Now may we have a moment of prayer.
May the words of my mouth and the
meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy
sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.
Amen.
We shall begin quite naturally with the laws
of prayer.
Prayer has its laws.
They're all right here in the Bible.
May not be called in such a fashion,
but here they are.
Someone has said the Bible is a great
textbook on the theme of prayer.
Well, it does run right through, of course,
the entire Bible.
Our God is ever a God of order
and of law in the entire universe, from
the movements of the greatest of the stars
to the germination of the tiniest seed.
There's not a single phenomenon that is not
governed by law.
But the Lord is no less a God
of law in the spiritual order.
Some years ago, Henry Drummond wrote an epochal
book with the theme on the theme natural
law in the spiritual order.
Yes, of course, there are higher laws, but
they are natural to the spiritual order.
All is governed by law.
True, we are not under law but under
grace, but even grace has its laws, its
mode of operation.
The first, very, very simple, it'll take us
right down to the ABCs of Christian living,
but we must begin at this point.
The law of the name.
Well, since our childhood, we've learned to pray
in the name.
Perhaps it's become a bit mechanical and somewhat
artificial, but may the Lord enable us this
morning to realize afresh what it means to
pray in the name.
Hitherto ye have asked nothing in my name.
Pray in my name, and it shall be
given.
There's much loose thinking and speaking, it appears,
in Christian literature today regarding prayer.
There's a book out on prayer, All Sincere
Desire.
Well, if all sincere desire, all sincere desires
were prayer, then the assassin who murdered our
former president was praying when he committed the
vile deed.
He was desirous, I'm sure, of aiming very
carefully.
No, all sincere desire is not prayer.
The Savior said, No man cometh unto the
Father but by me.
Here is the most fundamental law of prayer.
He is the door.
I had the privilege of attending the great
ecumenical conference in Mexico City, the same conference
I attended in India back in 39.
Some 200 delegates from I've forgotten how many
countries of the world.
And there was a tendency there on the
part of some, they call it synchronism.
Well, there's some good in all religions, and
a tendency to give it out that there
are other ways.
No.
Bishop Athanasius of India rose and said, No,
there is only one name given under heaven
whereby men may be saved.
It is the name of Jesus.
No man cometh unto the Father but by
me.
To pray in the name of Jesus, of
course, means praying in the perfect confidence and
assurance that there on the cross he removed
all the barriers.
Bearing in his body, he did on the
tree, the accursed tree, in the sense, of
course, because he was made accursed.
He who knew no sin was made sin,
that we might be made the righteousness of
God.
Now, when we stand on this ground, we
may come in perfect boldness, perfect assurance into
the presence of the Father.
Coming to the holiest, we read in Hebrews
10, means coming through the rent veil, the
shed blood of our blessed Redeemer.
For on no other ground can we face
the Father because of our sin.
On no other ground would we have the
courage, would we have the confidence.
For it's a terrible thing the scriptures tell
us to fall into the hands of the
living God.
All things whatsoever ye shall ask in my
name, ask the Father, he will give it
to you.
John 16, I think it is the 14th
verse, the 23rd verse, Verily, verily, I say
unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father
in my name, he will give it to
you, hitherto have ye asked nothing in my
name.
Dwight Moody tells, used to tell such a
lovely story, how beautifully it illustrates what it
means to pray in the name of Jesus.
This soldier, wounded soldier, came to the door
of the office of a doctor one day,
asking for help.
The doctor said, I can't help you.
Why, the war has us all on, more
or less, bankrupt.
Would you help me, doctor, for the sake
of Charles?
Why, Charles was his son.
Do you know my son?
Yes, doctor, we fought side by side on
the field of battle.
You know my boy Charles?
Charles was my most intimate companion, and he
said, when I fell wounded, taken from the
field of battle, should you ever be in
my hometown, call on my dad.
You'll see what he'll do for you.
Well, I need not tell you that he
was taken into the home, and the very
best the doctor had was at his disposal,
and treated as the doctor's own son.
Hitherto ye have asked nothing in my name,
in the name of the Son.
And ye shall receive that your joy may
be full.
Well, now, if our joy in this conference
doesn't reach this level, if it isn't full,
if our cups don't run over, don't ask
me why or anyone else.
Here's the answer.
We haven't sought the Lord in prayer, as
expected.
