GOING ONE ON ONE WITH GOD
By Pastor Jim May
How many of you love being in a crowd? I suppose the answer to that question would depend upon what we are calling a “crowd”. For some folks, a crowd consists of anything more than 2 people. For others, the more people there are, the happier they are. Some folks just love crowds. I suppose that this has been one of the limiting factors in my own personality. I’ve never felt comfortable in a crowd, unless I could find a few people to absorb the time and form a smaller group inside the crowd, then the crowds don’t bother me as much.
As a minister of the gospel, I’ve always desired to be different so that I could love a crowd, but the only time that is really true is when I’m in the church. The church is my comfort zone. I suppose that’s because the church to me is home, it’s my Father’s House.
I’ve never been comfortable around a lot of strangers and, as long as I walk this earth, I am a stranger to this world. I may know a lot of people and I can talk to just about anyone, anywhere and on any subject with some intelligence, but I really don’t have much in common with most people unless they are committed Christians. It doesn’t take long until the small talk is finished and I have to get on to more serious conversation. That’s when most people will walk away because they don’t want to get serious.
Being able to interact with people and enjoy being around people is a plus when it comes to ministry and witnessing the gospel message to them. It’s so very important that we love people and love to be around them, to let them know that we care.
But there are times when we need to be alone with God!
It’s in those times when we get along with God – One-on-one with our Heavenly Father – that we really begin to know who God is.
Worshipping together as a Body of Christ is wonderful and uplifting to all of us, but when we worship God, One-on-One, we can really worship, as we should. Praying together in a prayer meeting, or during the regular worship services, or around the altar is great, but my greatest times of prayer have always been when I was One-on-One with God; just He and I in a secret place.
Matthew 6:6, "But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly."
One of the reasons that One-on-One prayer is so effective is that we get just down, get real, and be ourselves with God. We don’t have to put on some kind of religious face or talk in religious terminology.
In the church, we are expected to pray in certain ways and to say certain things. And we surely can’t be completely honest with God in front of the church all the time when we are praying about some problem or trouble in our lives. Some of the prayers we need to pray are better said just between the Lord and us. We don’t want to give ammunition to some dear saint of God who loves to walk around with a loaded mouth. None of us are perfect, but some think that they are more perfect than others and it’s their duty to let the imperfections of other people be known to the whole church.
I feel that God would want us to stop and pray for a moment so join with me if you will in the following prayer. I don’t normally write these down, but this time I can sense the Holy Spirit saying, “write it down”.
Lord, help me to preach this message and not get into meddling. The Holy Ghost has something to say to us so don’t let my thoughts get in the way. Let the words that I say and the things that I write be totally inspired by the Holy Ghost. Let this message come from the heart of God and not the mind of man. Let these words be the words of God and not the words of mortal and corrupted flesh. Let the anointed Word of Almighty God come alive in us this night, and let it draw us back to place where we need to be in God. Let this message burn away the chaff of sin within us. Let it strengthen the weak, lift up the down trodden, encourage the disheartened, and build faith in the place of doubt. Let this message go forth as YOU would have it to go forth and let it accomplish that which you have intended for it to accomplish this night in the hearts of your people, those present in this service as well as those who may read in or hear over the Internet. AMEN
All of us have faced times of hardship, troubles and strife. We have faced storms, sickness, diseases, and even stared death right in the eye. None of us are immune to the circumstances of life that will turn against us. All of us, at some time or another, need the help and support of the church, the pastor, and our brothers and sisters in Christ.
I need your prayers, and let me tell you for sure that I can feel it when someone is praying for myself and for this church. I can sense the moving of the Holy Ghost when someone is really touching Heaven for me as your pastor. God knows that my heart’s desire is to be the best pastor I can be for the sake of this church and the Kingdom of God. But preachers are people too and I need your prayers. You need my prayers too, and those of other Christians. We all need one another.
But folks, there are times when we just need to get One-on-One with God; just God and me; or God and you alone; and we need to stay there until we know that we have heard from God and touched the Lord.
I’m like that little lady who reached out and touched the hem of Jesus’ garment! Sometimes I’ve prayed in the church and the answer didn’t come. I’ve sought the prayers of all of you and the answer didn’t come. I’ve prayed with you and the Heaven’s seemed like brass. I’ve anointed you with oil in obedience to the scriptures, and the elders have laid hands on you and prayed for you, yet the answer has not come. I’ve seen some of you come to these altars and cry bitter tears as your brothers and sisters have cried with you and yet the answer has not come.
