5:
Everyone must now search the Bible for himself upon his knees before God, with the humble, teachable heart of a child, if he would know what the Lord requires of him. – Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 5, pg. 214
Now, do you see there is something more to this than merely sitting in an easy chair, reading like we might read the newspaper or a good book? And don’t misunderstand me. I’m not seeking for a moment to teach you that you must never read the Bible sitting in a chair, nothing like that. What I’m saying is that no matter how much we read the Bible sitting in a chair, we need to let God speak to us and we speak with Him while we’re down on our knees, with the open Book.
Not only the Bible, but you take a book like The Desire of Ages. We’re told to meditate on the life of Christ, especially the closing scenes. If you want something wonderful, take that chapter on Calvary, open it and ask God to speak to you and then begin reading:
‘That he might sanctify the people with his own blood;’ Christ ‘suffered without the gate’. – Desire of Ages, pg. 741
It quotes that verse from the last chapter of Hebrews, that Jesus suffered without the gate that He might sanctify the people with His own blood. Read a sentence or two, then close your eyes and try to think of it. Then let God speak to you about anything He wants to, in the stillness. Then open your eyes, and let Him speak to you through the printed page.
This is so much more than just kneeling down and rattling off, “Lord, bless the missionaries in the foreign lands, and bless the colporteurs, and bless my father, and my mother, and my brother, and my sister, and the people I’m studying with, and help me to be a good boy, and so forth.” You know?
Now, don’t misunderstand me. There’s nothing wrong with everything I said there. But you see this is something more, don’t you? Not only are we to let the Lord speak to us through these pages, but we are to present His promises that we find in the Books, in prayer.
Presenting God’s Promises
Take this as an example: Child Guidance, page 499. Now here’s a statement, a promise that Jesus is giving us, and the prophet is quoting it in this statement:
“if ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” When you pray, present this promise. – Child Guidance, pg. 499
Now, you’ll find that here in John 15:7:
If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. – John 15:7
There you have it. Now, how wonderful it is to take that very promise to the Lord and say, “Alright, Lord, I’m willing to abide in You. I want to abide in You, and I want Your words to abide in me. Now hear my prayer. Here is Your promise. I claim it.” Do you see what I mean? God has given us in these promises, notes to be cashed, checks to be turned in at the bank of Heaven. And God will honor His own Word. This is another reason we use the Bible in prayer.
Now back to our textbooks for these lessons, Ministry of Healing, page 122 (The Wisdom of the Great Physician, pg. 36, par. 2):
So with all the promises of God’s word. In them He is speaking to us individually, speaking as directly as if we could listen to His voice. It is in these promises that Christ communicates to us His grace and power. They are leaves from that tree which is ‘for the healing of the nations’. – Ministry of Healing, pg. 122
Now notice how it is that God communicates to us His power? — Through the promises. Then on our knees, we take these promises and we present them to God. Here they are represented as leaves from what tree? — The tree of life. And it says they are for what? — The healing of the nations.
But suppose we are literally sick, and we could literally get hold of those literal leaves. What would we have to do with them? Eat them. Chew them up, right? And this is what we do in prayer, down on our knees. We take that promise and we look at it. We look at the conditions. We dissect it, as it were. We think about it. We meditate upon it. We talk to God about it and we claim it. We swallow it. We assimilate it. It becomes a part of us. And what does this say? In these promises He does what? He communicates to us His what? — Grace and power. Do you want more power? Well, here it is, in prayer, on your knees, claiming the promises of God.
Now, notice God wants us to fill our minds with these promises, so if we’re walking along and we don’t happen to have our Bible with us, we can have the same experiences with these promises that are already stored away in these brain cells. At night, if I can’t sleep, I don’t want to turn on the light and wake myself up more. I don’t want to reach for a book. Some people do that. Well, we’re individuals. I’m just telling you my experience. But friends, I thank God, it’s no credit to me, but glory be to His holy name, I have thousands of Bible texts stored in up here and I can draw on them. Well, you all can have the same.
There was a time when I only knew one verse. Then I knew 2 and 3 and 4. Begin where you are and start using these Bible texts. And so, on your knees with the open Bible, or walking along the trail repeating texts that you’ve already learned, through these promises God is doing what? Speaking to you and communicating what? — His grace and power. Isn’t this wonderful? Oh, I thank the Lord for it.
Become A Witness For God
In these few lessons I’ve been leading you into an experimental knowledge of prayer. Some of you have had experiences along this line for years. Some of you may be taking your first step in really learning to pray. Whatever it is, if God has been giving you an experience in learning more about how to pray, tell us what He has taught you (in the comment box, below). It isn’t a matter of remembering something I say. It’s a matter of testifying what God has taught.
This is the frosting on the cake.
“…ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God.” Isaiah 43:12
Our confession of His faithfulness is Heaven’s chosen agency for revealing Christ to the world. We are to acknowledge His grace as made known through the holy men of old; but that which will be most effectual is [What?] the testimony of [What?] our own experience. We are witnesses for God as we reveal in ourselves the working of a power that is divine. Every individual has a life distinct from all others, and an experience differing essentially from theirs. – Ibid., pg. 100 (The Wisdom of the Great Physician, pg. 29, first column, last par.)
Is there anybody in this world that has an experience like yours? No, there isn’t.
God desires that our praise shall ascend to Him, marked with our own individuality. – Ibid
So, in your way, tell us what God has been teaching you about how to pray and how to get answers to your prayers.
Until next week – Invite a friend, and we’ll see you then…
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“It was from hours spent with God that He [Jesus] came forth, morning by morning, to bring the light of heaven to men. The disciples had come to connect His hours of prayer with the power of His words and works.” {MB 102.2} You too may experience this power. >> Learn More
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* This study has been adapted from classes taken by Elder W.D. Frazee.