Today I want to talk about one of the most important, one of the most difficult, and one of the most mystifying aspects of the the life of a talmid (disciple), namely, prayer. I must admit I did not want to talk to you about this subject today when the Ruach (Spirit) led me to do it for the pure and simple reason that of all the subjects I address in my ministry, this one I find the hardest of all to talk about, let alone qualify. There is so much religious baggage that surrounds the words 'prayer' and 'worship' that it will be challenging to get to their simple roots. This may take me a little time to expound so please bear with me as I must use multiple topics to make this comprehensible: Some of this material will upset some of you, I am sure, but you are at least free to walk away from it if you want to.

I have heard many definitions of prayer over the years, from the academic to the romantic. I am sure you have your own ideas. On the one hand, prayer might be said to be worship that includes all the attitudes of the human spirit in its approach to Elohim (God). The believer worships Elohim (God) when he adores, confesses, praises, and supplicates Him in prayer. It would therefore be true to say, I think, that prayer is the highest activity of which the human spirit is capable. It is communing or communicating with Elohim (God). That, you might say, is an academic definition. A romantic one, such as offered by Rosalind Rinker, is perhaps easier to relate to: "Prayer is the conversation between two people who love each other".

Prayer is both communication and communion with Yahweh, but the two are not necessarily the same. You will recall the time when Satan stood before Yahweh and the Council of Yah's Elohim and communicated with them. He communicated with them his unbelief that Job, if he was afflicted for no apparent cause, would continue to follow Yahweh and not curse him. But there was no 'communion' between Yahweh and Satan, for there was no fellowship or echad (oneness) union. To quote the words of Paul:

"For what fellowship has righteousness with Torahlessness (lawlessness)? And what communion has light with darkness?" (2 Cor.6:14, NKJV).

There are three Hebrew words that denote 'worship' - segad ('bow down', 'do abeisance'), avad ('serve') and shachah ('bow self down', 'prostrate oneself'), with shachah being the most commonly used one. They are used interchangeably and may be applied by man to man or man to Elohim (God).

"For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through ahavah (love) serve one another" (Gal.5:13, NKJV).

Prayer to Elohim (God) in the Bible is first of all not a 'natural response':

"Elohim (God) is spiritual, and those who worship Him must worship in ruach (spirit) and emet truth" (John 4:24, NKJV).

"That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Ruach (Spirit) is ruach (spirit)" (John 3:6, NKJV).

"When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not hear" (Isa.1:15, NKJV).

"Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths and honour Me with their lips, but have removed their levim (hearts) far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men..." (Isa.29:13, NKJV).

Prayer and worship are not about the way we articulate our words but the spiritual substance emanating from our levim (hearts) or inner being. There are no correct 'prayer formulas' - that is paganism. Prayer and worship is at its root a spiritual thing, originating in the spirit and movement by the Ruach (Spirit). The biblical doctrine of prayer always emphasises the character of Elohim (God), the necessaity of a man's being in a saving or covenant relationship with Him, and his entering fully into all the privileges and obligations of that relationship with Elohim (God) (see Covenant-Love: The Heart of Life in Yahweh). The Lord's or Master's Prayer reveals the correct content and tavnith (pattern) as an 'ideal' prayer (Mt.6:9-13).

That's quite a mouthful - but I have purposefully condensed this subject material so that we always have our eye on the centre or core of what authentic prayer and worship is and not on the psychic and fleshy periphery. Yahweh always initiates contact with us, never us with Him even if we think that we do. Long before we were conscious of Him or what we were spiritually doing when we first cried out to Him, He was already initiating the contact. He alone knows the best time - the potentially most productive time, when we are best able to see the difference between emet (truth) and error because of a unique combination of circumstances and our own receptivity, and make an authentic choice for or against Him - to begin a possible relationship. His timing is perfect, ours rarely is, if at all. Once that contact is made by His own initiation, then we have a choice as to how we are to respond - whether we will trust Him or draw back in doubt or fear. If we decide to trust, then He calls us to enter into a covenant - an agreement - based on what He has revealed in Scripture. That is called Torah-obedience. All genuine prayer and worship has a covenant foundation - without exception. Those who will not bind themselves to such a covenant are not in full communion with Elohim (God) even if they think they are. It's the same with marriage. There is no true marriage without a covenant (betrothal), one made with eternity in view. So we cannot expect to establish a channel of communication with El Elyon - the Most High - if we think we can take Him on approval or a trial basis - which is why worship is all about servanthood:

"He who is called in the Master while a slave [of men] is the Master's freedman. Likewise he who is called while free is Messiah's slave. You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men" (1 Cor.7:22-23, NKJV).

