Alone With God - Completed

8/22/2019 Alone With God - Completed

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Chapter 1

THE SUPREME PRIVILEGE

Come now, and let us reason together. Isaiah 1:18

It is a supreme privilege to be alone with God, our Creator and Redeemer.

Communication with the Almighty is our greatest privilege and we should not be too

busy to find the time to be alone with Him.

Often Jesus went into the seclusion of the mountains to pray and meditate. These

hours of aloneness were a necessity to Jesus. They were the supreme hours of His life.

They were the hours that made His work divine. Our strength for service comes from

the same source, and we must obtain it in the same way. Unless we have a quiet time

when God can speak to us, and when He can pour new strength into our lives, our work

soon will become powerless for good, however busily we Way serve.

Being alone with God is our supreme privilege. Taking time to be alone with God not

only gives us rest but it strengthens our inner being. When we are alone with God we

are reminded that we are loved for who we are not what we have done. We live in a

world that measures self worth by how much a person accomplishes; how many

projects they have completed; how many programs they have started; how much money

they have raised; how much they have increased profits. When we are alone God

reminds us that He loves.

You will never regret spending too much time with God and we are to find some time

alone with Him each day. Being alone with God is the supreme privilege.

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CHAPTER 2

THE LIFE THAT COUNTS

Be ye therefore perfect. Matthew 5:48

For many people, the life that counts is primarily a life that is filled with all the trappings

and trinkets of material success-plenty of money, lots of nice things, clothes, cars,

homes, stocks, bonds, and vacation homes. And since we believe that these are the

things that give life meaning and significance, we pour ourselves into our jobs and our

professions. We work hard so we can acquire all the stuff that we think is necessary and

essential during these few short years that we have on this earth. What really counts in

life is loving God and loving and helping people. And when we follow this way of love,

and not just the way of materialism, or the way of pleasure, or the way of self-fulfillment,

when we let love lead us, then we will discover a life that really counts.

As Christians we are to follow the word of God, use it to guide our lives. The Bible

explains how one may live the life that counts but to live it is to get rid of sin. Keeping in

touch with God is the secret of this life, and prayer is the unseen wire stretched from

the very heart of God to the heart of man. Yes, prayer is the great reality in life. To live

the life that counts means supreme happiness. The world is languishing for want of

men and women who will live the life that counts and when we live the life that counts

we are able to help other Christians to live that life too.

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We only have one life to live. Let us offer it to him. The life that counts for eternity is the

life that iscentered in the willof God. OurgoalasChristians is tostay connectedto the

head which is JESUS and out of that will come the life that counts.

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CHAPTER 3

EQUIPMENT FOR SERVICE

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. James 5:16

To be a soul winner for God is lifes greatest opportunity. But we cant be Gods soul

winner if we dont live the life that counts. To be successful soul winner, we have to live

the life of a successful soul winner.

To save a lost world, God gave His one and only Son, so that whoever believes in Him

shall not perish but have everlasting life. As Christians, we are Christs representatives

and as Christ's representatives people look to us as examples of Christ and we are to

make a decided impression on the world.

As Christs ambassadors, we have to keep in touch with Him through our daily prayers,

as Christ's representatives we need to be in daily communion with Him, so that he may

keep us supplied with all the power we need for service, after all, the same prayer that

draws us close to God draws us closer to our fellowmen. He is counting on you and

me.

Paul said in Colossians 3:17 that we are to be Christ's representatives, doing all that we

do "in the name of the Lord Jesus." God has chosen us to be Christ's representatives

on earth, to be His Equipment for service. We are Christ's ambassadors. Being an

ambassador means we are the top-ranking officials- for Christ. This is an awesome

privilege of being called Christ's very own. It is also an awesome privilege of being

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representatives of God's love and sharing that with others. He is depending on us to

plead His cause and bear His message before the many who don't know Him.

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CHAPTER 4

JESUS AND I ARE FRIENDS

Ye are My friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. John 15:14

The secret of the late Dr. J. R. Millers life was summarized in five words that he loved

to repeat again and again, "Jesus and I are friends." This was the deepest passion of

his life, to know and love Jesus Christ. All he did and all he wrote came from his vital

relationship with his Friend. He once wrote in one of his books, "No name of Christ

means more to us in the interpretation of His life and love than Friend.

