Turn with me to the closing verses we
shall have time to consider in this series.
That's chapter four of Colossians, chapter four of
Colossians, and just those two verses, two through
four.
Well, actually more than two, but we will
start there because we are going to refer,
of course, to Paul's personalized reference to that
prayer life in his own language.
Devote yourself to prayer, keeping alert in it
with an attitude of thanksgiving, praying at the
same time for us as well that God
may open to us a door for the
word, so that we may speak forth the
mystery of Christ for which I have been
imprisoned.
In order that I may make it clear
in a way that I ought to speak.
Keep your Bible open there, and we'll go
even further as the message unfolds.
But in these verses we have, in my
judgment, one of the greatest challenges in all
apostolic writings concerning the ministry of prayer.
And although the verses are very brief, they're
pungent, and of course have to be balanced
with what he says in Ephesians and elsewhere
to get the whole picture.
But it's rather interesting that Paul deals with
this matter of the prayer life here before
he goes right on to deal with the
witness life that's to follow.
A message that I have been able to
deliver on this occasion.
But in the light of what I said
last night concerning our work life, making it
a platform for day by day witnessing to
a lost world, I don't think we've lost
anything of the impact.
But I just point out that Paul says
before you go into that world, before you
open your lips to witness to that world,
kneel in prayer.
Of course in the Ephesian letter he's even
more dramatic, because for some reason or other,
the devil seemed to attack Paul more fiercely
in Ephesus than anywhere else.
According to his own writing, he said, I
fought with beasts at Ephesus.
I fought with beasts at Ephesus.
And he writes to those Ephesians and he
says, we wrestle not against flesh and blood,
but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers
of the darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickednesses in high places.
And then he discusses all the defensive armory,
and then finishes up with the offensive, the
offensive instruments of victory.
And what are they?
The sword of the spirit, which is the
word of God, and all prayer, all prayer,
all prayer.
So as I point out, it's rather significant
that this is where Paul, in the sequence
of thought led by the Holy Spirit, puts
this pungent exhortation to the ministry of prayer.
That's not to say that we don't need
prayer in relation to our self-life, and
our church life, and our home life, and
our work life.
Indeed, every area of our lives should be
drenched by prayer.
But I'm just pointing out where these verses
occur, and showing you the significance and the
sequence of Paul's reasoning.
Now there are three main things I want
to leave with you tonight on this closing
occasion.
The first is this, Paul is calling us
here to a diligence in prayer, a diligence
in prayer.
Notice his wording, devote yourselves to prayer.
Let's stop right there, devote yourselves to prayer.
I don't know what your version reads, and
of course the variations in the various translations,
but I think this word, devotion, is good
here.
Devote yourself, dedicate yourself to prayer.
Even a superficial study of the Bible will
make it evident that prayer is a necessity
of every true Christian.
In fact, I have a right to challenge
anyone and everyone in this audience here tonight
if you haven't knelt to pray already today.
Prayer is the very evidence that you're born
again.
You know that Paul, as a Pharisee, as
a zealot of a brilliant student, prayed scores
of times every day before he was ever
converted.
He had to.
It was part of his ritual.
Every day, scores of times, he prayed.
He was so disciplined.
But I want to add, he never really
prayed.
He only said prayers.
When God broke through from heaven in the
person of Jesus Christ, and he saw a
face, and he heard a voice, and he
made a choice, and he cried, Lord, what
wilt thou have me to do?
And his life was totally transformed.
The orders were, go to a place, I
appoint.
You remember where it was?
In the street called Straight.
And as he knelt there, blinded, praying, God
touched Ananias and said, I want you to
go and talk to Brother Saul.
He said, Father in heaven, I can't do
that.
You know that he's a persecutor.
He's a persecutor of the church.
He's raising the church to ashes.
He's hailing men and women to prison and
causing them to blaspheme.
I can't go and visit him.
And you remember what heaven's answer was?
Behold, he prayed.
That was the evidence of a changed life.
And later, Paul writes theology in what is
known as the Acropolis of the Christian Faith,
the Roman Epistle.
And when he comes to chapter 8, you
remember what he says?
That the first evidence of a newborn child
is that of God.
Father, God's Spirit witnessing with our spirits that
we are the children of God.
So I have a right to challenge anyone
here who lives day after day, week after
week, month after month, and you don't pray.
Or you may have a good Baptist background,
fine Presbyterian upbringing, or you may be enshrined
in some system of theology that you think
is absolutely intact.
But if you don't pray, you are a
phony.
Whoever you are, you're a phony.
You're a phony.
You're not real.
That's why Paul calls here for diligence in
prayer, and for two reasons.
Notice them?
Number one, the Word of God commands it.
The Word of God commands it.
When Paul says, devote yourselves to prayer, he
is echoing the words of our Lord Jesus
when he said, men ought always to pray,
always to pray, and not to faint.
And notice, notice there are no conditions there.
There are no conditions there.
There are no loopholes.
There's no way out.
Men ought always to pray and not to
faint.
What Jesus is saying is either power or
paralysis.
Either you are praying or you're fainting.
