The Secret Place 6th May Prayer 2

Ge 5:21-24 Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah. After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.

Jud 14-15 Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”

Heb 11:5-6 By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

The bible is strangely silent about Enoch considering this most wonderful testimony. Enoch walked with God! In fact he walked so closely to God that God took him. We don’t know how he walked with God or even what that means – but the Holy Spirit does give us a little insight. We know Enoch was a preacher of righteousness from the prophesy reported in Jude – and we know from Hebrews that he was a man of great faith and diligence that pleased God.

In fact, more than pleased God, I think God so delighted in this man, his faith and obedience that God rewarded him with an early entrance into heaven and eternity. The W.O.G. tells us of two other men that “walked with God” – Noah whom God trusted with the whole future of humanity – and Abraham in whose blessings and promise Israel trusted and prospered. These men are our earliest examples and we can still learn from them.

Ge 6:9 This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God.

Ge 17:1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless.

Ge 24:40 But he said to me, ‘The Lord, before whom I walk, will send His angel with you and prosper your way;

Three great men who walked with God – to “walk” in this sense means an ever increasing maturity and steadfastness – it means perseverance and diligence – in fact it is a diligence and perseverance so true and trustworthy that it pleased God to the point of trusting them like few others have been trusted. But we know from scripture that these three men were primarily men of faith because without faith it is impossible to please God.

Nowhere does it record the prayers of these men – yet we know that faith that pleases God must be a faith produced through prayer – believing, not doubting and growing in grace – because they walked by faith and not by sight –

Heb 11:5 By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death,

Heb 11:7 By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

Heb 11:8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.

I really want to establish this biblically because there is so much subjectivity to the whole thing of prayer – but the prayers these men prayed pleased God and the W.O.G. tells us they were men of faith. Now true prayer is not just a communication with God – it is more than a whole lot of requests and lists of dutiful obligation – for these men it was not praying about the things they could do themselves – they were all men of action!

Prayer is not asking God to do the things He expects us to be doing – prayer is not about ministry or power or gifts – not this prayer that pleases God! The prayer that pleases God is asking God to do the things that man cannot do – things that are impossible for man to do – and then believing that God will do them – really believing without doubt – like Abraham and it was accounted to him as righteousness - like Noah who built an ark having never seen water

Like Enoch, who was so moved by the ungodliness and blasphemy of humanity around him that he was grieved for God – This is an interesting thing – but all of these men were affected greatly by the depravity and sinfulness of mankind – they were moved to prophesy and preach and cry out to God over the state of the nation and the people’s rejection of God – in walking with God they began to KNOW His heart – really KNOW His heart.

They were men of the Spirit because it is the Spirit that searches the deep things of God and these men KNEW God’s heart above and beyond any law or legal requirement – (this is before the commandments) – but we KNOW Enoch prophesied about the ungodliness and we know Noah was a preacher of righteousness and we know Abraham interceded for Sodom and Gomorrah – you cannot do any of these things without knowing God’s heart!!

They did not have the W.O.G. as we know it – yet they pleased God – so they must have been men of prayer – deep prayer, prayer that touched God in such a way that He revealed His very heart to them – and in knowing His heart they believed – they really believed and they never doubted that what they prayed for, and about, God would answer. But Noah didn’t just pray and do nothing – he was obedient, built the ark and preached God’s judgement the whole time.

He obeyed the revealed direction of God and prayed for the salvation of mankind – Noah “did” what he could do and prayed for God to do what only He could do – it rained! ---- Abraham believed God for a son, not simply a child but the beginning of a great nation! A son that would be the very beginning of a people by whom God would bless the whole world! – Impossible at his age but he believed – and while he believed he went on searching out the new land –

he led and provided and prayed – he interceded for the lost and doomed – but he believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness. None of these men could change the hearts of men, none of these men could affect the depravity of mankind, none of these men could reverse the affects of the fall. They could not go back to Eden! But they could do two things – they could obey God – and they could walk with Him – they were men of prayer.