The blessing he surely would bestow upon his
children gathered here at the Rio Grande Bible
Institute.
But to pray in the name of Jesus,
and this brings us to the second law,
not only means, of course, resting in the
finished work of Calvary, reconciled to the Father
by the blood of the cross, it means
more than this.
As the Savior points out here in John
15, the seventh verse, if ye abide in
me, and my words abide in you, ye
shall ask what ye will, and it shall
be done unto you.
To pray in the name of Jesus, of
course, also means to pray in union with
him, to pray from the right position.
Now, in prayer, you know, for years I
stumbled around jockeying—forgive that word, that's not the
right word, but it comes to my lips—jockeying
for position before the Father.
Struggling, straining, groaning, weeping in an effort to
attain the right position.
Well, that's a mistake.
This position has been given to us in
Christ.
To pray aright, we must begin not struggling
upward to the peak, but begin at the
top.
Just give thanks that in Christ you died
for sin, to sin, and with him you
were raised up and made to sit together
in heavenly places.
Now, when we do that, we pray from
the right position, the position of oneness with
Jesus.
And this does not come to us through
great efforts and struggles and groaning and weeping.
This is the gift of the Father.
In recent years, I begin by saying, thank
you, Father, that I'm before thee in the
risen Christ.
Is that presumption?
No, that's faith.
He tells me in his word that that's
where he's placed me.
But God was rich in mercy for his
great love wherewith he loved us even when
we were dead.
In sin you can't get down lower than
that, from the lowest to the highest.
Complete violation of every natural order, law.
Even when we were dead in sins, from
the lowest to the highest, he hath raised
us up together with Christ by grace he
has saved, hath quickened us with Christ by
grace he has saved, and hath raised us
up together, and hath made us to sit
together in heavenly places.
It's in the past.
As in Romans 6, the old man was
crucified.
He hath raised us.
It's a consummated thing.
You receive it by faith.
Well, it was already yours when you accepted
the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior.
You may not have known it, but according
to the word, you were raised up together
with him, and with him were made to
sit in heavenly places.
If you abide in me, and I in
you, ask what you will.
We must pray from the right position.
When the son enters into the presence of
his father, well, he doesn't speak to him
like the servant out at the front door,
or like the barn hand.
What's that word we used to use years
ago?
The man that helps out there in the
barn.
The what?
I can't hear very well after he gets
to the flight.
The hired man is the word I'm trying
to get over.
Thank you.
A very simple word.
I haven't used it for a long time.
No, I say when a child enters into
the presence of his father, his son, he
doesn't speak to him like the hired man.
It's all arranged.
What do you want, son?
This, dad.
That's the second law.
And it involves much praise, does it not?
Watchman Nee says that we ought to praise
more and beg less.
Just give thanks for the glory of the
position that is ours in Christ Jesus.
Really enthroned with Christ.
And we're to pray from this position, the
position of oneness, of union with the Lord
Jesus Christ.
And then, of course, we're involved in all
the things that the Lord Jesus is doing,
his plans.
Yes, his program, his passion, his purpose.
The great redemptive work still going on, though
it was consummated on Calvary.
Paul said, I fill up what is lacking
of the afflictions of Christ in my body
for the church's sake.
Now, of course, this gives the prayer life
a tremendous lever, does it not?
Praying in Christ from the position of oneness
with him, far above all principalities of power.
Well, you know, it's just not possible for
us to be denied when, of course, we've
come to the law of the will of
God.
It's understood.
But if we're in the purposes of Christ,
why, his name is involved.
Recently, that has come home to my heart
with great force.
And I say, but Father, the glory of
Christ is involved in this matter.
Well, you know, he can't let you down.
Of course, if the glory of his Son
is involved in this, his good name.
You know, I had a friend there in
Mexico City years ago that we were very,
very close.
He was, I was really a shadow.
And in a great undertaking there to bring
a gospel to every home in the whole
Republic, it was a campaign.
And I used to let him use my
name almost anywhere he wanted to.
And he was using it all the time.
But the time came when I had to
say no.
I had to break with this man.
I had to break.
He can no longer use my name.
If he does, people know.
You know what I mean.
Use my name to open the way here
and there.
He can't do that any longer.
Now, you know, if just some little nobody
like myself, if his name has power, just
think what it means to use the name
of Jesus.
If I were here in the name of
the President of the United States, I don't
know what Brother Ehlert would do.
