Temple Prayer Blog

Another Advantage of the Tabernacle Prayer

2007-03-22T07:27:00.003-06:00

Prayer is the easiest to perform yet the most under utilized spiritual discipline. You can do it most anywhere and at many different times during the day. It requires only that you focus on God
for a few minutes. Yet our busy and distracted lives prevent prayer from having it's transforming impact in our lives.

Now I'm talking about any kind of prayer here. There are many different kinds of prayer. And the Tabernacle Prayer is my favorite by far. But TP is like a college education vs. a grammer school assignment. I believe all prayer is good. And more prayer is better than less prayer.

This week, a familar verse... an often lost subtlety...revealed in the Amplified version. These kinds of things only apprehend your soul when you are praying them. Review in Matthew where the Lord is encouraging us to be prayers:

Mat 7:7 Keep on asking and it will be given you; keep on seeking and you will find; keep on knocking [reverently] and [the door] will be opened to you.

There are several profound lessons in this verse that become very clear in the Amplified. "Keep on" is one. Your pastor has probably mentioned this from the pulpit a time or too. "Keep on" means "keep on" asking until something happens. "Keep on" until there is peace about it. "Keep on" until a specific answer is clear. Or "keep on" until your heart sees things differently. So keep on praying every day about it until something happens.

One or two prayers about a situation vs. "keeping on" could be a key to how faith is activated in us.

"Keeping on" in prayer lends itself to the Tabernacle prayer because by practicing the Temple prayer, the Holy Spirit (your best teacher) teaches us to develop a daily prayer discipline so we get maximum benefit from our time with God. And more importantly the Lord experiences a blessing from your focused and consistent worship of him according to His pattern of worship.

But there is more in the (amplified) version of this verse: Mat 7:7 Keep on asking and it will be given you; keep on seeking and you will find; keep on knocking [reverently] and [the door] will be opened to you.

Whoa... knock reverently.... what is that? Here the Lord is revealing a secret to approaching Him. God your father, the creator of heaven and earth, the one who formed us in our mother's womb, he deserves reverence.

Dictionary says: reverence - 1 : honor or respect felt or shown : DEFERENCE; especially : profound adoring awed respect 2 : a gesture of respect (as a bow) synonym see HONOR

We Americans are very poor at honoring or being reverent to anyone. Yet God says that if you want to really please him, show him the reverence that is due his name... even in prayer.

Now I could write a book about this but suffice it to say in this blog that there is a proper protocol to approaching the president of the United States. And there is a proper protocol to approaching God.

I believe that the biblical pattern of reverence is best revealed in the Tabernacle of Moses and best exemplified by Jesus Christ. It is by far the best and most throughly documented pattern of worship in Scripture.

So give it a try and watch what God does when you approach him reverently.

Until next time ... stay in His House!
It's where the action begins!

Derek

Why Pray the Word?

2007-01-08T16:19:00.001-07:00

My kids used to ask me, "Dad, why do you pray so many bible verses outloud?"

It seems many people who consider praying the Word at some point wonder why they should do it. On one hand it seems kind of foolish, praying the words God wrote back to Him. Are we so dull that we cannot come up with meaningful prayers ourselves?

I told my kids at the time that when you pray alot you run out of your own words and since I want God's promises to come alive in our family I declare them outloud. The Bible is full of people praying that way, quoting other Scriptures.

By watching me they are learning how to pray the Word as well.

The other day I felt like the Lord let me in on a even better reason why praying the Word is so important. The revelation came through my son D.J. He's two years old now and learning to talk up a storm. How does he learn to talk? The same way we all did, by making the same sounds his dad and mom make. He learns to speak to us by saying the things we say. As he experiences the world around him he sees us communicating with stange sounds and he begins copying us, "truck, cars, mom, dada, more" etc. From one word spurts he began putting two and three words together into phrases. The closer he gets to intelligble words the more we understand and answer his requests. Things move especially fast when he really wants something so he is very motivated to learn how to say it so we understand and give it to him.

It's the same with us and God. The best way to learn to communicate with God is by saying things his way. He wants us to learn a new language. He wants to teach us a new way of thinking. So he gives us a whole vocabulary and new way of thinking in his words to us.

As we learn to declare his words appropriately, a new bond of communication between us and Him develops. The more we do it, the better it gets, and we sense our relationship with the Lord becoming stronger and more passionate .

We forget that we are really babes and one of the signs of growing up in spiritual maturity is how much we pray God's words.

So much of our bible teaching today looks at God's words as literature, or history. While all that is fine and good, it diffuses the true nature of God's word. Let us not forget that Jesus Christ literally is the Word.

