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Old 03-31-2008, 12:00 PM
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Default The Prayer Tent

The Prayer Tent
Text: Exodus 33:7-11
Matthew 6: 5-6

I took this sermon from a Pastor I heard a few years back. And it really taught me a few things on my prayer life with the Father. So I would like to say thanks to him and share it with you and pray that it will bless you the way it has blessed me.

How many know, that that when you have a daily bible reading, that some passages will jump out at you? You don't know what it is like until you read constantly through the scriptures. If you just pick your favorite Psalms, and read it all the time, you will never have anything new jump out at you. Other words the spirit can never reveal anything new to you.

But if you will be consistent in reading through the scriptures, you will find sometimes the Lord makes stories come alive to you. Or verses of scripture or words of encouragement, your life will become greatly blessed by reading the bible.
You are not too late! You can start a daily bible reading plan now.
To read through the bible this year, I promise it will be a great blessing to you. Get in the word so the word can get into you!

This will prepare you for a better relationship and prayer life with the Father. I pray that this message today will help you build a more productive and honest prayer life.

Now turn with me to the book of Exodus chapter 33. Starting with verse 7.

7 And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass, that every one which sought the LORD went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp.
8 And it came to pass, when Moses went out unto the tabernacle, that all the people rose up, and stood every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses, until he was gone into the tabernacle.
9 And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the LORD talked with Moses.
10 And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door: and all the people rose up and worshiped, every man in his tent door.
11 And the LORD spoke unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.



Now, for the words of Jesus in Mathew chapter 6 starting with verse 5.
5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.


I think everybody that hears this message will agree, at least theologically, with your mind and your mouth, you will certainly agree, there is nothing more important in a Christian, than prayer.

You heard probably more sermons on prayer and we preach on prayer more than you can imagine. But friends, we talk about prayer, and we preach about prayer, and we have conference about prayer, we read about prayer, take surveys about prayer, and we sing about prayer,
A whole lot more than we pray!!!

A lot of us talk more about prayer than we pray. I am guilty of this myself. And when I started having a daily bible reading, and studying the scriptures we read here today, the Spirit of God tapped me on the head. And it convicted me!

But what I want to tell you today, there is no substitute in the life of a Christian, for a steady, consistent daily life of prayer.
A time when you get together with God. A time that is devoted to a conversation between you and the Lord.

Prayer! Prayer is perhaps one of the most powerful activities that any Christian could ever involve him or her self in. When you talk about the discipline of the Christian life, there is nothing that could ever get ahead of prayer and the study of Gods word. And being in the house of God sometimes there is just standard discipline that should mark every Christian life.

You don't have to be a super Christian to have a daily prayer life. You don’t need to be super spiritual in order to have a daily prayer time. All you need to be?? SAVED!!!
How many of you are saved? If we are born again believers, saved and on our way to heaven, then a life of daily prayer should mark us.

Daily prayer. We see today in the story of the Old Testament, a powerful example of a life of prayer. Jesus said in the New Testament, enter into your closet and shut the door. And when the door is shut, and it is just you and God, then take time to pray and talk to the Lord.

We can see this brought to reality when we look at the life of Moses. In the Old Testament scriptures, Moses as you know was the leader of the people of Israel.
They have marched out of the land of Egypt, hundreds of thousands of them. They marched across the Red Sea and then encamped in the desert, were they remained for forty years. Moses was their leader, He was their Pastor. But he knew more than anybody else, what he needed most of all was strength and help of God in his life.



You know, we have not come very far in our Christian life. Unless we realize that we need God. And we need him desperately. Those of us who think somehow, that we are ok in our own strength, that we don’t really half to have the spiritual discipline of others in order to stay ok, and to be strong in the Lord, then we are just simply deceiving ourselves. Because every person from the pulpit to the very back pew, needs a daily prayerful relationship with God.


And the way we receive strength from the Lord, is to have regular communication with Him. Where we draw from his presence and where we are able to pour out our hearts to him. We see this today in the Old Testament story I call "The Prayer Tent".

