Encounter With God - Session 2 — Greg Frizzell

Well, I'm deeply honored to be here and I'll share with you what I shared with the group last night because you're going to immediately wonder if you didn't hear me last night, what kind of accent does that guy have?

Okay, so here we go. I'm from Tennessee, pastored in Memphis 17 years, and we've been based in Oklahoma now for about eight years. You are hearing an official Tennehoma accent somewhere right in the middle.

The Family of God and a New Awakening

Here's the great news though. No matter what our accent, where we're from, as a body of Christ, we really are brothers and sisters with a blood that's even deeper than human blood. We are family and God is doing something we have not seen since the last great awakening and that was around 1905 in this country.

The Missing Element in Prayer

Now what's happening, people that have known the Lord for a while and maybe just have met the Lord, they're experiencing a missing element in their prayer life and I'm talking about teenagers through senior adults.

And when they recapture this missing element, it's like, I don't use this in a bad way, it's like they get on spiritual steroids but in a good way. I mean, their growth just explodes and so many of them will say they've grown more in six months when they grasp this secret of a clean heart than they've grown in six years.

And it's so awesome what God is doing. Well, I'll ask you what I asked the group last night. How many of you read through part of the book, Returning to Wholeness? All right, quite a few have. And I'll say to you what I said to them.

You expected me to be a lot bigger and maybe a little older and maybe even a little mean looking, right? Okay. That book can be tough but remember something. God doesn't cleanse our heart to condemn us or beat us up or hurt us or put us down but to set us free and lift us up.

He loves you so much. He wants to be so mighty in your life. He wants you to hear His voice, I love to say this, clearer than your husband, wife or best friend. He has saved us for that kind of intimacy with Him.

And this morning we're going to see kind of how God takes us. From an average prayer life, average closeness, which we see good things there, but to what God calls the mountain moving prayer life where He is flowing like a river and that is not an exaggeration.

A Testimony of Restoration Through Prayer

And again, I'll give you the quick testimony, I shouldn't be speaking anywhere or writing any books. I had an illness in 1994, it greatly damaged my system. And they said, you're going to have to quit all the preaching and teaching and all of that.

And they were right. And I was just about to do that. But when God helped me capture something that was missing in my prayer life and I didn't even know it. And I'd been a pastor for 10 years at that time.

And you don't have to be a pastor though to experience this, this element of letting Him really have our heart totally. And don't be afraid, you can do this. We're not talking about being perfect, we're not.

But we're talking about learning how to let Him absolutely begin to flow through us. And so that was 25 books ago and 2 million miles of conferences ago. And I have no strength, humanly speaking. I'm not a writer.

I wasn't a writer when I was healthy. God can do great things in anybody's life if we'll learn to let Him really have our heart fully. How do we do that? That's what we're going to see this morning. If you will, take your Bible and turn to Jeremiah chapter 29 and verse 11.

Jeremiah 29 and 11, one of the greatest promises in all the Bible. And we're also going to look in James 4 .8. Now what I want you to notice about this passage, God was speaking to people that had really blown it.

You know, we've all blown it one time or another. Boy, they had really blown it. And they were suffering because of some of their mistakes. And some of them thought God had forgotten them and God was angry at them.

But you know, God never forgets His people. And God loves us even when we blow it. But there is something we have to do to let Him restore the power and the fullness. You're going to see an incredible promise here.

And this is for teenagers to senior adult. We're seeing God do so much with all these groups, different age groups. So I always pray before I read Scripture. So friends, I'm going to ask that we just bow our heads and hearts before God.

He is in this room right now. He is here in all His power. And He wants to absolutely change us and take us deeper. So could we bow our hearts before God right now? And just in the quiet of this moment, just by faith, would you look into His face?

You know, the truth is He's looking at you right now. He really is. He's looking into every heart right now because He loves you. I hope you're focused on Him right now. He's definitely focused on you.

Now, just in the quiet of this moment, just in your own heart, would you just thank God for giving His only Son to die for you? Would you just thank God for Jesus? That incredible sacrifice. No one has ever loved you like Jesus loves you.

Would you praise God this morning that His grace is greater than all of our sin and weakness? And you can thank Him that His power is greater than your greatest impossibility. Nothing's hard with God.