Joh 1:1 IN THE beginning [before all time] was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself. [Isa. 9:6.]

Joh 1:14 And the Word (Christ) became flesh (human, incarnate) and tabernacled (fixed His tent of flesh, lived awhile) among us; and we [actually] saw His glory (His honor, His majesty), such glory as an only begotten son receives from his father, full of grace (favor, loving-kindness) and truth. [Isa. 40:5.]

So praying the Word is praying Jesus Christ into our mind and into the atmosphere surrounding any situation.

My wife points out that children learn to say words before they really understand the meaning of them. It's the same with us in the Spirit realm. As we declare God's truth even before we fully understand it, his Word begins to take effect. It's as if the more we say it, the more we learn what it means.

So next time you pray... try turning a verse or two of meaningful scripture into your prayer to God.

DP

Jesus and the Temple

2006-12-12T15:54:00.001-07:00

The Jewish culture has always centered on temple worship. It is we gentiles who are ignorant of it. Yet we know from Ephesians that Jesus died to make one new man out of the two. (Jew and Gentile) In our ignorance we have thrown the baby out with the bathwater. Our modern form of worship pales in comparison to simply following the pattern established by God in temple worship. That does not mean we sacrifice animals. It means we honor the process of worshipping Christ according to the same pattern he himself fulfilled according to Hebrews. Eastern Gate – Jesus Christ the only way, Brazen Altar – Jesus Christ our Savior, Laver – Jesus Christ our Lord (reflect on the Ten Commandments). The Candlestick – The Holy Spirit, Jesus the Light of the World, Table of Shewbred – Jesus the Word and the Bread of Life, Altar of Incense – Worship the Father in Spirit and Truth, Holy of Holies – Intimacy with the Father through Jesus the Ark of the Covenant.

If a new pattern of worship was established when Jesus died on the cross then surely Jesus would have made it known. Instead he honored the old ways. He taught in the Temple. He did come down on the religious leaders for turning sacred worship into religion. And He did drive out the money changers from the Temple, saying, “my Father’s house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.”. He honored and was jealous over the temple because he viewed it as symbolic for the real temple in heaven, and the pattern of worship which was symbolized by the Jewish customs was symbolic of the requirements for anyone to access God the Father.

Is Temple prayer - Prayer or Worship?

2006-12-11T14:57:00.001-07:00

My theory is that prayer is the activity but worship is what we are doing.

Basically God instructed Moses to build the first portable Tabernacle in the wilderness so he could dwell with his people. Today we are a 2.0 version of that tabernacle in the wilderness. We are portable temples that God dwells in, and we are to conduct our lives accordingly.

This Temple pattern of worship is throughout the Scriptures from Moses, to David, Solomon, the Kings, Prophets, Herod's Temple, Jesus saying "tear down this temple (him)", to Paul telling us we are temples of the Holy Spirit, to a look at the real temple in heaven in Revelation, Ezekiel, and other passages.

So the Temple is really THE PATTERN for worshipping (drawing near to God). I don't see any other one. But wait a minute, what about Jesus Christ? Jesus is the mediator of the new way to worship God the Father. He is our Savior (Brazen Altar), our Lord (laver), the Spirit & the Light (Candlestick), the Word & the Bread (Table of Showbread), our intercessor (Altar of Incense), and our High Priest giving us unique access to the Holy of Holies anytime we want. Jesus Christ is the personification of the temple pattern. He fulfilled every aspect of the temple requirements. He literally was “the Temple” in the flesh. That is why he said, “tear down this temple and I’ll rebuild it in three days.” He was speaking of his own body.

When he died on the cross the veil was rent....but the Temple pattern was not destroyed. In his death on the cross the Temple went from being a physical place in Jerusalem to being a spiritual house in each one of us who become believers in Jesus Christ. The old priestly lineage from Aaron was now replaced with a line in Jesus Christ.

So instead of being priests like Aaron we are new covenant priests... ministering to the Lord by praying through our temples, our spiritual houses that he is building in us each day, and as we do so, we receive all that he has for us each day.

This is an incredibly deep and mysterious thing that I don't claim to understand very well. But I certainly have begun to perceive it and am energized by it everyday.

The Issue of Repentance

2006-11-10T06:48:00.001-07:00

It's been awhile since I had the grace to post here. But now there is fresh air blowing across the campus at New Life Church. Unconfessed sin has been confessed. The facade of a church without scandal is no more. It is no coincidence that Pastor Ted's last sermon was on Saul and how he disobeyed God and was removed from leadership. Now Ted is an illustrated sermon.

Was it coincidence that Ted's last book was on the Tabernacle? I don't think so. Eventually every man, no matter how respected, and how "high up" in Christian circles will be shown for what he is in his heart.