Because the scriptures said that Mosses, as he lead the people of Israel, would take a tent and pitch it outside the camp, some distance away. And there he go when he needed time in Gods presence. Or when he had a need to lay before the Lord. When he had something heavy on his heart, Moses, the bible said, would go out to the prayer tent, and there he would encounter the living God, and knew he would have a private audience with the Lord.

So today I want to examine this prayer tent in the wilderness and the prayer tent that ever one of us needs to build in our own lives. Maybe it is not a natural tent, Jesus; in the KJV said "enter into thy closet" The NIV says "go to your room". Anyone ever been sent to your room? Jesus said go to your room! But not as a punishment, but as an invitation. An invitation to come into his presence. Go to your room; build your own prayer tent. Build your own prayer life.

So I want you to look at several important structures of the prayer tent. It made it powerful in the life of Moses and it will make your own prayer life powerful.

The first structure of the prayer tent is privacy. Jesus said when you enter into your closet, shut the door behind you. Shut the door and do not let anyone else in there because you need to be in there by yourself. A place where you and God are alone together. A private place.

Where did Moses pitch the tent? Outside the camp, some distance away. So that he could get away from everything and everyone. Then he could take time to focus on the Lord and give his heart to the activities of prayer.



Privacy is an important structure of any prayer life. You know it is alright to come and pray at the alter, at the end of a service. We encourage people to come and pray. That’s alright, that’s a good activity. But we are not talking about that. What we are talking about is a life of prayer. We are not talking about gathering together with believers, joining hands and praying for each other. That’s a good activity, but again that is not what we are talking about here.

When we look at a prayer life it is not about bowing our heads at dinner and blessing the food. So think if they pray over dinner or say a short prayer before bed that they have a prayer life. No we are not talking about that. We are talking about a time when we get alone with God, a time established for that purpose, set apart from the rest of the day, from the rest of your life. Giving over for a time to be with the Lord.

You know why privacy is important? It is because when we pray with other people, we are tempted with hypocrisy. Now I am not calling anyone a hypocrite. See, everyone of us here today, all the way to the dearest little saint, is tempted a little bit with hypocrisy.

When we pray in front of other people, we are concerned about who hears us and what they hear. Let me ask you a question. Are there some things you would pray about when you are by yourselves that you would not pray out loud when others are around? When you get alone with God, you don’t have to worry about what others hear or think about your prayer. I guarantee you your confession and repentance will be quite different in a private prayer.

Very rarely will you see someone pour out their heart on things they need to repent on in front of other people. Say like, adultery, stealing, cheating, lying, ect. Rarely will you hear these kind of things at the alter.

You see, we are different people when we are by ourselves. And when our prayer time is marked by privacy, we can get real with God and express anything to Him. And God is shocked by nothing. The last time you prayed and repented over something the Lord did not think "you did what?" Or the last time you knelt in prayer and said Lord forgive me for "whatever", He did not say, "Well I never" Trust me, He knows all. This is why the prayer tent is a private place. A place to get away from all the distractions. And spend time with God, privately.

The second structure of the prayer tent is obvious. A place of prayer. In these days a way to pray is through meditation. Some think it's a time to read the latest Christian novel, or a time to just reflect. Some think prayer is a time for journaling. That’s when you write down your thoughts. Nothing wrong with that no. Just don’t spend your whole prayer time writing. A prayer time is a time to talk with God and be in communication with him. Jesus told his decibels cant you tarry with me for one hour?

I heard people say that they don’t know what to pray for. Let alone for an hour. I have to be blunt. You are not much of a thinker. If you would think for a moment there are lots of things to pray about. Lots of things!! It's just not about you and your new whatever you want. There are many things we need to stand in the gap for and believe God for. Not just for our own needs but for needs of others. We need to be people that pray for our nation. We need to pray for our president and for the wisdom of God to be upon him. We need to be a nation that prays for all our leaders in authority. We need to pray for our children. We need to be a people that pray for pro life! Praise God. Yes, we need to be people that are responsible in our prayer closet. So that we bring to God the things he expects us to bring to Him.

I bet if you think about it, you will find that you have enough needs in your life and your family's life, to spend more than an hour in your prayer tent.
Now the topic is not an hour in the prayer tent. We are not speaking about a specific time period. We are not saying that if everybody here does not spend an hour in prayer that you are a second class Christian, I'm not saying that at all. You have to determine that. I'm just saying that what ever time you spend in your prayer tent, where ever you choose to spend time with God, you have plenty enough to pray for, and by the time you finish, you will find that you still have things left over that you could have prayed about.

