Drawing-near, conversational-prayer is stopping our talking, busyness, and works to listen/hear to understand/know God Himself

 

 

 

Please follow the BLOG Etiquette to stay on topic and pass the moderator’s check.  Bold, underlined text below = future links to the BLOG pages.

 

See Conversational-Prayer – BT4 for seeking God Himself and not just His stuff or help.

 

Different from the various words for supplication and thanksgiving, proseuche conversational-prayer we can also stop talking and hear what God has to say!  In the OT, Moses even told the Jews to akouo listen/hear-to-understand/know whatever The Prophet (a) tells you, He who is like me from your brothers, who the Lord God will raise up” (b) where Moses adds “Every soul who does not akouo listen/hear-to-understand/know to that Prophet shall be destroyed from the people.” King David prophesies by the Holy Spirit: “For He is our God and we are the people of His pasture, the sheep of His hand. Today, if you akouo listen/hear-to-understand/know His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion” (c). <Notes> a) a reference to the Messiah, b) In Acts 3:22 Peter citing Deuteronomy 18:15-19, c) Psalms 95:7.

 

In the NT, The Father told us to akouo listen/hear-to-understand/know His beloved Son, My Chosen One (a). Jesus repeatedly told people to akouo listen/hear-to-understand/know Him, saying “he who has ears, [I strongly urge them to] presently/ongoingly akouo listen/hear-to-understand/know” but doing more than that with them (b), and lots of people did (c) and still are called to do (d) even to receive the Spirit accompanied by miracles by trusting-relying-faith (e), though some didn’t (f), but especially “to akouo listen/hear-to-understand/know what the Spirit says” (g). <Notes> a) Matthew 17:5; Mark 9:7; Luke 10:39, b) Matthew 11:15, 13:9, 43; Mark 4:9, 23; Luke 8:8, 14:35, cf. and “doing them” Matthew 7:24, 26; Luke 6:47, 49, 10:16 versus different responses to hearing:  Matthew 13:20, 22, 23, c) Luke 5:15, 6:18, 15:1, 21:38, d) Hebrews 3:7, 15, 4:7 citing Psalms 95:7, e) Galatians 3:2, 5, cf. Romans 10:17, f) Revelation 2:9, 11, 17, 29, 3:6, 13, 22, 13:9, cf. John 3:8, g) Romans 11:8.

 

Jesus told Pilate that “Everyone who is of The Truth akouo listens/hears-to-understand/know My Voice” (a). Jesus clearly defines Christian disciples/followers as “His sheep, those who have trusting-relying-faith [in Him], and actively, actually, experientially, relationally ginosko know Me, the Good Shepherd,” sheep who “won’t akouo listens/hears-to-understand/know the thieves and robbers,” but instead the sheep are “those who actually akouo listens/hears-to-understand/know My Voice (b) and actively, actually, ongoingly follow (c) Me” (d). <Notes> a) John 18:37, b) phone: sound of directly-spoken/heard prophetic rhema words, which absolutely doesn’t refer to reading written logos messages of a bible and certainly not to graphe OT scripture, c) be on the same road with, accompany or follow as a disciple, d) John 10:3, 8, 14-16, 25-27.

 

“Having trusting-relying-faith in, experientially-relationally ginosko knowing, akouo listening/hearing-to-understand/know, and following Christ” are Christ’s definitions of a His disciples. Jesus is looking for people who will “come to Me, akouo listens/hears-to-understand/know My sayings (a), and does them” (b).  Jesus defined who His mothers and brothers (His family) as those who “akouo listens/hears-to-understand/know the gospel logos message of God and does it” (c). <Notes> a) plural of the gospel logos message, b) Luke 6:47, c) Luke 8:21.

 

Jesus says “Truly, whoever akouo listens/hears-to-understand/know My gospel logos message and/coupled has trusting-relying-faith in Him [the Father] who sent Me has zoe genuine-life everlasting, not coming into judgment but has passed from death to zoe genuine-life” (a). You can hear the gospel logos message of God, the Father and Son, preached all day long somewhere (rarely at church nowadays), and never “do it,” that is, come to trusting-relying-faith in Christ alone, the only entole officially-decreed, universally-binding commandment to unbelievers in the New Covenant – see Logos Word of God – BT15, which is “the work of trusting-relying-faith” (b). <Notes> a) John 5:24, b) 1 Thessalonians 1:3; 2 Thessalonians 1:11.