As an intimate friend, a member of the
family circle, one who could walk in and
out of the White House, what would he
do?
Brother, I'm here in the name of the
King of Kings, that name which is above
every name.
Ah, this praying in the name of Jesus,
friends, may the Lord open it up to
us in a new way.
Perhaps it's become somewhat mechanical.
But there is no other name above every
name in heaven and upon earth.
Just look where it puts us.
You know, to use the name, well, it
just puts us in his person.
Ooh, you're here in the name of President
Johnson, are you?
Think of being here in the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ and being privileged to
pray in that name.
Dare we?
For it really means, Father, I'm here in
the Son, sharing the purposes of the Son.
One with Him.
Well, you can ask what you will.
It shall be given.
For I can't let my son down.
Not after Calvary, the empty tomb.
I can't let my son down.
If you're here in his name, if his
good name is really involved in this, you
can ask what you will.
Now, that takes us to the third law.
This, too, very elementary.
The law of faith.
Need we mention this?
Indeed.
You will recall that word in the epistle
of James.
But let him ask him faith without wavering,
without doubting.
If we doubt, he said, let not that
man think that he shall receive anything of
the Lord.
Because, you know, doubt is really a heinous
thing.
John tells us that if we doubt, if
we're unbelieving, we make him out a liar.
We're really saying, I can't trust you, Lord.
My, how would I feel if, upon arriving,
Brother Eder would, it would come to my
ears that he had said to Brother Parker
over here, you keep an eye on Hegel
all over this place.
Because, I don't know whether we can trust
him or not.
Well, I would pack up my little bag
immediately and get out of here.
It's a terrible thing to doubt the living
God.
Let him ask him faith.
Or, as it is in the gospel according
to Mark, the eleventh chapter, where we have
the Savior saying in the twenty-fourth verse,
Therefore I say unto you, what things soever
ye desire, when ye pray, believe, believe that
ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
I used to pray with a dear friend,
he's now down in Chile, Colonel Garing of
the Salvation Army.
He's now commissioner down in Chile.
He was in London not long ago for
the appointment of the new general.
He's gone right up.
The Lord sent him to us there in
Mexico at a very critical hour in the
life of the Salvation Army of Mexico.
It gives me a joy to pray with
him, because all the time that one would
be praying, I'd be praying, you'd say, I
believe, Lord, I believe, I believe, Lord, I
believe.
Well, you know, you can't improve on that.
And there are many ways of saying that.
A very lovely thing came to my ears
only the other day from Dick Hillis, who's
in Mexico City, the director of Overseas Crusade.
You know, used there in Formosa at the
time of that great revival, when the track
after China had fallen into the hands of
the Communists, fleeing to Formosa, so many.
And there was a time of revival, Dick
Hillis, his brother.
He said to me, you know, one of
the sayings of Samuel Swimmer.
Now, I knew Samuel Swimmer, the father of
missions over in Arabia, among the Mohammedans, at
the College of Missions.
I was, Miss Eagle and I were getting
ready 43 years ago, my dear brother.
And he came to speak to us.
I hadn't heard this, but so Dick Hillis
was telling me, he said he'd walk beside
the sea with his cane, and he'd pat
down the cane, the devil's a liar, God
loves me, the devil's a liar, God loves
me.
Because the devil will try to cast a
doubt on that.
You know, he will.
You know, if God really loved you, would
he allow this?
Would he allow that?
Would you be suffering this?
Would you be suffering that?
Would he?
The devil's a liar, God loves me.
I think I'm going to use that formula.
In other words, did he?
A lovely story appeared in Christian, the Christian
Digest some time ago, written by a British
captain, captain of an ocean-going vessel.
He said, I'll never be the same.
I had George Miller on board.
Now, you all know who George Miller was.
Never was a greater prayer warrior.
Prayed in a million pounds and all for
those orphanages for children, a ministry that has
stirred Christians throughout the world.
Over the years.
He said, I had George Miller aboard, and
out on the high seas, the ship came
to a stop, a blanket of fog.
George Miller came to the door of my
cabin, knocking, Captain, I must be in Toronto
on Sunday.
Well, but you know the laws of the
high seas, the ship cannot move until the
fog lifts.
I know that, Captain, I know that.
I must be in Toronto.
For 40 years I've been serving the Lord.
I've never failed in an appointment.
