Introduction to Petition and Intercession

The Vastness, Mysteries, and Problems of Petition and Intercession

0:05 As we continue our study and discussion of the private means of grace, we are presently concerned with the privilege and duty of secret prayer. And since we are commanded in Scripture to pray with all prayer, we have been seeking to glean what all prayer involves. And I have suggested that the various kinds of prayer set forth in the Scriptures can be collated under the figure of the hand coming in fullness to bring something to God, the hand lifted up in defilement, needing cleansing from God, and the hand empty, seeking gifts from the hand of God.

0:50 Now we've covered the matter of hands full, the bringing of adoration, of praise, of worship. And then we concluded last week, our study, concerning the area of hands defiled, confession, humiliation, entreaty for restored communion, complaint and lamentation for sin and spiritual barrenness, all of those dimensions of prayer under the concept of the hand defiled, needing cleansing from God. Now, before moving this morning to the last division, the hands empty, seeking gifts from God, which will bring us into the realm of petition, supplication and intercession,

1:33 are there any carryover issues on the previous field of concern? A number of you have mentioned that you found this study quite helpful, particularly with reference to some of the problems of confession. Are there any questions that were burning in your own mind last week and time beat us, and you weren't able to ask them? Ask them now, or not forever hold your peace, but hold your peace, at least as far as this class is concerned, for some time.

2:03 All right, if not, then we shall move on to this third area of all prayer, namely the concept of coming with our hands empty, seeking from God by way of petition, supplication and intercession. And as I have given some measure of thought and prayer to preparation, I found tremendous difficulty in trying to know how to come, at this aspect of the subject of prayer. And unlike most of our classes, where after a brief introduction I throw out a question and then you're off and running on your own, I must of necessity begin this area of our study

2:47 by lecturing to you for perhaps at least half of the period, maybe the entire period, for the simple reason that the subject is so vast that I must try to set the boundaries of the subject, give some general direction to it, to our study, and in that way, I hope, anticipate and answer some of the questions which would get us on a treadmill and preclude our making much progress in our study. For those visiting with us, this is not the normal format of this class. It's more conducted like a forum, where after introduction, certain basic questions are thrown out and then together we search the Scriptures, seeking to find God's answer to those questions. But first of all, as we come to this third area

3:32 of concern with reference to prayer, there are several things we must be aware of. Not beware of, but be conscious of. Be aware of. Two words.

3:44 Be aware of. And the first is this. We must be aware of the vastness or the expansiveness of this aspect of prayer. When treating and discussing the other aspects, there are in the Scriptures much fewer questions or materials with reference to praise, adoration, and confession, humiliation.

4:10 But when we come to the subject of the asking element of prayer, the aspects of prayer legitimately subsisting under the heads of petition, supplication, and intercession, we're conscious that the Biblical materials are much more abundant. And I think it would be accurate to say for every precept, and for every example, of hands full in adoration, praise, hands defiled, confession, and pleading for cleansing, for every verse, for every example in those areas, you have dozens in this third area. So we must be aware of the vastness of this aspect of true prayer. For instance,

4:54 when you turn to the Scriptures themselves, unlike confession, which has basically just one word used for it in the New Testament, and adoration and praise and worship, several words, the very noun prayer in the New Testament, if we exclude the word which means exclusively thanksgiving, prayer that is a giving of thanks, Eucharistia, there are no fewer than seven words, seven different words used in the New Testament to describe prayer. Now some of them are only used once. Some of them are used two or three times. Then you have your main words, prosuche, which is the main word used again and again, and several other words that are used with greater or lesser frequency.

5:38 But the very presence, you see, of seven different words to describe prayer in terms of its asking, in terms of its petitioning, supplicating aspect, should at the very outset make us sensitive to the fact that we are on a great ocean of biblical concern. We're not on a river, even a broad and a deep river, but we're out in an ocean of biblical teaching and biblical concerns. Therefore, that vastness will make it extremely difficult for us to cover the subject in any way that would even border on being comprehensive. Secondly, we must not only be aware of the vastness of this aspect of prayer,

6:23 but we must be aware of the profound mysteries which surround this aspect of prayer. In praise, we are doing what is absolutely rational and perfectly understandable. When you ascribe to God worth, there is nothing mysterious about that. He is a God infinitely worthy of worship, praise, adoration, exaltation, and it's the most rational thing in the world for the creature who is the recipient of the goodness, the mercy, this revelation of God in himself and in his gifts, to render praise and thanksgiving to that God.

