I.

VALUE #1 – ENJOYING INTIMACY WITH THE BEAUTIFUL GOD

“ONE THING I HAVE DESIRED OF THE LORD, that will I seek…all the
days of my life, TO BEHOLD THE BEAUTY OF THE LORD….” (Ps. 27:4)

A. David’s life-long preoccupation was gazing on the beauty of God. God’s

beauty was central to the prayer ministry led by King David. In eternity,
the subject of the beauty of God is our eternal preoccupation with God
Himself. He is the delight and the pleasure of His people forever.

2. The revelation of God’s emotions and affections (burning desires)

was also part of David’s special focus.

3. The combination of God’s beauty with His emotions for human

beings provides the essential ingredients of enjoyable prayer.

4. The sustaining reality behind the IHOP-KC prayer model of 24-

hour-a-day prayer is to encounter God as we understand His beauty
and affection. Some who are interested in the IHOP-KC vision of
24-hour-a-day prayer are more interested in the structure and
model of “Harp and Bowl.” However, the power to engage in
night and day prayer is found in having a heart that soars in God.

5. Our primary focus in prayer must be on God rather than on

repenting of sin or binding the devil. You cannot do this 24 hours
a day for years and years. Yes, we engage in these spiritual
realities, but they are not the main focus of 24/7 prayer.

A. King David’s theology of prayer provides essential dynamics for

enjoyable prayer (Ps. 149; 16). David wrote of God’s pleasure, delight and
affection for His people.

6. King David taught the people to enjoy God. In place of the word
“rejoice” or “joyful” think of the word “enjoy.”
“Let Israel rejoice (enjoy) in their Maker; let the children of
Zion be joyful (enjoy) in their King.” (Ps. 149:2)

7. God delights or takes pleasure in His people. At the heart of

Davidic revelation is the understanding of God’s delight in us
(even in our weakness). The beauty God possesses is the beauty
He imparts to His people through redemption.
“For the LORD takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify
the humble with salvation.” (Ps. 149:4)
 A. The first Person of the Trinity is a tender, strong, compassionate Father;
the second Person of the Trinity is a passionate Bridegroom-King and the
third Person of the Trinity is a comforting, instructor, Who is able to
convict us of sin while igniting our affections toward the Father and Son.
Meditation upon the beauty, character, affections and pleasures of God are
vital to the End-Time prayer movement.

The following study is based upon Section B #2

“ . . . beauty ‘dances as an uncontained splendor around the double constellation of the

true and the good and their inseparable relation to one another’”Hans Von Balthasar

“Whoever rejects genuine beauty ‘can no longer pray and soon will no longer be able to
love.’”Hans Von Balthasar

Consider these pictures of beauty: “. . . gazing at a gorgeous sunset, looking upon a

newly blossomed tulip bed under a springtime sun, listening to a Strauss waltz or a
Mozart concerto, in the early evening sighting the moon and Venus closely aligned,
enjoying a competent choir singing the Gregorian chant “Mass of the Angels” looking
from an ocean beach, enjoying the sparkle of a diamond, a person lost in adoration . . .”
(Thomas Dubay)

What pictures come to mind when you think of “beauty?”

How do you define beauty?
What makes God beautiful?
What makes people beautiful?
What makes you beautiful?
Is difficult for you to ascribe beauty to yourself? Can you explain why or why not?
If it is easy . . . why?
Have you ever ascribed beauty to someone else? How did it make them & you feel?
Has anyone ever ascribed beauty to you? How did it make you feel?
Have you ever ascribed beauty to yourself? How did it make you feel?
How do you treat yourself and others when you feel beautiful?
How does God define beauty?
Does God find you beautiful?
Have you ever considered the fact that God has ascribed beauty to you?
Do you believe it? How does that make you feel?
Why did God make “beauty”?
Why is ascribing beauty to God and walking in the beauty God ascribes to you important
for your life? In what way would it impact your relationships with others? How would it
affect your ministry in the House of Prayer?
(Look at the scriptures on the last page. Who is the original audience? Can they be
applied corporately and individually to God’s people? Can they be applied to you?)

Assignment #1: Will you spend some time this week finding scriptures that reveal God’s
perspective on beauty and ask Him to show you how they apply to you personally? (Here
are some to help you get started: Isaiah 61:1-3, Psalm 45, Song of Songs, 1Peter 3:3-4,
Psalm 90:17, Psalm 104:2, Psalm 149:4 Song 7:10, Philippians 3:21, 1John 3:2,
Matthew 13:43, Hebrews 10:16, Revelation 21:9-11)

Assignment #2: Ask the Lord to begin revealing His emotions to you and in particular
what He finds beautiful and pleasing in the scriptures? Ask yourself some basic
questions: what does He value, like or dislike about this particular issue; what does that
preference say about Him?

Isa 61:1-3 The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is on Me, because Jehovah has anointed Me to preach
the gospel to the meek. He has sent Me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to
captives, and complete opening to the bound ones; to proclaim the acceptable year of
Jehovah, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to appoint to those
who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning,
the mantle of praise instead of the spirit of infirmity, so that one calls them trees of
righteousness, the planting of Jehovah, in order to beautify Himself.
Literal Translation of the Bible.

Psalm 45:6-11Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; the scepter of Your kingdom is a scepter of
uprightness. You love righteousness and hate wickedness; on account of this God, Your God,
has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your fellows. All Your garments smell of
myrrh and aloes and cassia out of ivory palaces; by strings of a harp they make You glad.
King's daughters are among Your precious ones; the queen stands at Your right hand in gold
of Ophir. Listen, O daughter, and look, and incline your ear, and forget your people and your
father's house. And the King will desire your beauty, for He is your Lord, and you shall
worship Him.

Song of Songs 1:15-16 Behold, you are beautiful, My love. Behold, you are beautiful; your eyes as
doves'. Behold, You are beautiful, my Beloved; yea, pleasant. Also our couch is green.

Song of Songs 2:10-14 My Beloved answered and said to me, Arouse yourself, My love, My
beautiful one, and come away. For, behold, the winter has passed, the rain has passed, it goes
to itself. The flowers are seen on the earth; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the
turtledove is heard in our land. The fig tree spices her unripe figs, and the vines give a
fragrance by the blossom. Arise, My love; come, My beautiful one, and come yourself. My
dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the secrecy of the steep place, let Me see your form. Let Me
hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your form is beautiful.

Song of Songs 4:7 -9 You are all beautiful, My love. There is no blemish on you. Come with Me
from Lebanon, My spouse; with Me from Lebanon. Look from the top of Amana, from the top
of Shenir and Hermon, from the lions' dens, from the mountains of the leopards. You have
ravished My heart, My sister, My spouse; you have ravished My heart with one of your eyes,
with one chain of your neck.

Rom 10:15 And how may they preach if they are not sent? Even as it has been written, "How
beautiful" "the feet of those preaching the gospel of peace, of those preaching the gospel of good
things." Isa. 52:7

Eph 6:13-15 Because of this, take up all of the armor of God that you may be able to resist in the
evil day, and having worked out all things, to stand. Then stand firm, "having girded your
loins about with truth" and having put "on the breastplate of righteousness," Isa. 11:5; 59:17
and having shod the feet with the preparation of the "gospel of peace." Isa. 52:7