I can't say that, I'm ashamed.
But you know the laws, we would.
Yes, Captain.
But Captain let's pray.
Very well.
So they got down on their knees in
the cabin.
Captain said he offered just a little tiny
prayer.
Of course, George Miller wouldn't have to pray
an hour to get to the Lord's ear.
He lived there.
He lived right there all the time and
so just a few words.
Lord lift this fog.
Thank you, Lord.
And then the Captain said, I was about
to pray when George Miller put his hand
on my shoulder and said, don't pray, Captain,
you don't believe.
There's no need.
They went out on deck, the fog was
lifting.
In a few moments the ship was again
plunging through the seas.
No, don't pray, Captain, you don't believe.
It would be mockery.
What things whoever you desire, when you pray,
believe.
You know, if we believe more and pray
less, we kind of get things mixed up
and think if I just keep on praying.
No.
If we believe more and pray less, because
really it's when you stop praying and begin
believing that things begin to move.
Now, that brings us to the great mountain
peak and Everest in all the Himalayas of
prayer.
The will of God.
This is the fourth law.
Perhaps it should be the first.
I don't know.
The will of God.
Well, the Savior himself prayed according to this
law, Father, not my will, but thine be
done.
And great drops of blood falling fell from
his brow.
If it be possible, Father, let this cup
pass, but not my will, thine will be
done.
Now, prayer is not an effort to bring
God down into our caprice that he might
conform to our plans and purposes.
It's to bring us up into his grave
purposes and to harness us to his grave
plan.
And that simplifies it so, doesn't it, friends?
Thy will be done.
And then his prayer was, Phinney said, or
it's the biographer, Phinney's prayer was, Lord, I
don't want anything.
I said, well, that's a funny way to
pray.
I don't want anything, Lord.
That's a strange way to pray.
No, that's great.
That's great.
He meant, I don't want anything but your
will, Lord, that's all.
Just your will, Lord.
Just your plans, Lord.
I don't want anything, Lord.
Oh, that's great, isn't it?
That's like the little girl who said, Lord,
I haven't come to ask for a blessing.
I've come to ask for orders.
Yes, orders.
What's your plan, Lord?
Then he's committed, you see.
If we can fit in, be sure we're
in the center of God's will, well, he's
committed.
All his riches are committed.
You can't lack anything.
You'll pardon me for referring constantly to Watchman
Nee of China, but I've been reading a
fresh Sit, Walk, Stand.
Rather, you can read that over and over
and over.
He tells in the closing chapter, those of
you who have read it will recall the
story of an experience out on an island
from the mainland of China.
They'd gone to evangelize, he and three or
four companions.
And he said the going was very, very
difficult.
No response.
And then they suddenly realized.
Someone gave it out.
Our God, that was some heathen God.
On the day they were seafaring for fishermen,
they needed to know about weather.
On the day of the celebration, some great
celebration in honor of their, it's always clear,
bright, sunny day.
One of the young men spoke up, it'll
rain on that day.
Well, Watchman Nee wasn't present at the time.
He said in the evening when it was
reported to him, he traveled.
He thought, oh my, we're committed.
I wonder, are you in the will of
God?
And he prayed about it.
Peace came and he felt, no, we're in
the center of God's will.
Then he is committed.
And he said he really couldn't pray, he
just said, where's the God of Elijah?
That was his prayer.
Where's the God of Elijah?
Well, the day came, brethren, when the sun
that should have been without a cloud, a
cloudless day, rained all day.
And then Watchman Nee said that they gave
it out.
Well, we were mistaken about the date.
We were mistaken.
We'd say the 10th.
I forgot.
February.
It'll be the 17th.
It'll be a cloudless day.
Watchman Nee said early in the morning, where
is the God of Elijah?
And he said they rained in torrential fashion.
They came out nevertheless bearing their God and
they slipped and stumbled and fell in the
mud and the God fell in the dirt
and he was broken, the idol.
And then the young people of the village
cried out, we're through with the God trial.
And the door was opened for a great
turning to Christ.
God was committed.
They were sure they were in the will
of God.
When you're sure of that, he's committed.
He's committed.
Yes.
We cannot get around this law.
I fear sometimes that we attempt to do
so.
Now, I hope this won't be misunderstood.
I believe in healing.
I do believe in healing.
Praise God.