Sometimes it takes a different approach to find the answers we need. The answers are not always found in the church, with the pastor, or with other Christians. The answer is found only by getting alone with God and praying through to the victory.
That little lady; diseased, discouraged, down-trodden, sick, weak and without any means to help herself, said in Matthew 9:21, "...If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. "
That’s the way I feel sometimes. That’s the way I feel most of the time. Lord, I have tried getting the church to pray with me, I’ve called upon my brothers and sisters in Christ to pray with me, I’ve been anointed so many times you could put me in a frying pan, but G-O-D, I need an answer. I must get through to you. I have to push everything else aside! I have to forget about the things of this world and the cares of life for a while! I have to break through the powers of Hell that are standing in my way! I have to push aside everything else – BECAUSE I NEED TO TOUCH JESUS!
Is that how you feel too? Church, we all need to get One-On-One with Jesus! The greatest blessings await us when we are One-On-One with Him! The answer is found when we get One-On-One with Him!
Jacob knew what it was to go One-On-One with God!
Genesis 32:25-28, "And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed."
Jacob was wrestling with the troubles in his life. He was running from his brother Esau after stealing the birthright through deception. He had left his family and his servants on the other side of the river and come across to be alone with God. He had to get away for a while: to get One-on-One with God and pray. Jacob had to have an answer now!
All through the long night, in the darkness of his despair and in the grip of fear, Jacob wrestled with the Lord. He had some changes to make in his life and change wasn’t easy.
Why was it such a struggle? What brought on that long, hard, tiring wrestling match that went on through the sleepless night?
Jacob needed more than”head knowledge” of God - He needed”Heart Knowledge”! He needed more than a deliverance from his present circumstances. He needed a change of heart, a change in his life, and a fresh start from the past life of deception. He had to come to grips with his past, wrestle with his present and then trust God for his future.
I am persuaded that the wrestling match is a type of the kind of wrestling that we all have to go through before we are going to have any real victory in Jesus!
Real victory doesn’t come easy! It requires a hard wrestling match. Real power doesn’t come easy! It requires a real workout to build up our spiritual strength with the Lord! Real anointing isn’t cheap. It costs you all that you are! We can settle for second best for a while but there will come a time when you want more of God! You can’t be satisfied with the status quo, you want more!
I want more anointing! I want more power! I want a greater and closer relationship with Jesus! I want to be more like Him! And that will require a fight with the powers of darkness, and a fight with this old fleshly nature, and coming clean before God in a way that we haven’t done for a long time.
Jacob wrestled all night long but he wouldn’t give up! How long will you have to be One-on-One with God? I don’t know! Each one of us is different. Some will need to wrestle a long time. When I look at some of our lives, I think that your time alone with God won’t take all that long. It will only take enough time for you to get to the place where you are sold out and serious, and mean business in your commitment to Christ.
Some of you though, and probably for most of us, that wrestling match just goes on and on and on. Some of you would never get any sleep because just about the time that you are about to win, you throw in the towel and the match has to be scheduled again and again. God help us to stay One-on-One until we are changed like Jacob was.
Jacob’s whole identity changed. His whole nature changed. He went from being a deceiver to being the father of Israel’s twelve tribes, all because he wouldn’t give up until he got his answer from God.
The prophet Daniel knew what it was to be One-on-One with God! Every day he would bend his knee and bow his face before God. He wouldn’t be coerced or discouraged, no matter what man did to try to stop him. He had to go through the lion’s den, he had to face the enemy and suffer the consequences, but because he had spent time with God, Daniel also received great power and blessings from God.
Daniel 10:5-7, "Then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz: His body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in color to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude. And I Daniel alone saw the vision: for the men that were with me saw not the vision; but a great quaking fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves."
Daniel saw things that other people could not see. No other person in the Old Testament was given that same power to see the things of God like Daniel. God gave him revelations and visions and wisdom and power above all the people of that day. Daniel prevailed, just like Jacob, because he had been One-on-One with God, wrestling with God time and again until the answer came.
