Participants: Shelley Quinn
Series Code: PHP
Program Code: PHP000003S
|
00:01 Hello, I'm Shelley Quinn. Let me ask you a question.
00:04 When you are talking with God, do you do all the talking? 00:09 Please join us today on "Pressing into His Presence." 00:12 When we will consider 00:14 that prayer should be a two-way communication. 00:38 Welcome to "Pressing into His Presence." 00:41 This is a series that is going to be teaching us 00:44 how to have a more intimate prayer life 00:47 and therefore a more intimate relationship with the Lord. 00:52 If you have joined us for the last two programs 00:56 you know that we've been considering 00:58 the back story so to speak, 01:00 in other words how the Lord led me into this teaching. 01:04 Today we will conclude 01:06 the personal testimony groundwork for this series 01:09 and we are taking this series from a companion book 01:14 that I was blessed to write, 01:15 it's also titled Pressing in to His Presence. 01:19 So many of you are already following along 01:22 and for today we are going to begin on page 25. 01:26 During our last program, I was sharing about my response 01:31 to what I believed was God's call to me 01:34 to pray an hour a day. 01:36 This was to correct my backsliding 01:39 and turn me around 01:41 but it seemed so terribly long and next to impossible to me. 01:46 And on that first morning, 01:48 I sat at my computer at 8 o'clock 01:51 and began, I was gonna type out my prayer to the Lord. 01:56 And something-- this was something 01:58 that I've never done before 02:00 I was gonna type it out like a letter to God. 02:03 So what I did was I covered the clock 02:06 so that I wouldn't be watching it. 02:08 And at the Lord's leading the prayer developed 02:11 that morning in the following order, 02:15 praise was the opening segment 02:18 then it was followed by repentance, 02:21 intersession and supplication. 02:25 And when I finished pouring out my heart to God 02:28 and I couldn't think of another thing to pray 02:33 then I was going to see what God was doing. 02:38 So I thought how much longer 02:40 that I have to go before my hour was complete 02:44 what else was there to talk about at the moment 02:47 and thinking perhaps that 45 minutes had passed. 02:50 I peeked into the sticky note on the clock to check the time 02:55 and it was already a quarter past 10, 02:58 I had spent 2 hours and 15 minutes with the Lord. 03:03 Amazing. 03:05 And as I typed the words in Jesus' name, amen 03:09 that still small voice of the Lord interrupted 03:13 catching me totally off guard saying this, 03:19 "Be still and know that I am God." 03:24 I know the Holy Spirit 03:26 will never impress anything upon our mind 03:29 that is not in perfect agreement 03:32 with God's council in the Bible. 03:34 And those words were a direct quote of Psalm 46:10 03:39 which says, "Be still, and know that I am God, 03:44 I will be exalted among the nations, 03:49 I will be exalted in the earth!" 03:55 Well, you can imagine I froze in my position 04:00 with my fingers poised on the keyboard 04:03 then I began to doubt was that really 04:06 God's command to be still or was it my imagination. 04:10 And another distant thought came drifting into my mind 04:14 then I frantically asked, 04:16 "Oh, Lord, is this You or is this me?" 04:18 And then yet another thought 04:20 and then again I questioned the source 04:23 "Lord, please, is this You or is this me?" 04:27 And in the past I had often claimed John 10:27, 04:33 which is-- this is where Jesus said, 04:35 "My sheep hear My voice, 04:38 and I know them, and they follow Me." 04:41 And I also claimed John 10:5, where He said, 04:45 "Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, 04:50 but will flee from him, 04:51 for they do not know the voice of strangers." 04:55 I had-- I had prayed this saying, 04:57 "Oh, Father, thank You Lord Jesus, 05:00 that I know Your voice thank You Lord Jesus, 05:03 that I'll never follow the voice of a stranger. 05:08 And now the idea that the Lord 05:10 wanted to share a thought with me 05:12 during my prayer time was unbelievable. 05:16 Suddenly the thought flashed into my mind 05:20 "I will teach you to quit interrupting in the 05:22 spiritual realm as well as in the physical realm." 05:26 Write what I speak to you that you may take note of it often. 05:31 Well, with trepidation I typed out the thoughts 05:35 being so strongly impressed upon my mind 05:38 And they only amounted to three sentences. 05:41 And I ended with this command, look it up, 05:45 searching the Bible I found scriptures 05:47 that supported and explained 05:50 what I now believed were His divine thoughts. 