Either it's prayerfulness and powerfulness, or you are
absolutely useless to God, to yourself, and to
everybody else, so far as the Christian work
is concerned, and so far as your Christian
witness is concerned.
So he says, devote yourself to pray.
Notice, notice Paul constantly on this.
Pray without ceasing, 1 Thessalonians 5, 17.
That is to say, let your life be
a total attitude of prayer.
Not only those moments when you actually get
to grips in a wrestling match in prayer,
or you are worshipping in prayer, or you
are receiving in prayer, but your whole attitude
should be one of praying.
Pray without ceasing.
He says again, pray at all times in
the Spirit.
He says again, praying in the Holy Spirit,
Jude 20, and so on and so on.
I can only add, failure to pray is
disobedience, and disobedience is s-i-n, sin.
Sin.
Some of us may need to confess sin
tonight.
It follows, therefore, that quite apart from our
need to pray, there's a moral obligation.
And we do not please God if we
don't pray.
The Reverend Eric Alexander is one of the
great preachers of Britain today.
He is the pastor of St. George's Throne.
He was telling our son David some while
ago that he had been giving a series
of expositions on the doctrine of prayer, week
after week, week after week, and then the
church moved right into a time of prayer.
And there's a dear lady right in front
who took all the notes and nodded with
assent.
But when it came to actually praying, as
we are hearing in that opening prayer just
now, not only learning, but doing.
When it came to actual praying, she never
opened her mouth.
Alexander is a Scotsman.
He came up to the lady and he
said, my dear sister, he said, have you
understood my messages on prayer?
Yes, pastor.
I've been greatly enriched.
Well, why don't you pray?
Why don't you pray?
She said, well, I don't feel like it.
You know what his reply was?
My dear sister, prayer isn't a glandular reaction
to some emotional stimulant.
It's a matter of obedience.
You don't pray because you feel like it.
You pray because you must.
You must.
As I was sharing with the theological students
only yesterday afternoon, I thank God for the
professor who looked into my face when I
made a remark just like that woman.
And the professor said to me, Olford, pray
when you feel like it.
Pray when you don't feel like it.
Pray until you do feel like it.
It isn't how you feel when you go
down on your knees.
It's how you feel when you come off
your knees.
The word of God commands it.
And the eternal word said, men ought always
to pray and not to faint.
But look again, the work of God demands
it.
The work of God demands it.
Devote yourself to prayer, and right here in
the context of, listen, the self-life, the
church life, the home life, and presently, if
we had time, the world and witness life,
Paul says, pray.
Pray.
For reasons that we cannot explain and never
will until we get to glory.
God has made prayer the means by which
we resist the devil and all his forces.
Prayer is the means by which we release
all the blessings of God upon our own
lives and upon the church.
By prayer, he opens and closes doors.
By prayer, he effects miracles of the lives
of men and women.
The church of Jesus Christ, as I pointed
out before, marches on its knees.
And concerning the early disciples, we read that
they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, and
in fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and
in prayers.
The article V enforces those means of grace
until the end of this age and the
coming again of our Lord Jesus Christ.
It was when they prayed on the day
of Pentecost, notwithstanding the fact that in the
sovereignty of God all that was time, when
they prayed, the Holy Spirit fell upon them
in Pentecostal effusion.
Chapter 4, when they were fearful and their
mouths were being closed, they prayed again, and
the buildings shook, and they were filled with
the Holy Spirit, and they went out to
pray with boldness, with boldness.
I don't know how many of you brethren
here who are in the ministry have read
the works of Dr. Paul Bilheimer.
I've been profoundly, profoundly affected by his various
books.
But in his little book, Destined for the
Throne, which in my judgment is the work
I have seen in recent years on prayer
and the church, Dr. Bilheimer quotes John Wesley,
I think, three times in that little book,
three times, and this is what he says,
God does nothing except through prayer.
Now, when I read that, I first questioned
the accuracy of that statement, even though Wesley
said it.
I also questioned the theological connotations.
But the more I reflected and researched my
own heart and the scriptures, the more I've
come to the same conclusion.
Even though God is almighty, He has chosen
in His sovereignty to work on behalf of
His church, on behalf of His people, on
behalf of national matters, on behalf of the
world, through prayer.
So the work of God demands it.
And I want to say here, and I
want to say it very, very sincerely, but
unless I be misinformed, I don't know that
Australia has ever known a nationwide revival.
You've had some wonderful crusades.
Billy Graham's been in this very city, so
has Layton Ford.
A crusade's about to start in Sydney very
shortly, and thousands, I'm sure, are going to
come to Christ.
But if I remember my discussion with Edward
Orr, who will be with you very shortly,
and you can ask him all about it,
I don't recall that a major revival has
ever taken place in Australia.
But whether that's so or not, I want
to make a statement, and I'm quoting now
a man of tremendous prayer.
Dr. Lewis King, who is the president of
the Christian Mystery Alliance, says this, there has
never been a prayerless revival.
There has never been a prayerless revival.
Never.
When he arrives here with Glenn Shepard, you're
going to hear the stories of the second
evangelical awakening, for I've seen the very dates
on which he's going to lecture.