Do you want to be used mightily by God? Do you desire to work for God in a greater measure? Do you need a new vision, a new power, a fresh anointing, and greater faith? If so, then get One-on-one with God until you have the victory. Not many people pray like Daniel. Not many seek the face of God as he did. That’s why God blessed him above his peers.
Moses knew what it was to be One-on-One with God too.
Exodus 24:1-2, "And he said unto Moses, Come up unto the LORD, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship ye afar off. And Moses alone shall come near the LORD: but they shall not come nigh; neither shall the people go up with him."
There are a lot of Christians who worship God “afar off”. They “worship” God while riding in a boat on the river. They “worship” him from in front of the TV set. They “worship” him in the crowd, and they can worship Him afar off even sitting on the pew. But they never really “worship” Him alone. They never really get One-on-One with God, and the lack of spiritual fruit in their lives shows it.
Only Moses paid the price. He was the only one invited to come into the very presence of God at the top of the mountain.
How many of you know that it’s lonely at the top? There aren’t a lot of people at the top of the pyramid. Most of the people are at the bottom. The closer you get to the top the narrower it becomes and fewer people will be there, because it requires getting closer, living more sanctified, and giving yourself more and more to the Lord.
I’m nowhere near the top of God’s mountain – but that’s where I want to be! I’m still climbing, still trying to get there, but it seems that I have so very far to go! Yet it’s really not far at all is it! It’s only a true commitment, a true repentance, a true dedication, and a true confession away! It’s only one good, strong, One-on-one, wrestling match away!
You have to get One-on-One with God! There is no other way to real victory in Jesus!
Sometimes God won’t allow anyone else to be involved in your victory so that no one else can get any glory from it and so that you won’t put man in the place of God!
If the pastor, or the preacher, prays for you and the answer comes, we will put that pastor or preacher in God’s place and we will expect him to pray the prayer of faith for us. We won’t believe that we can touch God One-on-One!
Let me tell you that I’ve seen this happen so many times. It’s even happened to me before I learned different. I’ve seen the time when I just knew that if the preacher would just come and give me some special “word from the Lord” that I could have the victory. If the preacher would just “prophecy” over me, I could believe God for anything. If the preacher could just come and call me out of the congregation and tell me everything that I am having trouble with, then I know that God will have heard my cry and I can have more faith that the answer will come.
My friend, that’s putting the preacher in the place of God! We need to believe God for the answer whether the preacher prays or not! Every one of us has equal access to God. He is an Equal Opportunity God! Jesus says that “whosoever will” can have power with Him.
Sometimes God will not answer your prayer until you get alone, One-on-One with Him! He wants you, by yourself, so that he can speak to your heart, to your mind, to your soul, and to your personal need. He wants to increase your faith! He wants you to know him in a greater way than you have ever known Him before – and that can only come with an “up-close”, personal, One-on-One wrestling match with Jesus in your own life!
We must take our example from the life of Jesus as he walked upon the earth. Whenever he really needed to speak to the Father in Heaven, he always went alone to pray and left everything and everyone else behind, or sent them away.
He did so at the Sea of Galilee just before the storm where he came walking to them on the water!
Matthew 14:22-23, "And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away. And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone."
He did so in the Garden of Gethsemane!
Luke 22:41-42, "And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done."
Jesus had to pray alone. He had to win that wrestling match with the flesh alone. He alone had to get the victory over all things. He had to climb that mountain called Golgotha’s Hill all alone. He had to face the torture, the battle and death all alone. He couldn’t share his calling with anyone. Only He could fulfill the requirements that were needed for the salvation of mankind.
And sometimes you are going to have to climb your mountain alone. You are going to have to go through the valley alone. You are going to have to face down the powers of Hell alone. You are going to have to go alone, just you and God, One-on-One, locked in a wrestling match with God all through the long, dark and dreary night, until the victory is won, your will is broken and the “Daystar” arises in the morning and the light of God’s glory shines upon your soul.
When you have gone One-on-one with God and finished your course and the battle is over; then it will be worth it all. Oh how sweet are the victory, the power and the deliverance on the other side! Oh how wonderful it is to rest in the knowledge that you have prevailed against all odds and found favor in the sight of God!
I think it’s about time that we all go One-on-one with God until the victory comes!
