a prayer-full life “emmanuel prayer” 2 corinthians 3:14-18; 4:3-6...

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A Prayer-Full Life “Emmanuel Prayer” 2 Corinthians 3:14-18; 4:3-6 Kevin Haah

January 31, 2016

Turn on Timer!

Good morning!

[Slide 1] We are in the middle of a series on prayer entitled, A Prayer-FULL

Life. The goal of this series is to lead us to experience a Prayer-FULL life, a broader,

deeper, and consistent prayer life.

[Slide 2] Today’s sermon is entitled, “Emmanuel Prayer.” Emmanuel Prayer is

a way to pray in which we see that God is with us in our present, past, and future. It is

about seeing Jesus through our prayers. It can revolutionize your life. It radically

changed my prayer life. It is simple but profound. This form of prayer can heal our

deep emotional wounds.

I have been praying that I would share this with you in a way that is so clear that

the penny will drop and you will see; and not only see, but you will practice this, and you

will be healed.

[Slide 3] The Problem of Emotional Pain.

Many of us carry a lot of deep emotional pain in our hearts.

Sometimes, our pain comes because of physical issues. Maybe you are

experiencing severe depression. Maybe you are experiencing post-partum depression.

You can’t figure out what’s going on. There may be a chemical issue to all this, and we

may need to seek medical care.

It can be a relational breakdown. A heartache from a broken relationship. That

relationship you thought would work out ended up ending. The heartache is sometime

too much to bear. There is a sense of rejection. There is a sense of bitterness. There is a

sense of numbness. Even when we try to sleep, there is a pang that does not go away. It

is not just about the relationship, it is about self worth, validation, and loneliness.

Everything gets wrapped up in one.

It can be offensive or perverse words or actions. Someone who was supposed to

love us abandoned us and offended us or abused us. The pain that comes from that is so

complicated. It resides deep in our soul. It is especially difficult when that was our

parents. Many of us have had fathers who were absent from our lives whether physically

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or emotionally. They were far off. You never felt his approval. He was not around to

affirm you, love you, and be there for you. There were words of disappointment that

wounded you soul deeply. It doesn’t even matter if you did something to provoke it; it

still hurts. And it continues to hurt. We carry around some painful memories from

childhood. Maybe it has to do with getting bullied, or getting rejected by someone, or

being told that you won’t amount to much. These perverse words crushed your spirit.

Sometimes, we carry around some sort of moral pain. We did something wrong

or someone did something wrong to us and we stay deep in our soul, untouched, and it

seems like that part of our soul got frozen. Maybe it is pain caused by guilt. Maybe it is

something you did (and to this time, you don’t talk to anyone about what you did), but

maybe it is something you thought you did. I know some of us carry that guilt in our

heart for the breakup of our parents. You were young and difficult as a child, and you

feel like your parents couldn’t handle you, and they ended up breaking up. I knew a girl

like that who in the back of her mind carried this guilt; but, I want you to know that it is

not your fault. It was your parents decision, not yours.

Now, how do we respond to this emotional pain? What do we do about it?

[Slide 4] Here are some wrong ways to respond.

1. Some of us try to deny it or hide it. And it seems like a good solution for

some time, but often, it pops up in a negative way. For example, when we have been hurt

and betrayed by someone relationally, it seems okay but from time to time, it pops up in

the present. We don’t know why but sometimes we have a tremendous fear of rejection

and we are afraid to enter into a relationship. We have a hard time trusting people. Our

next relationship is wondering what is going on.

Sometimes, we can’t understand why we do certain things we do. Some of us

become workaholics in a quest to get that approval we never got as a child. It’s like that

thing that hurt us never went away and we spend our life trying to make it up. Some of

us deal with anger issues that have its root in a past hurt and pain. Maybe we said to

ourselves, I’ll never let anyone do that to me again. That comes back in the form of

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anger and hate. Some of us grew up with alcoholic parents or angry parents, and we

tiptoed around to make sure we don’t create any reason to provoke them. And that

tendency sometimes shows up in the way we do our relationships. We do everything

possible to please everyone, and we don’t want to talk about the elephant in the room.

We can’t just hide or deny our past hurts and pains. The reality is that unless we

deal with them, it comes to haunt us in unhealthy ways. Our emotional pain is a part of

who we are. We can’t detach from it. So, hiding or denying our pain doesn’t work.

2. Some of us try to numb the pain by medicating ourselves with alcohol,

drugs, work, movies, eating, keeping ourselves busy, sleeping. I know for some of you,

that’s how you started it or that’s what kept you in it for so long. I know for some of us,

we start with alcohol as an experiment, but later, it turned into something more than that.

It became a way of escape. It is a way of numbing our sorrow. It is a way of numbing

our anger. It is a way of hiding our problems. It is a way of feeling happy and alive for a

moment. Of course, some of these things become destructive, and go on a vicious cycle.

Just trying to numb our pain does not work either.

3. Some of us try to get back at them. Revenge. Anger. Hatred. Bitterness.

It rots our spirit. While there is a sense of justice that goes along with this feeling, what

really happens is that we replay the pain over and over again. We reduce the one who

wronged us into a one-dimensional evil person. We deprive that person of humanity; and

in so doing, we deprive ourselves of happiness. There is no happiness in vengeance, in

anger, in hatred, in resentment, or in bitterness.

This approach does not work either.

[Slide 5] The right way to respond.

Then, how should we respond to our emotional hurts, pain and wounds?

We have to bring it to Jesus. We have to surrender our pains to Jesus. But, how

do we do that? That’s the real question. What I want to do this is to give you a practical

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way to bring your pain to Jesus so that he can take you on a journey of healing.

Emmanuel prayer is a powerful way to do that.

Emmanuel means “God with us.” It means that we believe that God is with us,

now, in the past, and in the future. God is always with us. He wants to be with us, and

he is with us. He is present with us.

But, how do you see that Jesus is with us? How? We can’t really see him

physically. Then, how?

Through our imagination. Yes, through our imagination. I know for many of us,

we think of imagination as not a world of reality but a world of fantasy. But, actually, we

can use our imagination to live in a truer reality than where we live or we can use

imagination to live in a fantasy world.

Let me give you an example. We know that God is with us. When we open our

physical eyes, we don’t see that he is with us. But, the reality that is more real than the

physical reality that we live in is that Jesus is with us. That is the truer reality. So, to get

ourselves to live in that truer reality means that we have to imagine with our mind that

Jesus is with us. That imagination leads us to a truer reality.

I know some Christians undermine the world of imagination, but the Bible

actually commands us to do this.

Let’s go to 2 Corinthians 3:7-18:

[Slide 6] 7 Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters

on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face

of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, 8 will not the ministry of

the Spirit be even more glorious? [I love this comparison. It is so clear. The Law

of Moses came with glory. He says that the law which condemned us came with

glory, but how much more glorious is the ministry of the Spirit!]

[Slide 7] 9 If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much

more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! 10 For what was glorious

has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. 11 And if what was

transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!

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[Slide 8] 12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. 13 We are not

like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from

seeing the end of what was passing away. 14 But their minds were made dull, for

to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been

removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. 15 Even to this day when Moses

is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the

veil is taken away.

[Slide 9] 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is

freedom. 18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate a the Lord’s

glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which

comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Let’s take the last verse, as we contemplate the Lord’s glory—several translations use the

word, “behold” and some translation says, “seeing.” If we see, behold, and contemplate

the Lord’s glory, we are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory.

Okay, here’s the bottom line: do you want to be transformed into his image with ever-

increasing glory? What does that mean? That means that God is healing you. God is

changing you. God is forming you into his image! God is increasing glory in you, the

same glory that is in him. So, how does this happen? How does healing, transformation,

glory happen to us??? By seeing Jesus. By beholding Jesus. By contemplating Jesus!

Now, how do we do that? Paul is not saying that we can physically see Jesus.

Then, how do we see Jesus if it is not physically? Through the eyes of our mind.

Through our imagination. We see Jesus through our imagination.

So, we are called to harness the power of imagination not to create a fantasy

world, but to see the real world—the world in which Jesus is present every moment of

our lives, in our past, in our present, and in our future. So, that what I want to do is to dig

into this a little more and give you some examples.