We are not only to tell those we teach of the beauty of the friendship of Christ; we must

interpret that friendship in ourselves. What Christ was to those to whom He became a

personal friend we must be to those we make our friends. He did not seem to do many

things for them. He did not greatly change their condition. He did not make life easier for

them. It was in a different way that His friendship helped them. He gave them sympathy.

They knew He cared for them, and then the hard things meant less to them. The

greatest moment in anyone's life is when he first realizes that Christ is his Friend."

Thankfully, he was a model of the things he urged others to do. He learned numerous

lessons from his Friend. Tens of thousands were made richer because of his desire to

pass on what his Friend had taught him.

Every Christian has the privilege of finding a close personal friend in Jesus and the

worlds greatest need today is the need of Christians who can say truly, Jesus and I

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are friends. Jesus is the highest interpretation of unselfishness and the more we

associate with Him, the more we shall be like Him.

Jesus said the way to become His friend was, to "do what I command." It would seem

that we have no right to call Him "friend" unless we are obeying the words He has

commanded us to do. Let's get to know our Lord by constant communion with His word.

Let's love Him with all of our hearts and prove that love by our obedience. Let's be a

friend to Jesus by doing what He has commanded us to do. Only he who has Jesus for

his personal friend can be a genuine friend to others.

The Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Redeemer, is the greatest friend that any of us

ever will have. To say, "Jesus is my best friend," almost sounds like a clich, but when

you think about it, it really is true. You can have a close friendship with God.

In order to be close friend of Jesus, we need to have victory over sin, through

consecration. Abraham was called the friend of God because when God called him out

of his pagan belief to trust in a living God, Abraham left his family and followed after

God. Abraham not only believed God he acted upon that faith. Abraham had found a

friend in God. Only he who has Jesus for his personal friend can be a genuine friend to

others.

Jesus offers the hand of friendship to us. He wants to be our friend. Jesus was called

"the friend of sinners" because He would actually sit down and have a conversation with

a prostituteor a tax collector or even a Samaritan woman. He extended His friendship

to anyone who wanted it. Of course, He ultimately proved the legitimacy of His offer by

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laying His life down for us. The Bible says, "Greater love has no one than this, than to

lay down one's life for his friends" (John 15:13).

The friendship of Jesus is worth everything to the Christian, not alone when he is

brought face to face with death, but today and every day. Solomon said in Proverbs

18:24- that a friend must show himself friendly; and that there is a friend that sticks

closer than a brother. Jesus has come to be our friend. He has shown Himself friendly.

He has loved us when no one else loved us. He has stayed with us even when we

rejected Him.

For the friend of Jesus, there is peace, undisturbed peace, in this world of trouble. Only

through our own sin can we be separated from our Friend.

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CHAPTER 5

ALONE WITH GODS WORD

Search the Scriptures. John 5:9

The Bible is the most amazing book in all of human history. It is the source for

understanding and knowledge about GOD (who He is, His nature and His will) and man

(who he is and who he can become). The Bible answers the questions and inner most

longings of man's heart. The Bible is our only source of true knowledge about God and

His plan for His creation and for the salvation of our race.

Bible study will increase your faith in God. In Romans 10:17, Paul wrote, So then faith

comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Any person who chooses to have

faith must study the word of God. A person cannot have faith in God without learning

about God. Likewise, if a Christian wants his faith to be stronger, he must continue to

study Gods word.

Christians should study the Bible to be able to give a reason for their faith. I Peter 3:15

reads, "Always be prepared to give an answer to every man that asks you to give a

reason for the hope that you have. We study the Bible in order to keep sin out of our life.

In Psalm 119:11 David said, "Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against

thee." We need to be like Jesus, who when tempted of the Devil said, thus it is written!

The Bible is the Word of God for teaching, instruction and training in all righteousness.

We should study the Bible because it will inspire us with courage and determination to

press on. Daily Bible study leads to occupation with the Lord Jesus Christ, a daily walk

with the Saviour. The Bible is the only textbook on God and man. It is the only source

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of the knowledge of God. One can only know God through the Bible. Only the Bible

tells us who God is, what He is like, and, most importantly for our sake, what He wants

for man. It contains all the answers for all of life problems, if we would but read it and

meditate upon it.

