Posted Feb 29, 2024 |
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Have you ever felt like your spiritual life is lacking a certain depth or connection? You’re not alone. Many believers struggle with the concept of prayer, often finding it difficult to truly engage with God on a personal level. But what if there was a way to revitalize your prayer life and discover a richer, more satisfying spiritual journey?
‘The Satisfied Soul’ podcast offers just that. In a recent episode, Pastor Sarah Jane, a clinical therapist and pastor, shares her passion for helping believers untangle messy theology and find joy in their faith. This particular episode continues the exploration of prayer, focusing on seeking God’s presence and understanding how He sees us.
Pastor Sarah Jane introduces listeners to various forms of prayer, including the ACTS method, which stands for Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. She emphasizes the importance of not getting ahead of the Holy Spirit and the power found in sitting in silence, waiting for divine guidance. The episode also touches on the controversial topic of speaking in tongues, offering clarity and biblical insight into its proper use.
The podcast goes beyond individual prayer practices, encouraging believers to engage in selfless prayer, where the focus is entirely on others. It highlights the significance of the Lord’s Supper as a form of prayer and remembrance. Additionally, the episode discusses the role of fellowship with other believers, listening to sermons, and the transformative act of tithing.
One of the most moving parts of the episode is the story of how Pastor Sarah Jane and her congregation experienced the Holy Spirit’s presence while serving the homeless community in Albuquerque. This act of generosity and love exemplifies the podcast’s message: when we glorify God through our actions, we feel His presence in profound ways.
If you’re looking to deepen your connection with God and find mental healing through prayer, ‘The Satisfied Soul’ is a must-listen. It’s not just about learning new prayer techniques; it’s about experiencing the love and presence of God in every aspect of your life. Tune in to this latest episode and discover how to nurture a satisfied soul in your everyday life.
Remember, your faith journey is unique, and this podcast is here to support you every step of the way. So, grab your headphones, find a quiet space, and let Pastor Sarah Jane guide you towards a more fulfilling prayer experience.
Listen In Here
Keep scrolling for the full transcript.
If you are more of a reader instead of a listener, here is the full transcript of His Presence: Part Two.
Welcome.
You’re listening to the satisfied soul, where I help believers untangle messy theology. • As a pastor and clinical therapist, I am passionate about helping people discover how God’s word is intended to bring direction, safety through boundaries, mental healing, and help you enjoy your Christian journey. Join me as we shake off the boring of God’s word, find a love for his truth, and discover a satisfied soul in our everyday life.
Pastor Sarah Jane:So last week we were talking about prayer and today’s continuation of that for seeking his presence.
We’re going to start off with some other versions of prayer. Join us as we continue on how to identify ourselves and how God sees us in the way he loves us. It is his presence that’s important.
Another way to feel his presence in prayer is through the use of ACTS. ACTS is an acronym. It means adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication. Adoration is, what do you admire about God? What is it that you look up towards? You’re going to speak those words, that he’s your creator, your supplier, your provider.Confession is what have I come to the Lord with that? I need to let him know and ask for forgiveness and get it. Just clean it off my plate. Thanksgiving is, thank you, Lord, for forgiving me for this, or thank you for all the blessings that I have in my life. And then supplication is what you’re asking for. (You need healing in your body, etc.)These are guides for your prayer. There’s other ones, but that’s just probably the most popular.Another way is to not get ahead of the Holy Spirit. Sit in the silence, wait until he tells you what next to pray. We get very quick on our prayers and just kind of go through the motions. And sometimes the Lord wants to be able to speak through you. More often than not. Actually, I should say he wants to speak through you, but we jump ahead of him. So even if you’re in the middle of the prayer, you start a prayer and you pause. It’s okay. • • • People can wait. • • Because the point is, you’re waiting for the Holy Spirit. Psalm 46:10 says, be still and know that I am God. I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world.So he’s saying, wait for me. Don’t get ahead of me. I want to be able to be with you. I want to be in your presence. I want to be there. So wait for him. Wait for the Holy Spirit. Another is pray in tongues to God privately. People get tongues confused, and so many religions do not practice it because they’re afraid of it. They don’t understand it. They think it’s something of the past. The Bible says in Hebrew that it says Christ, but really Christ is the Word, because it says, I am the Word. Christ was the same yesterday, today, and forever. So if we were supposed to speak in tongues yesterday, that means we’re supposed to speak in tongues today and forever. And Paul talks quite a lot about tongues. So, unfortunately, people don’t know how to explain that. There are rules for speaking in tongues, and there’s very clear definitions, and they sometimes overlap and get confused. And that, I think, is why there’s such a problem. But prayer in tongues is a private language you have with God. You’re not praying publicly for everybody to hear. If you’re praying in tongues, it’s you and the Lord. You don’t pick up a mic and start praying in tongues. That is actually not biblical. There are several churches that I know of that will stand at the microphone and pray out loud in tongues. That’s not what God asked you to do. He says, this is a me and you thing. And so you pray in tongues privately, and then there’s speaking in tongues. Now, that’s totally different than praying in tongues. Speaking in tongues is when the Lord gives you a word that’s supposed to be understood by everyone. And if it’s not understood, so let’s say if I’m in China and I speak in tongues and it’s Chinese and I don’t realize it, and it comes out, they understand me. But if I’m in an area where there’s a lot of different kinds of speaking people, and I’m speaking in tongues, there has to be an interpreter among those. And sometimes, um, people will speak in tongues and there’s no interpreter around. That means that there was actually not a message from God because God does not interrupt himself. So at a church service, when there’s a pastor preaching and somebody speaks in tongues. (That’s why I’m using speak versus pray.) Somebody speaks in tongues. If another person stands up with interpretation, then the Lord will silence the pastor, knowing this is a message from God. But if there’s not somebody that’s interpreting the tongues, that means that the person who spoke in tongues was a different spirit that was trying to interrupt the original message from God that was from the pastor. So it is a very sensitive issue for people because it’s hard to explain. And so that’s why most people just steer clear from it.But I’m telling you, praying in tongues is a whole different ballgame. It will change your prayer life. It will make you feel like you’re in the Holy Spirit’s presence.Another version of prayer is selfless prayer. So spend the time, whatever time you’re going to pray. I usually do this at night when I’m having trouble falling asleep. And pray for everybody else, meaning, don’t bring yourself up once. You don’t need to be prayed for. Your job is to pray for every other person in your life. Even people you don’t even know because you ran across them. Or because you know that there are women out there that need your support. Pray for people that you don’t know their names, but you are not to be brought up. Selfless prayer is a way of dying to self. And also showing God that you are wanting to love his people well helps you feel closer to God.The last probably is, um, sometimes seen as different things, but it’s part of prayer. It’s the Lord’s supper. Take communion. You are actually praying. You should be. When you’re doing communion, you should be confessing sin, clearing all that junk out of you before you take the cup and the bread. Because you are accepting that God made these sacrifices in remembrance of him. You don’t want to come to that table. You don’t want to come to that place with the Lord in prayer having already had these things weighing on your heart. And you have not addressed them with himFirst, come with a clean, fresh heart. So Lord’s supper is a great example of being in his presence. Luke 20:19 says, he took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to his disciples, saying, this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.