1. Let’s start with how God can heal us from our past emotional

wounds.

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I believe God can heal us as we bring our whole self, even our past hurts, pains,

and even ugly memories, to His presence and love.

We need to bring all of ourselves to him, including our past. This is what we do

ordinarily. When you get to know people, you open up and let them in to your past.

Good things and bad things. Your past pain and memories are a part of who you are.

You need to bring your whole self to God. That’s what we do when we develop a

relationship or a friendship with someone. We don’t get deep in our friendships until we

have that late night session sharing our stories of our hurts and pains. It’s the same with

our relationship with God. When we develop that relationship, God wants us to bring our

pains, and hurts, and those ugly memories to him. That’s what friendship is. That’s what

intimacy is with God. Our relationship with God can’t be shallower than our relationship

with our friends.

The reality is that a great deal of who we are are influenced by who we were.

Some of the root issues of the current problems may be from the past hurts and pains.

Maybe a part of our behavior is still influenced by how we felt when our dad was not

pleased with our grade. Maybe a part of your behavior is influenced by our desire to hit

that homerun that we missed. Maybe a part of that promiscuous behavior comes from

that little girl trying to get the attention of the father. We are still influenced by the hurt;

yet, we forgot to take it to Jesus, the giver of life.

Jesus wants all of us who are in hurts and pain to come to him. He wants us to

come to him with our hurts and pains. He wants to have an emotional relationship with

us. It’s not just some sort of military command relationship that God is after. He wants

an intimate relationship with us. He wants us to SEE his face and his love.

Knowing that God loved us all along has the power to heal us today.

I think it is important for all of us to practice Emmanuel Prayer to help us SEE

Jesus in our pain and hurts—that God is with us and God was with us. I think we need to

create time and place to allow God to heal us. For God to show his love for us. Through

prayer, I just go back to a place where I was when I experienced that hurt and pain and

SEE where Jesus was. My memory does not have Jesus in there. My hurt does not have

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Jesus in there. Imagine. Go back. Use your faith to see and redeem that event. That is

what faith is. Seeing Jesus in the event. We need to see that Jesus was there. That Jesus

was weeping when you were hurt. That Jesus was loving you. That Jesus was gentle

with you. Sometimes, you say, I don’t see Jesus. Where were you when I was hurt?

You need to preach the gospel to yourself. Lord, I know you love me more than I can

imagine; but, Lord, I need to imagine your love for me there. When we bring up all that

we are (even things we did to ourselves), we see the beauty of our Lord Jesus. All

healing is simply a matter of seeing Jesus.

As we behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus, we become transformed.

What we see is what we become. When I see God’s love in every circumstances of life,

when I see God treating me with love and kindness, I develop love for God and am

transformed. We need to see that he loved you when you were called names, when you

screwed up, when you got pregnant, when you ran away from home, when you got into

drugs… We need to see that he loved you when you were hurt, when you were insulted,

when she broke your heart, when he abused you. He was crying next to you. He

embraced you. We need to put every memory of hurts and pain under the lordship of

Jesus.

Let me give you some suggestion on how to do this kind of prayer.

1. You need to be at a point at your life when you are willing to let go—not

necessarily able, but willing. Sometimes, we stop at woe is me and see ourselves as a

victim. That is not the stopping point. If you stop at the bitterness and resentment, you

will let your past define you and let your past rule over you. You have be willing to want

to forgive. Are you willing to let go?

2. It takes time. It takes spending time with Jesus. You spend time with a

person. Get safe with the person. Takes familiarity. We need to take time to be together

and relax. We need extended period of time. I like to put on some music—it helps to

soften the heart. It sets the mood. Just like your wife, you need to set the mood. Treat it

like a date. Some people prefer silence. It’s up to you. Just mediate on the Lord. Just

think about various different parts of your life and see what Jesus would do. Some

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people say: why do you have to bring up the garbage. It is beautiful to see God saying

loving things. Sometimes, we need to introduce the Lord to the memory to rework the

message of the memory. Sometimes, the Lord does not change the past but the Lord

changes the interpretation of the past.

So, we need to see Jesus in our past. This is critical to healing in the present.

When we see Jesus in our past, we will see transformation in the present.

