Imrah Ministries

By Sidharth Mohandas
 
“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” [Mark 11:24]
 
If you take this verse in it’s context, you will realize that Jesus said this to His disciples after He cursed the fig tree.  However, in this instance you don’t find Jesus persisting in prayer, instead you find Him cursing the fig tree and believing it to be done, and it was so.
 
There are two basic things that we need to consider in the above passage:
 
(1)  You must find basis for faith in God. You can’t have faith in God for something that is not revealed to you as His will.

(2)  Secondly, the verse is applicable only at a personal level.
 
Let me clarify these with an example…Before I received the Spirit baptism, the Lord spoke to me from His Word about His will for me to be baptized in the Spirit. I sought the Lord, and initially I kept on asking the Lord to fill me with His Spirit. However, sometime later the Lord brought the above verse to my mind and in response to it I believed that I had received the Spirit. Within few minutes I was filled with the Spirit and spoke in a language unknown to me. So here you can see that (1) I found a basis from the Scriptures that it was God’s will for me to receive His Spirit and (2) no one else could believe and receive for me, I myself had to believe that I had received the Spirit even before I saw any manifestation. That would obviously prevent me from asking any more.
 
If this is so, then when should a person keep on asking or persist in prayer? Of course, we know a number of passages teaching us to ask and keep on asking, to persist in prayer and so forth. But where do we draw the line?
 
Here’s the principle that will make it clear to you: You need to keep on asking where you cannot receive or appropriate by faith.
 
As I mentioned in point (1), you cannot have faith in God for something that is not revealed to you as His will. Therefore, if you and I are uncertain about what Abba wills, it demands a continual asking, seeking and knocking from our side.
 
At the same time coming to point (2), we realize that this verse is on a personal level. I can believe that I have received something I’ve asked for only at a personal level. For example, I cannot receive the salvation of the Lord for my family. They have to personally believe and receive it. This calls us for persistence in prayer. Other areas that would require you to pray continuously would be praying for the government, for the nation, for the church and so forth
 
When I pray for my individual needs, I can believe that I have received even before I see the manifestation and close the case. However, intercessory prayer demands my continual prayer.
 
I encourage you to come to this place of prayer where you can take God at His Word and close the case the very moment you present it before the throne.
 
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. [1 John 5:14-15]

At the same time, I also encourage you to persist in prayer in areas where you need to. Probably you’re seeking Him for new direction, or for the salvation of someone in your family. Do not give up, ask and keep on asking! 

By Sidharth Mohandas

Very few people have learnt how to enter God’s Presence through prayer. They try praying for a few minutes, struggling to convince themselves of His Presence, but then they stop short and leave without entering His throne room. Before I take you into the different stages of entering the Shekhinah or the royal residence of the Lord, I would like to take you to the model prayer and show you some principles contained in it.

Here are some points I’d like to make:

(1) “Our Father [Abba]…”. This is where it all starts…a relationship. If you don’t have a relationship with Abba, then you’re not eligible to move on.

(2) Jesus goes onto say, “…Who art in Heaven, Hallowed be Your name…”…this is the attitude of our entry: reverence. In spite of the fact He is our very own Abba, He is the King of the Universe. And therefore as we approach Him He requires our complete attention.

(3) “Thy Kingdom come…” Moving down the model prayer, you find that the entire focus of the prayer is not us, but the kingdom of God. And since we are citizens of His Kingdom…our complete well-being is also His interest.

With this in mind, I now take you into three stages in entering His Presence using the tabernacle of Moses as the outline. The Hebrew word for “tabernacle” is “miskhan” and it means “Place of Divine Dwelling”. It consists of 3 different places: the Outer Court, the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. Let’s start from the Gate of the Outer Court…

The Gate

There is but one gate to enter the tabernacle. This is the foundation. Jesus Christ is that gate. Your access into God’s Presence, no matter how spiritual you are, is Christ Jesus.

The Brazen Altar of Sacrifice

As we go forward we come across the Altar of Sacrifice. This is where our sins are dealt with. Scripture plainly tells us, “If you confess your sins, He is just and faithful to forgive you your sin and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness” [1 John 1:9]. What does it mean to confess? The Greek word for confess is “homologeo” and it means to “say the same as”. In other words, you agree with what God says is sin. “Homologeo” also means “say a word in covenant”, so this is also a place of renewing our covenant with God.

I usually come to a place where I agree and tell the Lord specific areas where I had failed Him [without going into the details of it], and then move on. Many people never get past this altar. Mostly because they “feel” guilty even after they have confessed their sins. Friends, the moment you agree that you missed the mark, God pronounces you clean.

The Brazen Laver

This was a basin that was made of mirrors of the serving women.

Moreover, he made the laver of bronze with its base of bronze, from the mirrors of the serving women who served at the doorway of the tent of meeting. [Exodus 38:8]

James, the apostle, compared the Word of God to a mirror in his epistle. This is the place of submission to the Word, a place where you are sanctified by the washing of His Word. While instructing wives to submit to their husbands, Paul says this: just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the Word [Ephesians 5:26]

Very little is taught about preparation to enter God’s Presence in our day. People just slackly enter His Presence, no wonder they think prayer is dry and boring. At this altar, the priest usually looked into the mirror basin that had water in it and washed himself. What happens here? As you and I open ourselves to the Holy Spirit, He will use the Word of God to expose sins that we were unaware of.

