The Lord said, “I am calling My generals out of the wilderness. I am calling My officers out of the wilderness. I am calling My leaders out of the wilderness. For in the wilderness, many, many lessons have been taught. And they were lessons that could not be taught in the mountains, but they had to be taught in the wilderness.
“You are about to witness a moving of My Spirit. And you will see Him hover over all four corners of your nation. But you will see Him come, and come and stand in the midst of your nation. And you will feel the ripple effects. The ripple of the wind will come as He comes, and He touches down, for I’m about to burst forth on all sides in your nation.
“For I have sanctuaries that have been in the making. And people have been looking and looking for My Presence." He said “come to the sanctuary and bring a sacrifice of praise. And know that I wait, and I bid you to come to the sanctuary.
Pure motives. Job said his prayers were sincere: He was honestly seeking answers from God without ulterior motives. He was not lying to God; his heart was clean (see Job 6:28).
One of the temptations of prayer is self-gratification. We are inclined to ask repeatedly for things we want, not just things we need. The line between selfish and unselfish prayer is often fuzzy. Scrutinizing our motives can help sort through self-deceit.
Confession is a prerequisite to sincere prayers. Jesus taught us not to pray if we are carrying a grudge. The psalmist wrote that if there is sin in our hearts, God will not hear us (see Ps 66:18). Cleaning up unfinished business involving offenses against family or fellow workers clears the conscience so we can pray with purer motives.
Jesus said that when we pray we should “not heap up empty phrases” (Matthew 6:7). Later he lamented a hypocritical form of worship by quoting the indictment that first came through Isaiah: “These people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me” (Isaiah 29:13; Matthew 15:8).
We must be so careful when we bow our heads to pray, or lift our voices to sing. God is not impressed when we utter mere words such as “Praise the Lord!” or “Hallelujah!” He is looking for worshippers whose spirits (i.e., minds, hearts, and thoughts) are engaged in expressing the meaning of those words (cf. John 4:23). It is easy to melodically recite lyrics of Christian songs, but it takes concentration, sincerity and thoughtfulness to truly worship in song. We should never hide behind fine sounding words while our minds wander through a set of thoughts about something else.