Just praise Him for His power. And would everyone ask God to give me His words and the Holy Spirit to share them? Father, we do bow before You and confess that You are God. Lord, that there is none other.

Your name is the only name. God, Your kingdom is the only kingdom that will last. Father, we come to bow before You and surrender to You as God. Lord, this morning, just take us to a deeper level, Lord, of just loving You.

Lord, a deeper level of really knowing You intimately. Oh, Father, take us to a new level of prayer. God, a new level of surrendering to Your Lordship that You may flow through us and glorify Yourself through our lives.

Oh, God, thank You that every person in this room is special to You. Father, You don't have any second-class children. Father, today, help us have a new vision of who You've called us to be and what You want to be through us and in us.

Oh, God, take us to a whole new level with You today. Take us to a turning point, Father, for Your glory, for Your pleasure, for Your kingdom. We ask these things in faith, believing. In Jesus' name, we pray.

Amen. And that is exactly what's happened. He's taking people to an incredible turning point. Even if they've known God for many years, it's like they've come to a place. It's incredible what's happening.

It happens by what we're about to read. Now, remember, the Lord was speaking to people who had really blown it. But listen to what He said to them. And if you know the Lord today, He's saying the same thing to you.

And if you don't know Him, He wants you to know Him starting today. Look what He said. Jeremiah 29 11, for I know the thoughts, and that word also means plans in the Hebrew. God said, I know the thoughts and plans that I think toward you.

God's basically saying, I'm thinking about you and I have plans for you even if you've blown it. And look what He says. The Lord says there are thoughts and plans of peace and not of evil to give you a future and hope.

Well, that's pretty incredible. It means He's very forgiving, very loving. But we asked the question this morning, what is the main plan of God for you? If you know Him today, what is His plan for you?

And that's a great thing to realize that especially if a teenager, he's got exactly the right person he wants you to marry, the right job he wants you to go into. If you're a senior adult, he's got things he wants to do in your life still yet.

Knowing God as the Purpose of Eternal Life

But what is the main plan of God? We hear a lot today about success and that's great. Often that's His plan. And we hear a lot about blessing and certainly that's good. We hear a lot about healing and oftentimes He does that.

But did you know that the real plan of God is even a lot greater than any of that? You say, what could be better than that? Well, in John 17 3, Jesus kind of summed it all up. He said, this is eternal life.

And what He meant by that, this is what real life is all about. And it's amazing how He finished that statement. He said, this is eternal life. And He said this, that you may really know God and Jesus Christ, whom God has sent.

Now you say, what's so special about that? Well, that's the same word used in marriage. Of course, He's talking about spiritual intimacy, not physical. But here's what He's saying. He's saying, my main plan for you is that He doesn't want you to be religious.

He wants you to really know Him. He's not into the religion. He's into the relationship that changes your life. Honestly, He's saying, I want to be more real to you than your husband, wife, or best friend.

I use that phrase a lot because that's the truth from Scripture. He wants to be the most powerful force in your life, the most real relationship in your life. And Jesus put it this way. Now tell me if I've got it right.

I think I do. He said, if you really believe in Me, He said, a little trickle of living water might flow out of your heart ever now and then. Is that what the Lord said? Not on your life. He said, look, if you really believe in Me, you really know Me.

He says, a river of living water will be gushing out of your innermost being. Now, what's this living water He's talking about? He's talking about the presence of God by the Holy Spirit. He's talking about the love of God who can even love enemies.

He's talking about the peace of God. When you have great trouble, you still got a supernatural peace. He's talking about the joy of God. It doesn't depend on your bank account or everything being right in your life because a lot of times it's not going to be.

We're going to have trouble on this earth. He's talking about the real presence of God like a river, not a little stream. You know, he's talking about mountain moving prayer life. He's talking about really hearing God's voice in your life.

But here's the bad news. Studies clearly show that in America right now, something's blocked the flow. That in an awful lot of believers, frankly, it is more like a little trickle than a river. The prayers are not exactly mountain moving.

A lot of mountains aren't moving as a matter of fact. And the joy is somehow blocked and maybe the anger is there. Maybe the fear is there. So something is blocking this mighty flow. And of course, as Christians, we're not perfect.