2. We also need to see Jesus in the Present and learn to see him and interact

with him.

When you are alone, and the feeling of loneliness starts to creep into your life, see

that Jesus is with you. When the pangs of emptiness creep into your life, see that Jesus is

with you. We can have a conversation with God in the present seeing Jesus in the eyes of

our mind. I started to do this when I was in college. I used to go up to the roof of the

dorm that I lived in and took my guitar and started to sing a prayer to God. I would just

make up a song, and sing loudly. This was my regular practice. Dancing around with a

guitar strapped around me and talking to God. I would imagine that I was dancing with

God, and talk to God, and him responding to me. I would do all of that in a completely

made up song. Someone taught me that that’s what it means to sing a new song unto the

Lord, as the Psalm exhorts us do. That was the beginning of my imaginary conversation

with God. One time, during late spring, when it got hot, I had my window open, and I

heard guys in the roof whispering. Then, I realized that for the whole year, the people in

the dorm heard me singing on the roof.

Nonetheless, I still do this. I like to go out to Malibu and just talk to God. Now, I

take notes when I talk to him. I dictate to Siri if I feel like the Lord is saying something.

I imagine that he is with me and talks to me. Why? Because he is with me and talks to

me. That is the truer reality than the one I live in. In that reality, I have a conversation

with God. As I converse with God in the world of imagination, God guides me. God

comforts me. I get to live in the presence of God.

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Another way to do this is through Emmanuel journaling. A friend of mine

named John Loppnow and his friends wrote a book called [Slide 10] Joyful Journey:

Listening to Immanuel that explains this in more details.

Start writing to God. Start with things you are grateful for. God, I am grate for

giving me rest…. Then, write to yourself from God’s perspective. My dear child, …

Then, write from God’s perspective:

[Slide 11] I can see you . . . [In Genesis 16, Hagar, the slave-girl, was pregnant

with Abraham’s baby, but was mistreated by Sarah, Abraham’s wife, because of

her jealousy. So, she fled to the desert with the baby and cried out to the Lord,

and the angel of the Lord came to her and spoke to her. Then it says in verse 13:

“She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees

me.” Yes, God is the one who sees me. So, write down what he would say to you

as he sees you.] (I can see you that you are scared. I can see that your are angry.

I can see that

[Slide 12] I can hear you . . . (in the same story, the Lord tells Hagar to go back

home and tells her to name the baby Ishmael, “for the Lord has heard of your

misery.”) (I can hear you yelling and screaming. I can hear you crying alone. I

can hear you fighting. I can hear you judging yourself)

[Slide 13] I can understand how hard this is for you . . . (The Lord acknowledged

Hagar’s pain. He does not undermine the difficulties of what we are going

through. We should not undermine the pain that we are experiencing, and allow

God to comfort us.)

[Slide 14] I am glad to be with you . . .

[Slide 15] I can do something about what you are going through …

John Loppnow shared his experience of Emmanuel journaling with a group. A group of

them got together and spent the first 30 minutes journaling what I just talked about, and

they went around reading what they wrote to one another. They did this for a few years

together, and he shares that the process of Immanuel Prayer through journaling is

transformative and helped each of them heal from years of pain.

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Now, I know some of you are saying, how do you know you didn’t just make that

up? I don’t know for sure. So, I take what I hear with some filter. Loppnow calls this

Shalom check. If what he is saying is consistent with the glory of the Lord that is

revealed through Jesus Christ, then, I take it in. If it is not, I know that it is my mind

trying to play tricks on me. So, it is really important that you get to know Jesus as

revealed in the Bible. It’s really important that you understand what it means to live by

the law and what it means to live by the Spirit. It is important to you know that you are

free from the law. But, when we have good understand of who Jesus is, not the Jesus we

make up, but the Jesus as revealed in the Scriptures, we can have a conversation with him

through the Spirit. And those conversations can be very healing.

[Slide 16] Now again, I want to remind you. No beating yourself up!

[Slide 17] And, when it comes to spiritual discipline, “anything worth doing is

worth doing poorly.”

Let’s pray.

Invite Prayer team.

a prayer-full life “emmanuel prayer” 2 corinthians 3:14-18; 4:3-6...

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