This series on intercessors training for Singapore is based off my written notes, which I took as I attended a church conference on this topic in Feb 2025.

Speaker: Ps Shyane Payne

The Bible says when two or three are gathered in my midst, I’m present (Matt 18:20).

How many think it’s real, or just a good idea to make you feel good?

Here’s what you are going to do now, close your eyes and imagine he is walking around.

How would you interact with him, what if he didn’t notice you, is that ok?

What we have just demonstrated is courting the presence of God, and coming close to Him intentionally.

And when you know you are in His presence, things changes, the environment changes.

Even how you respond to him changes, your mind submits saying you are the Lord, even time runs away.

Beloved even when Jesus when He was teaching us to pray, he says come to me my Father.

When my children were much younger, and I come home, they would run to me, daddy is coming home.

And no matter how difficult my day was, I love when they run to me and I feel I am valued.

Daddy loves when you run to him.

So Jesus is saying go to your daddy, call him Abba Father.

Meaning He is claiming you as His own, so you can stand before Him and say I’m yours, I’m made in your image and likeness.

I’m not coming as a stranger, orphan, or cousin.

I’m coming into my daddy’s house, he has eyes for me, he is not condemning me, or beating me.

And extending his arms, saying my beloved, you are mine, and I’m yours.

And that is Jesus approach, when you come to pray, come to your daddy, he is all love.

So when you are praying, stop for awhile and just acknowledge, you are the Lord, majesty belongs to you.

I told you about my mother, strange woman, she cries a lot.

She sits in the bedroom and pulls a chair out saying, my Lord I want to talk to you, would you come and talk to me.

I think he has settled down and sit on the chair, because he is no longer in heaven, but has come to sit with her.

Then she cried and said I saw you came into the room, and now you are holding my hands, my heart is melting and the pain ran away.

And the peace that passes all understanding came, and somehow I had hope, and I was able to pass through that difficult situation.

And now I’m here, I couldn’t have done it without you, thank you for loving me.

And then she would just go into I love you, you will be my God, all of my days I would serve you, and serve you.

She interacts with a living God that comes.

Beloved what I learnt in my young years, is he is not just for the pastors, apostles, Moses and Aaron.

But he wants to come to you, and you decide how much of him you want to have.

Now let’s go to scriptures briefly.

In Exo 20, the Lord has just spoken the 10 commandments and they were so afraid.

Then he spoke to Moses saying, this is what you are going to say to them.

Exo 20:22: You have seen that I have talked to you from heaven and I’m real. And what you are feeling is you are real.

v23: Do not make yourself any gods of silver and gold, and altar of earth you shall make unto me, sacrifice on there burnt offerings, thy sheep and oxen, and I will come to you, I will bless you.

Means I’m available and always available, and I want to come.

But if you want to do it, then raise an altar, not in any place, but in the place I said.

Before the blessings comes, is the presence.

Recall in Intercessors Training for Singapore: Session 10 article, and Intercessors Training for Singapore: Session 11 article, we introduced prayer altars, and how they attract the presence of God.

He said, I will come to you, and I will bless you.

Many of us wants the blessings, not the presence.

Pastor intercede for me, so God would come and bless me.

And when you invite him, and he stands before you, you say daddy I need a husband.

And like any father he asks why you need a husband.

Daddy because I’m alone.

So it’s the presence, you need to learn how to interact with him.

And this is what he said to Israel, you want me to come to you.

Make an altar, and you do not have to depend on any counterfeits, in fact those are abomination.

Follow my principles, and I will come to you.

This for me, is one of the most powerful scriptures of OT, and the foundation of the altar.

The whole success of the altar, depends on him coming to us.

And so the engagement on the altar, the things you do on the altar, is all about him coming.

You want him to bless SG, and before the blessings comes the presence.

And you know the presence can be overwhelming, sometimes your heart melts before him, and when he comes everything changes, and he says let’s talk.

Come and engage with me.

So you are asking Lord come and bless our nation.

He says I want to come to you, and I want to bless your nation through you.

I want you to be a part of what I’m doing in the nation.

I want you to be with me.

So you have to interact with the presence.

In normal prayer meetings, we are taught just to pray, and ask for the blessings.

And if the Holy Spirit shows up, then let him have his way.

That means we are not really expecting him, but if he decides to show up, we say you are the Lord and our programme is messed up.

The presence, we have to learn to acknowledge and interact, he wants to come to you.

God told us now, raise an altar, and they would offer a morning and evening sacrifice.

As they were doing that, God comes to Moses, and said that is not enough, build me a tabernacle.

I don’t just want to visit, but I want to dwell with you.

So it’s not just a visitation when you need a blessing.

But the longing of God’s heart to stay with us all the time.

But remember I’m the Lord, I’m holy, I have requirements, there are things that just can’t happen around me.

I want to come, but I cannot reduce myself, I’m holy I can’t reduce that, so I demand of you, be holy as I’m holy.

There are some things if you want me, you cannot touch.

Can you see him? He wants to be with you.

And when you comes with his presence, the blessing, the protection, the favour, the open doors.

I want to be with you, but beloved, I’m holy, if you are not going to honour me as holy, can I come among you.

Have you wondered why the presence of God is once in awhile.

You have gotten use to him coming once awhile.

Do you think he is happy with that?

He wants to dwell with us.

Beloved, we deny him what he wants, and we have prayer meetings, and we are convinced God is pleased with us, and pray give me the blessings.

Praise the Lord, let’s seek his presence.

I walk into my mom’s room, and let’s say I want some lunch money, and she is before God like this.