This is the acid test of prayer and communion. The unsurrendered soul is not praying to, or worshipping, Yahweh-Elohim. He is talking at Him - presumptuously, I might add - as a claimed equal or even with a superior attitude. That is why the Bible makes it absolutely clear that to offer authentic worship His servants must shachah themselves - to prostrate, fall down flat on ones face in body, lev (heart), mind and spirit - with their whole being or soul, and thus manifest true reverential fear and adoring awe and wonder. This worship is both individual (e.g. Gen.24:25ff; Ex.33:9-24:8) and congregational - with other believers of like mind (e.g. Ps.42:4; 1 Chr.29:20).

If this doctrine is obnoxious to anyone then it is because their religion is of the flesh - it isn't spiritual, but psychic. It is a religion of pride and arrogance because the flesh is proud and arrogant. Those who are regenerated by the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) - genuinely born-again - will shachah themselves in their souls before El Elyon (the Most High), and do so with simcha (joy). Of course, anyone can go through the motions physically and pretend to prostrate themselves before Yahweh - something the children of Israel did frequently - but it does not fool Him. And there is a risk, if they are not properly regenerated but following a false spirit, or worshipping a demon or the devil himself if one is being very psychically 'religious' but not spiritual. That is why Yah'shua (Jesus) said that Elohim (God) is "spirit(ual)" (not 'a Spirit' as many translations wrongly render it - it has nothing to do with anatomy or composition but of attitude), and why it is we must worship Him in ruach (spirit) and emet (truth).

Perhaps we can understand now why men prostrated themselves in worship of their kings and judges (elohim with a small 'e') and why wives prostrated themselves before their husbands in biblical times. This was not worship of the kind reserved for Elohim (God) alone - for kings, judges and husbands are imperfect creatures, like malakim, and not the Creator Himself, which is why the malak (angel) refused John's worship:

"When I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things. Then he said to me, 'See that you do not do that. For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship Elohim (God)'" (Rev.22:8-10, NKJV).

"And it came to pass, when Joshua (Yehoshua/Yah'shua) was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man ('ish = male being) stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, 'Are You for us or for our adversaries?' So He said, 'No, but as Commander of the army of Yahweh I have now come.' And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped [the Man], and said to Him, 'What does my Master say to His servant?' Then the Commander of Yahweh's army said to Joshua, 'Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy.' And Joshua did so" (Josh.5:13-15, NKJV).

Let's try now to pull all of this information together before we look at the practical side of prayer and then condense it all down to some very simple principles in a basic matrix of divine tavnith (pattern). When as people we are communing or fellowshipping, what we are really doing is experiencing a kind of echad or oneness inside - a union. The way this 'happens' is when we opperate in correct the tavnith (pattern) of gender rôles. We, as human beings, are in female position relative to Yah'shua (Jesus) and Yahweh. We are the Bride of Messiah. Therefore in relation to Elohim (God), we are always operating in the female rôle, whether we are men or woman - it makes no difference. We are therefore - all of us - very much like the four wives of Jacob or the seven wives of David, something most modern believers find hard to grasp because of our exclusively Western monogamous culture that gears us to think in only one over-simplistic way.

Worship is female principle, something that is expressed by a female - whether physically or spiritually - to a covenant male. Yahweh does not worship us in the way we worship Him! True worship cannot be disconnected from the surrender and opening and yielding of female to male, to the Hebrew words of the same: segad, avad and shachah. This is the way in which the female expresses ahavah (love) to her covenant male, acknowledging the the source of her provision. Worship is never something that male expresses to female in true biblical tavnith (pattern), but is always expressed by female to male (especially where worship cannot be disconnected from surrender and offering and acknowledgment of provision and source). However, there is a way that male expresses ahavah (love) to female by responding to tavnith worship and moving to fill it, as well as leading and providing and revealing his glory.

When there is communion or unity between male and female, it is male coming to abide in, and fill, the worship given by the female, as spoken of frequently in the Psalms of David - for this is a reflection of echad union, of toqef (authority) or male principle coming to fill and move in female principle. Therefore all echad, unity and communion connects back to the relationship between male and female, which is the diametric opposite of everything you will ever hear in the Babylonian, secular, atheistic, feministic and paganistic society that everywhere dominates. Most believers have major problems seeing this and that is why the Body of Messiah is in such deep, deep apostacy.

