Why Pray the Word?

Why Pray the Word?

The Bible is the best prayer guide

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 besides God’s words are ALIVE !  They are the most powerful words anyone can ask to come to pass.   And since I want God’s promises to come alive in our family I declare His Words outloud.

The Bible is full of people praying that way, quoting other Scriptures. By watching me, my kids are learning how to pray the Word as well.   While talking to God about this 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 JD 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 strange 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 intelligible 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 new vocabulary and a new way of thinking.  This gift is 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 believe God’s words.   My experience tells me there is a strong connection between praying God’s words and believing Gods words.

Jesus Christ is the Word

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.  

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.

Praying through the Tabernacle Prayer is based on praying through many powerful bible passages.   I have come to believe that praying the Tabernacle is a powerful blessing because not only are you praying God’s word.  But you are also praying according to his ordained pattern of worship.   This pattern is fulfilled in Jesus Christ.  His body is the Temple.  And we are part of that body.     How do you feel about praying according to a clear order of worship?  Do you think there are patterns of worship in the Bible?     DP

The Tabernacle is an Eternal Reality

The Tabernacle is an Eternal Reality

Not just an Old Testament Idea, The Tabernacle is an Eternal Reality.

When I first started out with the Tabernacle prayer, I stumbled over praying through something in the Old Testament. I’m not alone. Many Christians look at the Tabernacle in the Wilderness as Old Testament history that’s a story about the Israelites in the Wilderness.  In Exodus we are told of how Moses was up on the mountain and was instructed by God to build a sanctuary where God could dwell with his people.  But… it had to built according to a very specific design and pattern.  

Every detail was communicated to Moses from God.  And Moses did what he was told.   As most read the Old Testament, especially Exodus, Numbers, & Deuteronomy, they stop at the historical presentation of what happened.  In years past, I would glean a lesson or two from a chapter, and move on, because those books are so tedious in their detailed explanation of how God prescribed worship to happen for His people.

But What does that really have to do with me today? And besides we are not under the law anymore right?  The thing I didn’t realize is that the pattern that Moses received from God was a replica of the actual Temple in heaven.  And that changed everything for me.

So what Moses built was a portable replica using the materials and technology he had at his disposal in 1500 BC.  Moses Tabernacle was a replica of what has existed in heaven for all eternity, It’s the same Temple that exists today in heaven and it’s the same Temple that we may see one day when we enter eternity.  The Tabernacle or Temple is a heavenly reality.  It is not just an Old Testament idea.  Get your mind around this.  

Before the earth was created….the Temple was.  Before the physical realm described in Genesis 1 happened, the Temple was functioning as God’s house in heaven.  When Jesus ascended in Acts 1 he went to prepare a place for us in his father’s house, the Temple in Heaven.  When Hebrews describes Jesus as the High Priest who actually carried his own blood to the Mercy seat in real Temple Heaven, he’s talking about Jesus putting his own blood on a real Mercy seat on the real Ark of the Covenant in the Permanent Tabernacle in Heaven.   When Paul says we are seated with Christ in heavenly places….he means in the Throne room in the Temple in heaven.  When John describes the Throne room in Revelation 4 … he’s talking about the Holy of Holies in the eternal temple in heaven that Moses saw when he built the Tabernacle in the Wilderness.  Are you getting this?  

What about today? Today we have temples built by God and not by the hands of men. As a faithful believer in Jesus Christ, your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit today, another replica of the Temple in heaven!  And you need to understand the implications of this reality. The principles of Temple or Tabernacle worship are to be practiced in my temple (my body) today. In John 2 Jesus said his body was the temple. Today the scriptures tell me that I am a Temple of God.

The Temple is the original house of worship, it’s permanent, and is the source of all things in the physical universe and the center of all things in the spiritual dimension.  It’s where God, the Father lives.  It’s the House where Jesus hangs out.  The Holy Ghost has his own wing there.  Anything in the Bible that refers to the Temple, the Tabernacle, Throneroom, Tent of David, Tent of Meeting, Bethel, Secret place, etc. is ultimately pointing out some aspect of worshipping God according to pattern permanent established in the heavenly Temple.  And this is good news for you.  Because these principles of worship are keys to you worshipping God fully today.

Today as Evangelicals, we totally focus on Jesus Christ.   We want to know Jesus.  We want to love Jesus.  Jesus called his own body the Temple. And we are made in that image. We worship Jesus in our temples.  Do you want to really study Jesus and his ministry?  Then pray through the tabernacle prayer because it’s a picture of who Jesus is, and what he did for us, so we would be prepared to “come boldly before the Throne of Grace.” By the way all this I’m writing to you came not through bible study per say. Nor was I told it by a bible teacher. This is an example of what the Holy Spirit teaches you as you pray the Word, the Scriptures, according to the Tabernacle worship pattern or tabernacle prayer.

