Thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not.
And as thou hast been, thou forever will
be.
Great is thy faithfulness, great is thy
faithfulness.
Morning by morning, new mercies I see.
And all I have needed, thy hand hath
provided.
Great is thy faithfulness, great is thy
faithfulness.
Great is thy faithfulness.
It seeks my soul, my Savior God, to
be.
How great thou art, how great
thou art.
It seeks my soul, my Savior
God, to be.
How great thou art, how
great thou art.
How great is our God.
Sing with me, how great is our God.
And all will see how great, how great
is our God.
It is our God.
Sing with me, how great is our God.
And all will see how great, how great,
how great is our
God.
What a blessing it's been over these years
to sit and to listen to these godly
men that have poured their hearts out in
service to him.
And God has anointed them and blessed them.
With Albert is that he's here because of
his flexibility.
I like having a man that I say,
hey, I think the Spirit's telling us that
we need to sing this song.
And he adapts and just begins to sing
it.
I remember we had Henry Blackaby in that
night, and the Spirit was moving before we
even began.
And I said, I'd like for you to
sing that song as you're all in the
altar.
How many of you know that old hymn?
And Albert wasn't that familiar with it.
So five minutes beforehand, he was learning that
song and come out and did a fantastic
job of drawing us at the altar there
where God was dealing with us.
But we've had a number of men from
around the world come in and share with
us and lead us for our prayer times.
And for Dick Sipley, he has pastored for
years Christian Missionary Alliance churches and has served
and received CRB.
And so I went up about a week
and a half ago, and we sat down
and talked.
And so he made mention of that.
He said in 1972 when the revival came
to Akron, and of course that's why I
went, I said, tell me about that.
And so he began to share.
And so he's going to come at this
time and bring us the word of God.
And the idea is that then he's going
to take us and lead us into our
prayer time.
And may God be glorified through his service.
Richard.
Thank you, dear brother, for ministering to me.
Thank you.
And thank you for not applauding because he
was not performing.
He was ministering Christ to us.
Amen.
In 1972, God did come and meet with
us in Akron, Ohio.
And I'm not going to talk about that
tonight, but he did in a wonderful way.
And the most outstanding thing, as far as
I'm concerned, about that time was the manifest
presence of God.
And if you were there, probably the most
prominent thing that would go through your mind
is, oh, God is here.
David said, when shall I come and meet
before God?
Now, when can I get into the presence
of God?
How can I come to God and know
that I'm in the presence of God and
know that he is there with me face
to face and that I can speak to
him, as he did some men face to
face, like you would speak to your friend.
And so God puts a hunger in our
hearts for him and nothing else will do.
Nothing else will do.
There's nothing you could give a hungry heart
in the place of God.
I mean, it would just be the small
dust of the balance.
It's so far from what it means to
be face to face with God that there
is no comparison and not in the same
universe.
And the thing about prayer is, if we
learn how to pray, it brings us face
to face with God.
And I want to take this time tonight
to teach about a certain aspect of prayer,
which I believe is extremely important in our
day.
I have been a pastor, of course, for
many, many years, and then I have traveled
and preached in the revival movement ever since
72.
And I am too old to figure out
how long that is, but it's a long
time.
A year and a half ago, my precious
wife slipped away to be with the Lord.
It was very, very hard for me because
she was a bone of my bone, flesh
of my flesh.
Maybe you can understand that.
She was my partner in marriage and my
partner in ministry.
She loved the ministry.
She loved the pastorate.
She loved people.
I often said they might say she can
stay, but you have to go.
They just, I never, there have always been
people in my churches that didn't like me.
You understand that, don't you?
But there never was anyone that didn't like
her.
They all loved her.
And so it was very difficult for me
there, and of course I don't expect that
pain to go away until I am with
the Lord, and that's all right.
But then God began to speak to me
in a new way and say, now, I've
been happy with you all these years doing
what I ask you to do.
Now I'm going to ask you to do
something different, and you may not be too
happy with it, but it's what I'm going
to ask you to do.
And God said, now I want you to
focus on being my prophet and saying what
I want you to say to the church.
The disciples remembered when Jesus cleansed the temple,
the disciples remembered that it was written, the
zeal of God's house has consumed me.
And Jesus said, my house shall be called
a house of prayer, and you've made it
a place of merchandise.
That was his first trip to the temple,
and then he came back and made another
trip to the temple, said you've made it
a den of thieves, so I don't know
if it got worse in the next two
years.
But Christ said my house should be called
a house of prayer, and the trouble is,
in the evangelical church today, it is not
a house of prayer.
I mean, there are exceptions, thank God.
There are exceptions, and we're so thrilled that
that's true.
But every church, every group of believers that
meet together, it ought to be a house
of prayer.
That ought to be the number one thing.
You say, why would that be so?
Because prayer brings us face to face with
the living God.
We can do all kinds of things, and
good things, wonderful things, even things God has
told us to do.
But like soul winning, which most evangelical churches
don't do either.