One of those revivals started in New York
when a layman, a layman, not even a
preacher, was so concerned at the empty churches
all across the land in 1857-58 that
he went to a place called Fulton Street
and put up a little card saying, anyone
interested in praying for revival, join me here.
I think the first night he prayed alone,
then about six joined him, then there was
a dropout and only a few remained, and
then they began to return, and more, and
more, and more, until a thousand men at
noon were praying for revival in New York
City.
Two thousand in Philadelphia, another two thousand in
Chicago, and then city after city after city
after city, and the greatest awakening that the
United States of America has ever known before
or since came through that prayer chain.
Just about the same time, because of the
echoes of what was happening in America, four
young school teachers in County Antrim, County Antrim,
Northern Ireland, got on their knees and said,
oh God, things are grim.
The church is powerless.
Souls are not being saved.
Sin is rampant.
Lord, Lord, do something, do something, and those
four young school teachers got down on their
knees, and the greatest revival Ireland has ever
known came out of that prayer meeting.
I told the assembly people, and I remind
you now, I met Evan Roberts myself, now
a recluse, now quietly spending time alone in
prayer, no longer speaking in public, but Evan
Roberts, just a simple minor that God took
up, equipped in a mighty, mighty way, was
the instrument used in the 1904 revival all
across Wales, where 300 prayer meetings were organized,
until almost the whole nation became a prayer
meeting, except for some cities that were totally
bypassed.
God sent such a revival from heaven, that
I want to tell you something, miners came
out from the pits and sat on the
hills all day and all night with filthy
coal dust on their faces, except for those
currents of tears that fell to their dirty
clothes, and they sang, and they sang, and
they sang throughout the night, throughout the night.
All the prisons were opened, prisoners were left.
The judges, it was called the revival of
the white gloves, for the judges sat at
their benches with white gloves because they could
pronounce no guilty person.
God had swept through the land.
The donkeys, the donkeys in the mines wouldn't
work because they were unused to kindness.
They only understood brutal, crude swearing.
And people said that was just a provincial
revival, that was just a provincial revival.
It was no such thing.
You listen to Dr. Orr when he arrived,
that revival affected Ireland and Scotland and England.
That revival jumped across the Atlantic and affected
the whole state of Kentucky and parts of
America.
That revival affected India.
That revival affected South America.
In fact, no real mystery work had ever
been done by Protestant churches in South America
until after the 1904 revival, when God began
to move throughout South America, and that movement
is still going on.
It affected Korea, and that's not stopped yet.
Is it any wonder Paul says, devote yourselves
to pray?
You sang just now, hallelujah.
Amen.
Revive us again.
I wonder how many really meant it.
There's a price to pay for revival.
If my people who are called by my
name shall humble themselves and pray, and seek
my face and turn from the wicked ways,
then will I hear from heaven and forgive
their sins and heal their land.
It was 1956, and I was at Duke
Street Baptist Church when the mighty revival in
the Hebrides took place.
Two sisters, two sisters, burdened for the Hebrides,
again looking at empty churches and kids on
the streets as thugs, and they were burdened,
and God gave them both a vision of
what would happen if revival came.
They shared it with their pastor, and he
with seven other elders went into a barn,
and every Tuesday and Friday they met.
They met from ten o'clock at night
until about four o'clock in the morning
for nearly, nearly three months.
And then one night, one night in that
barn, one night in that barn, one of
those young elders got up, and he began
to read Psalm 24, where it says, Who
shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?
Who shall stand in his holy place?
He that hath clean hands and a pure
heart, and who hath not lifted up his
soul unto vanity, he, he shall receive the
blessing from the Lord.
He said, Lord, we're a lot of humbugs
here.
We're hypocrites here.
We haven't clean hands.
We haven't pure hearts.
We haven't broken spirits.
Lord, deal with us.
And almost like a bolt of lightning, every
one of them was stricken to the ground,
prostrate before God.
The glory filled that barn, and the revival
of the Hebrides started.
Next day, fishermen way out at sea dropped
everything they were doing and came to kneel
on the beaches, forgot all about their nets.
Men who were farmers just knelt in the
fields, crying to God for mercy.
Churches filled up without any preacher, just to
pray.
And that dear man, that dear man, Duncan,
preached himself almost to death, almost to burnout.
He was actually at 53 O'Deer Park
Garden there, with us, whispering that story in
my ear to get attention for his throat.
But what a revival.
What a revival.
You want to see a revival here?
What are you prepared to pay for it?
Paul talks about diligence in prayer.
Why?
Because the word of God commands it.
And secondly, because the work of God demands
it.
And if there's a soul here who says,
but we are all right, we don't need
revival in Australia.
Do you know you're halfway to hell?
You're halfway to hell.
For if you don't sense a parch, a
barrenness, a deadness that needs a renewal of
the Holy Spirit, then frankly, I question your
discernment, or possibly even your regeneration.
Diligence in prayer.
But you know, there's a problem about prayer,
and Paul deals with it here.
Not only diligence in prayer, his command is
to vigilance in prayer.
Vigilance in prayer.
Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert.
Keeping alert.
Let's stop there for a moment.
Keeping alert with an attitude of thanksgiving.
Now, this exhortation to watchfulness suggests dangers that
are to be avoided in our prayer life.
Those of us who don't engage in prayer
won't know what I'm talking about.
But those of us who attempt to wrestle
with this matter of prayer, and prayer costs,
and I've never found prayer easy.
I've never found prayer easy.
It's a battle every day of my life,
and it will be until I get to
glory.
For I've discovered what counts costs, and what
costs counts.
But those of us who know something about
prayer know what Paul is talking about here
in terms of vigilance.
The devil comes under many guises to discourage
us in prayer.
He knows full well that if we get
to our knees, he is beaten.
He is beaten.
That's one weapon he can't cope with.
That's why Paul says, take unto you the
sword of the Spirit, which is the word
of God, and all prayer, if you want
to know victorious living.
That's, of course, exactly what our Lord Jesus
Christ did in the wilderness.
He gave himself to prayer and fasting, and
when the devil came, he was already with
a spirit sword.
And he said, it is written, it is
written, it is written, and the devil even
him.
Why do we need vigilance?
Two reasons.
Notice here, number one, we have to watch
against indiscipline in prayer.
We have to watch against indiscipline in prayer.
Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert, keeping alert.
When Paul wrote these words, he may have
been thinking of the time when the disciples
slept in the ministry of our Lord.
Obviously, he'd had all these reports given him
again, and again, and again.
And have you ever thought of the two
most significant times when the disciples slept in
the ministry of our Lord?
Have you ever thought of that?
Jot these references down.
We haven't time to expand.
I intended to expand that tonight, but you
work it out.
The first time was Luke 9, 32, on
the Mount of Transfiguration.
On the Mount of Transfiguration.
Can you imagine that?
Here is the Lord Jesus Christ transfigured in
all glory.
His garments are whiter than any fuller could
ever whiten them.
He is dressed in pristine glory.
There's Moses, there's Elijah.
In fact, when he eventually woke up, Peter
said, why don't we build three tabernacles?
And many people blame him for saying that.
But you know, that's not totally fair.
He was, he was thinking of the kingdom,
and Jesus said, you're going to see the
kingdom before you die.
And here was a little preview of the
kingdom.
And one of the great aspects of the
kingdom age is the feast of tabernacles and
all its spiritual significance.
And he said, let's build tabernacles, and let's
celebrate.
This is the kingdom.
But do you know what?
In all that glory, Peter, James, and John
fell asleep.
They fell asleep.
Read it for yourself, I haven't time for
it.
Read it for yourself.
They fell asleep.
In that moment of ecstasy, they went to
sleep.
Do you know the second time they slept?
In the very midst of this agony.
In the garden of Gethsemane, in the garden
of Gethsemane, there is my precious Savior kneeling
and wrestling with the issue of sin.
Father, if it be possible, let this cut
pass from me.
Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou
wilt, and as he perspired beads of blood
that fell to the ground, that fell to
the ground.
You know what?
Peter, James, and John were sleeping.
They were sleeping.
Jesus had to come and say to them,
keep watching and praying, lest you fall into
temptation.
It's amazing how indisciplined you and I can
become in our prayer life and our prayer
habits.
Sometimes it's sleepiness, and we need to take
care of that.
Other times, wandering thoughts, we need to take
care of that.
More often than not, it's just inability to
discipline ourselves to pray, and we know nothing
of that old hymn we often sing but
never understand.
Take time to be holy.
Speak oft with your Lord.
And tonight there's going to be an invitation,
the last invitation I shall give in this
chapel for this time.
I wonder how many of you are going
to come forward and drop on your knees
and say, Lord, no more hypocrisy, no more
hypocrisy.
I'm going to sit there in smug complacency
if this didn't apply to me.
I am a sinner when it comes to
the matter of prayer, and I'm committing myself
to a prayer ministry from tonight onwards.
Indiscipline, indiscipline.
And if you doubt what I have to
say, I'm going to challenge you right now.
Did you pray today?
Did you kneel today?
Did you open the word and actually pray
today, or didn't you?
And remember, God knows your heart.
God knows your heart.
But worse than indiscipline, in my judgment, is
the other danger.
And I know why Paul chooses these two.
He says we have to watch against indiscipline,
but we also have to watch against ingratitude
in our praying.
He says, pray, devote yourselves to prayer, and
keep alert with an attitude of thanksgiving.
With an attitude of thanksgiving.
If we study the Apostle's writings carefully, we
shall find that he always associates prayer with
thanksgiving.
The point is that if we trust God
in prayer, then we should thank God in
prayer.
And where there is no trustfulness, obviously there
is no thankfulness.
And prayer is a farce.
Prayer is a farce.
Of course, there is more implied in Paul's
exhortation than just thanklessness.
Ingratitude is what Shakespeare calls the lowest sin.
Base ingratitude is the actual phrase of Shakespeare.
Base ingratitude.
When we fail to count our blessings and
to show our gratitude to God, we grieve
him.
