Last week we were dealing with the question of effectual prayer and gave the example of how the Tabernacle was set up and how this teaches us about how to approach God for effectual prayer. The Tabernacle is called the Mishkan in Hebrew. It means the "dwelling" and it was were the Shekinah, Kivod and the Ruach Ha Kodesh manifested. You can see the root for "shki'nah" (shekinah as most say it, but it's "shki'nah") in the word "Mishkan" (tabernacle). It was called the House of Prayer, as was the succeeding Temples. In Exodus 25.8 God showed Moses the "tavnit" or pattern of the Mishkan and that was where He would dwell. He goes on and gives Moses the pattern for everything connected with the Mishkan and its construction. Then in Exodus 40 He tells Moses to set up the Mishkan, and then tells him how to do it. In a way, that is how the Lord see's us. If He is in the Holy of Holies looking out, that is how it was set up, from the inside out. That is how He sets up His "mishkan" in us, from the inside first, working outward. But, when we approach the Lord in prayer it is just the opposite. Coming into his presence (shki'nah), the first thing you encounter is the veil at the door and an anointed priest (Yeshua) and then we come to the Altar (cross). Then we come to the Laver that held water (the Word of God). Moving past that Laver we enter the Mishkan and on the north side ( north speaks of intellect) we have the Table of Bread ( which speaks of provision not only spiritually but physically). On the south side (south is the direction of faith) we have the Menorah (speaks of bearing the light). In the middle, before the veil we have the Altar of Incense (speaking of prayer) . Then we have the veil (speaks of a barrier of space or understanding) and then the Ark of the Covenant (God's commandments await you). All of these speak of the Messiah also and this is not the time to go into all the pictures we have of these articles but there is something being said here. This is how we come to the Lord, not only in salvation but daily. Most believers have no problem coming in, encountering the priest and the Altar. They have no problem with the Laver which symbolizes the Word. They have no problem moving on with the idea of God's provision of "bread" (altar of Bread) or understanding, the"light" of the Menorah or even prayer (altar of incense) but many stop right there. They have a problem with that "servant" business. They say "All I need is Jesus" (the priest) or "All I need is back out there on the Altar." They will say "I want the mercy (mercy seat on the Ark) but I don't want what's down there in that box!" But in the New Covenant, the Torah will be written on our heart's (Ark) as God builds us into His Mishkan. For effectual prayer, we must ask "Are we following the pattern He gave us to "approach" Him? Will you follow the pattern given to Moses? Many believers say that following the pattern given to Moses is "legalism" but Moses had effectual prayers. Yeshua followed Moses and His prayers were effectual. The apostles followed Moses and they had effectual prayer. What some call legalism, God calls obedience. So, for effectual prayer ask yourself "How is my Tabernacle set up?" When things don't go right we need to make sure things are "set up" according to the pattern. That is, in order and everything in the right place, nothing missing. Ask yourself, "Have I got water (word of God) in the Laver?" "Have I got bread on the table?" "Have I got the commandments in the Ark (my heart)?" For effectual prayer, start looking at these things and see if you are approaching the Lord according to the pattern He has set up. If everything is in order, then wait and the Lord promised that He would speak to you "between the wings of the Cherubim" of the Ark of the Covenant. I hope this helps you with your question about effectual prayer.

Q James 5.16 talks about "effective prayer." What is that?

A. The followers of Yeshua asked Him to teach them to pray because they saw that He had results, so He goes into what has been called "The Lord's Prayer." This prayer is not "original" and it was a very typical Jewish prayer. It was a model prayer and that means we should pray as the Scriptures teach us. This prayer sums up the major themes of what true prayer is. This also shows us, contrary to what many teach today, that Jews were not hypocrites because "they did not know what to say." Their prayers were fine. Yeshua used them in His "model prayer." The problem was not with the words, the form, the content or the petitions. All of that was how it should have been. The problem was that did not pray with sincerity and truth. There was no repentance or faith. The best prayer is useless if it doesn't express the true intentions of the heart. The Lord looks on the heart and judges any prayer by the faith with which it was offered. Any Jewish person who heard Yeshua this model prayer would have agreed with its contents and found it acceptable. However, there is a warning to praying the same words over and over again thinking repetition will gain favor. This was the mentality of many people in book called "The Didache" that "The Lord's Prayer" should be said three times a day like Jewish prayers. This carries a fatal tendency to turn prayer into a performance instead of the language of faith, love and gratitude. Prayer is a real dependance on the Lord. That is the true essence of prayer, but the form and content, no matter how orthodox, is worthless if the heart is not humble before the Lord and if the prayer is not the true utterance and expression of the heart. Yeshua's prayers were effective and that is why His followers asked Him to "teach us to pray." Look at how the Tabernacle was constructed. It starts with the Ark and works its way outward (Exodus 40). This is how God see's us. It is as if He is in the Holy of Holies looking "out" if you will. Now, the Tabernacle was a House of Prayer and how it was constructed gives us a clue to effective prayer. But, when you approach the Tabernacle from the outside going in, the Lord gives us a lesson on how to approach Him. Next week we will discuss this teaching in Exodus and give some insights into effective prayer.