In fact, there are not too many things
God's told us to do that they're doing.
But prayer, in my mind, is where you
begin.
Now, of course, we take it for granted
we have the Word of God, and it's
taught, and we believe it, of course, and
that is our foundation under that.
But prayer brings the individual and the group
of God's people into God's immediate presence.
And it means we can come face to
face with God.
We can experience God.
We can know Him.
We can actually talk to Him, and He
talks back.
I want to hear from Him.
You say, well, you have His Word.
Yes, we do, thank God.
And I was brought up in a home
that loved it, and I'm thankful for that.
And I'm thankful that He's helped me to
put it into my heart and mind, and
I'm thankful for that.
But I don't want to be just a
biblical technician and just a scribe or a
Pharisee.
I want to know God, really, really, really,
really.
And I also want to know Him in
a way where He really answers prayer, where
it isn't just a religious exercise.
You know, the Pharisees stood on the street
corners and prayed long and beautiful prayers, probably
full of scripture and all kinds of wonderful
things.
People walked by and admired them, but their
prayers didn't go anywhere, and they didn't reach
God, and they didn't know God.
And so I don't want that.
I get very tired of religion.
I want reality, don't you?
Huh?
Yeah.
Sure you do.
That's why you're here tonight, because that's what
you want.
So tonight I want to help you with
that.
I want to do some teaching on that
subject.
So I'd like you to open your Bibles
to Mark chapter 11.
There are a number of places in the
Gospels.
The first one was in John, and then
the second visit to the temple is in
the others.
But here's the one in Mark, and I
have a reason for choosing this one.
Mark 11, beginning with verse 11.
Jesus entered Jerusalem and went to the temple.
Now he'd just come into the area from
somewhere else, and he'd come into the area
with his disciples.
He looked around at everything that is in
the temple, but since it was already late,
that is, late in the day, he went
out to Bethany with the twelve.
And Bethany, of course, was a place where
he had friends, and they could stay for
the night.
The next day, as they were leaving Bethany,
Jesus was hungry.
Seeing in the distance a fig tree and
leaf, he went to find out if it
had any fruit.
When he reached it, he found nothing but
leaves.
It used to be a song.
Man, I haven't heard that song in a
long time.
Nothing but leaves.
Because it was not the season for figs.
Now you need to note that.
Like Jesus knew there wouldn't be any fruit
there.
Then he said to the tree, May no
one ever eat fruit from you again.
And his disciples heard him say it.
On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area
and began driving out those who were buying
and selling there.
Underline it.
He overturned the tables of the money changers
and the benches of those selling doves and
would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through
the temple courts.
And as he taught them, he said, It
is written, My house will be called a
house of prayer for all nations.
And he's quoting from the Old Testament.
But you have made it a den of
robbers.
The chief priests and the teachers of the
law heard this and began looking for a
way to kill him.
For they feared him, because the whole crowd
was amazed at his teaching.
When evening came, they went out of the
city.
Going back, I presume, to Bethany again for
the night.
In the morning, as they went along, they
saw the fig tree withered from the roots.
Peter remembered and said to Jesus, Rabbi, teacher,
look.
The fig tree you cursed has withered.
Now the next statement is the most important
statement in this whole passage of Scripture, and
in most Bibles it is mistranslated.
So I'm going to read it correctly.
So Jesus responds, Have the faith of God.
Jesus answered, I tell you the truth.
If anyone says to this mountain, go throw
yourself into the sea and does not doubt
in his heart, but believes that what he
says will happen, it will be done for
him.
Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for
in prayer, believe that you have received it,
and it will be yours.
And when you stand praying, he sort of
adds this as almost an afterthought, but it's
very important.
If you hold anything against anyone, forgive him,
so that your Father in heaven may forgive
you your sins.
Now the cursing of the fig tree sounds
strangely out of character for a man like
Jesus, don't you think?
You don't think.
It's impolite to sit and stare when someone
asks you a question.
Don't you think it sounds strange?
It does to me.
I remember for a long time I thought,
I don't even want to think about that
one because it doesn't sound like Jesus.
I mean, he knew it wouldn't have any
figs on it.
What's going on here?
It sounds strange.
To be understood, it must be seen in
the context of the events that surround it.
It is sandwiched between two visits to the
temple in Jerusalem and was the occasion for
some of Jesus' most important teaching on prayer.
Jesus' encounter with the fig tree was merely
an opportunity to use it for a graphic
illustration of his encounter with the temple.
Jesus knew there would be no fruit on
the tree as it was not the time.
There was no problem with the tree, but
Jesus also knew there would be no fruit
in the temple of God in Jerusalem, but
this did indicate a very serious problem.
There should have been much spiritual fruit in
that place.
The temple should have been a house of
prayer.
It should have been a place where God
was.
It should have been a place where people
could come and meet God and be face
-to-face with God and find God and
pray to God and get answers to their
prayers.
It should have been a place alive with
the glory of God, and there wasn't any
of that, not any of it, none of
it.