05:53 And I sat back in satisfaction 05:55 that my loving Father had given me instruction to heed. 05:59 I didn't really expect this to happen 06:01 in the same manner on the following morning, but it did. 06:07 God again impressed His thoughts upon my mind. 06:11 This time it was only two sentences 06:14 but they were powerful reassurance 06:17 that it was His still small voice 06:20 impressing His thoughts upon my mind 06:23 as we talk about from 1 Kings 19:12. 06:27 Now JD was working out of town 06:31 and we regularly called each other throughout the day. 06:34 And of course I was so excited about this new prayer privilege 06:39 that I just had to share my joy with him. 06:42 He didn't say much about it at first 06:45 but then after several days 06:47 of listening to my bubbling reports 06:50 he made his feelings understood. 06:52 He tenderly said, "Honey, please don't tell 06:58 anyone else that you're hearing from God 07:01 they will think you're crazy. 07:04 Well, within a few weeks JD was convinced 07:08 that God indeed was impressing thoughts upon my mind 07:11 during times at prayer. 07:13 Then my sweet husband questioned me saying, 07:17 "I pray throughout the day, why haven't I ever heard God?" 07:22 And I simply answer him by asking 07:25 "Well, have you ever listened?" 07:28 And a few days later, JD called 07:31 and cautiously shared a new prayer experience. 07:34 Wondering if the thoughts that came to his mind were from God. 07:38 We're going to examine 07:40 what happened to him in our later program. 07:42 But I think when we get there you will agree with me 07:46 God was definitely giving him 07:48 a loving and unexpected word of correction. 07:53 When 1 Kings 19:12 talks about hearing, 07:57 the still small voice of the Lord 08:00 think-- I think of it as describing 08:04 when the Holy Spirit impresses God's thoughts upon our minds. 08:09 I don't believe this type of communication 08:12 is an exclusive privilege offered to just a few. 08:15 JD and I are no more special than anyone else. 08:19 God is a loving Father and He wants to teach His children 08:25 if He could just get their attention 08:28 and their cooperation to listen, 08:30 He wants to teach us 08:32 that prayer is a two-way communication. 08:36 After all, God's purpose is to lead us. 08:40 One of my favorite scriptures is Isaiah 48:17. 08:47 And this is what it says, 08:49 "Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, 08:53 the Holy One of Israel, 08:55 'I am the Lord your God, Who teaches you to profit, 09:01 Who leads you by the way you should go.'" 09:05 If this idea of hearing God's voice His still small voice, 09:11 seems a little far fetch to you. 09:13 Please stay tuned for future programs, 09:15 please give me the opportunity 09:18 to prove this is a scriptural teaching. 09:21 If you don't, you won't know what you've missed. 09:25 I've traveled the world 09:26 and I have pulled congregation around the world 09:30 asking how many in the audience 09:33 were just certain that God had on occasion by His Holy Spirit 09:39 impressed His thoughts upon their mind in inaudible words. 09:45 Words that can't be heard with the physical ear 09:48 but it's being heard in your mind. 09:50 And almost always, at least two third's 09:54 of the members in the audience will raise their hand saying, 09:58 "Yes, I know God has impressed a thought upon my mind." 10:01 Now some raise their hands with timidity 10:04 as if they were embarrassed to admit it. 10:07 But before I learned to press into His presence 10:11 those precious occasions happen to me infrequently. 10:16 When I allow this practice of pressing in type prayer 10:20 to be crowded out at my schedule, 10:22 in other words, when I'm shamefully too busy 10:25 to spend substantial time with the Lord in prayer. 10:29 I don't perceive His still small voice 10:32 but it became almost a daily occurrence over the many years 10:37 that I faithfully practiced this teaching. 10:40 Occasionally, even when I was being still before the Lord 10:45 He trusted me with His silence. 10:47 To teach me He was still there, 10:49 even though I didn't sense His still small voice. 10:54 Don't be fearful of trying this biblical practice 10:57 of listening for the Lord's voice. 10:59 In today's culture, we aren't accustomed to thinking 11:03 that God wants to communicate with us on a personal level. 11:07 Oh, but He does. 11:09 And we need to know how 11:11 so that we don't get caught up in counterfeit teachings 11:16 or be so fearful that we avoid the true experience. 