The Gospel in the Old Testament: Learning to Lean

God sometimes takes dramatic action to get us to have face time with Him and to learn to lean on Him and not on our own strength. But it doesn't have to be this way as his lesson from the Old Testament reveals.

Genesis 25:21-23,25:27-28,27:27-29,29:20,31:49,32,33:14
Hebrews 12:16
Matthew 6:6

First, 'Pray to thy Father which is in secret.' God is a God who hides Himself to the carnal eye. As long as in our worship of God we are chiefly occupied with our own thoughts and exercises, we shall not meet Him who is a Spirit, the unseen One. But to the man who withdraws himself from all that is of the world and man, and prepares to wait upon God alone, the Father will reveal Himself. As he forsakes and gives up and shuts out the world, and the life of the world, and surrenders himself to be led of Christ into the secret of God's presence, the light of the Father’s love will rise upon him. The secrecy of the inner chamber and the closed door, the entire separation from all around us, is an image of, and so a help to that inner spiritual sanctuary, the secret of God's tabernacle, within the veil, where our spirit truly comes into contact with the Invisible One. And so we are taught, at the very outset of our search after the secret of effectual prayer, to remember that it is in the inner chamber, where we are alone with the Father, that we shall learn to pray aright. Andrew Murray With Christ in the School of Prayer

Child of God! listen to your Teacher. He tells you that when you go to private prayer your first thought must be: The Father is in secret, the Father waits me there. Just because your heart is cold and prayerless, get you into the presence of the loving Father. As a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth you. Do not be thinking of how little you have to bring God, but of how much He wants to give you. Just place yourself before, and look up into, His face; think of His love, His wonderful, tender, pitying love. Just tell Him how sinful and cold and dark all is: it is the Father's loving heart will give light and warmth to yours. O do what Jesus says: Just shut the door, and pray to thy Father which is in secret. Is it not wonderful? to be able to go alone with God, the infinite God. And then to look up and say: My Father! Andrew Murray With Christ in the School of Prayer

Sermon discussion topics for parents to use with their children:

• How would you describe Jacob as a person?
• How did his approach to life work for him?
• Why did God not answer his prayer initially?
• Why did He make him wrestle?
• Why did He dislocate his hip?
• How was Jacob changed?
• Why is it important to get alone with God often?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA