Restoring Order in a Chaotic World

A Note From The Author

The purpose of Ginosko House is not to wow people with "persuasive words of wisdom,¹ but to provide foundational Scriptural knowledge and allow the Holy Spirit to turn information into revelation."  In this way, our prayer is that you will come to know the Lord more personally day-by-day.

There are many exposits and theological, philosophical definitions of the term prayer.  Personally, I prefer talking with God—talking with God, not to God.  Nobody likes to be talked to; everybody likes to talk with somebody. Talking with somebody implies a personal relationship to one degree or another.

That is what prayer is, or at least what it is supposed to be. For our relationship with God to be personal and two-sided (as opposed to one-sided), it must include both aspects of talking and listening.  If we are doing all the talking, that is not good. We should at least be considerate enough to allow our Creator, the Lover of Our Soul, and the Sovereign of the Universe to do most of the talking. 

For most of us, talking is the easy part. But that leaves us in a position of constantly wondering if God is listening.  If we allow God time to speak to us, then we will have no worries as to whether or not He hears us. 

Far too often, we hear people say things like, I pray all the time, but God never answers my prayers. Or, Sometimes God’s answer is ‘No.’  Rarely, if ever, will God’s answer to our prayers be a blunt No.  The real problem is this: Have we shut up long enough and learned to listen to God?  Are we allowing God to talk to us and instruct us with His answer?  The real question is, are we listening? 

Consider Romans 10:17, Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.  Hearing comes by the Word of God.  We will hear God speaking to us when we study and meditate on His Word contained within the Bible.  One of the jobs of the Holy Spirit is to turn information into revelation – to turn the information contained in the Bible into a revelation of how we are to live. His foremost and primary means of doing this is by speaking to us through His written Word. The Holy Spirit has a unique way of bringing the Word of God alive in our hearts.  Therefore, any conversation we desire to have with God should combine both Bible study – listening to God, and prayer - speaking to God. When we combine Bible study and prayer, we are carrying on a conversation with God; we are both talking with and listening to the Lord.  We are communicating.  We are building a relationship with God. 

Jesus told us, flat out, what eternal life really is:

This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.²

Undoubtedly, the most fearful words in the Bible are these:

I never knew you. Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.³

In these two verses, the terms know and knew are the same Greek word, ginosko. Ginosko means to know by personal experience.

There will be people attempting to enter the kingdom of heaven, people who call Jesus "Lord.  People who will describe to Jesus how they prophesied in His name, how they cast out demons in His name, and how they did other signs and wonders" in His name.  However, their entrance to the kingdom of heaven will be denied because Jesus doesn’t know who they are.

All those good works they were telling Jesus about were things they did on their own.  God never asked them to do those things.  They never took the opportunity to spend time with God, to get to know Him, to find out exactly what the good works were that God prepared beforehand for them to do.  They never came to know God; they just ran around doing their own thing.

Building a relationship takes time and practice.  We have to be the ones willing to adapt and change.  We can’t be self-deceived.  We can’t run around referring to Jesus as Lord while, doing our own thing, even if what we’re doing is considered good.  We must be loyal disciples, in a genuine relationship with the Lord.  Our words and actions must flow out of our relationship with Him.

So, while the title of this book indicates lessons about building a better prayer life, what it really focuses on is encouraging you to develop a better relationship with the Lord.  That is why you will see the term relationship a lot in this book. True prayer flows out of your relationship with God.

As you read, my prayer is that your relationship with the Lord will grow.  And as your relationship with Him grows, the fruit of your prayer life increases.  That out of your heart will flow rivers of living water, the good works which God prepared beforehand that you should walk in them.⁴  So, as you enter the kingdom of heaven, you will hear these words: Well done, good and faithful servant.⁵

Tom Dole

Know the World We Live In

PREACHER.

THAT IS WHAT THE WISE MAN WHO WROTE the Book of Ecclesiastes called himself. Although the Preacher taught many lessons, we will focus on just one lesson having to do with recognizing and understanding the world we live in. If we understand the world we live in, and the principles it operates by, then we can be more effective in achieving God’s purposes through prayer.  The Preacher begins his lessons with this observation:

What profit has a man from all his labor in which he toils under the sun? One generation passes away, and another generation comes.⁶

That which has been is what will be, that which is done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.⁷

I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind.⁸

Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done, and on the labor in which I had toiled; and indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun.⁹

Everything we see in the world around us today has already been seen before throughout history. Technology comes and goes, but the ways in which man uses technology—for good or for evil—are always repeated