<![CDATA[PaulaRBryant.com - Paula\'s Inspirations]]>

On Saturday, May 3, I spoke at a prayer breakfast at New Life Community Church in Frisco, Texas, where my husband and I were members and ministers some years back. It was wonderful to share time with my sweet sisters—some of them old and dear friends and others brand-new. The event’s theme was “Sacred Is the House of Prayer” from Matthew 21:12–13, which tells about Jesus driving out everyone who was making big profits by either selling sacrificial animals or exchanging money for people who had come to Jerusalem for Passover. Jesus said, “…’My house shall be called a house of prayer; but you are making it a robber’s den’ ” (v. 13, Ampl.).

Not only did Jesus not like people being taken advantage of; the Israelites had become comfortable doing things their own way—instead of treating God’s temple as sacred. They had been taught about the process of approaching God’s presence from Moses’ tabernacle in the wilderness (Exodus 25–30). Then time passed and life happened. Jesus’ reaction that day revealed the first of two “secrets” about what God’s temple really is. It wasn’t just a physical building where God’s presence lived among His people. It was a symbol of Jesus’ body, which would be sacrificed for all humanity (Jn. 2:18–21).

But sadly, the people didn’t get it. Which makes me wonder: Do we really “get it” today? Do we truly understand that because Jesus sacrificed His life and we belong to Him, not only is the church a sacred house of prayer (1 Cor. 3:16–17); our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19)…and as such, we are built to pray. May this second “secret” never be a mystery to us. But what does becoming a house of prayer look like?

After I had prayed, studied, and put together a solid teaching outline for the prayer breakfast about the “sacred patterns” of prayer in the Bible (of which the two above secrets are a part)—the Lord redirected me to speak from my heart about how He started working in me years ago when I first gave my life to Him. You see, as soon as we belong to the Lord, He starts working in us to desire to do things God’s way. Then He begins working through us. Let’s start here.

A New Heart, A New Life
It was September 9, 1984. I was in a church service with someone I had recently met, who had boldly talked with me about the Holy Spirit at a car wash (that’s another story!). On that day in church, knowing I may lose my boyfriend for doing so, I gave my whole heart to the Lord. Why did I think I could lose him? Because we had been dating for two years and I knew in my heart that we could no longer be intimate unless we were married. God was really working in me. That same evening while my boyfriend was driving me to a baptism service at that church, I gently told him. Then the struggle began. Long story short, within two weeks of no intimacy, he packed his things and moved out. We were both hurting, but I continued my life: going to work, going home, and ending up in my room crying, praying, and reading the Bible night after night. That was my life during those bittersweet days.

I didn’t know that God was using this process to develop me as His sacred house of prayer. While I was in the midst of processing my own pain, people started coming to me (even at work) and sharing their problems. As they talked, I heard scriptures in my heart that I knew I was supposed to share with them, exactly as I heard them. Then I prayed with them. I was always dumbfounded when right in front of my eyes, God moved supernaturally and did what only He could do. Obviously, I can’t go into all of the details that I shared at the prayer breakfast, but here’s the bottom line—God was walking me through a process and making me a house of prayer, even though I had no idea what He was doing. I was simply crying out to Him, praying, and reading my Bible…and He took it from there. This is what God’s sacred process of becoming looks like.

God Moves by His Word and His Spirit
I was learning an invaluable lesson. In this walk of faith all believers share, God works in us according to His Word by the power of the Holy Spirit. Asher Intrater, a Messianic Jew and president of Tikkun Global in Jerusalem, says it this way: “The Word of God gives us legal access to the work and power of the Holy Spirit in our lives…” In his anointed teaching, “The Spirit of God and the Word of God Go Together,” he shares that our basic habit as believers should be to meditate on the Word of God every day and pray every day by the leading of the Holy Spirit—before the sun comes up and we start our day. Alone in my room in those early days of my new life with the Lord, I was doing this every evening without realizing it. Now, I have learned how precious and priceless my early morning “quiet time” is. Hands down, it has become my favorite time of day…and is the most inspiring and impacting.

It is important, as believers, that we understand whether or not we’re called to be intercessors (who intervene for others in prayer), we are all called to pray. God wants to communicate with each of us. He wants to have a close relationship with us: through His Word and by the Holy Spirit. I have found that my heart is wide open when I first wake up (which is often before the sun comes up). This is the time when I hear God’s voice in my heart most clearly. In the stillness just before dawn, I get insights from the Word, wisdom for my life, and inspiration to pray for people and situations. As we allow God to direct us in prayer, we find peace, hope, purpose, and victory—because His Word and His Spirit kill the flesh, overcome the world, and defeat the enemy. Let it never be a mystery to us that we, as believers in Christ, are individual houses of prayer—just like the church is His corporate house. The Word always reveals God and His will to us, and the Spirit leads us in prayer and in what we think, say, and do.