It had all the rituals and all the
services and all the things it was supposed
to have, it followed the laws of Moses
meticulously, and it had all the feasts and
all the offerings and the sacrifices and the
singers and the Levites and the whole business.
It was a carefully organized and run house
of God without God.
You know, you can have a church that
has all the trappings and even preaches the
word correctly and does all the things it's
supposed to do but does not have the
presence of the glory of God, and the
Lord whom they sought suddenly came to his
temple.
Even the servant of righteousness, he came, but
who can abide the day of his coming
and who could stand when he appeared?
He was like a refiner's fire that purifies
the sons of Levi.
He was a burning flame.
They could not stand it, and they decided
to try to kill him.
Well, the glory had departed.
The glory had left.
Both the tree and the temple had lots
of foliage but no fruit, and that's what
Jesus was teaching.
This is the form of godliness without the
power, right?
That's it.
Do you know any churches like that?
You don't.
You're not very observant.
Lots of foliage, no fruit.
The form without the power, but when Jesus
entered the temple, the glory of God came
into that temple, and the people came to
him in the temple, and he taught them
there, and he healed them there, and the
power of God was there, and they were
suddenly face-to-face with the living God,
and that's what we need, right?
Oh, boy.
How we need it.
The prayer of faith could wither a tree,
move a mountain, or bring power and blessing
to the people of God and the temple
of God.
And, of course, this is not what I'm
speaking about this evening, but you know that
the temple of God in our day is
the people of God and the individual Christian.
You know that, don't you?
You still are being discourteous when I ask
you a question.
You know that the temple of God today
on earth is not a building.
It is the people of God, the church,
and the individual Christian.
Do you know that?
I knew you knew it.
Ha, ha, ha.
So, now, what I want to talk about
is the prayer of faith, because that's what
this passage is about.
What is the prayer of faith?
What does it look like?
And what I'm going to do first is
just take five things from this passage of
Scripture that show you what the prayer of
faith is like, what it looks like.
Alright?
Number one, he said, you could say to
the mountain, be cast into the sea.
Also, he just spoke to the fig tree.
He said, ha, never again will anybody get
fruit from you.
So, the prayer of faith is praying with
authority.
Praying with authority.
Ah, boy.
Ha, ha.
Our prayers are sometimes a long ways from
that, aren't they?
Ha, ha.
Man, we're so, we're so careful not to
say anything too strong, you know.
Watch out now.
Don't presume.
Ha, ha.
Anyway, it's praying with authority.
Number two, Jesus said he does not doubt
in his heart.
It's praying without inner doubts.
Wow, is that hard.
Praying without inner doubts.
Number three, he said, believe that what you
say will happen.
It is honestly believing it.
Wow.
Not easy.
Number four, he says, believe that you have
already received it.
Ha, ha.
Wow, it's honestly believing that I have already
received it and then he said, it will
be done.
It will be yours.
It is a prayer.
Now listen, it is a prayer that is
always answered.
The prayer of faith is a prayer that
is always answered.
Every time.
Now when I think about that and I
think of all the prayers that Christians pray
and how few of them are answered, it
makes it quite clear we're not praying the
prayer of faith.
Right?
Yeah.
So, there's something we better learn about the
prayer of faith.
Now there's a passage in James 5, 14
and 15 and I'm not speaking on the
healing of the body tonight or anything like
that.
But this particular passage presents a principle of
prayer and that's what I want to have
you notice.
Is anyone sick among you?
Let him call for the elders of the
church and let them pray over him anointing
him with oil in the name of the
Lord.
Now, and the prayer of faith shall save
the sick and the Lord shall raise him
up.
Now, I'm not talking about healing but I
am saying here is a principle that the
prayer of faith is always answered.
It says, I mean that's quite clear English,
isn't it?
Or whatever it was in Greek.
Somebody says I know a little Greek that
runs a restaurant down in the corner.
But we do know that this is what
it says.
Like this is not ambiguous scripture.
This isn't something we have to, you know,
really struggle on.
It's very simple scripture.
The prayer of faith shall save the sick
and the Lord, of course, shall raise him
up.
So here is the idea that if you
pray the prayer of faith you will get
the answer.
Now that's the kind of prayer I like.
How about you?
Oh my.
I want, I want something to happen.
Right?
I want God to come on the scene.
I want, I want him to move into
the situation.
I want to see his hand.
I want God, I know this sounds funny
but I want God to show up.
Like he doesn't have to show up just
because I want him to.
I mean he's God almighty.
But I sure do want him to.
I want real things to happen.
I want to see the hand of God.
They said, Jesus said, you know, you're casting
out demons by beals above the prince of
devils.
And he said, by whom do your servants
cast them out?
But he said, if I cast them out
by the finger of God then the spirit
of God has come upon me.
And I want to see God's hand.
Now you say, how could anyone pray like
that except Jesus himself?
Well in the Bible obviously they did.
But I will answer that really no one
else but God can pray like that because
what we need is the faith of God.