And when we don't say, thank you, Lord,
thank you, Lord, I've asked, I'm going to
receive.
And before I even go out to see
that answer, thank you, Lord, I know it's
going to take place.
Any of you know the British scene will
be familiar with the name of David Watson.
David Watson was a Cambridge graduate, read theology.
In my judgment, one of the greatest preachers
England has seen for a long time.
He's the only man who could compare with
a Billy Graham or anybody else, fulfilling every
single capacity hall in every great city in
Britain with festivals of praise and evangelism.
True, he was charismatic at the very beginning,
but he evened off until he made a
complete truce with John Stott and all who
didn't see quite his way.
His massive book on evangelism, his massive book
on the church are absolutely first class.
I preached with him, knew him, and a
man of tremendous, tremendous spirituality.
And although all kinds of things have happened
since his death, I still want to say
David Watson will be remembered as a man
of God, and especially as a man of
prayer.
And Alan Redpath told me this, that when
he went to see Lloyd-Jones and talk
about this whole charismatic movement in one form
or another, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said, whatever
excesses or whatever extravagances may be associated with
what's taking place, I want to tell you
this, you don't know what God is doing
in our world today, and especially our country
today, unless you go to York, York, and
see what's happening in David Watson's church.
That was Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
But I happen to know the story behind
that.
For David Watson and I shared a minister's
meeting at Shiley, a great big conference that's
held every year around about September.
And Watson told the story of how the
bishop sent his wife and himself to a
dead Anglican church in York, a dead Anglican
church in York.
It had six members, six members only.
The church was about to be closed down.
And David got up and ministered the word
of God.
And guess what?
The six left.
The church was about to be closed down.
And David got up and ministered the word
of God.
And guess what?
The six left.
You know, I always get excited when I
hear that.
I really do.
I remember Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones once saying
to me, after he followed the great Dr.
Campbell Morgan, who overstayed his time in that
church, and then this dear fiery Welshman comes
to take his place.
And his style and his preaching and his
prophetic thrust and penetration just didn't go down
with boats coming back from Ireland one night.
And we saw no less than Dr. Lloyd
-Jones and his wife.
And we went up and made ourselves known.
And Lloyd-Jones said, Stephen, my boy, let's
go and have a cup of tea.
That's par for the course with him.
We sat down and I said, Dr. Lloyd
-Jones, tell me how things going in your
church?
He said, wonderful, wonderful.
I said, what do you mean?
He said, it's getting emptier every week.
I said, but seriously, seriously, doctor, what do
you mean?
And in his characteristic ways, my dear Stephen,
if you don't know this, you have to
empty a church before you fill it.
And I've sat there with nearly 3,000
people, most of the men, the highest proportion
of men in any English-speaking church in
Europe.
And he held that pulpit for all those
years.
But back to David Watson, the sixth left
him.
What do you think they did?
He and his wife went into retreat.
And for the length of time, I don't
know.
But they went into the Word and they
started to pray.
And they started to pray.
And God convicted them.
So what are you praying for?
Anything and everything I want to do in
that church, I will do.
And in my purpose has been done.
Why don't you thank?
Why don't you praise?
What's the use of praying if you're not
thanking?
Those two couples, that couple, that sweet couple,
David and his wife, stopped praying and started
thanking God for what he was going to
do in that Anglican church.
And they came out of their retreat and
they went to preach it and to visit
it.
And within a few months, they had to
change their location from the Anglican church to
which the bishop put them into the cathedral,
because the place was packed, absolutely packed.
The choir seats packed, right up onto the
pulpit packed, the chancel steps packed, the place
was packed.
And every single time he spoke, hundreds came
to Christ.
Now, I've seen that with my own eyes.
That's not back history.
And that's what took place.
And I believe our problem is not just
in discipline in prayer, it's in gratitude.
In gratitude.
Have you ever looked at the example of
all examples of prayer, our Lord Jesus, in
this matter of thanksgiving?
Study the occasions when he lifted his heart
to his father, and you'll find it was
always with thanks.
He could give thanks to God for the
revelations that were hidden from the sophisticated and
the intellectual and given to babes and teachable
ones.
He could give thanks to God when he
broke the bread to feed the five thousand.
He could give thanks to God when he
stood at the grave of Lazarus in the
knowledge that his prayer had already been heard.
Already been heard.
The stirrings were already there.
And someone says, it's a good job he
said Lazarus, or the whole graveyard would have
turned out.
Paul says, thanks!
He'll give thanks.
Quickly, a closing word on my third point,
and yet the one on which I wanted
to weigh most heavily possibly.
Not only is it a call to diligence
in prayer and vigilance in prayer, but something
that I want to leave with you tonight,
for I'm not talking about pie in the
sky.
I'm talking about grassroots theology.
Relevance in prayer.
Praying that God would open up the door
for the word of God, that we may
speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which
I also have been imprisoned, in order that
I may make it clear in the way
I ought to speak.
So often we think of prayer as something
otherworldly, and therefore unrelated to everyday life.
And I know God gives to men like
Pranghaid and others, a unique ministry in prayer,
and to many women, a unique ministry in
prayer.
