The first prayer principle we learned from Adam in the garden of God was, “We must know the voice of God!” How? We must become accustomed to the sound of it. How? By immersing ourselves in His word; being still as a stone; Be silent and listen! The second principle is so simple and so obvious you might not see it. Gen. 3:8, It was in the ‘Garden of Eden.’ “And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the cool of the day, ‘In The Garden!’ The Hebrew word for garden (gan) is an ‘Enclosed Garden.’ One with a hedge, a fence or a wall around it and a gate. The word ‘Gan’ can be translated enclosure; v.24 the LORD posted Cherubim and a flaming sword at the east of the garden of Eden, at the gate, to guard the way to the tree of life. The tabernacle had a gate, the temple had a gate, all facing east, but they knew the place, a special enclosed place, God’s place. How? Listen, they were accustomed to meeting God there! But God is everywhere you say, He is omnipresent! Amen! But listen, He meets us IN a specific, secret place, at a specific time.

In Matthew 6:6 the Greek word for closet is ‘storage chamber’ a pantry, a storehouse of supplies and nourishment. How beautiful is that? But there is more, the phrase ‘in secret’ in Greek is (en to krypto) In THE hidden, unseen, secret place. We have a definite article in the Greek. Keep it simple class, the absence of the article qualifies, the presence of the article identifies. So, it is ‘THE’ specific, identifiable, definite place. And when you have gone into the secret storage chamber, the closet, the room used to keep nourishment, the pantry, to gather your supplies – ‘Do What?’  “DO WHAT?” “SHUT THE DOOR!” Or ‘Close The Gate!’ Why? To keep out the snake! The intruder, the adversary, the enemy, who will invade your prayer time, Satan! Oh, yes he will! (Adam forgot and left the gate open and Satan slithered in and did his dirty work) And your heavenly Father, is already there, in the secret place waiting for you, to nourish you and reward you openly! Churches have missed out on one of the greatest of all blessings by not having a ‘Prayer Chamber, Prayer Room, Prayer Garden, Prayer Closet.’ Where their members could go and seek the face of God before and after the services and pray alone or with someone, an ‘Upper-Room Ministry.’ WOW! Adam knew the sound of His voice and Adam knew the secret place because he was accustomed to both, but are you? But there is more, a third vital principle to a dynamic prayer life;

Adam had a special time to meet God, “In the cool of the day.” How did he know this? Listen, he was accustomed to meeting God at a particular time. David had a particular time, Psalm 5:3 says, “My voice shalt Thou hear in the morning, O LORD, in the morning will I direct my prayer unto Thee, and will look up.” When I think of the cool of the day, I think of early morning before the heat of the day, before the cock crows, before the pressures of life crash in on you, before the telephone rings. Yeshua met His Father in the early morning, Mark 1:35. Things are quiet and still in the early morning. Birds sing loudest in the early morning, before the sun burns up the dew. But this phrase in Hebrew is more generally translated as ‘an evening wind or breeze’ off of the Mediterranean Sea. So it does not matter to God whether you are a morning person an evening person, a night person, or a noon person as long as you are a, ‘Praying Person.’ AMEN?

Before I get to the fourth and probably the most important principle of all for an ‘Effective Fervent Prayer Life’ I was struck by the fact that God went seeking Adam, after Adam sinned, Gen. 3:9, “And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?” Called (qara) a specific message, to a specific recipient, to elicit a specific response, for a specific purpose, and God spoke first! Amazing, God seeks Adam, He goes looking for him and calls out to him, “Adam, where are you?” The word Adam in Hebrew simply means a human being, and can be an individual or mankind. And I believe God is still searching, still seeking, still calling out to us, to mankind, to Adams all over the earth, to worship Him, to have fellowship with Him, to pray to Him, Ezk. 22:30; 2 Chron. 16:9; John 4:23: “God is seeking those to worship Him in spirit and in truth.” What a paradox, God Who created man has to search for him to worship Him, God created man for fellowship with Himself! God is calling out to us today, “Where are you?” The Place; The Time; The Voice! “Where Are You?” What will we answer today? “Here I am, let’s fellowship!” or “I heard Your voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and ashamed and I hid myself?” Which will it be for you my friend? Which will it be?

“Oh LORD, may I never hide myself from You, naked or not, sinful though I am; LORD, may I worship You today, in spirit and in truth, naked and unashamed, may I be your gap-man/gap-woman today; May Your eyes not have to go to and fro searching over the whole earth looking for a man or woman; if You are looking for a place to start a fire start one here in my heart and my it never go out; Lord, Thank You for saving me, Thank You for dying for me, Thank You for loving me.”   “Baruch ha Shem”     ‘Between The Lines’

“Portraits of Prayer in Genesis”  (Adam – Part #5)