What would we do, friends, without the Great
Physician?
I believe in healing with all my heart.
You know how often the Lord has stretched
forth his healing hand.
I have a friend in Venezuela, a German,
healed of leprosy.
He goes about all the marks of leprosy.
They fill on him.
But the doctors have given him a clean
bill of health and he goes in and
out of public offices bearing witness, testifying of
the Lord Jesus.
And I've heard him tell the story how
he crawled to the ocean beach to die.
That night the Lord met him.
He's a healed man.
No, I believe in healing.
But that's one thing, and to take it
to the extremes, which there's the tendency to
do, saying that if the patient is not
healed, it's because there hasn't been enough food
this morning at the table.
I was over there with my dear brother
Abel, a guest in his home.
The good wife read 2 Corinthians 12, 4,
5, and 6 along there, where Paul tells
about the thorn in his flesh.
And he prayed three times.
Dr. Hahn goes on to say, the Lord
said, no, Paul, I've got to keep you
humble.
I've got to keep you humble.
So you'll be depending upon me utterly.
So the thorn, the messenger of Satan buffeting
him, the thorn in his flesh.
It seems Paul physically was somewhat, well, something
that could be looked down upon.
That shows up in his epistles, you know.
This suffering from the eyes, you know, to
have to be kind of led around is
very humiliating.
True, Paul received his sight again, but fully,
it seems not.
There in his epistle to the Galatians, he
said, you would have given me your eyes.
Well, why did he say that?
Well, when he wrote to the Galatians, he
said, you see with what great letters I
have written to you, he couldn't see.
Very humiliating.
But Paul got to Rome, and he finished
his course, and he could look back over
a consummated work, nothing lacking.
The Lord had healed him, I rather doubt
it.
The Lord needed in Paul a broken instrument,
something like a leech fastened to the rock.
Well, that's health, brethren.
And I've always felt the kind of health
the Lord gave Paul.
It shows up here in his epistle to
the Romans, the eighth chapter, where he says
in the eleventh verse, If the spirit of
him that raised up Jesus from the dead
dwelleth in you, he that raised up Christ
from the dead shall also quicken your mortal
bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you.
I think that's the healing Paul had.
The Lord just kept him going, moment by
moment, just quickening that frail body, suffering from
this thorn.
And he couldn't take the next step without
being like a leech fastened to the rock.
Well, this is also healing of a higher
order.
So let's beware of going beyond.
Yes, praise God.
I know that word over there in James,
call the elders.
Pray for the sick.
Let them pray a healing, anointing in the
name of the Lord.
Praise God for that.
He had the privilege of testing that, too.
We're not casting a shadowed doubt over that,
but you've got to balance scripture with scripture.
We know that.
If we ask anything according to his will,
he hears us.
And if I say that I'm to have
a perfectly, well, I don't know how to
put it.
We don't have our resurrection bodies yet, brethren.
Praise God, we're going to have resurrection bodies.
In a sense, our salvation is still in
swaddling clothes.
We're to have resurrection bodies.
We don't have them yet.
And Paul says in Romans 8 that the
body is destined to the grave, and it
is dead because of sin.
So we have been forgiven and redeemed, yet
the body is dead because of sin.
And so I say let's be careful to
balance things up if we ask anything according
to his will.
There it is in 1 John, the last
chapter, according to his will, he hears us.
We've come now, I must hasten on, I've
taken too much time, to the law.
I was going to pass over this because
it seems to jar, it seems to clash
with some of the things we've already said,
but I think it should be mentioned.
The law of persevere.
Yes, we must persevere.
What's the word I want?
Perseverance.
The law, we must persevere.
That lovely parable of the woman who came
before the judge who feared not God, unjust.
In the Spanish it's very strong.
Parque esta mujer no me muela.
Well, those of you who are studying Spanish,
you know how strong that word is, moler.
The woman who is preparing the tortillas takes
the corn to moler, bind it, you know.
Parque esta mujer no me muela, so that
this woman may not bind me.
Trouble me, it reads in Orange.
Well, I will avenge her of her adversary,
but she persevered.
And then the Savior says, if an unjust
judge will finally hear and work justice, oh,
how much more your heavenly Father.
Now, this seems to clash, doesn't it?
Shall we?
Perhaps there are matters in which we are
not too pressed beyond a certain point.
The Lord knows best.