But I don't believe Paul is writing about
those specific gifts of prayer that are given
to intercessors like that.
I believe he's talking to slaves, to slaves
and masters, to husbands and wives and children
and parents and to pastors and deacons and
elders alike.
And he's talking here about relevance in prayer.
The ministry of prayer comes right down to
where we live, and these verses illustrate it
perfectly.
Three strokes and we're done.
One, the personal relevance in prayer.
The personal relevance in prayer.
Notice what Paul says.
He says, pray for us.
Who are the us?
Pray for us.
Would you look at the context there?
That's why I asked you to keep your
Bible open.
Paul, Paul sensed his need of prayer, sensed
his need of prayer.
And not only for his own life, but
for his colleagues.
He names them Timothy, Epiphras, and others mentioned
in this epistle, especially at the close of
that chapter.
In his letter to the Romans, there's a
statement there that I often quote to my
church when I go forth on ministry for
any length of time, even short time.
I get the elders to come and lay
their hands on me, even for a crusade
or a convention, because of what Paul says
in this amazing verse in Romans 15, 30
to 33.
You know, in chapter 110, he says he's
coming to Rome.
But in the verse I've just located, he
says, he says, I beseech you, I beseech
you, through the love of the Spirit, to
strive together with me in my prayers for
deliverance from my enemies, for the acceptance of
my ministry by the saints, as well as
the gifts that I'm bringing, that they will
not be rejected and scorned.
And he calls upon God the Father, God
the Son, God the Holy Spirit, the Triune
God, as the basis of his beseeching for
personal prayer.
You can study those verses without any difficulty
of exegesis.
They just stand out from the page, and
you will be shattered by the prayerlessness of
your own life for missionaries, for missionaries.
I wonder how many of you have a
prayer list for missionaries.
I wonder how many of you pray for
the pastor of this church, his colleagues, his
deacons.
How many of you pray for one another?
I think the greatest blessing we ever had
in our church, both in London and New
York, is when we had a calendar of
every member of the church put in groups
that covered an entire month, so that every
member of the church started praying in the
group in which their initials occurred.
We would start, obviously, with a group that
started with the old, so that, if you
think clearly, every single member in that church
was prayed for at least, at least one
time every day.
And I tell you, you can't go on
doing that honestly without finding out, who is
this Mrs. Jones, or who is this Mr.
Jones?
You've got to find out what you're praying
about.
And Paul says, pray for me, and pray
for my brethren.
Addressing the church at Philippi, he thanks them
for the prayers that brought deliverance and the
supply of the Spirit to his part soul.
What a lesson to you and me, to
pray for one another.
But not only is there this personal relevance,
notice there is a practical relevance.
I don't know what the obstacle was, but
notice what Paul says.
Pray, he says, that God will open to
us a door for the Word, so that
we may speak forth the mystery of Christ,
for which I've also been imprisoned.
Quite obviously, there were obstacles in the way
to the preaching of the gospel, and Paul
wanted those obstacles removed.
The door was closed, and he wanted the
door open.
And he's absolutely specific about it.
He says, I want an open door.
Nothing wooly about that, nothing nebulous about that.
I believe part of our problem in praying
is that we're so indefinite in our praying.
Paul wanted a door open for the gospel,
and he asked the believers to pray that
this would happen.
Let's not hesitate to bring our requests specifically,
specifically, and name them.
He who marks the fall of a sparrow,
he who numbers or even names the very
hairs of our head, he's interested in every
detail.
I was deeply blessed some while ago when
I discovered the meaning of that little word,
give us this day our daily bread.
It's the only time that word occurs in
the whole of the New Testament, or even
the Greek translation of the Old Testament.
It occurs that once only in the Bible,
in that particular form.
And nobody knew really why that word was
so special.
And not so long ago, a little piece
of papyrus was dug out of some of
the ruins of the Holy Land.
And they brought it to the scholars, and
they looked it very carefully through, and what
do you think?
What do you find?
This very word.
And where did it occur?
Where did it occur?
In a woman's shopping list.
A woman's shopping list.
The Lord Jesus deliberately picks up that word
and says, yes, ladies, have you brought your
shopping list in prayer?
Do you really believe that God is interested
in the little things of life?
He is sovereign.
He is mighty.
But he's also a father.
He's a father who watches the fall of
the sparrow and numbers the very hairs of
our head.
And however much you may say that's hyperbole,
I don't believe it is myself.
But even so, what about the truth behind
it?
The relevance in prayer.
Our God is a practical God.
I'll never forget as a lad, nearly 17,
in fact I was 17, perhaps a little
over 17, when Father felt we had to
go home.
We had to go home from Africa.
Had to go home from Africa.
And in faith he believed God would supply
the need.
And he hadn't the money for the boat
trip.
Forty-four days from Lubita Bay to Lisbon,
and then from Lisbon to England.
Forty-four days on a banana boat.
And he hadn't a ticket, and he hadn't
a dime.
We'd worked our way by one means of
travel to another, right to the coast, right
from the depths of Angola to Lubita Bay.
But my father, and the story is recorded
in a little book published by the Brethren
called He Heareth Us.
