To Pray Effectively, Get to Know God
By Rick Warren
"For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse." Romans 1:20 (NIV)
The fruitfulness of your prayers doesn’t depend on how much you know about prayer but on how much you know about God. The more you understand God, the more effective your prayers are going to be.
More important than learning all about prayer is understanding more about God. It starts with knowing that God is multidimensional. That means God is in the past, present, and future. He’s on earth and in the spirit world.
Here are a few ways you can see God’s multidimensional character.
You see it in God’s creation.
The God who created a multidimensional world and universe is a multidimensional Creator. "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse" (Romans 1:20 NIV).
You can learn a lot about God just by looking at nature. For instance, you know that God likes variety, and he is organized, creative, and powerful. Creation is complex, so you know God has to be even more complex.
You see it in Jesus’ incarnation.
John 1:14 says, "The Word became a human being and, full of grace and truth, lived among us" (GNT).
If God had wanted to communicate with ants, he would've become an ant. If he had wanted to communicate with cows, he would've become a cow. But God wanted to communicate with and love human beings, so he became one of us.
Jesus is bound by neither space nor time because he is multidimensional: "Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come" (Revelation 1:4 NIV).
You see it in how the Holy Spirit moves.
"The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit" (John 3:8 NIV).
You can't put the Holy Spirit in a box! You can't control him. He's like the wind. You don't know where it comes from, and you don't know where it's going. He moves in dimensions we don't move in.
Don’t let this be the end of your study about God’s multidimensional character. Knowing God is a lifelong pursuit—one that will make your life sweeter and more meaningful each day.
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This devotional © 2018 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
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