Does this stop us from loving him.... no way. Ted did so much good for so many that surely there are very few like him. And he was an amazing leader and evangelist. But God Ted's legacy will be none of those. Ted is now a clear example for all of us that God insists on truth in our innermost parts. And Ted's day came for truth, as it will for each of us. Let us never forget that truth is not just being accurate in what we say. Truth is Jesus Christ. To worship Jesus Christ is to worship truth. There is nothing false in Christ. To compromise or live life with only partial truth on display, which really we all do everyday, is to worship at another altar... the altar of lies. And the God we worship there is the father of lies. Think about it. You want to boil life down to it's most simple parts. Truth and lies. Truth is truth... pure and holy...nothing false.... Jesus Christ. Add a little compromise and you no longer have pure truth.

That's why we do what we do with the Temple prayer. It is a soul searching way to cleanse your conscience and keep the weeds of sin very low in your life. Keep truth flowing... confess and repent. It's a lifestyle.

No prayer, no bible reading, no church attendence record, no sermon preaching matters if there isn't a clear conscience behind it. To the extent we ignore the confessional aspect of what Christ has provided at the laver and through confessing sin to others, we are denying the very essence of what Christ died for.... forgiveness of sins. It is the confessing, the agreeing with God, that brings the clean slate, the washing away of our sins.

Christ has provided it, our confessing applies it to our own lives. No confession demonstrates pride and no humility. God resists a proud man, He give grace to a humble man.

Practicing humility and contriteness by praying through the 10 commandments at the laver is the best excercise I've found for confronting significant pride in my own life.

Lord leave no stone unturned in my life, no door locked to you in my own heart. Amen.

DP

Gain A Clear Conscience at the Laver

2006-04-21T17:22:00.002-06:00

The Laver, second station in the Temple, was used by the priests of old for ceremonial washing before entering the Holy Place. Today we, through the power of the Holy Spirit, use the Laver like a spiritual bath for daily cleaning of our conscience before we come into His presence. (Acts 24:16)

Just as we brush our teeth daily, we clean our minds daily through the practice of repentance. At the Laver we reflect on God’s commandments, see the difference between His standards and our behavior and realize we are no longer condemned, but drawn to repentance, contriteness, and humility.

The only way to dwell with God is to have a contrite heart. (Isa 57:15-21) We gain a clear conscience by appropriating God’s forgiveness through genuine confession. (1 John 1:9)

We remind ourselves that under the New Covenant the commandments are not there to condemn us, but instead to lead us to repentance and a clear conscience. (Rom 3:20) This daily practice enables us be set free from sinful behavior, transformed in our mind. No longer a slave to bondage that leads to spiritual death. (Rom 12:2)

The Laver is a major obstacle for most of us. We shy away from a regular, honest, appraisal of our behavior. (Psa 26:2) Actually fooling ourselves into thinking we have not sinned. (1 John 1:10) Or that Christ has already forgiven us so we don’t need to confess sin anymore.

This of course is not true, we are deceiving ourselves and missing out on the fundamental way to stay very close to God.... a contrite and humble heart.

DP

Did God Really Say?

2006-04-13T15:56:00.001-06:00

An initial defining moment of humanity...
The serpent plants a new thought in Eve's mind.
"Did God really say....?"

Although Eve had never experienced a cunning liar before, she still pondered that idea, then made a choice based on the birth of her covetous heart. A covetous heart questions the real meaning of what God says, and twists it into permission to go one more step down the road of disobedience.

How do we do the same things today?
Everytime we question the Word of God. Everytime we are doubleminded about God's standards. Everytime we put on our intellectual hat and investigate looking for ways to undermine biblical authority. Everytime we say. "that doesn't apply to us today."

Questioning what God said is nothing more than a method of justifying our rebellion. Satan doesn't have to get us to choose evil directly. To render our faith powerless, all he has to do is get us to question God's Word. If we are doubleminded, James tells us that we will not get anything from the Lord. James 1:6-8

Transforming a double-minded mind bent on rebellion is a difficult thing. But not impossible....nothing is impossible with God. The way we do it is by daily immersion. Declaring God's truth over ourselves. Find verses that deal with your areas of weakness. The areas where you are most likely to say to yourself....did God really say?

Instead of indulging in questioning God, declare His Word on that topic. And do it like you mean it....with passion! Do this everyday and in no time you will find yourself thinking differently about that issue. You will find yourself actually believing God! That's what the Temple Prayer is all about. Coming to one non-negotiable conclusion.

God did say it. I believe it! His Word is truth for me today.