And I was reading it just the other
day before I came to Australia.
He went and registered his name at the
bank of Lubita Bay and the post office,
and said, there's going to be a message
coming to you.
I want you to notify me immediately.
He had to be notified.
He went one morning with his heart absolutely
confident, and he said, there's a letter for
me.
And the man in Portuguese said, si senor,
you're absolutely right.
And he handed me the total sum of
money for every need to get mother, Stephen,
Paul, John, and father from Lubita Bay to
Southampton docks.
And nobody in England knew anything about it.
God is interested in the practical things of
our lives.
But my father had already said, thank you.
You see, when you're brought up in that
kind of a background, so much of what
we hear today, oh, just makes me sick.
Just makes me sick.
Not only sick, but sad.
But the last word I want to say
is the most important, possibly.
There is a powerful relevance in prayer.
Paul said that we may speak forth the
mystery of Christ in order that I may
make it clear in the way I ought
to speak.
The apostle here requests the power of the
Holy Spirit to preach the gospel.
He recognized that natural mind is at enmity
against God and is not subject to the
law of God, neither indeed can be.
And the natural man receiveth not the things
of the Spirit of God for their foolishness
unto him, neither can he know them for
they're spiritually discerned.
And he knew that the communication of the
gospel, this mighty event, incarnational event, relational event
that creates regeneration, that creates transformation, that creates
revival, this mighty communication of the word is
dead without prevailing prayer.
And he says, I need prayer for that.
I need prayer for that.
My dear wife, who's here tonight, was saved
under the ministry of Tom Reese, the evangelist
Tom Reese.
Tom Reese and I had many crusades together.
He was used, I would say, as no
other Englishman than I know, in immediate post
-war years for touching young people.
He filled the Royal Albert Hall more times
than anybody else has done single-handed.
But in one series of his Royal Albert
Hall, there was a tremendous resistance.
And with thousands of young people there, that
place seated 8,000, thousands of young people
there, somehow there wasn't a response.
Wasn't a response.
Suddenly, one night, just like a dam bursting,
practically everybody in that auditorium, port of broken,
couldn't get over, couldn't get over what happened.
Tom Reese just shook his head, he couldn't
believe it.
Something had happened.
Do you know, the very next day, he
had a telegram from South America.
That telegram came from a leprosarium, a leprosarium,
from a lady who was almost all eaten
up with disease, but knew English, followed all
that was happening in England, and for some
reason or other was fascinated by the publicity
that she'd been sent to reach the youth
of Great Britain, especially of London, with the
preaching of the gospel.
And that little soul decided that very night,
and they worked out the time, the time,
the time was identical, even, even with a
difference of hours, the time was identical.
That little woman got down on her knees
and began to pray for a breakthrough from
heaven.
And the breakthrough from heaven came.
He followed up that story, has it all
documented.
He's gone home to glory now.
But I remember his telling it.
I remember his telling it.
Just like the story of another little woman,
totally tied up with arthritis in a little
attic, a little attic in London City.
And D.L. Moody had come for the
great crusades, but there was an insistence that
he came to one particular church in London.
And he refused, and they insisted, and he
refused, and he insisted, and he refused, and
they insisted, and eventually he came, and he
spoke.
One Sunday morning, the place was jammed.
His name was now so well known.
He gave an invitation, and practically every single
individual in the place responded.
So he stood back, and he said, you
didn't understand what I said.
You didn't understand what I said.
Oh, be seated.
He couldn't ask anybody forward.
The aisles were packed.
And he again went through the way of
salvation.
And he said, now then, I want those
of you who understand what I've said to
rise to feet.
Everybody stood.
And if you read Moody's story and all
the recent accounts, that story is so documented
that it's absolutely thrilling.
Do you know that per capita, that's the
biggest response Moody ever had in any given
meeting on both sides of the Atlantic.
So he immediately wanted to know how and
why this happened, and he began to ask
the elders of the church, and they took
him to a little attic.
And as he went up those creaking stairs
and opened the door, he thought he walked
into a blaze of glory.
For there on that bed, absently crippled with
arthritis, was a glorious, glorious face aglow.
And Moody hadn't to say anything.
She said, I know it's happened.
It's happened.
They were converted today, weren't they?
They were converted today.
He looked to one side of the wall,
and there on the wall was his face,
D.L. Moody, and his campaigns in England.
The powerful relevance of prayer.
Can you imagine what would happen in your
church if you knew how to pray like
that?
There she is, shackled.
Shackled in pain, but alive in a ministry
of prayer.
You say to me, but Steve Lawford, your
theme is the supremacy of the Savior for
our prayer life.
Yes, and I haven't forgot that.
Because what I've been talking about tonight isn't
something that you can whip up or manipulate.
And that's why I want to close with
a little borrow from Romans chapter 8.
For Paul tells us in one of the
most powerful verses in all of the Bible
on this subject, that to engage in prayer
demands a sufficiency of our risen Lord.
And Paul says that sufficiency is mediated to
us through the Holy Spirit.
And then he says, the Spirit also helpeth
our infirmities, for we know not what we
should pray for as we ought.