Do I ask her for the money, so what I’m going to do?

Wait for her, but she takes hours.

I need the money to get on the school bus and lunch, she should not be praying right now.

Say church is ending soon, and it’s 10:58, and the pastor is supposed to come up and say the benediction.

But as he gets up, the Holy Spirit comes on the pastor, and he is on fire, get’s up to pray for a long time, and is groaning in prayer.

How many should leave? He should know better, and control himself as a prophet, he is not honouring our time.

You want the blessing, the presence comes, you have to interact with him, and engage him.

So come back to my mother, do I disturb her?

It means I’m going to be hungry the whole day, and I’m only seven years old.

So I tugged her clothes.

When we come as God, he is king, remember what we seen, let your kingdom come.

When you come, let you handle your business, and it will be about your business first, before I talk about my daily bread.

We need to settle the matters of the kingdom.

Which means from his vantage point, don’t talk to me about your business, until I have talked to you about mine.

Then he will say stuff like this, I know what you need before you ask me.

I know you are hungry, and need money, but I can handle all that, but address the things in my kingdom first.

So what we have learnt, is we have to engage the presence first.

And it’s not from far, but inviting him to come and sit with you, invite him to come to your room.

Lord what is in your heart, I’m your servant, I know you know what you’re doing, what do you want me to do.

Sometimes I get up at 1am, 3, 4, 6am.

And I get up and sit before him, address my daddy, Lord what is on your heart, how do I serve you.

That is my attitude.

Let me come back to the presence.

You are expecting the presence, you want the blessings right?

And the presence is there, then the blessing, is that clear?

But before the blessing, he will say let’s handle my business, and take care of my stuff.

Those are his terms, they are non-negotiable, we don’t get to decide.

Many of our prayers are, Lord give me my daily bread, so I can take care of your kingdom.

Bless me so I can go to work for my family, and on weekends I will come to take care of your business.

I’m going very slowly, because I want to change your mind on this, he is available, and wants to come.

But his coming is up to you, whether you want him.

Let’s go to John 14.

You will notice the whole chapter is in red, Jesus is no longer talking with the crowds, the public ministry is done, and preparing to go to the cross.

And he is spending his last precious moments with his disciples, that’s the book of John 14-16.

Now John 14:15-16, if you love me, keep my commandments.

Do what I told you to do, and I will go talk to my Father, and he will give you the Holy Spirit.

You want the power of the Holy Spirit, I need you to obey me first.

In v21, he who has my commandments and keep them, is he who loves me.

And he who loves me, I will love him, and manifest myself to him.

Is God doing this because you are forcing him to?

No Jesus is like saying he can’t wait, I want to reveal and manifest myself.

But in order for me to do that, I need you to obey.

See Jesus wants to come to you, and reveal himself to you.

He wants you to see him, and experience him.

Judas said to him in v22, Lord how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not unto the world.

Judas is asking, you are going to show yourself to us disciples, and not the rest of world?

Jesus replied if anyone loves me, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him.

Can you see what he wants?

The Holy Spirit wants to come, and Jesus and the Father also wants to come.

They don’t just want to visit, but want to make his home with you.

So when Jesus comes, he is going to first do what?

He is going to talk to you, about his kingdom business.

He is sharing his heart with you, he is sharing his pain with you.

You all look like you don’t believe me, so let’s go to another scripture.

Isa 6:3: In the year king Uzziah died, I saw a throne high and lifted up, and his robe filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphim, each one has six wings.

Isaiah has a vision and saw God, and was terrified, he feels undone and wants to run away.

He say wow is me, I’m unclean, and the people that dwell with me is unclean.

God has an agenda, and to prevent him from running away, he dealt with the iniquity.

Then shared his heart, and asked in v8 whom should I send.

Was he asking Isaiah to do it?

No Isaiah volunteered, why?

He is hearing the heart of God, and he loved God, so he took on the mission and burden.

If my mother is like this so engaged with God, I can trust my mother knows my needs before I ask, so I go to the bus and meet my brother there he should have the money I need.

God says I know you want the money, but do you care what I’m carrying.

Intercession is going to be voluntary, and when you do it, you give yourself to it.

I want you to know, you need the presence, then the blessings, and he will share his heart with you too and he has expectations.

Now you may ignore his expectations, and say give me the money.

But because he is a good father, he will give, like how if I interrupt my mom, she will still give.

Matt 6:33: Seek first the kingdom of God, and all will be given to you.

In New York we have altars, and the number one rule, is the presence of God.

Before I come to ask Him, I need to acknowledge the presence, and acknowledge what is on his heart.

So sometimes I’m coming to pray for somebody, but I will seek his presence first.

And once he shares his business, we do not interrupt him, and tell him our business.

Because when we interrupt, his presence will go away, this is the protocol.

He says I know what you need, take care of my business first, and I will give.

After that then talk about protection, and delivering you from evil, and your daily bread.

There are times, we never get to our prayer request, the prayer list we never get to it.

Have you ever made a phone call to someone to talk to them, about your problems.

But before you talk to them, you start pouring your problems, 1-2 hrs.

And you are wondering, I didn’t call you for this.

When the Lord is inviting you to come to him, he says talk to me about my business first, then for sure I will address this, even if we don’t get to pray about our things.

And when we are coming to prayer, most times they are addressed already, and God has promised this.

When your child then finally gets 100 marks, and please you, do you bless them.

That is what God says, delight yourself on me, and I will take care of you, and give you the desires of your heart (Psa 37:4).

From today, change the way you address the king, and our father, amen.