DP

The Power of the Lie

2006-04-10T13:49:00.001-06:00

Jesus Christ is truth. In him there is nothing false.Yet in our own minds, it is often very difficult to sort out truth from fiction.

There are three ways that false ideas and statements get in our heads.

There are lies from our flesh, lies from the world, and lies from the devil.
All three types of lies are enemies of God’s plan for our lives. Lies delude us, distract us, deceive us, and if accepted long enough, lies can even destroy us.

A lie from your flesh might be, “Go ahead and do more drugs, it’s no big deal.”You body is craving drugs so that appetite is driving your behavior.A lie from the world might be, “Mankind evolved from monkeys.”We reject God’s truth about how He created people, then we believe any semiplausible explanation. (just as long as God is not involved).
A lie from the devil might be, “You are a worthless person.”
The devil wants you dead so any negative thought he can get you believing will help
Him lure you away from God’s plan for your life.

If you believe a lie, you are accepting it as truth. You meditate on it, repeat it in your mind, you attach emotion to it. Then the lie has the power to drive your behavior.

The father of lies has then won a round in your life. His lies are driving your behavior. God’s truth is not. That is a victory for the devil.Wake up and stop falling for the lie. Know what God says about you and believe His truth instead. It has been said that if you repeat anything often enough, it will be accepted as truth. Let’s try that with God’s Word. That’s what the Temple Prayer is all about.

The Mystery of the Blood

2006-04-03T14:57:00.001-06:00

Someone once said that the true measure of our faith is in direct proportion to our trust in the blood of Jesus Christ. When the going gets tough, what do we trust in?

If you're like me, you spent most of your Christian life basically taking the cross for granted. We are so oversaturated with the cross, it's like a religious symbol. We are so familiar with it, it tends to lose it's significance. Or should I say, over time we take the cross for granted. At some point it fails to convict us any longer. We forget what Christ actually accomplished on the cross.

The temple prayer performs a great maintenance function for us. It reminds us of the cross. We spend time praying through the many benefits of the blood of Jesus Christ.
In praying the temple prayer we really begin at the brazen altar which represents the blood sacrifice.

Faith in the blood is our title deed to everything. (Heb 11:1) Here we lay hold of all that the blood secured for us. Our level of faith in the blood of Christ will impact how much of the blessings we hope for; will become the blessings we actually see. (2 Cor. 5:7)
The blood has already secured our new identity. It has also secured our healing, (Isa 53:5) our deliverance (Gal 3:13-14), our righteousness, (2Cor 5:21) our transference from worldly living to kingdom living, (Col 1:13) and our adoption as sons and daughters. (Rom 8:14, 2Cor 6:18)

This work is finished but our trust in it can grow each day as we revisit and declare the power of the blood in our own lives.

How much do you really believe in what Christ has already accomplished? Have you really embraced your new identity and all the benefits that Scripture describes as your inheritance?

Or do you believe Scriptural Truth on Sunday, but the world's "truth" Monday through Friday?

DAILY WORSHIP ACCORDING TO THE TEMPLE PATTERN

2006-03-25T16:01:00.001-07:00

As we wake up each morning we find ourselves in a state of mind that is mentally “outside the temple”. Our first goal for the day should be to come into God’s presence…to activate His presence in our temples….our bodies. Throughout Scripture God uses the Temple image to explain where He dwells. There is a Temple in Heaven and there is a temple in each of us as believers in Jesus Christ.

So we approach the tabernacle from outside. First we see the eastern entrance to the tabernacle’s outer court. As Christians, it reminds us of the narrow gateway to heaven... Jesus Christ. (Mat 7:14)

Here we thank Him for being that narrow gate….our only access to God. He is the way, there is no other way to access God.

DP

Temple Principle #1

2006-03-22T11:06:00.001-07:00

OK so I've been praying using the Temple Prayer method for over three years and there is nothing like it... period. Occasionally I'll share what I call a "Temple Principle". This is an "AHA" gleaned from praying the Temple Prayer.

Today I bring to your attention :

Exo 25:8 Let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. (9) And you shall make it according to all that I show you, the pattern of the tabernacle or dwelling and the pattern of all the furniture of it. (bold emphasis mine)

This is a partnership friends. God does the hard stuff, we do the day to day work. There is a lot of work involved in doing anything worthwhile. There is sweat involved in doing things that will last for generations. God gave Moses the plan (the specific idea, layout, measurments etc) Moses was then responsible for going down from his mountaintop experience and actually managing the construction project. God was holding him responsible.