Prayer that never sought it’s own ends – prayer that didn’t lust for it’s own glory – but prayer that was all about God – prayer that was entirely and only focussed on God’s glory and His being glorified. Prayer that touched and affected God! – To have this testimony that they “pleased God” we KNOW they were not men after their own ends but solely after God’s glory. They understood that the chief and highest end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever!

They really grasped that KNOWING God and worshipping Him, Loving Him and glorifying Him was the place of their own greatest delight – this pleased God and He walked with them – He allowed them to see and understand His heart and by that, His glory – I’m sure Enoch would have cried out just like Moses did later – O God let me see Your Glory – and because He was faithful and righteous and grieved for God – God took him at his word!!!

These three men knew their whole life was to obey and walk according to God’s heart. They strived for righteousness, they warned the lost, they preached – but more, they led by example --- BUT they never tried to do the things only God can do – they never sought to take for themselves His glory – they KNEW God’s heart well enough to be able to pray and believe and leave it with God so that when the answer came it was His Holy Glory alone!!

Their prayers are not recorded because they prayed in secret – they found God in the secret place and they prayed in secret and it stayed in secret and when God answered those prayers they never sought for His glory to be their own. In these days God has spoken to us by His Son and Jesus taught this –

Mt 6:5-6 “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

To have pleased God they had to be men of faith, and to be men of faith they had to have grace, and in having grace they believed God – and so they went to Him in SECRET – God really is a God of the secret place. O He longs for us to be with Him in secret, without agenda, without asking or seeking or crying out for Him to give us! He longs for us to walk with Him and KNOW His heart – then we pray by faith – and He rewards us openly.

That reward is not attributed to us! It never glorifies us – it was asked in secret and the reward is God’s openly God’s!! – You KNOW God delights when we come to Him in prayer – God loves it when we come to Him – He waits for us to come and when we do come – I think He is as excited as we are! I think sometimes He just manifests Himself to us because we have come – and He always knows what we have need of before we ask or think ---

So just that we have come pleases Him – and when there are two of us agreeing upon something – I think that pleases God too – He Presences Himself with us – and we Know His anointing – we are excited and expectant – so we speak and ask – the anointing is washing over us – and we take that as God’s guidance – we take that to affirm what we want to have – and what we’ve asked may seem a very good and noble thing ---

but you know before we even went into Him – He knew what we have need of and so He also knows our motives, our hearts, our ambitions – you know I can attest to this – God is faithful! He cannot deny Himself and the scriptures tell us some very powerful things concerning prayer.

1 Jn 5:14-15 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

Jas 4:1-4 Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.

Praying God’s will is the key to answered prayer – what is God’s will? Well it is never for us to ask Him to do things we can do ourselves according to what is revealed in His Word – and it is never to ask Him for things that are for our own glory at His expense – not for Him to give us things for which it does not require FAITH – for without Faith it is impossible to please Him and it for this reason we live!!

So praying according to His will is to pray those things that only God can do – that will glorify Him! Like all these three men prayed for the state of the ungodliness around them – they could not change it themselves but they knew it was God’s heart for it to be changed. They prayed His heart back to Him and He delighted in it!!

Look to march on parliament and demand by our strength and might a change in the law is not God’s way – it does not require faith – it does not trust God it does not glorify God in any way – it tries to enforce by intimidation and strength – by numbers and force

And to publicly declare we will pray at the same time for the opposite is just like Jesus said – it is like the Pharisees who prayed to get attention and seem pious.

Zec 4:6 So he answered and said to me: “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the Lord of hosts.

The Spirit is the Spirit of God in the secret place – God is a God of the secret place. How much better that like Enoch, Noah and Abraham we pray in secret – no one knowing except God and then He can move and answer our prayers and only He gets the glory – and Our God can be hallowed once a gain.