Not ours.
Ours just will cut it.
Now you say, doesn't God ever answer prayer
if we don't pray the prayer of faith?
Oh yes he does.
He's so good and he's so magnanimous and
he's so compassionate and he loves us so
much that he just answers a lot of
prayers where there is very little faith and
the prayer of faith is not prayed.
Okay?
He even answers prayers for sinners.
God is good beyond imagination.
But what I'm talking about is Christians who
really want to get to God and get
things done.
And so we need to learn how to
have the faith of God.
And see that's what Jesus said.
He said in verse 22 have the faith
of God.
Now I'm going to deal with that a
little bit more thoroughly later because in your
Bible it probably says have faith in God.
Is that what it says?
Yeah.
Wrong.
But anyway I'll deal with that in a
minute.
Have the faith of God.
When the lame man was healed at the
temple gate a crowd gathered.
Remember how Peter and John were going to
our prayer and there was a lame man
who was begging and so forth.
And so he said look at us and
the man looked at them expecting to receive
something and he said silver and gold have
I none but such as I have I
give you in the name of Jesus of
Nazareth rise up and walk.
And he took him by the hand and
the man leaped up and was healed.
And in Acts 3 verse 11 I'm going
to read a short passage there.
And while he was clinging to Peter and
John all the people ran together to them
in the so-called portico of Solomon full
of amazement.
But when Peter saw this he replied to
the people men of Israel why do you
marvel at this or why do you gaze
at us as if by our own power
or piety that is righteousness of life we
have made this man walk.
The God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob the
God of our fathers has glorified his servant
Jesus.
See God is in the God glorifying and
Christ glorifying business.
He's not in the man glorifying business and
he's not in the church glorifying business he
is in the business of glorifying the Son
of God and himself.
And we need this is very important because
when we begin to pray if we're not
praying with God if we're not praying what
he wants if we're not in his purposes
and lined up with his intentions then we're
praying in futility.
So it's very important to understand what this
is all about.
And he says he did it to glorify
Jesus whom you delivered up and disowned in
the presence of Pilate when he was determined
to let him go but you disowned the
Holy and the Righteous One and asked for
murder to be granted to you and put
to death the Prince of Life whom God
raised from the dead and we are witnesses
and on the basis of faith in his
name but that's not correct on the basis
of his name faith which is a little
different on the basis of his name faith
it is the name of Jesus which has
strengthened this man like it's not us it's
God whom you see and know this man
you see and know and the faith which
comes through him through Jesus has given him
this perfect health in the presence of you
all.
You see this is a great miracle but
they said don't look at us said what
this is is faith in the name of
Jesus and it's given by Jesus he gave
the faith it's his faith it's his purpose
it's his glory and that's why it happened.
Oh man how do we need to get
this?
The miracle was done by the faith of
God not the faith of Peter.
Now I grew up my father was a
pastor of his first church when I was
born so I grew up in a pastor's
home my earliest recollection is family devotions hearing
the word of God going to church I
mean I was totally submerged in the things
of God and I always heard about faith
I lived in a home where it was
practiced absolutely practiced I mean I remember one
time when I was just a little guy
that my mother set the table and then
said quietly to dad there isn't any food
that was the days when pastors were on
free will offerings and there's a lot of
freedom without much will well there wasn't much
money either in the depression you talk about
a depression now it doesn't even compare it
was bad and so there wasn't any money
anyway so he said alright we go in
the living room we went in the living
room I don't know why we always had
devotions in there so we're in the living
room and there's four children and mom and
dad and we all got down on our
knees and he said now we will pray
for food you say that's stupid why didn't
he go to the social services well that's
a long time ago and there weren't any
I mean it was God or nothing brother
and so we prayed and while my father
was closing in prayer somebody knocked on the
door but he never would allow his prayer
to be interrupted and so I mean I
wanted him to quit and I wanted to
see what was out there but he just
kept right on and when he finished then
we got up and he opened the door
and there was a box of groceries so
we had supper see that's the kind of
home I grew up in and if we
were sick we didn't call the doctor we
couldn't afford to call the doctor so my
dad came in laid his hand on us
and prayed for us I mean what else
there was nothing else any of you remember
those days good things to those days but
you know I grew up in that and
I went to Bible college and I went
into the ministry and everything I was saved
when I was young and God called me
and I went into the ministry but I
did not understand this principle I'm preaching about
and teaching about right now God was good
to me and answered a lot of my
prayers but I certainly did not understand what
I'm talking about tonight now I want to
talk about the faith of God for a
few minutes of course the verse says Jesus
said it was the faith of God he
said have the faith of God now a
literal translation is have God faith and there's
no word in in the original text at
all now if the word in had been
there it would have been three Greek letters
Epsilon Iota Sigma which was pronounced ace and
that little word appears all through the New
Testament continually like it isn't as if they
didn't have it it's all over the New
Testament it means in you know what in
means don't you it means in and if
God had wanted to say that he would
have said have faith in God it would
be easy to put that word in there
that word is not in there and what
he really said was have the faith of
God and that is something else there's
other scriptures say the same thing put down
Galatians 2 20 I have been crucified with
Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but
Christ lives in me and the life which
I now live in the flesh I live
by the faith of the Son of God
now the old King James says of the
Son of God every one of the new
translations says I live by faith in the
Son of God I feel sorry for them
they cannot believe that you could have the
faith of God and so they translate they
mess with God's word because they can't believe
it that's tragic they say well you couldn't
have the faith of God so then they
put a word in there that's not in
there but that's what it says the life
which I now live in the flesh I
live by the faith of the Son of
God who loved me and gave himself for
me faith is either a gift of God
or the fruit of the Spirit this kind
of faith Romans 12 3 God has allotted
to each Christian a measure of faith 2
Thessalonians 3 2 pray that we may be
delivered from wicked and evil men for not
everyone has faith Hebrews 12 1 and 2
since we are surrounded by such a great
cloud of witnesses let us throw off everything
that hinders and the sin that so easily
entangles and let us run with perseverance a
race marked out for us let us fix
our eyes on Jesus who is both the
author and the perfecter of our faith he
gives it to us and he perfects it
oh Jesus I want you to give me
your faith mine just won't cut it I
want his because his never fails I mean
you read the gospels did it?