Nobody is. But folks in the early church, even though they faced persecution, they had an incredible joy. Boy, they saw mountains move. So what's holding back what he said here, this full plan, this full power?

Seeking God With the Whole Heart

Well, verse 12 tells us. And this is the missing element that will revolutionize your life. Verse 12 says, God says, then you will call upon me and you will go, you will pray to me. And God says, I will listen to you.

Now, let's be honest to the context here. That word, then you will call that to them. That meant 70 years. They weren't going to get out of exile. They were, they were imprisoned by a foreign power. And he was saying, you're not going to get out of this for 70 years.

But he said, I'm going to be with you in the meantime. He said, I'm going to bless him and protect him and do great things in the meantime. But for us, it doesn't mean you have to wait 70 years for God to start mightily moving in your life.

For us, it's really now. But here's the key. It's so beautiful. God, number one says, I want to hear you. He said, I will listen to you. Sometimes we think of God as kind of maybe he's just not really that much wanting to touch us.

He wants to touch us and bless us more than we can even ever imagine. He's not stingy and he's not weak. But the key here, because a lot of people are saying prayers, but frankly, a lot of those prayers aren't getting answered.

And they're saying prayers, but the victory isn't coming. The mountain didn't move. The relationship isn't being touched. So the key to this is the type prayer he's talking about here. Because what's happened in America, we didn't mean to, but many of us got kind of stuck short of what the prayer he's talking about here.

In Hebrew text, this word for pray, and there's different words for pray. This is a strong one. What God is really saying, he's saying, my children, when you learn to pray in power, when you learn to pray in the surrender to my spirit, he said, then you're going to start seeing a lot more happen.

And so this word prayer here is a strong word. It's effective prayer. It's powerful prayer. But here's what's happened. I call it the JCPenney catalog syndrome. Many folks in America without meaning to have gotten trapped in a type of prayer that has stopped short of this surrendered prayer, this mountain moving prayer.

So we're giving God a wish list, but somehow it's just not what he's talking about here. We said, well, how do I get to this deeper prayer? We'll look at verse 13. He tells us, and this will revolutionize your life.

And it's a promise. Look at this promise. He said, and you will seek me. And now again, that word seek is a strong word. That's not just bring God a wish list of prayers. It's a very powerful kind of prayer.

You will seek me and you will find notice. He said, you will find me when you seek or search for me. He said a certain way. He said with all your heart. Now we are the instant society. We like things quick and on the run.

We saw that last night, but this is a little different. This is a type of prayer. That's very intense, but it's not out of reach. Anybody can do this and it's anybody can do it, but we have to be willing to do it.

But notice what the prayers in our life are mostly to be about. Now, remember they had a lot of problems and a lot of needs and they needed a lot of help, but God didn't say when you pray real hard to get your problem solved, real hard to get your mountains moved.

He didn't say that's what you'll get. They were to pray about something. Their prayer life was mostly to be focused on one thing. Do you notice what he said? It was in this verse 13 said it three times.

What were they to seek? He said, you will seek what me and you will find what me. When you search for blessings and goodies, right? No. He said, when you search for me now, what's he saying there? This is so important because without meaning to some have turned the Lord into almost a JC Penney catalog or Santa Claus.

What he's saying is what I want you to seek is closeness with me. He's saying, I want you to seek to really let me have your whole heart. And when you let me have your whole heart, you get all my power, all my presence.

My voice becomes very clear to you. You have that joy, even though you may still have some problems. And so he's saying, really, he's basically saying my children without meaning to, you've kind of gotten trapped into seeking my hand.

You know, give me, give me, bless me, bless me, but not my face and closeness and surrender. And so that's why God is just not as real as we know he wants to be to us. And that's why a lot of mountains aren't moving.

We're praying and the victory is not coming because without meaning to, we got caught in a type of prayer that really is not about closeness with him. It's just about getting him to do stuff for us. And so God can change that.

It's so beautiful. He's doing it across the country and it isn't out of reach. But now if you will turn to James 4, 8, because in James 4, 8, he tells us exactly how to do what he just said. You know, we'd have to ask the question, okay, how do you seek God with all your heart?

