Let’s Draw Near to Him: Part 2

by Lynne Hammond | Uncategorized

Your Faith Will Make You Whole
That’s why Jesus said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you whole.” Faith always works this way. It’s like a mighty spiritual vacuum cleaner that pulls God’s power and provision out of the realm of the spirit. Faith doesn’t just wait around to see what happens. It’s not casual or just curious. It is intense and active. Faith presses into Jesus and expects to receive.

The sixth chapter of Mark tells us about multitudes of people who did this. They had such faith in Jesus’ healing power they ran around the countryside, collecting sick people on stretchers.

And wherever He came into villages or cities or the country, they would lay the sick in marketplaces and beg Him that they might touch even the fringe of His outer garment, and as many as touched Him were restored to health.
(Mark 6:56 AMP)

Imagine Jesus walking down the middle of a street with sick people piled up on both sides of Him for miles. As He passed by, it was like the splitting of the Red Sea! People sprung up off of stretchers. They threw crutches in the air. They rose up in waves—healed and perfectly whole—not because Jesus ministered to them personally but because they drew on His healing power with the touch of faith.

There Is More to Draw Out of the Wells of Salvation
Of course, healing isn’t the only thing we can draw out of the wells of salvation. A lot of other divine resources are in there too. Say you need direction for your life or divine counsel about what to do in a certain situation. All the wisdom you’ll ever need is available in abundance right there inside you, in the well spring of your heart.

Your heart is where the Holy Spirit lives, and He is the ultimate counselor. He can provide you with perfect guidance all the time. But He won’t just pour it on you automatically like water out of a garden hose. You have to go after it. As Proverbs 20:5 says, “Counsel in the heart of man is like water in a deep well, but a man of understanding draws it out.”  

The word translated understanding in that verse can also be defined as “esteem, honor, reverence, desire, or hunger.”  When it comes to drawing on God, all those things are significant. The more we esteem, reverence, and hunger for Him, the more of Him we’ll receive.

A friend of mine as a little girl used to watch a lady in her church who understood this fact very well. An old-school Pentecostal, the woman reverenced and hungered for revelation from God so much that she would sit on the edge of her seat every Sunday while the pastor was preaching. Often, she’d even move her lips, silently mouthing the words of the sermon along with him as he spoke.

She didn’t do this because she was especially awed by the minister himself. She did it because she so deeply desired to hear the message the Holy Spirit wanted to convey to God’s people. And her desire helped draw that message out.

Evangelist Oral Roberts used to tell about a tent meeting in the 1950s during the great healing revival where an entire congregation expressed this kind of spiritual desire. He said they were so hungry for God to manifest Himself that they spontaneously started praying and worshiping the Lord. As they drew on God, His power swept through the place like a wind and within 45 seconds, thousands were healed. The next day, the tent grounds were strewn with so many abandoned wheelchairs, crutches, and neck, leg, and back braces that fork lifts and dump trucks were needed to haul them all away.

There Is so Much More of God to Have
Oh, dear friend, there is so much more of God that we can have! But we won’t get it by just coming to church and behaving like spectators. Church services aren’t like concerts or plays. We aren’t there just to watch. We’re there to draw together on the throne of God, to release reverence toward Him, to honor and esteem Him, to desire Him with all our hearts.

In other words, we’re there to worship.

It’s no coincidence that in John chapter 4 when Jesus talked to the Samaritan woman about the wells of living water, He also said this: “A time will come…indeed it is already here, when the true (genuine) worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth (reality); for the Father is seeking just such people as these as His worshipers” (v. 23 Amp.).

When we worship, we draw mightily on the living waters of God. We plug into the spiritual currents of His power. We unplug from our problems…and what’s happening at work and at home…and what our friends are doing and thinking…and plug into the Lord. We don’t just sing along with the worship leaders on the platform. We don’t just mindlessly say, “Praise God. Thank You, Jesus.” We think about all the marvelous things He’s done for us and lift our hearts to Him in gratitude and love.

When we do this individually by ourselves, we can experience increased degrees of God’s power and presence. But when we do it corporately, even greater miracles can happen. Together we can draw so much power from God’s throne that we’ll not only be blessed ourselves, we become like a mighty generator supplying God’s presence to entire cities and nations.

This is God’s plan, so let’s do it! Let’s press into Jesus with so much faith, desire, and worship that His power floods our lives, our families, our churches, and our communities with rivers of living water. Let’s draw out more, and more, and more of God!

Copyright © Mac Hammond Ministries, All rights reserved.

On the chilly March night in 1972 when Lynne Hammond took her first step into a life of Spirit-led prayer, she had no idea what was about to happen. All she knew was the hunger in her heart for God wouldn’t let her sleep. In the few short months she’d been born again, her desire to fellowship with Him had grown so strong she could hardly contain it. “Help me, God!” she cried. “I want to know you. I want to be able to talk to you. Please, teach me to pray!”

Suddenly, a heavenly presence flooded the room. Lynne sensed waves of spiritual fire sweeping over her and a beautiful language began to flow like a river from within her. Although she’d never heard of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, she knew instantly, without a doubt—this was God!

What began that night soon blossomed into a life of prayer that ultimately became a ministry of prayer when, in 1980, Lynne and her husband, Mac, founded Living Word Christian Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Under Lynne’s leadership, the prayer ministry at Living Word has become an internationally recognized model for developing effective pray-ers in the local church.

A teacher and an author, Lynne publishes a newsletter called Prayer Notes, has written numerous books, and currently serves as the national prayer director for Daughters for Zion. Her passion for inspiring and leading others into the life of Spirit-led prayer continues to take her around the world to minister to believers whose heart cry, like hers, is “Lord, teach me to pray!”

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