his faith never failed ever so I need
his the prayer of faith is offered some
of this you should write down now the
prayer of faith is offered when a person
praying has a double witness in his heart
the double witness first the witness of the
word of God of course that is the
first witness Romans 10 and 17 so faith
comes by hearing and hearing by a word
from God that God be true whatever man
liar do not think Matthew 5 17 do
not think that I have come to abolish
the law or the prophets that did not
come to abolish but to fulfill for truly
I say to you until heaven and earth
pass away not the smallest letter or stroke
shall pass away from the law till all
is accomplished Jesus is saying the word of
God is absolute and final is forever settled
in heaven and you can depend on it
and trust it amen amen I have always
liked Psalm 107 verses 17 to 20 is
interesting says fools because of their rebellious way
and because of their iniquities were afflicted their
soul abhorred all kinds of food and they
drew near to the gates of death then
they cried out to the Lord in their
trouble he saved them out of their distresses
he sent his word and healed them and
delivered them from their destruction caution 316 let
the word of Christ dwell in you richly
in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another
in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing
with grace in your hearts to the Lord
and you remember the centurion the Roman army
captain who came to Jesus because he had
a servant who was very ill and Jesus
said I'll come and heal him and he
said no I'm not worthy to have you
come into my house just speak the word
only and my servant shall be healed so
he knew if Christ should say it that
it would happen and that's what I want
I want his word in my heart 1
Peter 1 23 25 you've been born again
not of seed which is perishable but imperishable
through the living and abiding word of God
the word of the Lord abides forever and
of course this is the word we're giving
to you now you say well when I
go to pray if I have the promises
of God isn't that enough well yes and
no the promises of God are true and
never fail but you see you can't take
a promise of God and bring it to
God with your problem and say now look
you said it you have to do it
now child of God be careful you say
well you're saying there's a doubt about God's
word no I'm not what I'm saying is
there's a doubt whether you know how to
use it or not right you agree with
me yes I mean I've heard some people
try to use the promises of God in
very strange ways they were sincere but it
simply was not working now therefore we should
listen carefully we should read study meditate on
memorize the scriptures so we know what to
believe alright God's word the importance of God's
word in building faith in the human heart
cannot be disputed as we read God's word
study God's word and fill our minds and
hearts with God's word God's precious living word
begets faith in our hearts yes the word
of God is alive and powerful and sharp
as a two edged sword piercing to the
dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of
the joints and marrow as a discerner of
the thoughts and motives of the heart Hebrews
4 12 and 13 but to pray the
prayer of faith we need not only the
witness of the word we need the witness
of the Holy Spirit now we have to
see this really you might doubt what I'm
saying and that's your privilege but if there
isn't something wrong with the way people pray
how come that so many prayers are offered
and nothing happens and there's something wrong right?
something and I believe that this is what
is wrong we need the witness of the
word and the witness of the Holy Spirit
but we will not take the time and
the humility and the surrender in God's presence
to get the witness of the Holy Spirit
in the mind of God first John 5
7 it is the spirit who bears witness
because the spirit is the truth Romans 8
16 the spirit himself bears witness with our
spirit that we are the children of God
you see it's not just enough that I
have the word of God somebody says well
you have repented and you have prayed to
receive Christ and that is what the word
of God says and that's enough but brother
unless there comes to your heart the witness
of the Holy Spirit that you're born of
God then you're probably not understand what I'm
saying this is very important so the spirit
himself bears witness 1st Corinthians 2 9 to
12 however as it is written I told
you I'm teaching tonight are you okay?
are you there?
okay however it is written no eye has
seen no ear has heard no mind has
conceived what God has prepared for those who
love him but God has revealed it to
us by his spirit the spirit searches all
things even the deep things of God for
who among men knows the thoughts of a
man except the man's spirit within him that
is the man himself who is thinking the
thoughts in the same way look at this
no one knows the thoughts of God except
the spirit of God I want to know
what he's thinking sometimes I say it I
say what are you thinking?