But the Spirit himself maketh intercession for us
with groanings which cannot be uttered.
And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what
is in the mind of the Spirit, because
he maketh intercessions for us with groanings which
cannot be uttered.
In other words, he spells out for us
here how we can know the sufficiency of
the Savior through the Spirit for prayer.
And the three things he says are these.
Through the indwelling Holy Spirit, our prayer life
is divinely energized.
The Spirit also helpeth our infirmities.
More accurately in the Greek, our infirmity.
It's in the singular.
And if we're honest, we shall all agree
that our greatest weakness is prayerlessness.
We haven't the strength to pray.
We can watch television.
We can watch X-rated films.
We can read novels.
We can socialize.
We can do anything else.
But you kneel down and pray, and you
say, I'm tired.
Who is it that energizes?
You see, all prayer starts in the heart
of God.
All prayer starts in the heart of God.
And by the indwelling Paracletos, that prayer is
brought to our hearts, and then returned back
to the heart of God.
And when that circle is closed, when that
circuit is closed, there's power.
There's power.
Through the Holy Spirit, our prayer life is
divinely energized.
Through the Holy Spirit, our prayer life is
divinely verbalized.
We know not what we should pray for
as we ought, but the Spirit himself prays
in us and through us with groanings that
cannot be uttered.
There are times when prayer reaches such a
level, you actually can't verbalize what you want
to say.
But the wonderful thing about it is, the
Holy Spirit verbalizes our prayers in the very
throne room of God.
And there's never a syllable out of place.
Especially the deeper levels of prayer.
We're not talking about ecstatic praying, we're talking
of groaning in prayer.
Groaning in prayer.
And finally, will you notice, through the Holy
Spirit, our prayer life is divinely authorized.
Divinely authorized.
All this business about doubt, is it the
will of God?
Should I ask for that?
Listen, listen.
He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is
the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh
intercession for the saints according to the will
of God.
And if we're obedient to the Scriptures and
totally submissive to the Spirit, we can never
pray outside of the will of God.
So it's possible to have what I'm deliberately
going to call a successful prayer life.
A successful prayer life.
The Holy Spirit guarantees this if we yield
to him as we kneel before the throne
of God.
If our prayers are out of the Scriptures,
and if our prayers are totally under the
control of the Holy Spirit, we pray according
to the will of God.
And as I put in this little tiny
poem, it just works like this.
Holy Spirit, pray through me as I yield
my life to thee.
Only then shall I succeed when I bring
to God my need.
The supremacy of the Savior for our prayer
life.
The call to diligence in prayer.
Why?
Because the word of God commands it, and
the work of God demands it.
The call to vigilance in prayer.
Why?
Because of our indiscipline and ingratitude.
The call to relevance in prayer.
Why?
Because God is interested personally, practically, and partially
in doing in us and through us what
he'll never do outside of prayer.
And if John Wesley is right, then God
does nothing except through prayer.
That is to say, redemptively within the body
of his church.
We're not talking about common grace, we're talking
about his work in the church through his
own people.
Are there any recruits tonight?
Do you want to see revival come to
your church?
Do you want to see revival come to
your city?
Do you want to see revival come to
your nation?
Do you want to see all the truths
we've been listening to all these days come
alive?
Come alive?
Then, brother, I've said the last word.
Dear sister, I've given the only secret I
know.
But all history and all scripture attest to
the authenticity of what I've talked about tonight.
Jesus said men ought always to pray and
not to faint.
Let us pray.
This is the last night.
Once again, I open the opportunity for those
whom God has touched.
It may be the very first night.
It may be the night on the church
life, the home life, the work life, or
possibly tonight in this climactic final message.
And you're coming forward and you're saying, I
want all heaven to see what I'm doing.
I want all hell to see what I'm
doing.
I want my wife, my husband.
I want my children.
I want my people.
I want everybody to know that I am
dedicating my life to a new ministry of
prayer.
And remember this was spoken to slaves and
masters and parents and children and pastors and
members.
And every one of us, every one of
us is able to engage in this ministry
in a daily fashion, in a disciplined fashion.
In fact, I'm going to go as far
as saying your dedication to Christ can only
be measured by your discipline in prayer.
If you want to come and yield as
an act of dedication, do so before we
finalize this great convention together and send you
home on your way to see a new
day, a new renewal of the spirit, a
movement in the tops of the mulberry trees,
a mighty breath from heaven, and a new
to hasten the coming of the King.
Lord, write these words upon our hearts, my
heart, all afresh, all anew, and make me
and make us men and women of prayer.
Teach us that we only conquer as we
kneel at the throne of grace.
And may this lead to unbelievable heights of
glory and blessing and power in the days
to come.
We ask it for Jesus' sake.
And all God's people said, Amen.
Let's turn to number 59 once again for
the last time.
Have thine own way, Lord.
We're a God has touched your heart and
there is the moving of the spirit.
Just quietly come and kneel in his presence
as Ron leads us in this prayer of
response.
Have thine own way, Lord.
Thou art the partner.
I am the clay.
Let us rise together.
Let us rise together and sing.