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CHAPTER 6

TAKE TIME TO PRAY

Pray without ceasing. 1 Thessalonians 5:17

Prayer is at the heart of the Christian faith, because at the heart of Christianity is a

personal relationship with God through His Son, Jesus Christ. "The effectual fervent

prayer of a righteous man availeth much." James 5:16. Prayer is the most important

element of your Christian experience. Prayer is the communication between God and

us.

Wesley Duewel describes prayer like this: The greatest privilege God gives to you is

the freedom to approach Him at any time. You are not only authorized to speak to Him;

you are invited. You are not only permitted; you are expected. God waits for you to

communicate with Him.

Prayer is an essential component of the Christian life. We have the great privilege of

coming into Gods presence, praising Him for who He is and all He does, and

presenting our struggles and concerns to Him, knowing that He will hear and answer.

And when we confess our sins in prayer and repent, He is faithful and just to forgive us.

Prayer is more than just talking; it is intimate fellowship with God.

Prayer is an amazingly powerful tool. One of our goals as a Christian Fellowship is to

follow God's leading and that cant be accomplished without prayer. Prayer is the most

important work in the kingdom of God. We are undergoing a very real spiritual battle

every day in which prayer is the main support. It has been said that when we work, we

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work, but when we pray, God works. We need to make time to be with God. We carve

out part of our day to do everything else we want to do; we need to carve out part of our

day to spend time with God also.

Sometimes crises come up in our families or on our jobs that require that we focus our

attention more tightly than usual in a certain area; but we can't allow this to become the

norm in our lives. We can't become so busy with our families, our jobs, our possessions,

our goals, or anything else that we are too busy to spend time with God.

Jesus Christ is our perfect example. No matter how busy he was, or what was going on

in his life, he took time to fellowship with God. He always took the time to fellowship with

his Father. When I look at Jesus in the Bible, I remember all the different times when

the crowds would be pushing in around him. After dealing with the crowds for a while

and meeting the urgent needs of the crowd, Jesus would draw away and pray. He

somehow never let the urgent needs of people distract him from the focus of his mission

and the source of his power.

Some of us use personal planners, to plan out the important things we have to do for

the day. Schedule God on your planner. You schedule everything else that's important;

plan for time with Him also.

Everybody can't start the day with prayer. For some people, that's not practical.

Everybody can't end the day with prayer. But we can all make time each day to be alone

with God. We can each make God and our time alone with God, top priority. Prayer is a

rising up and drawing near to God in mind, and in heart, and in spirit.

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CHAPTER 7

ESSENTIALS TO SUCCESSFUL PRAYER LIFELord, teach us to pray. Luke 11:1

Prayer is the foundation of every successful Christian endeavor. Time spent with God is

vital if you desire a fruitful Christian life. As the foundation of every Christian endeavor, it

plays a vital role in living a successful Christian life. The elements of true prayer as

revealed in the Bible and the experience of others are:

Adoration

Adoration is the expression of our love for God, in both deeds and words. Take some

time at the beginning of your prayer to offer adoration to God. Tell Him how much you

love and appreciate the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is so important to affirm your

love. So often Christian blast into prayer by asking for things for themselves. Jesus

said, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all

your mind, Matthew 22:37. The highest honor to bestow upon God, the knowledge that

He is the Highest of all and He alone is deserving of our adoration and praise.

Thanksgiving

We ought to be more thankful for what we get from God. God has abundant resources

available to every Christian. He desires to lavish you with all that he has to offer. The

polite thing to do is to thank Him for all the great things he does in your life. Thank God

for everything and every circumstance. Our daily lives should be a constant expression

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of genuine appreciation of His wonderful goodness, and our prayers should be

saturated with praise and thanksgiving.

Confession

Confession is acknowledgment that we are a sinful person and deserve God's

judgment, while greatly desiring His mercy and grace. Confession is the

acknowledgment of our own short comings.

Your heart needs to be in the right place when praying to God. Lets face it, humans are

sinful by nature. Confession is a form of acknowledgement of what is truthful. Most often

we confess our sins. It is better to confess than to let God "find out. If we confess our

sins he is faithful to forgive us. When we truly believe that God can answer our prayers,

He will. Confession is important in prayer.