I'm sure he faced challenges. Grumpy workers, tired tradesmen, gossipy weavers, whiny water boys, etc. But he knew his assignment and nothing...NOTHING.... was going to deter him from completing the task God had assigned. The Temple project took Moses and a bunch of workers 9 months to complete. God showed his stamp of approval by coming down and DWELLING in that construction project. A pillar of fire....a cloud..... very cool.

What has God called you to do?

What obstacles have prevented you from completing this assignment?

God does not give assignments to the wrong person. God will help you through the challenging times. God is your provider. You need faith, you need perserverence, and you need creativity to meet the challenges you will face. All these come by spending face time with God every morning. There is no other way.

Whether it's the lifelong assignment of building His house in your heart, or a 9 month project he wants you to do for your mother-in-law. Get your priorities straight. Be about your Father's business. This is what makes life a rewarding adventure.

Go for it!

DP

Walk Through the Tabernacle - Eastern Gate

2006-03-20T12:11:00.001-07:00

Over the next several days I'd like to walk you through the tabernacle to show you the significance of temple worship and how it directly correlates to our worship of Jesus Christ.

So take yourself back to the time of Moses. In the middle of the wilderness we find several million Israelites encamped in the desert. You can't miss the pillar of fire coming from the center of the camp. And it is not a bonfire....it's the presence of God himself.

The pillar of fire is coming from the tentlike structure in the very center of the Tabernacle.
Built to exact specifications, in the midst of the camp we find this tabernacle structure.

We approach the tabernacle from outside and notice there is only one entrance to this house of worship. It's on the east side. It appears that in God's master plan for worship he wanted us to know that there is only one way to access Him.

As New Covenant Christians, it reminds us of the narrow gateway to heaven... Jesus Christ. (Mat 7:14) We thank Him for that narrow gate….access to God. We thank him that there is only mediator between God and men....the man Jesus Christ.

DP

10 Commandments (God's treatment center)

2006-03-18T17:53:00.000-07:00

There is life in the 10 c's for us today.

I used to think that they went out with Old Testament. But know I know better. One of my favorite parts of praying through the Tabernacle is going through the 10 commandments at the Laver. It is truely amazing to realize that praying through the commandments brings incredible freedom and is the best thing I've seen for overcoming old sin habits that don't seem to be affected by anything else.

We know from Rom 8:1 that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ. Paul also tells us in Rom 3:20 that the commandments don't condemn us anymore, their job is to lead us to repentance, humbleness, and a contrite heart. We compare our behavior to God's standards and confess (agree with Him) about our missing the mark (sin). Because we are under the blood (Cross / Brazen Altar) we experience true release and freedom from the guilt and shame that is normally associated with bad behavior.

Do this everday for a few weeks and watch the urges fade away. It's kinda like God's treatment center for addictive behavior.

God has truely made a way for us to have a clear conscience every day!!

DP

Significance in God

2006-03-16T05:11:00.000-07:00

Part of us wants to make a difference.

Yet we wear so many hats that our best energy goes toward putting out fires instead of investing our time in activities that will truely make a difference long term.

I believe great leaders learn to do both well. And that takes discipline.

For example we rise up every morning and before too long we are thinking about all the things we have to do that day. Go to work. Deal with such and such. Get the kids out of bed, etc. etc.

Our thinking and doing and stressing soon gravitate to those "fires".

And the Lord breathes a disappointed sigh once more. For you see, He has a different plan in dealing with the day. That is why he adopted you as a son or daughter. That is why he ordained you as a priest in His house.

The day your recognize your role as a priest as your #1 activity for each day, that is the day you really begin to get God's plan for your success.

Your role as mother, father, career person, dad, cook, volunteer, money maker, whatever....
all take a back seat to your role as a priest or priestess. Minister to God first, give Him the first fruits of your day and he promises to give you the annointing, grace, compassion, creativity, energy, etc to be your best and do your best that day. (Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you). All this happens day by day, one day at at time. (Give us this day our daily bread)

God will make you significant. But it only happens when you live life according to His plan.

Has the other way really worked that well for you up to this point?

This is one of the many lessons of the Temple Prayer.

DP

Sad Things Happen...

2006-03-14T19:23:00.000-07:00

Well today was one of those days you hope doesn't happen often.

My dear wife Marie found out she had a miscarriage.

We have come to know first hand that any baby is a miracle.
So to lose one is never easy. She is doing well under the circumstances.

And we have 3 incredible children already. We thank God for all his blessings and
trust Him completely. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away....blessed be the name
of the Lord!

DP

Crisis of Faith

2006-03-13T09:33:00.000-07:00

According to the dictionary "crisis" means an unstable situation of extreme danger or difficulty.
Are you in a crisis right now?

