Pastoral Intercessory Prayer, Part 2

Driving home: And I'm convinced that at the root of much deficiency in ministerial intercessory prayer lies in a defective theology of prayer in relationship to the divine purpose and will, or if you wish to express it more bluntly, t…

Martin draws an analogy between the struggle to reconcile divine decree with the command to preach and the similar, but often more difficult, struggle to reconcile it with the command to pray. He highlights that the connection between preaching and election is more visible than that between prayer and God's activity.

But, again, for the sake of isolating in a practical, workable manner, I have chosen these categories. First of all, then, there are the hindrances to ministerial intercessory prayer that are fundamentally theological. And the first of these theological problems is what I have called a defective theology, of prayer in relationship to the divine purpose and will. Almost all of us can remember the time when we first came to grips with the biblical doctrine of the divine decree, or what we might call a comprehensive predestination. When we first encountered biblical determinism, we can remember t...

3:36 - 4:56 Read in full sermon

The point: Condition your consciences by the word of God so that you will feel deep and valid guilt if you have patterns of failure in ministerial intercession, just as you should feel deep and valid guilt if you did not preach the…

Martin uses the concept of 'carnal Christian teaching' (where holiness is desirable but not essential for salvation) to illustrate how ministers can develop a similar defective theology regarding intercessory prayer, seeing it as less essential than preaching or oversight, and thus excusing failures in this area.

In the carnal Christian teaching, it is established that a person cannot be saved who does not believe he is a sinner. A person cannot be saved who does not believe that salvation is to be had in the person and work of the Christ of Scripture alone. However, belief in one's sinfulness and belief in Jesus Christ, according to the carnal Christian teaching, can be consistent with a life in which holiness is desirable, commendable, and a noble ideal, but not absolutely essential. It can be dispensed with, and still one can have heaven as his destiny. Well, I'm convinced, brethren, that we can dev...

16:09 - 17:23 Read in full sermon

Driving home: the more spiritual any activity is, the more the opposition of remaining sin will be to that activity.

Martin quotes John Owen (volume 6, page 159) to support the point that the more spiritual an activity, the fiercer the opposition of remaining sin, explaining why intercessory prayer is so difficult.

Strange statement, but that's how it stands. God has so ordered his salvation in its application that in this present state of that salvation being applied to us, he has decreed that there shall be an irreconcilable warfare, the flesh lusting against the spirit, the spirit lusting against the flesh, the result being that we are conscious of this warfare, particularly our inability to do the things that we would. And then, of course, the more extended commentary upon this, Romans 7, 18 through 23, and here, of course, John Owen has given us such a marvelous legacy in his treatise on indwelling ...

20:37 - 22:06 Read in full sermon

Driving home: the more spiritual any activity is, the more the opposition of remaining sin will be to that activity.

Martin quotes Dr. Lloyd-Jones (Christian Warfare, pages 276-277) on the idea that a truly spiritual man filled with the Spirit never has to drag himself to do things, but experiences vigor and liveliness. Martin then critiques this view as potentially leading to false bondage and not stacking up with the Apostle Paul's testimony in Romans 7.

the more fierce will be the opposition of your flesh. Now, I find it almost unthinkable that we would find language like this coming from someone who in so many other areas were unworthy to unloose the latchet of his shoes. But listen to this language. How do we know whether the spirit is working in us powerfully?

22:06 - 22:30 Read in full sermon

The point: When experiencing dullness, distraction, or evil thoughts during prayer, press through and lay hold of God and His grace, recognizing these as opposition from the powers of darkness.

When describing the intense spiritual opposition during prayer, Martin uses the metaphor of 'taking your 16-inch guns and you're aiming them at some of their pillboxes' to illustrate that intercessory prayer is a powerful assault on the kingdom of darkness, provoking fierce demonic resistance.

wicked, evil thoughts. Your whole past life will flash before you and you'll say, what in the world is going on? Well, I'll tell you what's going on. The powers of darkness know that you're taking your 16-inch guns and you're aiming them at some of their pillboxes.

27:58 - 28:18 Read in full sermon

The point: Commit to a certain time and specific segment of prayer concerns to force yourself to face whether you are engaging in this endeavor with a grieved Holy Spirit, and ask God to search you.

Martin uses the analogy of a husband committed to telling his wife he loves her daily, which forces him to keep short accounts with her, to illustrate how the discipline of committing to specific times and segments of intercessory prayer forces a minister to face whether he is engaging with a grieved Holy Spirit.

And then Jude 20, in which we are told that as the people of God in resisting the tendencies that would lead to apostasy, in the Holy Spirit. Now whatever it means to have the Spirit help us in our infirmity, whatever it means to pray in the Spirit, surely it means we must at the point of our praying have an ungrieved Spirit dwelling within us and actively operating upon our human spirit as we attempt to give ourselves to prayer. And so the third fundamental spiritual reason for failure in ministerial intercessory prayer is that we attempt to engage in this sacred activity bringing to our plac...