God Always Establishes, Confirms, and Performs His Word
Now, back to the prayer breakfast. Although I knew that I had followed the Holy Spirit in my message, I was a little concerned that I hadn’t gotten to a lot of what I thought was my core teaching about the sacred patterns of prayer. Then after my message, a young woman walked up to me with her mother and her two children. She told me that I had made her cry…she had been walking through the same experience I had just testified about. The Lord had brought her to the point that she could no longer be intimate with her partner (and the father of her children, though they weren’t married). After she told him this, long story short, he later ended up moving to another state. She cried, prayed, and read her Bible just like I had. Then God did what only He could do. I don’t know the entire process, but she shared that whenever he came to visit the children, God strengthened her to stand. Now, they are engaged to be married later this year! I am so excited for my sweet sister, her husband to be, and their family. God must truly have great things in store for them.

I am confident of this because my boyfriend who moved out years ago, not long after, became my husband…God’s way! Last year, we celebrated forty years of marriage. So, I can gladly say that God’s sacred patterns of prayer—which I touched on during my message at New Life—are real. Everything starts with Jesus, our Passover Lamb, who saves us and delivers us from the enemy by the power of His blood, in fulfillment of Exodus 12:1-13 (see also 1 Cor. 5:7-8).

The tabernacle elements revealed to Moses in Exodus 25–30 (the Bronze Altar, the Bronze Laver, the Table of Showbread, the Golden Lampstand, the Golden Altar of Incense, the Veil, and the Ark of the Covenant) are sacred patterns pointing to what Jesus did for us by shedding His blood—establishing how we come to God in prayer. The tabernacle offerings in Leviticus 1–7 (including Burnt, Grain, Peace, Sin, and Guilt) also reveal Jesus’ finished work for us by the power of His blood, restoring us to intimacy with the Father. I encourage you to take some time to read through these passages, asking the Holy Spirit to give you insight and understanding. He will answer you. Finally, Christ in us is the last sacred pattern. Because He lives in us by the Spirit, we are and will always be God’s sacred house of prayer—by grace through faith and obedience.

God’s biblical patterns for His sacred house of prayer never fail…yet we know by painful experience (like the Israelites did in Matthew 21), life happens. Sometimes we fall into doing what seems right to us in the moment. But Jesus, the Living Word, will always redirect us back to the Father by the power of the Holy Spirit. And just like He did in Jerusalem, He’ll drive out anything from our “temple” that hinders us from coming to God the way He desires. And since Jesus lived, died, rose again, and sits at the right hand of God (praying for us!)—He makes sure that though we may fall, we won’t fail. The Holy Spirit keeps working in us through every situation, especially the difficult ones, to keep us seeking after God’s heart. As we obey the Spirit’s leading, we experience God’s results…even if they’ve come through tearful experiences.

My friend, if you’ve shed some tears while obeying God, be thankful! Nobody can comfort and restore you like He can. Second Corinthians 1:3-4 says, “Blessed [gratefully praised and adored] be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforts and encourages us in every trouble so that we will be able to comfort and encourage those who are in any kind of trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (Ampl.). Remember, as the Lord works in us, He’ll work through us. I discovered this the day I gave my whole heart to Jesus…and God has never changed. He continues to establish, confirm, and perform His Word in and through me, and He’ll do the same for you. Praise the Lord!

Not one human being is perfect, but God has made sure we never forget that we are temples of His Holy Spirit. We are His house of prayer. From top to bottom, God’s patterns of prayer in the Bible are sacred: by the blood of Jesus, His unchanging Word, and the power of the Holy Spirit. This is why, when we pray in Jesus’ Name, the first changes He makes are IN US. The Lord Himself is the reason that God’s house of prayer—in the church and in each and every believer—is sacred. He simply won’t ever stop working in us to will and do of His good pleasure (Phil. 2:12–13).

Here is a quick list of things we can do to guard our temple and never fall into becoming comfortable doing things our own way:

1. Read the Word and Pray the Word…Early and Daily.
2. Hear God Intently.
3. Obey God Quickly.
4. Be Grateful Continually.
5. Keep Short Accounts Intentionally—with God and others. Quickly repent and quickly forgive.

Now, would you pray with me? “Father God, in the sacred Name of Jesus, may we be filled with the knowledge of Your will in all spiritual wisdom [with insight into Your purposes], and in understanding [of spiritual things], so that we will walk in a manner worthy of You [displaying admirable character, moral courage, and personal integrity], to [fully] please You in all things, bearing fruit in every good work and steadily growing in the knowledge of You [with deeper faith, clearer insight and fervent love for Your precepts]. May we be strengthened and invigorated with all power, according to Your glorious might, to attain every kind of endurance and patience with joy. We give thanks to You, Father, for You have qualified us through the blood of Jesus to share in the inheritance of the saints…in the Light. Thank You for transforming us (in our temple), by Your Word and the Holy Spirit, as your individual house of prayer. Thank You for using us in the church, Your corporate house of prayer, as well as in our families, and with everyone we meet according to Your will. We pray this in Jesus’ Name, Amen.”
(Prayer Ref.: Colossians 1:9–12, Ampl.)