For people of faith a crisis is an opportunity for our faith to motivate our response to the crisis. God IS sovereign over the affairs of men. Faith in God keeps us steady in the midst of impossible circumstances. Faith is being absolutely convinced there is light at the end of the tunnel even when we cannot see the end of the tunnel.

Now if you're like me, every now and then, my faith runs up against a big monster called my feelings. Sometimes my feelings still are stronger than my faith. My feelings then cause a different kind of crisis..... a crisis of faith.

My faith says, "stay steady...let the Lord work it out." My feelings are screaming, "DO THIS! DO THAT!" My faith says, "BE SILENT and KNOW THAT I AM GOD." My feelings are saying, "get revenge", "make them pay".

Guess who wins?

If I had a good prayer time that morning ... my faith wins virtually everytime.

If I skipped my time with the Lord that morning... my faith is not energized as much... and my feelings may win out and make things worse.

I define a good prayer time as one in which my spirit, my feelings, and my mind, and my mouth, are all in agreement about the Lord. And I experience His presence inside of me that morning.

When I'm in that place... there are very, very, few external crises that can cause a crisis of faith in me.

DP

Are You Going to Heaven?

2006-03-11T06:06:00.000-07:00

With all the big decisions we face in life, is there one that stands above them all?

I propose that one indeed trumps them all. It's the very personal decision about my eternal destiny. No one else can really make that decision for me. Will I go to Heaven when I die? The natural followup to that is....What qualifies me for Heaven?

Are there any qualifications to enter the pearly gates?

Step one is to decide if you believe in God. If you have a basic belief in God you are in good company...about 90% of people do.

Step 2... is there really a heaven and a hell? Every person must do their own research and soul searhing on the heaven and hell issue. Picture yourself standing before God. He asks you, "Welcome to heaven. Why should I let you in?"

What on earth would you say? (Or more appropriately...what in heaven would you say?)
Well God.... I think you should let me into heaven because................

To review my research on the BIG question, go to a special webpage I made that thousands of people have checked out. http://www.shareheaven.org/question_dp.htm

Blessings today!

DP

Pray "It" Into Existence

2006-03-10T00:45:00.000-07:00

What if the life you dreamed of could actually exist?

What if you play the key role in this dream life becoming real?

A few years back I found out that I had been looking for this reality in the wrong places. The potential of "it" was actually inside of me, but I was unaware that "it" was there.

Then I re-read in my instruction manual that I had already been given the keys to this "kingdom" I sought. I didn't need to strive in my own efforts to bring this dream to life. I simply had to use the keys I already had possesion of, to unlock "it" and step into "it".

Believe it or not, this is how prayer is suppose to work. We are told by Jesus that we have the "keys to the kingdom". We've been told that when we believe and abide in Him, He and the Father (the Kindgom of God) come and abide in us. We are told that we are adopted into His family.... literally sons and daughters of God. And we are told that we have been ordained into a priesthood of believers.... members of a family of priests.

And finally we are told by Jesus that as this eternal reality sinks in ...as we layhold of "it"....as we REALLY believe it....that "it" will surely come to pass. "It" begins to manifest around us. Jesus tells us several times...."Ask for whatever you wish and "it" shall be done for you."

Oswald Chambers, a great pillar of our faith, said: Prayer is not preparation for greater works. Prayer is the greater work. So according to Oswald, all this we seek, we are supposed to literally PRAY INTO EXISTENCE ! That is the real work of it.

I had wondered about this for years. Simply believe, then ask, and it will be mine?
Well I read that, tried it, seen nothing happen most of the time, and as a result questioned the Word of God.

Then I revisited the non-negotiables in my life. The things I had settled and was willing to die for. Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. He is the only mediator between God and men. His word is true and I am a liar if I say anything contrary to His Word. I am disobedient if I do anything contrary to His commandments. God loves me and wants me to be phenomenally successful. These are settled realities in my life. Everything else flows from those. If any thought contradicts these non-negotiables, I discard or re-evaluate that thought... I know longer question His Word. These are settled matters. Resolved thoughts.

So with that in mind, the issue of un-answered prayer was an issue of me missing key aspects of what my faith in God really looks like. It was my unbelief in who I am in Him, and my unbelief in who God really is in me.

Even though I said I believed, there was still an identity crisis in me. "It" was cloudy. It was fuzzy. I could not connect the dots.

Today I'm happy to report that progess has been made. I daily go back to His Word. The bedrock truth. I declare those truths over my life and my situations.... until "it" happens.

"It" is His will for me.

You see I am an adopted son of God. My primary vocation is as a "priest". I have authority. God is building his temple...his house in me. And His blessings are flowing out of that house into my sphere of influence more than ever each day. I've now learned to pray according to His ordained pattern. I pray until "it" happens. I don't get distracted or dissappointed as much any more. I know "it" when I see "it".