I don't get it we have not received
the spirit of the world but the spirit
who is from God that we may understand
what God has freely given us so what
are you thinking now Lord?
what are you thinking about this?
what are you thinking about that?
there are things I want but I'm not
sure what you want 2 Corinthians 3 5
and 6 not that we are adequate in
ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves
but our adequacy is from God who has
also made us adequate servants of a new
covenant not of the letter now listen but
of the spirit for the letter kills but
the spirit gives life you know what I
think is the most tragic thing in the
evangelical church that men are preaching without the
power of the Holy Spirit and they're killing
people instead of giving them life you know
you can do that?
the letter kills but the spirit gives life
the Holy Spirit takes the word of God
and makes it alive and powerful and makes
it to do what God meant for it
to do so we need Him you won't
mind me using some illustrations from healing if
you don't believe God heals today I'm sorry
for you and God will correct you when
you get to heaven and you might find
some time that you're sick enough to need
it anyway for a long time God led
me many years ago to make a personal
inventory for people who wanted to be prayed
for who were sick and so when they
come and say they want to be anointed
and prayed for by the elders of the
church which it says in James 5 they
should do then we give them the personal
inventory and we say take this home with
much prayer go through it read the scriptures
that are indicated here and fill it all
in and answer the questions and get prepared
why?
because I can't heal anybody can you?
no what nonsense I can't heal anybody can
God?
oh absolutely so let's get right with God
and maybe even we have to get right
with people you say why is that?
because Christian people are in the body of
Christ and if they're if we're not right
with other people we may hinder the flow
of the life of Christ within the body
see so anyway we give them this a
lady came to me her husband was an
elder they were godly people and she had
a terrible case of diverticulitis very severe severe
enough it could take her life and so
she wanted to be anointed and prayed for
and I gave her the personal inventory and
she took it home and then she filled
it all out and she came back and
she said you know I found the strangest
thing we've been married all these years but
I found that I had some real bitterness
in my heart against my husband and God
said you have to take care of that
okay so she went to her husband confessed
it and they discussed it and prayed together
and got it all straightened out and so
she told me what they had done I
said well praise the lord and then we
copied off and gave a copy to all
the elders so they too are part of
it and then we came together after service
on Sunday night to anoint and pray for
her and when I saw her face I
thought well we'll pray for her but I
think she's healed so anyway we anointed her
and prayed for her and so everybody shook
hands with her and they were going out
and as she was going out God spoke
to me and I said wait a minute
and I said do you have people coming
to your house tonight for a time of
fellowship and she said yes we do I
said well when you get home you're going
to need to go to the bathroom and
you'll go in the bathroom and you'll dump
a bunch of awful awful looking stuff blood
everything and just don't be frightened just get
cleaned up and go and wait on your
guests and so she went home and that's
what happened and she was 100% healed
see we we're too much in a hurry
we just we don't want to we don't
want to take time with God to deal
with ourselves and others and get our lives
where God wants them you see it isn't
that his word isn't true it's just that
we aren't where it can take effect or
maybe somebody else see we don't know what
God is doing do we I mean he's
up there doing all these wonderful things we
don't know and so we take the word
of God and try to demand something and
God says wait wait wait wait I'm doing
something here you don't know anything about and
so when we take our time with him
we can have him work so what I'm
trying to say tonight and I'm going to
say it a little more thoroughly in a
minute and you say my goodness I hoped
you were finished I'm not but nearly when
we go to pray I really believe that
one of the main reasons we don't get
answers to prayer is because we don't take
time to know the mind of God I
mean we're not running anything you know people
say to me the weather is bad and
they say preacher why don't you do something
about this weather I say well I'm not
in management I'm just in sales I'm not
in management he is God and he's running
the world right so when we come to
him in prayer whatever it takes and it
will take time it will take humility it
will take surrender it will take giving up
what we want it will take a whole
different attitude toward God and toward the things
that are happening around us but we need
to be patient and take the time to
get the mind of God and I'll tell
you what when you get the mind of
God and you're ready to pray in the
will of God you will have the faith
of God and it will be done absolutely
absolutely um I've been helping our pastor with
the prayer meetings and teaching them this and
working with them and and the prayer meetings
are growing they're three times as big right
now and there's many men almost coming as
women and it's great I mean we're seeing
God work in power so we were in
one of these prayer meetings and and I
said now who has this is a morning
prayer meeting who has a very very pressing
important need for prayer so this young housewife
spoke up and she said you know my
mother has moved out of the home left
my father she's very angry at him very
bitter and my grandfather her father is ungodly
and an alcoholic and he is talking to
her all the time encouraging her to leave
him and divorce him and I've tried to
talk to them all and I'm not getting
anywhere and I don't know what to do
and so I said well you know we