How do you seek to know God? How do you seek closeness with all your heart? Now, James 4, 8 tells us, and I want to tell you, this really is the missing element. When we get this, this is the one that transforms us.

James 4, 8, the word, and it's another promise, another beautiful promise. God said, he said, draw near to God and he might draw near to you. Is that what he said? No. He said, he will draw, promise you draw near to me.

God says, and I will draw near to you. But here's the question. How do you draw near to God? What did he mean by that? Sometimes what he means by that and what we mean by that are different things. Look at the next part of that verse.

He tells us what he means. He says, draw near to God. He will draw near to you. And then he says, cleanse your hands sinners. Now that's all of us. We're far from perfect. He said, cleanse your hands sinners.

And he said, purify your heart. You that are double minded. And what that means is we're focused on a million things besides God. And so here's what he's saying. He's saying, if you'll let me deeply cleanse your hands and deeply purify your heart, because here's where it gets real interesting.

A lot of people are saying, God forgive all my sins. But that's really not what he's talking about here. When he says cleanse and purify in the Greek text, these are very strong words. So what he's saying is, if you and I will be willing to let God go through us with a fine tooth comb, you know, as the Psalmist said, search me, O God, and know my heart.

Try me and know my thoughts. And so what he's saying is this kind of shallow, God forgive all my sins on the run, you know, but not God, what are my sins? And God, let's talk about them. And Lord, let's talk about the thoughts I need to yield or the attitudes I need to yield or the words, what I'm looking at, I need to yield a little bit.

He's saying, if you'll let me go below the surface, deep into your heart, he said in verse 10 down there, he said, I'm going to lift you up. But here's what's happened. So many precious people without meaning to have stopped with just the type of prayer that has the surface cleansing, but not the heart yielding.

And so we're sort of just in a time where the joy is not there, the power is not there. And we're wondering, why isn't God more real? Why don't, why do I struggle with his temper? You know, why do I have these thoughts?

Why can't I just have peace? Because his spirit is blocked to some degree and he's not flowing. It's a trickle, not a river, but God can fix that. He absolutely can. Well, I want to show you something very exciting with you.

Assurance of Salvation and Truly Knowing Christ

We talked about what is the plan of God? And the very first plan he said is that you really know me. Do you know what's happening right now? There's a lot of folks in churches across America who are realizing without meaning to, they came to a church or even joined a church without really giving their heart to Christ.

And there's so many people that are realizing right now, they really, they know about him, but they don't know him. And they're really, that's where it has to start. This has happened to so many people.

There's nothing to be ashamed of. It really isn't. We didn't mean to do this. Let me give you an example. My, I have an aunt Ruth. She's with the Lord now. But when she was about 72 years of age, my aunt had been a church member for like 50 years.

She was in church most Sunday and, but you know, all through her life, she kept realizing God is just not that real to me. And she'd hear people talk about God being real to them and answering prayer.

And she believed in God, but boy, just wasn't that real to her. In fact, she'd kind of have nagging doubts about whether or not she was really his child, whether or not she was really going to heaven.

And it would kind of bother her sometimes. But her friends would say, well, listen, if anybody's going to heaven, you are. She was a nice lady. In fact, she even taught Bible school, some Sunday school.

But when she was 72, she got a type of cancer that they could do nothing with. I mean, the doctor just told her, so you're going to die. There's, we can't do surgery. There's nothing we can do. You won't live long.

And my aunt was just terrified to die. And, and she called her pastor and she said, pastor, I've been a church member for years, but she's always had these nagging doubts. I really didn't know God that I really wasn't his child.

And she said, why is that? And he said, well, let's think about when you joined the church and, and they thought back on it and they prayed about it. And do you know what happened to her? She was a teenager and she was sitting in a church service and, and it was a kind of a revival meeting and it was an evangelistic service.

And a lot of her friends started going down to give their heart to Christ. And she looked around and when anybody left and she didn't want to be by herself. So she went down too. And she said, nobody really talked to me about what it means to give your heart to Jesus.

And she said, they handed me a little card and somebody said a little prayer. And she said, but I didn't really give my heart to Jesus. It wasn't a serious decision. I just kind of joined the church. You can join the church and not join Jesus and not give your heart to him.