It is quite the adventure!!!!!

DP

learn to pray the temple prayer at TemplePrayer.com

Family of Priests

2006-03-09T06:20:00.000-07:00

An amazing insight occured in me recently. (at least I think it's an amazing insight) The majority of Christians realize they are part of "the family of God". My amazing insight is that as members of the family of God (adopted sons and daughters through Jesus Christ) we are also ordained into this royal family of priests. (1 Pet 2:9) I am a son of God and my primary role is as a priest to Him. Priests are set apart for God to worship him.

I think there is great signigicance in this priesthood role in our lives. More than we realize. We tend to think the "church" is a building down the street and the "priest" is our pastor or church leader. The reality is the "church" is us, our bodies. The "priest" is our primary vocation in the Lord's Temple, our bodies.

(1 hour later) This morning as I prayed through the Tabernacle with my wife and kids we received more Rehma on this important principle. We gained additional insight into it's practical application in our lives.

Today the Lord guided us toward better stewardship of our bodies (the positive side of commandment #8 - you shall not steal) And to repent of idol worship. (commandment #2)

As we have prayed through the 10 commandments at the Laver in the Tabernacle, the Lord continues to do marvelous transformation in our family. He himself changes each of us from the inside out.

Stewardship is actually the main principle in commandment #8. Today He reminded me how worldly appetites were still an ongoing challenge for me and my family. Our natural man has intense appetites for food, money, power, possessions, sex, etc. Each one of those appetites has to brought under control. Each one has to brought into balance in our Spiritual man. That is part of the "sanctification process" of every believer. It is a very practical example of daily stewardship in our lives. If I want to live a truly blessed life, I have to allow the Lord to be master over my appetites. Today God was teaching us about the food appetite in us.

He showed us that as priests, we have the responsibitlity of temple management. His temple is our body. We are to manage it well. A by product of good temple management is living all the days of our lives, not 80% of them. Another by product is having the energy to live life well, do all the activities He wants us to do, and not be couch potatoes who are not advancing the Kingdom of God much at all.

The Lord showed us that we had failed to achieve healthy balance in the past because of our violation of commandment #2. We were practicing idol worship.

The very idea of "thinness" and "looking attractive" had become an idol for the Packards for many years, perhpaps for many generations. When we Packards had dieted or exercised with our "idol" as the focus, then He could not bless it. God despises idol worship.

Instead we are to focus on making His temple, our body, well managed, clean, and healthy (all attributes of Holiness) Then God Himself is glorified in our body, His Temple.

And guess what, as we focus on worshipping God that way, He will give us the "healthy good looks" that were previously our idol. These things are a by product of our faithfulness to Him. It won't happen as an idol we desire more than Him. That is why diets had always failed for the Packards.

So Lord we repent of breaking commandment #2 and #8. We repent of idol worship and poor stewardship of our bodies. We repent of putting anything ahead of you in our lives. We repent of desiring good looks more than desiring you. Give us this day our daily bread in the way you have ordained for us, not according to our gluttony or American lifestyle.

Help us today Lord, to manage our temples well, to bring our food appetites into alignment with your ways. We desire to worship you with our appetites. AMEN (so be it)

DP

Give the Temple Prayer a try at TemplePrayer.com

"Just" Give It a Try

2006-03-08T05:23:00.000-07:00

Were you aware that we all learn how to pray by basically copying others.
And that's OK because that's how we learn most behaviors anyway.
To prove this in yourself, simply reflect on the words you use in prayer. Do you use the word "just" as in: Lord, I just want to ask you....

You picked up that word "just" by hearing others use it. You subconciously want to fit in and do it like others so you added that word at some point in recent history to your own prayers. You won't find it in Jesus or Paul's or David's prayers in the Bible. (at least I don't think so, I better do a search and prove it I guess).

But that's OK. Afterall prayer is simply conversation with God and there is no right or wrong way. The important thing is that you are sharing your heart with the Creator of Heaven and Earth....what a privilege!

Anyway the point of this post is that you learn how to pray from copying others and that's OK. I want to suggest you test out the Temple Prayer for yourself. You can get all the info at www.TemplePrayer.com

I learned how to pray this prayer by copying Dr. Cho (pastor of the largest church in the world) who has prayed it for 40 years. I "just" love it. I've now prayed it for over 3 years and it has radically deepened my walk with the Lord like nothing else I have found in 25 years of pursing God.

Let me know what you think.....ok?

DP

How to Hang with God

2006-03-07T16:00:00.000-07:00

Books are great. Seminars are wonderful. And sermons will get you in the ball park. But prayer is where the real action is when it comes to transforming your mind.