There is no participation in the first resurrection without this emet (truth) because the first resurrection is this emet (truth) and because the first resurrection is the reality of chayim (life) in the presence of Elohim (God). That is why there are so few who come up to the Kingdom of the Father, a mere 144,000 families. The vast multitude of millions of other believers choose the second resurrection because they refuse to submit to this emet (truth) and are thereby led into Torahlessness or lawlessness. Virtually all the errors in the Christian and Messianic world stem from the rejection of this fundamental principle. And most who hear and read me will reject this for that reason. I fully expect that.

In a nutshell, there are too many 'gods' out there praying to Elohim (God) and too many male (ruling) wives married to too many female (submissive) husbands. In the same way that gender rôles are being neutralised (and sometimes reversed) in society, so the relationship between believers and Elohim (God) is being equalised and even reversed - Elohim (God) has become our 'Pal' and sometimes a Dispensing Machine to be controlled though occultic-type 'prayer', much as occultists try to control and manipulate demons to serve their own ends through spells and curses.

There is an intimate connection between communion and prayer and worship, a tavnith (pattern) I hinted at back in an important earlier devotional, Unity Amongst Believers: An Illustration of Divine Tavnith. Male and female - whether literally (in marriage) or allegorically (in our relationship to Yahweh) - attain this communion and union in different ways. This is vehemently denied by most in the modern churches and messianic assemblies who try to make the two processes out to be completely different when they are identical, because the one is a reflection of the other. For those who may have forgotten this biblical tavnith (pattern) I reproduce the two diagrams from the earlier devotional:

This shows the true tavnith (pattern) by which two believers (sw1 and sw2) come into proper spiritual communion and union with each other and with Messiah. Here the proper toqef (authority), submission and respect is shown to the male toqef (authority) Yahweh by the two believers who mutually submit to one another in His emet (truth) and Torah:

"Submit to one another out of reverence for Messiah (the head or toqef)" (Eph.5:21, NIV).

The result is a demonic counterfeit which overturns true toqef (authority) and results in a corruption of the relationship between the male and female parties. A tree is not make up of multiple trunks (the occultic Moloch doctrine of hermaphrodism) with no branches but of one trunk (male) and multiple branches (female). The only way the branches can connect to one another is through the trunk, by being fed by the same sap. That sap flows to us through correct prayer and worship and then there is true echad (oneness). Only by sincerely loving and worshipping the true Head, abiding in and surrendering to the same Male (Yah'shua/Jesus), can they find fellowship and communion. Thus the Male is acknowledged as the source of every tov (good) thing in that person (female - whether man or woman believer). The lovingness and caring nature in the female principle stems from and is rooted in the love of the male principle. Where this tavnith (pattern) is not acknowledged or adhered to, and the relationship is therefore ungodly, idolatry is at work and a demonic power behind it to which the submission and worship is actually being given, even if unknowingly.

The Johannine Scriptures emphatically teach that if we love Yahweh we will automatically love others in proper covenant relationship. In loving other believers, it is a worship of Him. The second great commandment cannot be disconnected from the first - when the first is in place ("Love Elohim"), the second ("Love Your Neighbour") will also be there abiding in the first. When the first is not there, neither is the second, no matter how much 'loving' we may thing we are doing on the second, lower human level.

The female-branch cannot give life - she can only reproduce and nurture what she receives from the sap that comes from in-grafting. Cut the female-branches off from the male-trunk, and they whither away and die, and any fruit they may have on them. When a believer (female) becomes the object of worship and prayer in place of Yahweh (male), then in accepting that worship the believer is commiting sin and idolatry, because the object of all true worship and prayer is the one to whom the position of maleship has been given. Believers are not to worship one another, but as they worship, honour, respect and adore the Male Principle which is Yahweh-Elohim, so they will love, fellowship and commune with each other in the Male (Yahweh) with other believers.

To the flesh and its demonic tavnith (patterning), this will all seem weird, upside-down, 'not right' and downright 'scary', if not actually 'evil'. It certainly challenges the whole basis on which Western marriage is built. It totally contradicts the gender premises of humanism and communism which aim for gender neutralisation in the supposed interests of 'equality'. In countries like my own adopted one of Sweden this state policy has lead to national psychosis and the disintegration of the family. People are confused as to who or what they are. Officially there are no gender differences and so relationships have become dangerously unstable, with the divorce (~60%) and common-law break-up (~95%) statistics amongst the highest in the world. Sweden is a social failure even if it is an economic success. Little wonder that Swedish Christianity is all messed up too because they don't know how to worship either as the gender of the Elohimhead (Godhead) has become redefined in occultic, hermaphroditic terms. The rest of the West will follow suit, and is already doing so, of that you can be certain. This is one reason I stick my neck out and insist on the proper gender rôles assigned by the Creator who alone knows what the foundation of everlasting happiness is.