Cause it's a, it's a serious decision. It ain't hard, it ain't complicated, but, but it's not like ordering a pizza. You know, it's a little deeper than that. And so she realized that she really didn't surrender her life to the Lord in faith and that nothing happened to her.

The Bible says, when you really give your heart, you're, you become a new creature. He says, everything becomes new and old things pass away. Let me ask you something. Could you become a totally new creature and everything new and old things pass away and not know it and it not make any difference?

Well, the answer is no, but that's what's happened to a lot of folks. Well, see God's plan is he wants us to really know him. And it starts with letting him remove the doubts to make sure you've really given your heart to him, that you really are a new creature in him.

Well, my aunt realized what had happened to her. And there at 72, she said, Lord, I give you everything. I want to really know you, Lord. I want, I want you to be the Lord of my heart and life. She just trusted him.

I mean, really trusted him. You know what happened to her fear? It was totally gone. The Bible says that he gives us a peace that passes understanding. The Bible says, if anyone is really in him, the spirit of God bears witness with your spirit that you are the child of God.

There's a supernatural kind of peace. That doesn't mean we can't, sometimes we might struggle a little. Listen, her fear left. And I watched my, my aunt die. I mean, over the next three months, she just got weaker and weaker, but I will never forget how happy she was.

It sounds odd, but right before she died, she called us all in and she said, I want to talk to you. And she said, I want you all to know the last three or four months of my life, knowing I'm dying have been by far the happiest of my whole life, because I really know what it means to, to really know him and not just know about him.

She'd really surrendered her heart and she died. I never will forget it. She, before she died, she said, everywhere you go, Greg, tell them don't live another day with doubt. Don't live another day with just knowing about God.

Really give him your heart in a, in a serious way. And he'll take you in a serious way. And all across America, we're seeing folks that have been, they've been in church a long time, but they've had those nagging doubts.

And the boy, I mean, they're settling it and they really surrendered their heart. And see, if you get serious with him, he gets serious with you. So God has a plan for you. And he wants to be really wants you to know you have eternal life.

And he wants you to know that he's your Lord in your heart. And he can give you that peace of past understandings. And maybe you're even here today. And you said, brother, Greg, I've had, had those nagging doubts of brother Greg.

I know about him, but brother, I want to make sure I know him. Well, he'll give you that today. But what we're talking about here is not just knowing him, but it's a powerful prayer life. And most people in here, you probably know, you know him, but you know what, there's something keeping the prayer from being mountain moving.

Jesus' Model for Secret Prayer

So how do we do this? How do we really let him cleanse our heart? How do we let him take us to the fullness of his spirit and where his voice is very clear? Well, the disciples kind of wondered the same thing and, you know, they were like us.

They didn't always ask the right questions. They made a lot of mistakes, but this was one great question. They asked, they watched Jesus incredible life. And isn't it interesting? They didn't say, Lord, teach us to preach.

Now he was a great preacher, but they didn't say that. They didn't say, Lord, teach us to work a miracle. All they work miracles all the time. What'd they say? They said, Lord, teach us to pray. You know, you know why they said that they understood prayer was the center of his whole life.

Prayer was the essence of what he was. And so they said, Lord, teach us to pray. And that's a good thing to ask the Lord. He'll sure answer that. But what did the Lord tell them in Matthew six? He said, when you pray, shut the door, go in your closet and seek the father in secret.

Now, what was he saying to them? Well, one thing he wasn't saying, and I'm glad he wasn't. Aren't you glad you don't have to pray just in your closet. Now let's be honest. Some of our closets are so junky.

We couldn't get in them, right? Okay. So the Lord wasn't saying you've got to pray in a closet. But what he was saying is that you must get alone with God. You must give him your undivided attention. Now we pray all day and we can pray in our car and that's good prayer.

The Bible says we pray without ceasing, but there's a whole different level of prayer that Jesus commanded us. You'll have a closet prayer time. It might not be a closet, but he's saying you will get alone with God and you will give him your undivided attention.

Now, when he said shut the door, what that means to us is turn the cell phone off. What that means is make a, make a way that you can really let him speak to you. And then he told them what to do when they got alone with God.