The third thing is the word we need to listen to different preachers. Take note of key things about their sermons that need to be reviewed throughout the week. God gave them a message, and you are there to hear it, which means that message is for you. We need to learn from other believers, because God gave them information for us. Philippians 4:9 says, keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me. Everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then God of peace will be with you.
If you put these things into practice that I’m teaching you, the God of peace will be with you.
Listen to the Bible being read out loud to you. And identify attributes of God that you hear within the reading. These are clues to how to find him. He is all in his word. And so if you listen to what he is saying, you’re going to find him. You’re going to be in his presence, you’re going to feel what he’s wanting you to know. You’re going to feel how close he is to you. So be there in the listening of that word.
The fourth thing is fellowship. 1st John 1:5-7 says, this is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you, God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness. We are not practicing the truth. But if we are living in the light, as God is the light, then we have fellowship with each other. And the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin.
Other believers display Christ’s presence at different levels, depending on how much time they spend with him. Other believers can lift you up and show you Christ by their insight and their discernment. You can gain this knowledge and be able to be in his presence by being with other believers, because God is with them, too. God is with them in their space, talking to them, ministering to them, teaching them he’s there. He can do that through other people. So we have to be willing to hear him, listen to him, feel him, be with him. But to do that, we have to be willing to open our hearts to others.
The fifth thing is tithe. We feel his presence when we go past the required duty of tithing, whether in heart, intention, or in tithing, the doesn’t make sense type of tithe. Haggai 1:5-8 says, this is what the Lord of heaven’s army says. Look at what’s happening to you. You have planted much, but harvest little. You eat but are not satisfied. You drink but are still thirsty. You put on clothes but cannot keep warm. Your wages disappear as though you were putting them in pockets filled with holes. This is what the lord of heaven’s army says. Look at what’s happened to you now. Go up into the hills, bring down timber, and rebuild my house. Then I will take pleasure in it and be honored, says the lord. You hoped for rich harvests, but they were poor. And when you brought your harvest home, I blew it away. Why? Because my house lies in ruins, says the Lord of heaven’s armies.
While all of you are busy building your own fine houses, when you get to a place where you have felt that you will want to have more and more of it. There is a huge difference between tithing (the doesn’t make sense version) and tithing because you’re required to. That’s the heart intention. If your heart intention is I’m tithing because I was told I have to give 10%, and that’s what I’m going to give so I can check that box, then your heart intention is not in the good place.
If you’re tithing because you’re like, I really just want to love you, lord, and I’m going to do whatever I can, even though it really doesn’t make sense, because my bills are this and my income is this, and it just doesn’t add up, I’m going to do it, that’s totally different.
On Christmas Eve, Our Place, the church that I pastor, did church kind of a little differently. After service, we packed food, toiletries, socks, and gloves, and took them out to deliver to the homeless population in Albuquerque. No one felt the Holy Spirit’s presence quite like the kids that were with us. They felt him and wanted more and more of it, wanting to jump out and even run ahead of us adults to share Jesus with those people. We are in his presence and feel it we glorify God with what we say and do. And that is exactly what those little kids did. They glorified God in all that they said and did, and they felt it. They could feel it in their whole being.
1 Corinthians 10:31 says, so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. That is what they did. And it was an amazing thing to witness, to see, to feel from them, because we were feeling it out of them. They were displaying it so beautifully.
And when that happens, he delights in us. Zephaniah 3:17 says, for the Lord, your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness, with his love. He will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.
To feel that overwhelming feeling of his presence, each of us probably needs to change something in how we worship, how we pray, how we pay attention to his word, our participation in community that he has brought us to, and through our generosity to the kingdom. We need to honor and glorify him.
Thank you so much for listening to today’s show. If you left a rating or review of my show on Apple podcasts, thank you so much. I read them all, and it touches my heart that you took time out of your day to spend it with me and leave that feedback. Make sure you come say hi on Instagram at Pastor Sarah Jane ho because I love connecting with my listeners and meeting new people in the online world. If you’d like to give back, you can support the show by rating, reviewing and sharing it with front or you can donate on my website at ah pastorsarajane.com. Until the next time you’re here, just remember that you are loved and seen.
Until next time!