Restitution

Restitution is making good the wrong wherever possible. If I have at any time taken

what does not belong to me, and am not willing to make restitution, my prayers will not

go very far toward heaven. If we have taken anything from any man, if we have in any

way defrauded a man, let us not only confess it, but do all we can to make restitution. If

we have misrepresented any one - if we have started some slander, or some false

report about him - let us do all in our power to undo the wrong.

It may be that there is something in our lives that needs straightening out; something

that happened perhaps twenty years ago, and that has been forgotten till the Spirit of

God brought it to our remembrance. If we are not willing to make restitution, we cannot

expect God to give us great blessing.

Forgiveness

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We are to forgive others as we are asked to be forgiven. Perhaps the most difficult of

all elements to deal with is forgiveness. I believe this is keeping more people from

having power with God than any other thing - they are not willing to cultivate the spirit of

forgiveness. If we allow the root of bitterness to spring up in our hearts against

someone, our prayer will not be answered. It may not be an easy thing to live in sweet

fellowship with all those with whom we come in contact; but that is what the grace of

God is given to us for.

Faith

Another element is faith. It is very important for us to know how to pray by faith. We are

not told that Jesus ever taught His disciples how to preach, but He taught them how to

pray. He wanted them to have power with God; then He knew they would have power

with man. It is a prayer of total and complete confidence that God will do the very thing

asked for, or something better, no matter how long it takes. Faith is the element of

believing the scriptures and knowing that the loving, all-powerful, all-knowing, all-

present God of the Bible will hear our prayers and act upon them.

Our inadequate knowledge of God, our persistent spiritual blindness, and our own

inexperience may limit our prayer of faith. The need for knowledge of God, for spiritual

awareness, and for experience emphasizes our need to establish a consistent prayer

life and quiet time. It is during this time that we may study God's Word, may develop a

prayer life, and may learn to find God. This is how we develop the confidence we must

have in our prayers.

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Obedience

Obedience and faith go hand in hand. Obedience to God's commands are works of

faith. If there is obedience, faith is real. Obedience is the supreme test of trust and belief

in God and His Word. Obedience and faith are closely linked. Faith without obedience to

The Word of God is not sincere faith nor is belief alive. The act of believing is

obedience.

Obedience to God's Word means personal cost and total commitment. Christ-like

obedience expresses love for God. Obedience refers to a complete and whole lifestyle

which comes from a personal covenant relationship with God through Jesus, His son.

A Christian's obedience comes from his faith. A Christian's first concern on this earth is

to be pleasing to God and to order his behavior according to God's righteous standards

and principles. We are to put our efforts and priority into doing His will. We are to lose

ourselves in obedience to God's commands. We are to put Him first in our life and He

will see to it that our needs are met. Only our obedience to God's commands allows the

Spirit freedom to work within us.

Definiteness

Definiteness is another element in prayer. How often we pray without really asking for

anything. D. L. Moody says, Our prayers go all round the world, without anything

definite being asked for. We do not expect anything.. Many people would be greatly

surprised if God did answer their prayers. When we pray we need to be definite in our

requests. While not all definite prayers are answered, all answered prayers on record

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were definite. "Ask, and ye shall receive." I believe if we put all the stumbling blocks out

of the way, God will answer our petitions.

Perseverance

There are many men and women in this world who are failures because they lacked

perseverance in pursuit of some chosen goal. When we pray, we need to pray with

perseverance. Jesus told numerous parables to encourage his disciples not to give up.

Jesus told the story of a woman who petitioned an unjust judge. The judge granted her

request because of her importunity. Often it is much easier to give up and think that God

doesnt want to answer than to keep praying until we prevail. Sometimes we may find it

necessary to have others pray with us so that we may receive the answer. Jesus said

that if two agreed in prayer, it would be done. At other times, we will find it necessary to

pour our hearts out to God in secret. Gods Word promises that such prayer will be

rewarded openly.

We should be persistent in prayer. If we truly want God to answer our prayers, then we

must continue to ask and never give up. Although God may not answer our prayers

immediately, we can still have hope that one-day He will. God will answer your prayer

because of your perseverance and His goodness and for His glory.

Submission

Another essential element in prayer is submission. All true prayer must be offered in full

submission to God. After we have made our requests known to Him, our language

should be, "Thy will be done."