11:22 In later programs, we will examine much scripture 11:26 to verify the way that the Lord communicates with mankind. 11:31 We will also look at His promises 11:34 that we reveal God wants us to learn 11:37 that prayer is a two-way communication. 11:41 I don't get the impression of His inaudible voice 11:45 when I rush in before Him and try to get an answer. 11:49 In fact, it rarely happens 11:52 if I haven't spent at least an hour in prayer 11:54 pouring out my heart before Him. 11:56 And then sitting still before Him. 12:00 When His thoughts come they are almost always 12:03 something of an extremely 12:05 personal nature and application. 12:07 And they always line up in total agreement with His word. 12:13 The Holy Spirit will not do otherwise. 12:17 John 14:26 says this, 12:21 and these are the words of Jesus, 12:24 He says, "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, 12:27 whom the Father will send in My name, 12:29 He will teach you all things, 12:32 and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you." 12:38 So the Holy Spirit is our helper 12:40 and He's bringing to remembrance the words of God. 12:45 He will never ever contradict God's words. 12:49 So listening to God during my prayer time 12:52 is how I knew He was calling me into full time ministry. 12:56 He also announced 21 months before 12:59 I first appeared on 3ABN that He will open the doors 13:04 for television, radio and publishing 13:07 and that I would speak into all the world. 13:10 A couple of years later, 13:12 He prevented my husband and I from buying a new home 13:15 in Coleman, Texas where we were living 13:17 by telling us that we would move out of town within 13:21 several months but He didn't even reveal the location. 13:25 And you know what, I didn't ask. 13:27 I had already learned 13:29 that God tells me just a little bit at a time. 13:33 This was months in advance 13:35 of our surprise invitation to join the staff at 3ABN. 13:40 There are times when I had been in prayer with Him 13:45 feeling satisfied about myself 13:48 and the direction in which I'm heading. 13:51 When God has stunned me with a word of correction 13:56 and then there also had been times and days 14:00 when I'm just really crestfallen 14:03 and I feel like I'm a dismal disappointment to Him. 14:07 And my loving Father has surprised me with words, 14:10 of encouragement and assurance. 14:13 His response has never been something I have expected, 14:17 I have come to trust these thoughts 14:19 being impressed upon my mind are at divine origin. 14:23 I faithfully kept my daily commitment 14:26 to the Lord for the first 9 years. 14:28 Every day I prayed and in addition to praying 14:33 throughout the day, my normal prayers, 14:36 I mean, I prayed an hour each morning. 14:40 And I'm ashamed to admit it but I must say that 14:44 over the past several years I've let this practice slip. 14:47 Instead of daily pressing into His presence, 14:51 it became a weekly effort. 14:53 In some months it was not even that often. 14:56 You know we work four, 10 hour days 14:59 each week here at 3ABN Broadcasting Network. 15:03 And we travel most weekends to speak 15:07 at camp meetings or church revivals and retreats 15:10 and that has interrupted the rhythm of this practice 15:14 only because of I've allowed it. 15:16 I'm not proud of this fact. 15:18 And don't misunderstand what I'm saying, 15:20 I continue to pray often throughout the day 15:24 but it's different, 15:25 it's not pressing into His presence. 15:29 A 15 minute prayer is just not as satisfying. 15:33 And I don't hear from God 15:35 when I rush in before Him in this fashion. 15:38 And to answer the obvious question, 15:41 yes, I lose ground when I'm not practicing this. 15:45 I think that's called backsliding, isn't it? 15:48 Prior to taping this series, I felt that it was necessary 15:52 to return to the practice of praying an hour in the morning. 15:57 And praise God, He is reawakening 16:00 my passion for His presence. 16:03 Prayer is a vital life source. 16:07 It is the breath of the soul and how refreshing it is 16:11 to be deep breathing again 16:13 rather than just the occasional spiritual gasping 16:17 that I had gravitated toward. 16:19 More importantly, I cannot tell you how joyful it makes me too. 16:24 Once again be hearing the still small voice of the Lord 16:30 like that beautiful hymn, 16:31 "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing." 16:34 Oh, it says 16:36 oh, prone to wander from the God I love, 16:39 prone to take His presence for granted. 