We can in part blame the neo-pagan all-male Catholic Trinitarian Doctrine for this mess. You cannot go denying the Divine Female indefinitely without provoking an equal and opposite reaction in another equally wrong direction. The result is always occultism and satanism. Thus to understand true worship and prayer we must understand the true Male-Female natures of the different Persons of the Elohimhead (Godhead) - Father / Son /Mother-Ruach - and the proper relationship designed by Yahweh for the genders. Instead of fracturing male and female, as the Enemy has done (and then redefined them by de-sexing them), we need to understand their complimentary nature in divine tavnith (pattern). The flesh will (I 100% guarantee) rebel against this tavnith (pattern) and demons will 100% oppose which is why this emet (truth) is never arrived at without a fight or without hard opposition. Only by aligning our thoughts and feelings (and especially our feelings) with true tavnith (pattern) will we ever see the reality of the spiritual world and the creation image that we are supposed to be. The world is essentially blind to it, hates it and fears it - just as it does the Messiah.

When a husband is abiding in Yah'shua (Jesus) - in proper submitted, female position - and when a wife is abiding in her husband (with him in male position and she in female), then you have proper tavnith (pattern) and authentic, supernatural (and therefroe eternal) echad (unity). As a husband worships (affirms divine worth-ship) and prays to (communes with) Yahweh, so a wife may, similarly - on a human level - worship (affirm human worth-ship) and pray to (commune with) her husband - not in the classic Latin sense but in the Hebrew sense. It is this that brings about true surrender and respect that she is commanded by Yahweh to give, so that husband and wife may be a model and reflection of Yah'shua (Jesus) and the Bride. This kind of worship is not sin (missing the mark) but is simply reproducing the male/female tavnith (pattern) on our own level of existence, as Yahweh desires. This does not mean that the husband is Divine or a 'God' (Yah forbid) but that he is a divinely appointed elohim or ruler, the priest, judge and head of his wife and family, just as Yahweh is of His own Heavenly Family.

Christian and Messianic women are not accustomed to viewing their husbands as their 'Big Branch' grafted into Yah'shua (Jesus) partly because of centuries of cultural bias and partly because most men aren't properly grafted in themselves. And yet when they seek to share the trunk with their husbands by assuming co-headship they wonder why their respect for him diminishes for in the process they become more male-like and he more female-like as neither are able to perform their Elohim-appointed gender rôles. Both become frustrated with each other, leading to friction over toqef (authority) and mutual disrespect just mushrooms. Worship of Elohim (God) also suffers as the two adapt to one another and move more and more out of divine tavnith (pattern). He is increasingly repelled by her assuming male toqef (authority) rôles and she is no longer able to rejoice in his provision and leadership because she has sought her own independently of him. His malehood is crushed and her femaleness is hardened leading to compound demonic problems (see Hecate and Lilith) for he can no longer supply her needs. The wife progressively ceases to worship (give worth-ship to) her husband and he progressively ceases to connect with her because she is not in a position to receive as the little branch grafted into the big branch, and he is not in a position to love as a male but only as a female, which is revolting to him unless he surrenders to the demoness Lilith who rewires him inside to make him a placid 'female' man.

Whether we like it or not, Yahweh has set up the Universe in only one way. Rebelling against it simply hurts us and those with whom we are close. Tampering with gender rôles is in a way the spiritual equivalent to making GMO's - Genetically Modified Organisms. This tampering with higher powers which we do not - and cannot ever fully - understand has disasterous consequences for the individual, for the family and for society, assuring the eventual collapse of civilisation.

There is usually a combination of much pride and ignorance when it comes to reacting negatively to Yahweh's Divine Order. And for sure it can be abused, as we see in some very backwards religious societies today that are violent and mysogenous. There are always satanic counterfeits of every system that resembles the emet (truth) superfically on the outside but at heart are radically different. When gender rôles are perverted (as in ultra-patriarchy or matriarchy) then worship and prayer become perverted too.

True tavith (pattern) requires, first, that husbands become authentic, humble, obedient bondservants in ahavah (love) to Yah'shua (Jesus) as Yah'shua (Jesus) - though Elohim (God) - is the Bondservant of His Father Yahweh. Only then can a wife feel safe enough to become the humble, obedient, ahavah (love)-filled bondservant of her husband, surrendering to her husband (the Big Branch) in all things as he surrenders to Messiah (the Trunk or Vine) in all things within the proscribed boundaries of Torah.

"I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My talmidim (disciples)" (John 15:5-8, NKJV).