Why? Because prayer is communication with the creator of the universe!!!

Duh!!!

The difference between Jesus and every other God is that he claimed he was God, then He was raised from the dead to prove it. If Jesus didn't rise from the dead then as Paul says, our faith is a joke.

But what makes us different from any other religious person? The fact that we are God's temple and He comes and takes us residence, "tabernacles" with us.

He's the only God who says; Dad and I are going to come and hang with you from now on. You talk to me. Learn to listen to My voice and obey my commands. Then I will know you love me and I will bless you beyond your wildest dreams. (dp translation)

So if your prayer life consists of a few "flare prayers" or a laundry list of things you want God to do for you then you are really missing out. He wants this relationship that defies description. He has this life for you that is one incredible adventure. He wants to use your hands to heal people!

Wake up and see who you really are.... a son or daughter of the most high God, who is called and appointed to do amazing things!

DP

Give the Temple Prayer a try at TemplePrayer.com

Building Your Spiritual House

2006-03-06T20:38:00.000-07:00

How is your house remodeling project coming along?
Your spiritual house remodeling project that is!
This NEW BLOG will hopefully build some community around all of us praying with more intention and passion...and discussing the process periodically.

Peter tells us in 1Pe 2:5 [Come] and, like living stones, be yourselves built [into] a spiritual house, for a holy (dedicated, consecrated) priesthood, to offer up [those] spiritual sacrifices [that are] acceptable and pleasing to God through Jesus Christ.

If you are like me, you have spent years resting in what Jesus Christ has done, receiving the free gift of salvation, going to church, reading the bible, getting into small groups, even leading some, as well as praying for myself and others.

As great as all that is, I could not escape the sense that there is more to my relationship with God than I had experienced. I was not seeing breakthroughs in several key areas of life and I was not seeing those breakthroughs in my Christian friends either.

I spent some time talking to God about my concerns. Was I missing something? Or was I just being ungrateful about the good life I had?

About that time a good friend, who had a prayer life I really admired, introduced me to a what a strange method of praying. I decided to give it a try.

It’s called the Temple or Tabernacle Prayer, and it was developed by Pastor David Yonggi Cho of South Korea. Pastor Cho is perhaps the most successful pastor in modern history, pasturing a church of over 750,000 people. He swears by this form of prayer, crediting his ministry success to the Temple prayer model that he has practiced for over 40 years.

The change in me became apparent right away. There was something in this mysterious form of prayer that was different than anything else I had ever done in my devotional time.

First of all, the Tabernacle prayer requires a lot of time, at least one hour a day.
For American Christians like me, this was unheard of. Before the Temple prayer, ten minutes was a long prayer time for me. Today, (not to scare you or anything) I find myself praying the Temple prayer for one to three hours almost every day. But take heart, my 12 year old daughter claims she can pray it in only 15 minutes.
The truth is, once you embrace the Temple Prayer and have prayed it many times, your daily prayer times can be shorter or longer depending on what your are willing to let God do that day.

Many days when I pray for a couple of hours, it feels like I’ve only been praying for 20 minutes or so. This is one of the amazing things about the Tabernacle prayer, your prayer time just flies by.

Praying the Tabernacle pattern of prayer is not boring, or legalistic. My experience is that it is energizing, faith building, and incredibly stimulating for Holy Spirit activity in my life. I’ve never had any spiritual discipline be so much fun and feel so rewarding. And the rest of my day always seems to go better. I feel more in touch spiritually, I feel closer to God. I have more margin for dealing with any difficult things that may come up during the day. I am a better husband and a more patient father. My work is more productive in less time, and I have much less stress in my life. I’ve been praying the Tabernacle for over three years now, and I honestly am still learning things as I pray it. I can say truthfully that I look forward to praying the Temple Prayer tomorrow morning even more than I did when I first started.

Praying according to the Tabernacle, I’ve seen the Bible come alive for me in a whole new way. I’m seeing connections in the Old and New Testament that I never imagined. Years ago I was discipled by a Navigator in how to have a quiet time, how to study the bible, and how to memorize Scripture.

Since so much of the Tabernacle Prayer is praying the Scriptures, I now have a daily use for the Scripture I have committed to memory. I find that using scripture in my prayer time has really been the turning point in taking advantage of God’s Word. Never before have I seen Scripture come alive for me like it does now. As I pray His Word, my faith in it and in Him seems to grow by leaps and bounds. But I’m not just taking a shotgun approach, I’m using this ordained pattern of worship found in the Bible that was the core of how God commanded the Israelites to worship Him.

Let me know what you think and stay tuned for more!!!!!

Derek