don't really know what God wants to do
or where he wants to begin so why
don't we just all get quiet and why
don't we pray and say Lord let's bring
this mess to God say would you please
speak to us and show us where you
want to start with us what you want
to do see we think we know what
to do don't we don't we all we
know is what we want George Muller said
if he had an important thing to pray
about the first thing he had to do
was get to the point where he had
no will of his own I'm talking about
the great man of prayer George Muller so
we all bowed our heads and we got
quiet and I'm saying to God okay I
don't know what to do with this where
do we begin and then God said the
strangest thing to me he said pray for
the grandfather that every time he drinks he'll
get so sick he can't stand it well
it's not exactly what you want to talk
about in a prayer meeting but we'll see
so after a bit I had everybody raise
their heads and I told them what I
thought God said to me and the lady
clear crossed she said oh that's what God
said to me and she was astounded she
couldn't believe God would say that so we
talked about it a little bit more and
I said alright if two of you agree
you know that's what God said we can
get answers we can have faith so how
many of you agree that you can pray
in faith for this to happen you really
believe it'll happen and everybody's hand went up
great so we did we prayed that every
time that he went to take a drink
now don't you try this if you don't
have the mind of God don't try it
they'll throw you out of the church you
need God's mind so we did we come
back the next week Tuesday morning for prayer
meeting she could hardly wait I said hey
wait before we do anything I want to
know what's happening to Grandpa she said he
is getting so sick he can't stay at
the table he has to run away from
the table he is violently ill and she
said God is answering prayer and you know
what the last time we talked about that
in prayer meeting he is still sick he's
having an awful time and the mother's attitude
toward her husband is starting to change and
she's starting to think differently and now of
course we're praying for her and the husband
and for this marriage see I'm talking about
having the mind of God I was just
really young and I was asked to hold
a revival meeting in Biloxi Mississippi and I
it was a little church and I'm sure
the only reason I was asked because there
was nobody else that would come probably and
I went the pastor really tied me in
knots he had spent the whole week fasting
and praying before I got there and I
hadn't thought oh my goodness he should be
praying anyway one night people came to the
altar and I went to this lady and
said so what do you want God to
do for you tonight and she said I
have a terrible case of insomnia and I
can't sleep I haven't had a decent night's
sleep for over a month and I'm just
a wreck and I need healing and I
tell you I put my hand on her
head and God said uh uh uh don't
you do that huh I said whoa wait
a minute God says I can't pray for
your healing if there's something wrong in your
life and she burst into tears and she
cried and cried and she said I am
a gossip I'm one of the worst gossips
in this city said I have talked about
everybody I've talked about our pastor I have
run everybody down I have just been a
terrible gossip and so I said well uh
you better get cleaned up so I mean
she confessed to God and asked his forgiveness
said now tomorrow get at it and call
everybody you can think of that you've gossiped
about and ask their forgiveness and if you
can't call them write them a note and
ask their forgiveness and go just as far
as you can go tomorrow and she said
sure she went home and did it she
had even gossiped about the pastor because he
was in love with his wife I thought
it was a good idea how about you
and you know what she came back the
next night and God healed her instantly see
there's all kinds of things that we need
to pray about and there's all kinds of
wonderful promises in the word of God right
but we haven't taken the time and the
carefulness and the presence of God and the
total submission of our will and surrender of
our heart to find out how he wants
us to pray about it but if you
find out how God wants you to pray
about it then suddenly you find you have
the faith of God and when you have
the faith of God like Jesus said have
the faith of God when you have the
faith of God you can say to this
mountain be moved and I'm standing up here
I've only been here a couple days I
know some already some folks that I've gotten
acquainted with that are sitting here who have
mountains to be moved so you know God
says why don't you take the time to
find out what I want the problem is
he may want something that we don't want
right he might in fact he might want
something that is going to really shake us
up but that's how to pray the prayer
of faith is to get the mind of
God whatever that takes the word of God
says as Moses lifted up the serpent in
the wilderness even so must the son of
man be lifted up that whoever believes may
in him have eternal life and of course
the situation was when they were bitten by
the serpents they had to come and look
and live there's an old gospel song look
and live my brother live remember that one
that old one yeah now look and live
look to Jesus now and live you know
how Spurgeon got converted he was 17 and
he normally went to the church of England
but it was a very snowy day in
London and unusual and very deep and he
started out and he knew he could never
get he was walking he knew he could
never get to the church he went to
and he saw a little Methodist chapel back
in an alley and people going in there
so he went there he got in there
and he found there was just a handful
of people and finally a layman came in
there was no preacher and he was all
wet from the snow and he got up
there and he was supposed to preach and
he took his text from the Old Testament
about looking to the serpent and he preached
for about five minutes and he said all
he could think to say and then he
stopped because he didn't know what else to
do and Spurgeon was sitting back under a