The Lamp stand and the Showbread

As we move on, we enter the tent. The Holy Place in contrast to the Outer Court is dark. Likewise as we go further into the Presence of God, we eliminate light from outside sources. The Bible may look dark and undiscovered, but this is where we learn to depend on the ministry of the Spirit. The Holy Place consists of two things…the lamp stand and the showbread. The light that comes from the lamp stand is symbolic to Jesus who said “I Am the Light of the world” and the show bread also symbolizes Jesus who again said, “I Am the Bread of life”. As you and I go deeper into God’s Presence, my friends, Jesus becomes a bigger reality. The ministry of the Spirit is very focused: revealing more of Jesus.

At this point, I would like to compare this triune tabernacle to our being: the spirit, soul and body. The body may be compared to the Outer Court, the soul to the Holy Place and the spirit to the Most Holy Place. As we spend time with God, our body may not cooperate. Sometimes during our prayer time, we may feel unusual drowsiness, dragging us into a deep sleep. When that happens, we need to ignore what our body says and continue to move on. As you do so, you reach the realm of the soul. In this realm, many of us experience the Presence of God. I experience His Presence in various ways…I’m sure most of us can relate to a warm blanket enveloping us, a gentle breeze, a tingling sensation all over your body like goose bumps, a refreshing river that flows within you, or like a burning sensation through your veins and so forth. However, the sad thing is that many of us stop, satisfied with these experiences.

God is calling us deeper into the place of the spirit, where He can fellowship with us.

The Altar of Incense and the Ark of Covenant

As we move deeper into the inner most part of the tabernacle…the Most Holy Place, we come to that place where we just merge with Him and are filled with this knowledge that He is all in all. To me this is a place of simplicity and “silence”. By silence I mean the voice of “self” has no place here. You reach a place where you are one with Him. His thoughts become your thoughts, His desires become your desires, His will becomes your will and so forth. You don’t go in with a motive to receive, you just want to give. And that brings us to the Altar of Incense. It just keeps burning and burning…offering worship to the King… giving Him every detail of your life so that He can make it His domain.

Finally we reach the Ark of the Covenant…it is a box that contains three things: The Ten Commandments, a Golden Jar with Manna, and the rod of Aaron that budded.

The tablets of Ten Commandments symbolizes God’s promise to write His law into the tablets of our heart, the jar of Manna is a promise of fresh revelation of Jesus for every day, and the rod of Aaron that budded when in the Presence of the Lord, is the promise of fruitfulness in areas that are barren.

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. [Mark 1:35]

May we be encouraged to spend time with Abba like how Jesus did very early in the morning and align ourselves to Abba’s heart for each day!

By Sidharth Mohandas

Dominion

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. [Genesis 1:26]

We all know the story of creation and how God released these spirit beings into earthly vessels that were to function like God Himself on earth. We understand from the above passage that God gave man the dominion over the earthly realm. Now what does it mean to have dominion? It means to have legal authority to rule. The Hebrew word for dominion could help us to get a fuller picture. The word mamlacha that is used for dominion simply means “kingdom”. So in other words, Gods purpose of giving us dominion was to bring a “kingdom” to earth. However, God warned man that if he disobeyed Him, man would move from the kingdom of life to the kingdom of death, a kingdom whose ruler is the arch enemy of God, even satan.

The Law of Dominion

In Ephesians 2:1,2 we read,

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.

When man operated in a standard that was offensive to God, man himself gave his dominion over to satan. But  if you noticed, the dominion satan received he could operate only in the “air” or in the heavenly realm. This is because the dominion given by God was for earthly beings, and not for spirit beings.

Let me deviate from this topic to something very important about Gods Word. Now, when God speaks, what He speaks becomes a law. Psalm 138:2b tells us, You have exalted Your word above all Your name. Now the word “name” in Hebrew is used for “who the person is”. That is why when Moses asked God what His name was, He said “I Am Who I Am” [Yahweh]. That is, when we need peace, He becomes Yahweh Shalom; when we need healing, He becomes Yahweh Rapha and, so forth. So God’s name represents who He is. The above Scripture tells us that God has exalted what He speaks above Himself. Or in other words, He has subjected Himself to His words and will never go against it. So when God said, “Let them have dominion”, He was giving legal authority to these earthly beings to rule. Any other beings were in fact illegal to have authority on the earthly realm. This was the same reason why God had to place His Seed  in an earthly body.This can also be explained with a day-to-day example: a person can have authority on earth only while he is in his body. The moment the person dies, he also loses his authority on earth. So coming back to satan, all that he could do was to make human beings follow him and thus establish his kingdom on earth through them.

Dominion restored

Friends, let me say again, man through sin lost the dominion God gave him. And the only way this authority could be restored would be through the death of a man without sin. And since the entire Adamic race was infected with sin, God had to place His own seed in an earthly body to pay the penalty of death at every level of human disobedience. Jesus is that begotten seed. He led a sinless life and suffered the penalty of sin for the entire human race and He rose back to life saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” [Matthew 28:18]. Jesus brought back the kingdom to us. Notice, my friends, God did not break the law of dominion here.

Permission for Divine Intervention

If you have entered the kingdom of God, you have been given dominion. But there’s a problem again… Only earthly beings have legal authority over earth. Therefore unless we give permission to God, He cannot move. This is why the foremost thing Jesus asked us to pray in the Disciples Prayer was: “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” [Matthew 6:10]

Jesus said, I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. [Matthew 16:19]

Through prayer you give earthly permission for divine intervention. You might wonder “What can my puny prayer do?“. Well, it can give God permission to interfere. However, just as the disciples needed to learn the principles of prayer, you and I need to learn to pray. The highest priority in a Christian’s life should be prayer, for that is where the transaction between the King and the colony takes place. 

I encourage you today to use the dominion God has given you through prayer and bring God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.