 

We Love Tabernacle Prayer

We Love Tabernacle Prayer

I started praying the Tabernacle or Temple Prayer in 2002.  After 10 years of blessing, I can say without hesitation, that this Tabernacle Prayer is the best discipleship method I’ve ever seen.  By praying the way Pastor Cho teaches, the Holy Spirit has ministered to me in very powerful ways and it has happened consistently for years.  And it’s not just me, my wife saw the change in me, and she started praying it with a similar effect.  Then my teenage daughters caught onto it.  Tabernacle Prayer has grounded us in God’s Word as a family in a way nothing else could….through prayer.   We have seen miracles.  We have grown deeply in our love for Jesus Christ and our desire to keep him first and foremost in the center of our lives.   We highly recommend that every Christian incorporate Tabernacle prayer into their devotional lives.  You can read more about our family testimony here.

Teaching kids about the Tabernacle

Teaching kids about the Tabernacle

Here are some tips for getting your kids involved in praying the tabernacle.  We believe the key concept in learning the tabernacle is the VISUAL and PRACTICAL and ORDERLY aspects of Tabernacle worship.  To help convey that we have developed a few visual tools.    The most popular video we have right now for kids focuses on teaching kids what the ten commandments are.  Reflecting on the ten commandments is part of the laver in the Tabernacle Prayer.  This brief video is fun and great for everyone (even though it’s designed for kids) to learn the Ten Commandments.  With each of our 4 kids, first they learn what the commandments are, then the commandments become a key basis for prayer and discipline in family life.  For example when a child tells a lie, they are reminded about commandment 9… thou shall not lie (bearing false witness) They realize that God tells to be truth tellers, not liars, so as a Christian family, in a very lifegiving way,  we repent when we tell lies and receive forgiveness for breaking a commandment of God.  We have found that in using this approach, telling the truth becomes a high priority with the children and this serves them well as they grow up.

Here is a simple way set up a tabernacle for kids from Rose Publishing who has some excellent Tabernacle Materials.

How to Create a Tabernacle Model in 10 minutes:

 

Hello fellow Kids’ Ministries leader (If you don’t work with kids, then please forward this e-mail to your Kids’ Ministries leaders),

  1. Set Up Tabernacle Boundaries Use masking tape to draw out the boundaries of the Tabernacle’s main areas, such as the courtyard, the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies. If outside, try using sidewalk chalk instead of tape.
  2. Create a “Veil” Barrier for the Holy of HoliesUse 2 cardboard voting booth barriers (or something akin: room barriers, hung blankets, etc) to block the Holy of Holies from the rest of the areas. DON’T let kids see what’s behind this barrier before the object lesson. This will automatically create a “buzz” of anticipation amongst the kids before the lesson, “Oooh”.What’s behind there?”
  3. Enthusiastically Explain the Israelites’ Pattern of WorshipDesignate several kids as priests and one student as the High Priest. Explain the Israelites’ pattern of worship. For more information on this, check out Rose Guide to the Tabernacle.Allow all the kids to enter into the courtyard. Then, only allow the designated students to enter the Holy Place. Emphasize that only these “special” priests may enter the next section. Kids will usually whine, “That’s not fair!” “Why only them?” etc.Then, talk about how God’s presence dwelt in the Holy of Holies and how only the High Priest once a year could go into the Holy of Holies. Describe the various sacred furnishings in the Holy of Holies, such as the Ark of the Covenant, and explain how the priest made a sacrifice to pay for the Israelites’ sins. (I brought a stuffed lamb).Ask the kids, “Do you think it’s fair that only one person only once a year got to go into the room where God’s presence stayed? Who wants to go in there?” My kids answered with a resounding, “Yes, it’s unfair because we want to go in there too.”
  4. Connect the Tabernacle to JesusExplain how Jesus paid the ultimate price and gives us direct access to God, so we don’t have to go through this specific pattern to worship Him anymore. As you explain how Jesus died on the cross, have two other leaders dramatically slide (“rip”) the two cardboard barriers apart, symbolizing how Jesus took away every barrier separating us from God’s presence.
  5. Make It RelevantEmphasize that during worship we directly enter into God’s presence. I will always remember that after I emphasized this point a first grader exclaimed, “I want to go in there with God.” I pray this stays the anthem of her heart and all of our hearts: “I want to go into God’s presence.”

At first glance, teaching the Tabernacle to kids may appear as a lofty, unrealistic, and unnecessary goal. However, when kids understand how worship used to be, they are able to better appreciate worship now.

Imagine how your kids’ attitudes and behavior will change when they realize worship is all about Him!
Here is a link to all Dr. Cho’s Best Books

Jesus and the Tabernacle

Jesus and the Tabernacle

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 Showbred – Jesus the Word and the Bread of Life.

Altar of Incense – Worship the Father in Spirit and Truth.

The Veil – Jesus body was broken for us.

 

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.