little balcony and he said young man you
look miserable of course Spurgeon never had anybody
do that to him in public he didn't
know what to do the man said you
look miserable and you will be miserable in
life and miserable in death if you don't
look to Jesus and then he said young
man look to Christ look now and he
said in that moment he looked and he
was born again as he looked to Christ
God gave him faith living faith and he
was saved and all the great life that
followed the faith of God now I'm going
to I've written these down because I'm going
to say them very carefully and you may
want to get some of it I don't
know the faith of God is not something
you struggle to make yourself believe it is
something you cannot doubt that's what Jesus said
you don't doubt in your heart this faith
comes from God himself and cannot be experienced
in any other way I can't work it
up when I am convinced of the will
of God from the word of God then
I should take my cause my problem whatever
it is along with God's promises and wait
in the presence of God with my eyes
fixed on Jesus until he gives me the
witness of the Holy Spirit then I will
be able to pray without any doubt and
I will receive the answer to my prayer
now I know that as we pray together
in a group we can't always do all
this but if I don't give you some
instruction that will enable you to go home
and learn how to pray and learn how
to pray in your church then I'm not
going to help you any my brother and
sister we have got to get to God
and give up what we want and our
ideas and our thinking and we need to
get the mind of God and then pray
it in faith and watch the miracles we've
got to do it I said I wasn't
going to preach I'm sorry no I'm not
Jesus said if you abide in me and
my words abide in you you ask whatever
you wish and it will be done what
a crazy wild promise no it's not because
if you abide in Christ and his words
abide in you you get to the point
where you know what he wants and you
have the mind of God and you want
what he wants and then of course you
get the answer right that's right the thing
above all else that we need to see
is that we cannot generate living faith we
cannot work it up we cannot manufacture it
it is imparted and infused by God himself
we cannot sit in our homes and struggle
to have faith and affirm something is when
it isn't nor can we turn our hope
and desires into faith by our own power
the only place we can get it is
from the Lord the woman who had been
hemorrhaging so long said if I can just
get to Jesus and touch him I'll be
healed blind Bartimaeus would not be hindered he
got through to Jesus the Roman army captain
focused on a word from Jesus the pagan
Canaanite woman I'm going to probably preach on
her tomorrow persisted in getting an answer from
Jesus faith as small as a grain of
mustard seed if it is God's faith will
get an answer because it will truly be
the prayer of faith Helen Smith knelt at
the altar she could hardly walk because of
tremendous pain in her leg she was a
Christian her husband was an elder in the
church I said to her Helen do you
believe that God is going to heal you
when I pray for you and she said
I believe God can heal me I said
that's not what I asked you everybody in
this place believes that God can heal you
right right of course I said again do
you believe that God is going to heal
you when I pray and she just knelt
there quietly I knelt there quietly she looked
at me I looked back at her was
just waiting all at once I saw her
eyes change they just changed boop and she
looked at me and said yes I believe
it and when she said that I believed
it God's Holy Spirit suddenly came through and
bore witness and then if I had waited
longer I would have prayed better I prayed
for God to heal her leg and that
isn't what was wrong with her she said
oh when you prayed something moved in my
back and the pain is gone from my
leg God knew where she had a problem
and she got up and ran up and
down the aisle the prayer of faith is
the faith of God that he gives us
by the Holy Spirit in accord with his
word this and I'm finished I think 1st
John 5 14 and 15 now this is
a confidence that we have in him that
if we pray anything according to his will
we know that he hears us and if
we know that he hears us we know
that we have the petition we desire of
him think of that some of these promises
just blow you away if we pray according
to his will in other words if we
have his mind and he's leading by the
Holy Spirit and he gives us the faith
of God praying in his will then we
know he hears us and we know we
get the answer that's what it says and
I you know for years I've heard people
try to explain away all these wonderful wonderful
scriptures we need to stop that and get
humble before God and watch him do wonderful
things wonderful things one of them is revival
not only in the church and the church
desperately needs it and this time yes there
was a great church revival in 71, 72,
73 it went on into 4 and 5
partly and people in the church got right
with God but it never went on into
the world except in rare cases or some
of us said now we need to do
what God said and God gave us souls
but now we need to believe God not
only for a we need to believe for
a revival in the church that will get
stronger and stronger until the church is praying
with white knuckle prayer for God to save
the lost until the Holy Spirit falls on
our civilization and brings a great spiritual awakening
and millions are saved 1957 prayer revival in
New York City people were getting saved in
Manhattan at the rate of 10,000 a
week the most wicked one of the worst
cities in the world amen whoo I want
that and so we need to learn to
pray and as we learn to pray and
God goes to work and we see His
wonderful miracles all around us in the church
and in our lives and then we'll begin
to deal thoroughly with our sin and self
and all these things and God will come
on the scene and the church will be
revived and then this time I've said oh
God don't do it I mean don't take
me home until you do it and then
give me one month in it and then
I'll burn out and die and go to
heaven