The prayer of submission means we allow God to have his way in our lives. We find it in

the Lord's Prayer, "Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." Of

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course we often cruise through this prayer with little thought for what we are actually

saying to the Father. In order for his will to be done on earth as in heaven, we must

submit our own will to his.

Prayer is a great blessing that we have as Christians. We are able to approach the

Creator of the world and ask for His assistance. It is important that we learn how to pray

properly. To pray properly, we should address our prayers to God the Father. Rely

upon the Holy Spirit to help us with our prayers. Pray with confidence. Pray with

perseverance. Pray with faith.

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CHAPTER 8

THE MORNING HOUR

In the morning, rising up a great while before day, He went out, and departed into asolitary place, and there prayed. Mark 1:35

Morning Prayer gets us ready for what the day brings. Begin the day by seeking God's

blessing, the saint advises. God meets us in the morning not as a taskmaster, but as a

loving presence that strengthens and gladdens us for the day. We should start the day

with prayer, asking Gods guidance and protection in the hours ahead. We need to ask

Him to deliver us from temptation.

The morning is such a nice time to pray. It is pleasant to start the day with prayer and

acknowledge God before doing anything else. I realize many have to rush in the

mornings and have more time to pray at night but my favorite time is morning, so new

and fresh. Its like putting God at the forefront of our day before we do anything else.

Prayer enables us to begin the day, not alone, but with God. It raises and gladdens our

tired spirits that so easily lose their appetite for life. It provides a strengthening grace so

that we enter the day, not groaning, but hoping in our Savior and our God.

To begin the day without imploring God's grace and thanking Him for benefits received,

is certainly wrong and exposes us to great danger. If we would know the fullness of

blessing that there is in the prayer life, it is important not only that we pray in the right

way, but also that we pray at the right time.

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Christ's own example is full of suggestiveness as to the right time for prayer. Jesus

chose the early morning hour for prayer. Many of the mightiest men of god have

followed the Lord's example in this. In the morning hour the mind is fresh and at its very

best. It is free from distraction, and that absolute concentration upon God, which is

essential to the most effective prayer, is most easily possible in the early morning hours.

Furthermore, when the early hours are spent in prayer, the whole day is sanctified, and

power is obtained for overcoming its temptations, and for performing its duties. More

can be accomplished in prayer in the first hours of the day than at any other time during

the day.

The first thing we do each day should be to go alone with God and face the duties, the

temptations, and the service of that day, and get strength from God for all. The morning

hour exercises the will, directs the intention, and sets our gaze wholly upon God.

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Chapter 9

WHEN PRAYER FAILS

If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. Psalm 66:18

If we speak words of life, and faith then even the most impossible situation can and will

change. If we speak words of doubt and fear, our circumstances reflect that, as well.

When we put the Word of God in our mouth, and speak out God's Word, then we are

aligning ourselves for victory. If the Christian does not allow prayer to drive sin out of his

life, sin will drive prayer out of his life. God's Word never fails, and when our thoughts

and His thoughts become the same, we are in agreement with God.

There is nothing too hard for God. He is still the Savior, the Healer, the Deliverer, our

Provider, and our Protector. Prayer need never fail; and prayer never does fail if the

proper place in life is given to it.

From every viewpoint, being alone with God in prayer is the Christians supreme

privilege and his greatest need; for the only thing that will enable Christians to conquer

the world for Christ is PRAYER.

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CONCLUSION

A daily time of prayer and or Bible study provides a Christian the opportunity to confess

his or her sins before God and accept the cleansing that is offered through Jesus Christ.

This time alone also provides the opportunity to place personal needs before God. This

is a testimony of faith and trust in God. It is a sign that you know that God loves you and

cares about your welfare. It is a sign of your reliance on Him to meet your needs.

A time alone with God also is a time to intercede on the behalf of others by placing their

needs in Gods hands. A time alone with God is a time to learn Gods will and align

yourself with Gods will for your life. Spending time alone with God is the key to growing

closer to Him and loving Him more deeply.

We need the spiritual food that is supplied by time alone with God. We must open

ourselves up daily to the renewing and sustaining influence of His power and love, or

our spirit will become so weak that we will be unable to bear the daily trials that living in

this world can bring, let alone trying to minister to others.

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Alone With God - Completed