This week we are going to conclude our look into the question about the Image of God. As we talked about before, the ultimate plan of God is the "unification of His Name" (Zech 14.9) and there are many teachings out there on this subject. This has been symbolized in such ways as the union of the heavens and the earth in which the "evil or mixed realm" is removed, Ezekiel's Temple is established, the Messiah has returned and the marriage of the Messiah to his bride. If we understand this concept of the "unification of His Name" we will better understand prophecy and the Book of Revelation. In short, Satan's plan is to thwart this "unification" and establish his own name. We see from Scripture that he has had many attempts to stop what God was trying to do and become " like the Most High" (Isa 14.14) and "displaying himself as God"(2 Thes 2.4). In warfare, strategy is how you win a war, tactics is how you win battles. We know Satan's strategy is to stop God from the unification of His Name and all that it implies. His tactics are lying, cheating, stealing, counterfeiting and overall psychological warfare. But, whatever Satan does serves God's purpose so we should take heart that the Lord is in control and His ultimate plan to conform us into His image will not fail.
At this time, however, God's "shekinah" (God's presence in the world) can be "separated" or in "exile" in a way because man disregards the Torah. This is especially true with Israel. The tactics and what Satan really does can be seen in the historical enemies of Israel from Amalek to the enemies of Israel today (Ecc 1.9). We see God's Shekinah, Kivod, and Ruach departing at various times due to the people and their apostasy. The result is greater power to Satan to deceive many and many hearts to fail. But, in the end all this will be positive in that the Messiah arrives. A picture of this can be seen in many parts of Scripture but one of the most important ones is Leviticus 13 and the teaching about a leper. Biblical leprosy is not what people think it is today. This was an affliction sent by God called "tzara"at" so the person with this skin disease was called a "metzora" and he was to see a priest, not a doctor and was not treated with medicine. Tzara'at could also come upon houses and clothing as well. We know that a metzora is ritually unclean and was not to have contact with others, was put out of the camp and so on. But, when the tzara'at covered his whole body he is declared clean. This teaches that when Israel is in a similar state of uncleanliness (whole) another "priest" (Messiah) will come and declare them clean due to their faith in Yeshua. In the same way, any sinner who knows that he is completely lost can come to the Lord and be declared "clean" but we must acknowledge we are a complete sinner. If we make excuses or blame others for our sins then we we are not "clean", just like the metzora is not clean if he has some tzara'at on him. Only when he is completely covered (or completely admits his own guilt) can he be declared clean. Then we are ready to be conformed into His own image, unity is achieved and we can help bring "tikkun olam" (repair to the world).

Q. What does it mean in Gen 1.27 when it says that man was made in the image of God?
A. Gen 1.27 says "So God made man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."
Now, there is much to be said about this verse, so let's rule out a few things first. He is not talking about the physical because he is Spirit. He doesn't have flesh and blood or even looks like us. The Bible uses terminology that says God has hands and feet, a mouth and so on but that is so we can understand him better. Being in the image of God is not physical so that leaves the spiritual so we are going to concentrate on that aspect. Unity is an important subject in the Scriptures. When God created the heavens and the earth, including man, everything was in union with God but that is not the state the creation is in right now. This union is what the redemption is all about and it will be brought about as the Kingdom progresses. Until that time, those who follow God are to work towards what is called the "tikkun olam" or the repairing of the world. This includes bringing peace and healing into the lives of people. This is a very difficult task today because many have their own ideas about God and the truth, but we are to strive to bring the truth, thus unity, where possible. The mitzvot, or commandments of God as given in the Torah are structured to bring about "tikkun" (repair) in both the physical and spiritual levels. Things like divorce goes against the concept of tikkun therefore it is not the will of God except that he permitted it because of the hardness of people's hearts (Mt19.8) but from the beginning it was not so, or his intention. Even God himself divorced himself from Israel and Judah. But, that brings up the question that if divorce is wrong in the sight of the Lord, why did he allow it? It's Scripture and a part of his revelation to us. Someone could say, why did God allow for multiple wives? Why did he allow slavery? Why did he allow for war? We are going to be confronted by some very interesting things here.
Although the Scriptures does not speak in favor of divorce, polygamy, slavery or war it does set up "rules" for how to deal with such issues. When God created the universe and man, it was in a perfect state but sin entered the world and this brought disunity in every area. The Torah was given because of sin. It identifies the problem and the sin situation that has been in effect since that time. God knows that man is going to sin and if there is a right way or a wrong way to do something, we tend to look at the wrong way a long time. The commandments of God, on a most basic level, helps keep man "in the corral" so he doesn't go too far from God's ways. God understands that we are weak and knows that an outright "no" can stir up our desires and Paul talks about this in Romans 7. As a result, the Torah commands regulating certain issues like divorce, polygamy, slavery and war. As one studies deeper into the things of God, the Scriptures will show that although God allows certain things they do not represent his perfect character. One of the things that Messiah is doing and will do is to reveal the deeper meanings of his Word so that man can better conform themselves to the image of God, his character, and work with him towards "tikkun olam" or the repairing of the world. There is a biblical term for working towards this "repair" and it is called "halachah" which means to walk in God's ways. Let me give you a small example of this "repair" in the life of Paul. In Acts 21 he is coming to Jerusalem to keep a festival and he was going to give alms and sacrifices (Acts 24.17). A rumor was being circulated that Paul was teaching people to forsake Moses (Acts 21.21) and of course Paul denied this to James, the "nasi" or president of the sect called the "the Way" (to walk=halachah). So James asked Paul to pay the expenses for the animal sacrifices of four other believers so that "all will know that there is nothing to the things which have been said about you, but that you yourself also walk (halachah) orderly, keeping the Torah" (Acts 21.24). You see, walking orderly in the things of God brought unity to the believers but it stirred up Satan, whose job is to bring disunity, and he stirred up those opposed to walking orderly in the things of God and they arrested Paul.
And that brings up another subject, but we will continue with that next week as we talk about the nature and tactics of Satan in his opposition to God's unity and the "tikkun olam", the repairing of the world and being made in the image of God.