I recall hearing from the lips of Dr.
Goodell in those days, that's 40 years ago,
one of the great preachers in New York,
speaking to pastors.
And he told this story, the story of
an Anglican bishop who telegraphed asking for prayer
for his boy, sick.
And Dr. Goodell said he prayed.
And then another telegram, pressing him to continue,
and he continued in prayer.
He said, years later, I met the bishop,
some city, I've forgotten where it was, and
the bishop said, you remember, Dr. Goodell, my
telegrams?
He asked, oh, he said, I think I
did wrong.
My boy has grown up now, and in
walking in the ways of wickedness, I think
it would have been better if the Lord
had taken him.
Well, there are mysteries, of course there are
bound to be, are there not?
We can only go so far in some
of these matters.
I say it would seem as if this
law of perseverance, just up to what point?
Well, we know that some things from the
word are within the plans of God.
I don't have to say, Lord, if it's
thy will to save so-and-so, it's
the Lord's will to save all.
Unless some of you believe in limited atonement,
I don't.
For John tells us that he is the
propitiation for our sins, and not only for
our sins, but for the sins of the
whole world.
We don't have to ask, Lord, is it
thy will?
No, we can hold on.
George Miller said, some friend chided him, you
say that all your prayers are heard.
He asked, how can that be?
Well, I've been praying for 40 years for
the conversion of two friends.
They're not yet converted, but I know they
will be, so I say all.
And then, shortly before Miller's death, these two
were converted, but he held on for 40
years, the law of perseverance.
And then there's the law of the guidance
of the Holy Spirit.
Perhaps this should come first.
We know not how to pray, Paul says,
what to pray for.
The Spirit helpeth our infirmities.
And they're never greater than when we enter
the ministry of prayer, our infirmities.
But the Spirit alongside, you know, the paraclete,
helps alongside.
Well, he gives liberty in prayer, and he
burdens in prayer.
And there are times when our praying becomes
a cosmic groaning.
Things are going to happen when it's that
way.
Things are going to happen.
Then it's the Spirit making intercession with groanings
which cannot be uttered.
You know, praying Hyde of India, died of
a broken heart.
An autopsy was performed on Hyde, and they
found his heart clear out of place.
Oh, Hyde would spend whole nights, he spent
30 days a night before the Lord, and
groaning for the church in India, the Syococ
Convention.
For an outpouring of the Spirit, he paid
the price.
He died a young man, praying Hyde of
India, groaning in the Spirit.
It cost.
We've all had experiences when suddenly we realize
that the prayer was no longer ours, it
had passed from our hands to others.
It was the groaning of the Spirit, and
we just amend the Spirit.
May the Lord teach us to pray.
Perhaps we can still have a revival here
in America, a house cleaning.
Why, friends, do you know prayer is something
so wonderful you can even hold up the
judgments of God?
You say, but brother, don't say that.
Yes.
What about Abraham, when he prayed for a
lot?
The Lord told him, you know, the fire
was going to come down from heaven on
those wicked cities.
The Lord just held that up until a
lot was taken out.
Isn't that tremendous?
A lot was taken out.
And he just held up the very judgment
of God until a lot was taken out.
Perhaps we can still have revival in America.
Now there's a final law that we must
touch upon as we close.
The law of the right motive, friends.
The right motive, the glory of God.
He tells us in his word that he
will not give his glory to another.
You know, that's why you can only pray
going through the gateway of the cross.
You've really got to stand on Calvary ground
to be able to pray.
That is to say, you have to die.
Someone yesterday, as we were coming over in
the car, Fred, perhaps it was you, said,
well, a lot of self can get mixed
up in our preaching, but there isn't much
room for it in praying.
It's true, isn't it?
There isn't much room.
And to really pray, the self-life must
be crucified.
The motive, in other words, must be the
glory.
Perhaps that's why we're not having revival in
the Church.
It's so difficult to pray in that way.
Revival, Lord, for us Baptists.
Brother Ager, I know you couldn't have revival
among Methodists with all their false doctrines.
It's so hard to pray with the right
motive, isn't it, Fred?
And to realize that God has on his
heart all those who truly believe in the
name of Jesus.
But our motive must be the glory of
God.
If we can say, Lord, that thy name
be glorified, that's a ground immovable, you see.
Then you stand on the rock.
You can press through.
That thy name may be glorified.
Is that what you really want?