 

Hebrews 4:2 says “the ‘Great News’ gospel [logos message] came to us just as to them (a), but this gospel logos message they heard did not benefit them, because their akouo listening/hearing-to-understand/know was in-possibility-NOT sugkerannumi ‘mixed together with, co-mingled, or united with’ The Trusting-Relying-Faith.” Paul asked the Galatians if they “had received the Spirit ek out-from works of the Law or ek out-from [singular] akouo listening/hearing-to-understand/know of/belonging-to [singular] trusting-relying-faith” (b)? Obviously the coming of the Holy Spirit was an obvious experience – not the non-experiential event that too many churches have preached! <Notes> a) the Jews in the wilderness, b) Galatians 3:2.

 

You can akouo listen/hear-to-understand/know everybody else’s voice preach the gospel logos message of God or even your own voice as you read the gospel, but really counts is if you akouo listen/hear-to-understand/know “the voice of Christ” calling you, even ‘knocking on your door, wanting to come in to you.’ Jesus promises, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone akouo listens/hears-to-understand/know My voice and opens the door, I will come into him and eat with him, and he with Me…[this is] the one who conquers” (a). Paul says in Romans 10:17 that “trusting-relying-faith comes ek out-from [singular] akouo listening/hearing-to-understand/know” but not hearing his gospel logos message preached, but “akouo listening/hearing-to-understand/know dia thru-the-realizing-channel-of [singular] a directly-spoken/heard prophetic rhema word of Christ (b). It only takes akouo listening/hearing-to-understand/know 1 word directly from Christ for trusting-relying-faith to come!  Many have attested to completely blanking out a sermon but having an inner conversation all around 1 word stuck in them, and often it wasn’t even on thing said by the preacher! <Notes> a) Revelations 3:20, b) external manuscript evidence strongly favors this reading over “of God.”

 

Jesus said “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him,” and those who “actually have been ‘taught by God,’ who have actually akouo listened/heard-to-understand/know and manthano learned from the Father, come to Me” (a). This has to be “granted to that person by the Father (b). Nevertheless, Jesus said His crucifixion “will draw ALL (c) people toward Myself” (d). <Notes> a) John 6:44-45, b) John 6:65, c) pas: often times doesn’t mean the whole/entirety of” but more often to “every of a category/class/type of,” as here because many people could care less about Christ’s death on the cross, d) John 12:32, a) Acts 2:17-18; Hebrews 8:11 citing Jeremiah 31:33-34; Psalms 32:8; Isaiah 54:13.

 

Are we just to busy?  Was Martha who “was distracted by much serving” choosing “the agathos ‘good, useful, excellent portion” (a) or Mary “who sat at the Lord’s feed and continually (b) akouo listened/heard-to-understand/know His teaching” (c)?  Jesus said “Mary, . . . which will not be taken away from her!” Martha was the one who complained that Mary needed to stop and help her. However, I actually heard a preacher at Vineyard Connections say that “Martha was more spiritual and had more trusting-relying-faith, and that’s why she was busy serving everybody. She was more ‘useful’ to the Lord.” The Spirit within me wept, and we walked out!  They were a new couple hired to ‘whip the church into shape.’  Yikes! <Notes> a) agathos: “good-natured, pleasantly joyful, excellent or distinguished and thus useful, upright, or honorable,” b) rare imperfect tense: continually, repeatedly, c) Luke 10:38-42.

 

Thus proseuche conversational-prayer is unique in that it is the time we can, if we press in, akouo listen/hear-to-understand/know the Voice of Christ, by the supernatural, dynamite-like enabling-power of the Holy Spirit. This is when we manthano learn directly from Christ, as every prophet whoever existed did, just as was “The Promise” for the completely-different-in-kind New Covenant’s Church age (a), so that we can really be a follower/disciple of Christ. <Notes> a) Acts 2:17-18; Hebrews 8:11 citing Jeremiah 31:33-34; Psalms 32:8; Isaiah 54:13.

 

Nowhere in the NT does it say the successful Christian life comes from reading, studying, and memorizing scripture as I was taught by so many churches and 5 bible colleges – see Bible Info.  Instead it says holiness/sanctification comes from akouo listen/hear-to-understand/know the Parakletos Spirit’s parakaleo alongside-counselling/teaching NOW as the phone voice of Jesus by the directly-spoken/heard prophetic rhema words of the Lord – see Prophetic Word of God.