Imagine It!

People are asking God for something special. For many it revolves around three things.

Intimacy With God.

The need for us to be in a close relationship with God is at the heart of all we do. James uses the phrase ‘Come near to God and he will come near to you’ (Jas 4:8) It’s an idea that is apparent throughout the Old and New Testaments and in fact a near identical phrase occurs in Malachi 3:7 ‘Return to me and I will return to you.’ Although God is everywhere these verses imply some movement in closeness or intimacy with God. We can come close if we seek him and he will come close to us. It really is possible to live on a new level of intimacy with God. Imagine it!

Prominence Of The Spirit.

This is a plea that his work among us and in the world will be clearly evident. We want the work of God to be apparent. We are engaging with Jesus’ instruction that we should pray that God’s will be done on earth. It is not being done as much as he wishes and we are therefore invited to ask him to do his will. How many times do we go to a meeting, church service or prayer meeting and leave unsatisfied with the question ‘Where was God in all that?’ Well, in times of revival, because of the prominence of God’s Spirit people just couldn’t get enough of it. In Wales a century ago they had packed meetings go on till after midnight and even then people would stay talking outside till 2 or 3 in the morning about what had happened. Maybe it’s been a while since we have been in a meeting like that! Having meetings with that sense of reality is what we are praying for. As in the life of Jesus people said: ‘We’ve never seen anything like this before!” This is what we want in asking for God’s prominence. Imagine it!

Gospel Of Christ.

This has to be the ultimate focus and outworking of all that we are praying for. To ask God for his work in this region means we must share his priority of people hearing about the life giving message of Jesus. This has relevance for everybody because Christ died for everybody. It is God’s desire that none should perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). So we will really feel our prayers are being answered when we hear of people becoming Christians; when we hear of our ‘three most wanted friends’ that we have been praying for becoming Christians; when we hear of new churches opening up to accommodate scores and scores of people; when we realise there is a movement of God’s Spirit taking place bringing 1000s to Christ. Imagine It!

Imagine It And Then Pray For It!