You remember the Lord's prayer? Just those five or six little lines. Unfortunately, some people misunderstand that. Oh, goody, I've got a five line prayer. I can say that in 15 seconds and I'm done. You know, folks, that's not exactly what he meant.

Now, the prayer is fine to pray just like it is sometimes. But what he was really saying is when you get alone with God, here's what you're going to do. And it's interesting. It doesn't start with a wish list.

He said, if you get alone with God, you're going to say our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. What he's saying is you're just going to enter God's presence and just worship him a little while.

See, that's why we were created, to worship God, to praise God. And for a few moments, you're just going to thank him and praise him. And do you know what happens when you do that? And I don't mean thank you, here's my wish list.

But when you enter just a moment and really just start to thank and praise God, the Bible says his presence settles down on you. God inhabits the praises of his people. And so what we're seeing is that believers that have never had a quiet time, and I'm not talking about legalism, you got to do it every day or God will get you.

We're not talking about that. And we're not talking about God going to measure your time with a clock. But he's saying you will give me your undivided attention. And when you do that and you enter his presence with worship, his presence begins to settle down on you.

And boy, that'll make a difference in your prayers. But then he said, thy kingdom come, thy will be done. Now, what does that mean? Well, he's still not, we're still not to our wish list. That means God, what's on your heart today?

God, what do you want me to pray about? God, what are some things that you'd like me to lift to you? And often that may be a little different than just our personal things. But then he gets to the part we have no problem with.

We do it real easy. Give us our daily bread. Now, there's the wish list. Nothing wrong with the wish list. But that's not what prayer is mostly about. It's mostly about worship. And it's mostly about getting on his agenda.

And he'll help you do this. But only if you give him a chance. Only if we shut the door. Only if we give him our undivided attention. You say, well, why isn't praying throughout the day just while I do five other things good enough?

It is good. But you see, there's a type of prayer and a type of hearing you cannot experience while you're doing three other things at the same time. This type of prayer is when you make that choice to get along with him.

Confession, Forgiveness, and Heart Examination

And then the key to the whole thing, he said, forgive us our trespasses. As we forgive those who trespass against us, there's where it gets real different. You see, a lot of folks just say, well, God, I forgive all my sins.

He's saying, no, you have to let me look deep in your heart to make sure there's no anger, no bitterness, because that creeps in about every day if we don't watch it. And he said, if you'll let me do that, if you'll let me search your heart, then he's saying, I can really feel your heart.

So he's not going to take us over like a robot. Sometimes I think we wish he would, but he doesn't. But he's saying, if you will choose to let me search your heart, if you'll choose to let me go deep, he said, then I can feel your heart.

And you know what? Then he begins to take over. Then he begins to show you how to pray. And the joy comes and the power comes. But what's happened with so many? We stopped with the wish list or we stopped with just a little prayer on the run.

He's saying, if you'll let me take it a little deeper, you'll never be the same. And what's so beautiful? This is not hard, but it's not shallow either. So let me give you a good illustration of this.

Miss Polly's Journey Into Deeper Prayer

There was a woman in my church in Memphis named Miss Polly, and there was a teenager in my church. Same thing. God did a mighty work in his life. And there was a girl also. There was a man named Jerry.

I'm just going to give you some great illustrations. Miss Polly and those others heard this message about giving God a quiet time that was beyond the two minute thing on the run, going a little deeper, letting God bring the cleansing.

And they heard this message. And I'll give you Polly. She's probably the most powerful example. She came to me after the service and she was a very busy lady. She was in church a lot, but very busy, had a lot of problems in her life, had some real problems in her family and a lot of pain in her life.

And she'd prayed and she'd seen some answers. But boy, there were a lot of answers that she wasn't seeing. So she said, Brother Greg, I think I see why God's not more real, why his voice is not clear, why I'm not seeing more answers to prayer.

She said, I'm rushing God and I'm kind of seeking God's hand, but not his face. And she said, I have a little quiet time sometimes. But she said, it's about that long and the cleansing is not in it. She kind of got the message.

And understand something. We're either doing this or we're not. This is really black and white. We either are quiet times either, number one, have a little depth to them and have the real cleansing in them, at least pretty often.