16:44 To grace, how great a tatter I am. 16:48 Father, take our hearts and seal it, 16:51 seal them for Your courts above as the songs says. 16:55 That's my prayer for every sincere 16:59 hearted seeker of God's kingdom and God's righteousness. 17:03 Let's return our focus to 17:05 what happened that September of 1999 17:08 when the Lord first led me to pray in this manner. 17:11 If someone spends an hour with God each morning, 17:14 and learn to sit at His feet and listen. 17:16 Wouldn't you think that she could expect 17:20 greater spiritual power 17:21 to overcome the obstacles of sinful flesh? 17:25 Well, in my case it just wasn't happening 17:28 at least not for the first two weeks. 17:30 And on the 15th morning of my new prayer experience, 17:33 I awoke rather late and I opened the windows 17:37 to the best weather of September can muster. 17:39 The air was crisp and golden leaves 17:42 were on the ground moist with dew 17:45 and they reflected the sun's sparkling rays. 17:47 Now normally this scene would have exhilarated me 17:51 but I was feeling down in the mouth, 17:54 dissatisfied with my spiritual progress. 17:57 After opening my prayer with praise, 18:00 I began my ritual of repentance. 18:03 And as I confess my sins, 18:05 I pleaded with God for more spiritual power. 18:09 And the still small voice of the Lord broke through saying, 18:13 "All of My promises are yours in Christ." 18:16 Isn't that what 2 Corinthians 1:20 says? 18:21 It says, "All of the promises of God in Him, 18:25 in Christ are Yes, and in Him Amen, 18:30 to the glory of God through us." 18:34 Hallelujah. 18:36 These words struck like a thunderbolt. 18:39 Of course, God had proven to me several years earlier 18:43 how affirming His word, in other words, 18:46 how claiming and confessing His promises. 18:49 Praying them back to Him, speaking them over my life, 18:53 that was the way to plug into His power source. 18:56 So, that September morning, 18:59 I added a generous portion of life affirmations 19:02 from scripture to my daily prayer. 19:04 And immediately I was transformed, 19:08 endued with power from on high. 19:10 The struggle of my flesh was banished. 19:13 God thrust out the enemy from before me, 19:16 just as He promised 19:19 in Deuteronomy 33:27, let's read that. 19:23 It says, "The eternal God is your refuge, 19:27 and underneath are the everlasting arms, 19:30 He will thrust out the enemy from before you, 19:33 and will say, 'Destroy!'" 19:37 Hallelujah. That prayer prevailed. 19:41 My day was dramatically different. 19:44 Before I went to bed that night I reviewed the prayer 19:47 and I decided to label the various segments 19:51 of the portions that had been produced 19:54 that or that had produced such a powerful pattern. 19:58 These are the segment labels. 20:01 First was praise then repentance, 20:05 affirmation, intercession, supplication 20:09 and the last one I titled, enter and be still. 20:14 Please note that if you take the first letter of each word 20:20 we develop an acronym praise, P-R-A-I-S-E. 20:26 I alternately referred to this teaching 20:29 as pressing into His presence or the praise prayer. 20:33 And I may be over estimating this 20:35 but I believe that God had a reason 20:37 for directing the segments 20:39 in the special order that He did. 20:41 And in upcoming programs, you will learn 20:44 why I think this is true you can decide for yourself. 20:48 You know I've never been a fan of prayer formulas. 20:52 There's always the possibility of developing 20:55 mechanical and meaningless practices. 20:57 But I don't think of this teaching as a prayer formula, 21:00 it's just prayer patterns. 21:03 And over the many years of practicing this type of prayer 21:07 as I've said before it's never become mechanical for me. 21:11 I often use this pattern 21:13 in a much shorter prayer as well. 21:16 Please understand I'm not trying to advocate 21:19 that this is the only manner in which to pray. 21:22 Prayer is an intimate communication 21:25 with an intimate being of love 21:28 and it will naturally take on various forms of expression. 21:32 I send up many different types of prayer daily 21:36 before His throne of grace. 21:38 But still the praise prayer pattern 21:41 has been the most successful I have used 21:43 for pressing into His presence. 21:46 Please don't become discouraged and tuned out this teaching 21:50 because the thought of praying an hour a day seems impossible. 21:54 This is not a commandment, 21:55 yes, it will absolutely correct backsliding if you do it. 22:01 But God doesn't insist that we pray an hour a day. 22:05 And I know that so many of our lives 22:08 are so very over schedule. 