A prayer time is a time to bring these things to the Lord. Do it on the behalf of your needs and the needs of others. And spend time just communicating with Him and giving Him praise and worship. Spend time in the presence of the Lord. Prayer is reaching out and getting God's attention. God, I have come before you today, and I need you. Ephesians 6:18 tells us to pray with all prayers.

The third structure that marks a prayer tent is presence. The presence of God. The scriptures said tat God spoke with Moses. Jesus said your Father that is unseen, will visit you in your prayer tent, your room, your closet. When you come before the Lord, He will be there. Aren’t you glad when you seek for the Lord, you will find Him? And the promise of the Lord is that we can come boldly in His presence. We can march into the presence of God and find that He is there. The Psalmist in Psalms 42 asked the question; "when shall I come and appear before God?" Now, anytime you want. If you are a born again child of God, with the blood of Jesus covering you, then Jesus has already made a way for you into the prayer closet. So when you come into the entrance of the prayer tent, the door is wide open for you to walk right in. And God himself is there to meet you. The presence of the Lord! He will meet you there anytime.

The forth structure of the prayer tent is power. Because of what we believe when we pray. We are not just conducting some kind of emotional feeling or exercise. Prayer is touching and connecting with the Almighty God of the universe which is alive and well today. God is real, the Lord is alive! Jesus rains in heaven as Lord. He made a way to come into Gods presence. And when we step into the prayer room, there is power there.

In the Old Testament story we read that in the wilderness, the bible says that Moses would go out to the prayer tent, and leave the camp behind. The scriptures say that a cloud would come down and remain at the tent. What was that cloud? That was the presence and power of God. It should not just be something that stirs us in a church service. The power of God is power for daily living. See, you are not as tempted when you are sitting in a church service. You need Gods strength when you walk out the door. That is when the enemy comes knocking. This is when you need Gods power. And when you have time in prayer, a place where you meet with God and prepare your day. A daily time in prayer will impart spiritual power into your life.

So what kind of power you ask?
1- We will have the mind of Christ. That is we will live with daily direction and peace. Those of you that practice a daily prayer time know when you miss it that your day does not feel right. You have no since of direction. But you know when you take time in your prayer tent you feel a since of direction to your day like nothing else. The mind of Christ. Because when you get in Gods presence, He communicates Himself to us. The bible says the Lord would speak to Moses. In His presence we draw in close to Him and we develop what the Apostle Paul called, and he claimed it, Paul said we have the mind of Christ. When we spend time with God, we gain the mind of Christ. We get on the same page.
How does this happen? It's supernatural, it's spiritual. And it has to do with being in that place where you submit to the Lord. In a time of prayer you are submitting your life to the Lord, and agreeing with Him. When you submit your life and agree with God, you gain the mind of Christ.

2- The make up of Christ. Simply the transformation of being like Him. Christ like. In His image the bible says. You ever look at older married couples? I mean they been together so long they look like each other. They just seem to fit together. Sometimes we look at newly weds and think" They sure don’t seem like they fit together". But give them twenty five years. They will be just like each other. See, when we spend time with God, we become like Him.

3- The third power we receive becomes the might of Christ. The spiritual strength of the Lord from being in His presence. Nothing else can do that for us. Nothing else will make us strong like being in the presence of God. I know some Christians that think they are so high and mighty, so wonderful and wise, that they don’t think they need to spend time with God on a regular basis. I tell you what they are doing. They are deceiving themselves. And they will find out soon enough that a lack of prayer makes a shipwreck out of life. We need Gods strength on a day to day basis.

4- The forth kind of power we receive from being in Gods presence is the miracles of Christ. Because when we bring our needs to the Lord, and when we are faithful, God hears and answers our prayer. Sometimes we pray and pray, we go in every morning and we bring the same need to God. Then on day God sees we are serious, and sees our faith and knows that we are strong in believing Him, then God answers our prayer. Then we look back and say, God brought the answer. God did it! God answers prayer, we will see the miracles of God. The promise of God, the supply of God, if we will just stay faithful in prayer.