29:41 - 31:09 Read in full sermon

The point: Exercise self-control to keep yourself glued to God-given priorities and not be pushed and bullied by the tyranny of the immediate or apparently more desperate ministerial duties.

Martin uses the analogy of an out-of-shape person buying jogging shoes and immediately trying to run three miles, only to quit quickly, to illustrate the failure of setting unrealistic goals for intercessory prayer. He then shares his own experience of starting with short, manageable jogs to build stamina.

You're going to read a man of God who gave himself three hours a day to intercessory prayer. And you say, alright, I'm going to be a man of God starting Monday morning three hours. And by Wednesday you've quit. It's like the guy who says, I'm out of shape.

36:30 - 36:47 Read in full sermon

The point: Allocate specific time in your weekly schedule for intercessory prayer and jealously guard it, establishing this practice early in your ministry.

Martin shares a personal anecdote about his greatest regret in ministry: whole blocks of his life marked by failure in specific, regular, consistent intercessory prayer. He expresses a desire to spare younger ministers this pain and guilt, despite knowing God's forgiveness.

hour of prayer and may God grant that this will be something you will establish early in your ministry people have often asked me with regard to my family if you could go back and do it all over again what things would you do differently then they've asked the same question with regard to my ministry if there are things you would do differently what would you do differently brethren I have to confess this is the one area above all others that I would radically change if I could go back and do it all over again I don't have a sense of what I would call weighty guilt that I preached many sermons...

48:34 - 50:01 Read in full sermon

The point: Read books calculated to move you to pray, such as works by Palmer, McIntyre, Brooks, and biographies of prayerful men, to shame your present levels and stir you up.

Martin recommends several books on prayer, including Palmer's 'Theology of Prayer,' McIntyre's 'The Hidden Life of Prayer,' and Brooks' 'The Privy Key to Heaven,' as resources calculated to move ministers to pray more effectively.

move you to pray there are those sections in bridges on the Christian ministry though we would not agree with all of the statements of E.M. Bounds one thing when you read anything of E.M. Bounds is that it moves you to pray you may not embrace all of his theology of prayer but certainly he moves you to pray Palmer's book that I mentioned McIntyre's excellent little book the hidden life of prayer I hope to get that thing back in print Bethany was the last publisher to do a print of it Brooks volume one the privy key to heaven as I've been working my way through the volumes of Brooks I'm in volu...

52:58 - 53:56 Read in full sermon

The point: Read books calculated to move you to pray, such as works by Palmer, McIntyre, Brooks, and biographies of prayerful men, to shame your present levels and stir you up.

Martin suggests reading biographies of eminently prayerful men like McShane, Brainerd, and Whitfield, noting that their examples can shame current levels of intercessory prayer and motivate greater devotion.

that are ours well these are some of the things that I suggest and then those biographies of eminently prayerful men McShane Brainerd Whitfield one of the things reading their biographies periodically will do is to shame your present levels of intercessory prayer and move you to pray well I leave with you then those suggestions brethren that I hope you will go over periodically that there may be continuous progress in this area and then let's see I've gone for about an hour so I think this would be a good time for us to break alright brethren we now come to Roman numeral five miscellaneous con...

53:56 - 55:23 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not allow a self-indulgent spirit of the age to keep you from a pattern of life that includes fasting when men of God are in unusual pressures in the will of God.

Martin uses the accusation against Jesus as a 'glutton and a winebibber' to illustrate that Jesus's ordinary pattern was to eat and drink normally, cleaning his plate and emptying his glass, thus condemning false asceticism that attacks the integrity of our Lord.

rejected if it be received with thanksgiving for it is justified through the word of God in prayer you'll see up there in verse 1 it is called seducing spirits and doctrines of demons that produce this view of asceticism remember they called Jesus a glutton and a winebibber why because when he sat down at a feast he cleaned his plate and he emptied his glass that's the only grounds on which they could have called him a glutton and a winebibber if Jesus was so concerned that no one would ever accuse him of gluttony and of overindulgence in drink he would have simply nibbled at the corner of his...

72:58 - 74:27 Read in full sermon

The point: Ensure prayerfulness marks your regular and extraordinary meetings with fellow elders, taking the lead in laboring before God on behalf of the people during critical decisions and crises.

Martin references the incident of Joshua and the elders drawing aside to seek God's face earnestly after the defeat at Ai, illustrating the importance of corporate prayer among leaders during church crises.

about pastoral prayer in relationship to one's fellow elders and all you have on your notes is prayer in its relationship to your fellow elders and I just want to say a few things about this certainly prayerfulness ought to mark your regular and extraordinary meetings with your fellow elders and if you are set apart to labor in the word and in doctrine then Acts 6 4 has an even greater application to you and those elders set apart with you when critical decisions are to be made when there's a crisis in the church life the elders as a body ought to take the lead in laboring before God on behalf...

80:20 - 81:47 Read in full sermon