We must be absolutely clear here about one thing: a wife is not to worship her husband as a god since he, like her, can do nothing of himself. If she does, she commits idolatry. The husband is not the Vine or the Gardener - Yah'shua (Jesus) alone is. If she worships - gives her allegiance, devotion, ahavah (love) and surrender to another man, she comes out of both coverings (whether she still claims to be a believer or not) and becomes an adulterer, and cannot get right with Yahweh until she is properly grafted back into her man again in proper tavnith (pattern). This is not something she can bargain for - she has no bargain chips, any more than the husband has bargain chips of his own to deny her covering (and the responsibility of defending her in spiritual warfare as well as physically) even if she does not submit or worship as she should. Only when we are submitting in the ways appointed by Yahweh are we worshipping and praying to Him in tavnith (pattern) and not to some other false claimant to deity (like Satan). All her lev (heart) must belong to her husband just as all of his must belong to Yah'shua (Jesus), as all of His belongs to Yahweh. And as all the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit/Heavenly Mother) belongs to the Heavenly Father.

It is impossible to surrender to Yah'shua (Jesus) with the carnal nature just as it is impossible for the carnal nature to please Yahweh. In the same way, godly prayer is not 'natural' to the carnal man. If we try to surrender and worship Yahweh in the flesh we will quite simply not bear fruit. We will become as a bare branch, whether as the husband as the Big Branch or wife as the Little Branch. All must be connected, and connected in the right order. We must abide in the Vine in tavnith (pattern) or the Gardeners (Yah'shua/Jesus) and husbands) cannot obtain the fruits that they seek. Likewise, it is impossible for us to move in godly prayer apart from Yah'shua (Jesus) or to continue abiding Him. We will simply fall away.

If this is hard for you to swallow, it's OK. It's hard for all of us because of the special responsibilities that devolve upon us. But we have help if we will call upon it:

"Likewise the Ruach (Spirit/Heavenly Mother) also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Ruach (Spirit) Herself makes intercession for us..." (Rom.8:26, NKJV).

"Walk prudently when you go to the house of Elohim (God); and draw near to hear rather than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they do evil. Do not be rash with your mouth, and let not your lev (heart) utter anything hastily before Elohim (God). For Elohim (God) is in heaven, and you on earth; therefore let your words be few. For a dream comes through much activity, and a fool’s voice is known by his many words. When you make a vow to Elohim (God), do not delay to pay it; for He has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you have vowed — better not to vow than to vow and not pay. Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin, nor say before the messenger of Elohim (God) that it was an error. Why should Elohim (God) be angry at your excuse and destroy the work of your hands? For in the multitude of dreams and many words there is also vanity. But fear Elohim (God)" (Ecclesiastes 5:1-7, NKJV).

We must be honest and open in prayer but also carefully consider the way we bring our thoughts and feelings to Him and to our husbands, remembering to do so with reverance, respect, godly awe and fear. We are admonished to carefully think about and consider our words to Elohim and not just 'say things hastily'. This is especially true if someone may be angry or dissapointed with Elohim or with a husband. Railing at a head is never acceptable and if we have a complaint it should be brought with grace, respect and a proper tone of voice, surrendering the temptation to irrationally strike out. Men and women alike must learn this grace and asked to be changed from within by the Ruach (Spirit) so that we do not do that which is unacceptable nor be lead thereby into sin.

So we see that prayer is intimate communication between man and man, or Elohim (God)-initiated intimate communication in ruach (spirit) and emet (truth) between Yahweh and man. The closest human-to-human prayer and worship is between husband and wife which follows the same sacred tavnith (pattern) as the prayer, worship and communion between Yah'shua (Jesus), the alegorical Bridegroom and His allegorical Wife, the Messianic Community (Church), because this is the deepest and most sacred human relationship there is. And just as there is a special power that manifests between husband and wife who walk in emet (truth) and binds them together into an inseparable echad (oneness) bond, so there is a Power which moves the arm of Yahweh, which shakes nations, blinds hell, and accomplishes the impossible when we, as talmidim (disciples), move correctly in this most set-apart (holy) of communication between mortal man and the Divine.

Are we serious about moving in this Heavenly Power? If we are, and if we don't want to be fooled by all the psychic counterfeits plaguing the Body of Messiah today, then we have got to see prayer and worship as it really is, and operate in correct tavnith (pattern). We have to become who we really are supposed to be - humble, prostrated, surrendered servants owned fully by our Heavenly Master.

In the second part of this study we will take a look into the practical aspects of prayer. May this theological grounding be a blessing to you in the meantime!

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