5- The fifth kind of power we receive into our spirit is the mission of Christ. The mission of God. So that when we walk through life on a day to day basis, having spent time with the Lord, we understand that our lives are more than just about making another dollar, more than just going to work another day. We understand when we spend time with Him that we are all about the mission and purpose of Jesus. And our lives take on a whole different view. We want to live as Jesus lived. Spreading the gospel. Being a vessel for His light to shine from.

Now, don’t get me wrong, you can pray anytime of the day or night you want to. That’s your call. But I hope you get this. You can prepare your day in prayer, or you can repair your day in prayer. You can prepare your day by spending time in the prayer tent, letting God know your needs and asking for guidance and leadership. Or, you can start your day with out His help, and spend the closing of the day trying to repair it. Well, I'd rather prepare it.

If we prepare our day then we can spend the closing part of the day thanking Him and evening preparing for tomorrow. See we need prayer as much for what is coming, as for what is behind us. I would say probably more. Because if we pray for what is ahead, we would not have to back up and repair so many things that are behind us.

6- Ok, that leads us to the last kind of power. Priority. The prayer tent is marked by priority. Let me share a poem with you.

I got up early one morning, and rushed right into the day.
I had so much to accomplish, I did not have time to pray.
Problems just tumbled about me, and heavier came each task.
Why doesn’t God help me I wondered? And He answered, you didn't ask.
I tried to come into Gods presence; I used all my keys at the lock.
And He gently and lovingly chided, why child, you didn't knock.
I wanted to see joy and beauty, but the day toiled on gray and bleak.
I wondered why God did not show me, and He answered you did not seek.
I woke up early this morning, and paused before entering the day.
I had so much to accomplish, I had to take time to pray.

You see, if you are getting this message, and if you are thinking that you should start a regular prayer time because you want to please God, and you want to obey Him and do what is right. If this is what you are thinking, then you just haven't learned yet. If you are thinking I know God wants me to have a prayer time and in order to please Him I need to do that. Sounds knowable. But you have not got the picture yet. The picture is this; you need prayer so badly, you need guidance with the Father. You need to stay in constant communication with God so you can stand firm because the enemy is roaming about seeking who he may devourer. That’s why you need a prayer time. Not to please God. You will please Him by being faithful to Him.

Until you come to the realization that without Gods helps on a daily basis the day is likely to fail. You are likely to miss it and mess up if you do not spend time with Him. You need God so desperately that you don’t have time not to pray. That’s why we pray. We need God! Not because He needs us. He enjoys us in His presence. We need Him!

And so it should be a priority in our lives, not for Gods sake but for ours. When we make it a priority, and understand what takes place there, then we can understand that having a daily prayer time were we can go and meet with God, that it is the greatest privilege in the world. What would it be like if we couldn't find God? But we can. Because he invited us to come. And to know the Lord one on one is a high and mighty privilege.

I love the way the passage ends because it says that when Moses got into the prayer tent, he would see the Lord. And God the scriptures say, would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to a friend. Isn't that powerful? Moses and God. The Lord would speak to him face to face. What a high privilege. You don’t have to pray, you get to pray!

Time in the prayer tent, on a regular basis will change your life. If you will commit to living a life where you spend time in Gods presence, you will be so glad you did.
I know I am. My whole life was messed up because I did not know the Lord. But now I have a personal relationship with Him. So can you. You can start right now by spending some time in prayer, with God. He knows your heart and will meet you right where you are at. Where ever you pitch your tent. He's waiting.

God Bless you.
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Old 03-31-2008, 05:58 PM
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While I do not pray as I should, I have done some extensive Bible reading. When I was in Atlanta Penitentiary, locked up in that small cell, I prayed like I never had. I tried to make deals with God. "God, if you get me out of this, I will never again" ...yadda yadda yadda. Then I picked up one of the Gideon Bibles. I read it from cover to cover. I was fascinated by it. I truly enjoyed it. And now I am in Gods house every Sunday, I rarely miss one, but it has happened. My life has changed for the better. And the Lord knows I appreciate it.

Thanks for reading, crazy
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