You know, in the life of Samuel Bringle,
there was a great man in the Salvation
Army years ago, a commissioner, one of the
great preachers of the world.
The Lord took him all over the world,
wherever he went through his revival.
Commissioner Bringle.
As a young man, he was studying in
Boston, theology.
Well, it happened that General Booth came over
from London, and he was speaking in this—imagine
it there in Boston, the theological—well, Billy Graham's
recently preached in Princeton Seminary.
I think they had him a whole week.
And General Booth's theme was the Holy Spirit,
the wholeness of the Spirit, a baptism of
fire.
Well, that sounds like a salvation.
That sounds like General Booth, doesn't it?
It stirred up a great desire in the
heart of this theological student to be filled
with the Spirit.
Samuel Bringle, he began seeking the Lord.
But he had difficulties.
He was a great orator.
He'd taken prizes here and there in the
universities, a Demosthenes—no, a Chrysostom.
And as he prayed for the fullness, the
Lord spoke to him and said, Now, Samuel,
why do you want this?
And then Samuel said, Lord, forgive me.
Forgive me, Lord.
He wanted to be able to preach with
even more eloquence.
What preacher doesn't?
Why do you want this?
That your voice may be even more golden,
more entrancing?
Lord, forgive me.
Then Bringle says, he said this to the
Lord, Lord, I'll preach stuttering.
Imagine trying to preach stuttering.
I'll preach stuttering, Lord, if you'll give me
the fullness.
What happened in that moment?
The cross was applied to his tongue, to
his pride as an orator.
Then the Lord killed him.
That is to say, he struck Jacob where
a man is strongest.
Here in the thigh, a man can carry
a piano.
Here's where he's strongest.
Here's where the Lord struck him.
And he has to strike us where our
pride is strongest.
Well, in other words, Bringle's prayer had to
be purified.
Lord, just so your name is glorified, I'll
stutter.
But I must have the fullness.
That's the law of the glory of God.
Now, I close with an illustration here in
the Old Testament that I've always felt is
most apropos.
You'll remember Israel's great sin, the golden calf,
and how when Moses came down from the
mount, his indignation and the tables with the
law were shattered.
And how he went back up into the
mount to pray.
He tells us forty days and forty nights.
I took your sin, the calf which ye
had made, and burned it with fire, and
stamped it, and ground it very small, even
until it was as small as dust.
I cast the dust thereof into the brook
that descended out of the mount.
I fell down before the Lord forty days
and forty nights, as I fell down at
the first, because the Lord had said he
would destroy you.
And you'll recall a word over in Exodus
where Moses tells us that he prayed, saying,
Lord, this people has committed a great sin,
but Lord, forgive, and if not, blot me
out of the book.
Someone has said your prayer is worth what
you're worth.
Well, you can see why Moses was heard.
Forgive, and if not, blot me out of
the book.
I prayed, therefore, unto the Lord, and said,
O Lord God, destroy not thy people, and
thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed through thy
greatness, which thou hast brought forth out of
Egypt with a mighty hand.
Remember thy servant Abraham.
Well, we have solider ground, don't we, we
say in the name of Jesus.
Isaac and Jacob looked not unto the stubbornness
of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor
to their sin.
And now the motive comes to the surface.
Listen.
Lest the land whence thou broughtest us out,
say because the Lord were not able to
bring them into the land.
Lord, what will they say down in Egypt?
They'll say you couldn't do it, Lord.
They'll say you failed.
They won't understand, Lord.
Your name will be dishonored, Lord.
I can't take this.
You must be glorified, Lord.
And Moses triumphed.
The glory of God.
Lord, teach us to pray.
O Father, we're so thankful that we may
say Abba, Father, and deal directly with thee,
come into thy presence, and make known our
wants.
O Father, this morning we only desire to
praise thee, to worship thee, to give thee
thanks, Father, for that glorious position that is
ours before thee and the risen Christ.
And that thou dost look upon us with
that same favor as thou dost look upon
the Son.
For we are told that we are co
-heirs together with Christ of God.
O Father, how we thank thee.
And so, Father, may we not make prayer
just a means to an end of obtaining
things from thee, blessings.
But O Father, may our chief delight be
just in worshiping thee, just in being in
thy presence, loving thee.
Teach us to pray.
We ask through Christ, our Savior, Lord.
Amen.