22:11 I really do appreciate the challenges facing you. 22:14 In fact, that's my problem, I experienced the same. 22:19 Is your to-do list just to demanding 22:22 to accomplish this daily? 22:24 Well, make some time on your day's off from your job 22:29 and at least you will be pressing into His presence 22:32 at least on a weekly basis. 22:35 And I guarantee you once you have tasted 22:38 the sweetness of praying this way, 22:41 you very well might see that it's easy 22:44 to make time for it more often. 22:47 Martin Luther, the priest who initiated 22:51 the protestant reformation in 1517 A.D. 22:56 he was known as a devout man of prayer. 23:01 And he reportedly said this, "Tomorrow I plan to work, 23:07 work from early until late. 23:09 In fact, I have so much to do 23:12 that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer." 23:20 This testifies that Luther recognized 23:23 his absolute dependence on the Lord. 23:26 And did you know that is God's plan? 23:29 It is something that-- it took me the longest time 23:33 to learn that that's what it's all about. 23:37 God wants us to come to Him 23:40 and recognize our absolute total dependence upon Him. 23:45 It is God who works in us to will and to do. 23:50 It is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ 23:54 that is sufficient. 23:56 That He makes His power perfect in our weakness. 24:01 And if we are relying on self, if we are being independent, 24:08 we're actually insulting God. 24:12 Luther knew to be dependant upon God. 24:17 And what Luther did was he finally recognized 24:22 that by His-- keeping this appointment 24:26 he would leverage his productive time. 24:30 You know, I guarantee you 24:33 that if you will spend an hour a day in time with God, 24:39 if you'll make this your highest priority, 24:42 God will increase your productivity 24:45 and He will make certain that you accomplish everything 24:50 that you need to do. 24:52 Speaking from experience I can say that you will be 24:56 much more productive after pressing into His presence. 25:00 That's why Luther, oh, he found this out. 25:03 That's why he said, "I've got so much to do, 25:05 I'm gonna spend three hours in prayer." 25:10 Well, what I would like to do right now 25:13 is to say a prayer for you. 25:16 And what I'm going to do is show you how you can pray 25:21 the praise pattern in a very short way. 25:26 So bow your heads and let's pray. 25:29 Father, we thank You for Your love and Your grace toward us. 25:34 Thank You for the indescribable 25:37 gift of salvation through Christ Jesus. 25:40 We praise You for Your goodness, 25:43 Your holiness, Your mercy in power. 25:46 We ask in the name of Jesus for you to forgive our sins. 25:51 That we may come before You 25:53 with clean hands and a pure heart. 25:56 We are Your beloved sheep, we hear Your voice. 26:00 And we will follow You only 26:02 and will never follow the voice of a stranger. 26:05 I pray for my brothers and my sisters right now, Lord, 26:10 that anyone who's listening or watching this series 26:13 that You will send Your spirit to be their teacher. 26:17 Lead them in the way everlasting. 26:20 Teach them, teach me 26:21 how to truly press into Your presence, 26:24 cause us to seek Your face. 26:28 Give us a passion for Your presence. 26:32 Help us to be still and know that You are God. 26:38 Give us ears to hear Your still small voice 26:42 and obey knowing that we can be confident it is Your voice. 26:47 If what is impressed upon our hearts 26:49 is in perfect agreement with Your word. 26:52 Oh, Father, here we raise our Ebenezer 26:57 and we come in confidence of Your empowering help. 27:01 In the name of Your only begotten son, 27:05 Jesus Christ, amen. 27:09 Well, I hope that today has challenged you. 27:15 I hope that today has peeked your curiosity. 27:19 And I hope that you will be joining us for the next time 27:24 because what we're going to do on our next program 27:28 is we are going to learn how to enter into His gates, 27:33 the heavenly gates above with Thanksgiving 27:36 as we approach His throne of grace boldly 27:41 just as He asked us. 27:43 Thank you so much for joining us. 27:46 And I pray that next time 27:49 we're really gonna get started on the teaching. 27:52 So when you tune in next time, 27:54 have a pen and your paper and your Bible handy. 27:59 Until then, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, 28:03 the love of the Father and the fellowship 28:05 of the Holy Spirit be with you always. |
Revised 2025-04-17