7:03 Moreover, confession is perfectly reasonable. If the creature who is dependent upon this great God for all that he has praises him for all of his gifts and for all that he is in himself, if that creature offends that God, it's only reasonable that he should seek his pardon and his forgiveness. So you see, there's a sense in which there is nothing profoundly mysterious about hands full or hands defiled. But when you come to the area of petitioning, the matters of supplication and intercession, we're touching issues that relate to the eternal destinies of the souls of men, the plans of God as they relate to the affairs of nations,

7:47 of individuals, of his church, and so you're into this orbit of the profound mystery of how a God of eternal decree, relates to the whimperings of his finite creatures. And if you've never thought about that issue until it has created tremendous problems, you've never taken either God as a sovereign decreeing God seriously, or you've never taken what the scripture says about prayer seriously. When you read such verses as these, our God is in the heavens, he hath done whatsoever

8:31 he hath pleased. He worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. He doeth according to his will among the armies of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand or say unto him what doest thou. If you take those elements of truth seriously and then set against them words such as these, call unto me and I will answer thee.

8:55 Concerning the work of my hands, command ye me. You've got tremendous problems. If you take them both seriously. Now if you yield up a serious regard for either set of those biblical truths, then you have no problem.

9:08 And so you have books written on the fact that prayer literally governs the world. Not God, but prayer. And when you take it to its source, what it's saying is the person praying governs the world. So you do not have a sovereign God upon the throne, you have the sovereign man on the throne running the affairs of the church and the nation in terms of his prayers.

9:30 On the other hand, you have those who've taken seriously the teaching of the word of God concerning divine sovereignty and they have taught in essence that prayer has no objective validity in the outworking of God's will. It is all purely subjective upon our own hearts. Prayer does not change things or better stated, God does not change things in answer to prayer. They would say that any semblance of this prayer is teaching borders on blasphemy to think that the creature in any way can affect the creator.

10:08 Well, you see, as Bible Christians, we want to give up no block of biblical truth. We want to hold with absolute tenacity, not absolute, we're creatures, but hold with fierce tenacity to everything that the Bible teaches about the absolute unrivaled supremacy and sovereignty of God. That he does according to his will in heaven and earth and he works all things after the counsel of his own will. On the other hand, we want to take hold with equal fierceness and tenacity to every promise of God relative to God's hearing and answering the prayers of his people.

10:51 We want to take seriously what James says. He says you have not, why? Because God sovereignly decreed that you should not have? No, he says you have not because you do not ask.

11:02 Indicating they would have certain things they do not presently have if they had only asked. And we want to take that seriously. And all of the examples that God heard and God did thus and thus and God hearkened and God did thus and thus, is God playing games with us? No, he isn't.

11:21 He's teaching us the validity of prayer. So, there is a profound mystery when we come to the subject of petition, intercession and supplication, a mystery that does not surround these two other dimensions of prayer. Now, it is a mystery how an infinitely holy God could provide a way of forgiveness for the likes of us. But that we should seek forgiveness is no mystery.

11:44 That's perfectly rational. That God should reveal himself in his glory to sinful creatures, that's a mystery. But that the creature beholding his glory should return thanks, that is no mystery. But that this God should say to that creature, this sovereign eternal decreeing God, say to that fallible, that finite, that sinful creature, your cries have something to do with what I do in the world, that is indeed a profound mystery.

12:17 And we must be honest about that mystery. And so at the very outset, I'm aware of it and I hope you're aware of it. And then thirdly, we must not only be aware of what I've called the vastness of this aspect of prayer, the profound mysteries attached to this subject of prayer, but we must be aware of the real problems attached to this aspect of prayer. Such questions as why does God not seem to answer prayers that we've offered with the greatest measure of fervency and with the greatest degree of confidence that we are asking according to the will of God.

12:56 There is the real problem of unanswered prayer. There is the real problem of God's working when we didn't pray at all. And there are times we wonder, well, God gave thus and thus when I didn't pray, and the things for which I've prayed He hasn't given. These are real problems.

13:13 We read in the scriptures that God granted them their requests but sent leanness to their souls. At what point does importunity become a petulant kind of brattish insistence until God finally says, all right, you want it so badly, you can have it. And you can have the results of it. Like the parent who says to the kid who's constantly whimpering for something that the parent knows is not in his best interest and to teach him a lesson, the parent says, all right, have your way.

13:40 Ten minutes later, the kid comes crying, saying, Daddy, it wasn't all I thought it would be. And you say, all right, you've learned your lesson. Now the Lord teaches us that we should be importunate. He gives us the lesson of the friend who went to his friend at midnight and kept banging on the door until he finally just said, in essence, look, you're going to drive me bananas.

13:58 Just to shut you up, I'm going to give you what you're hollering for. That's sort of the 20th century paraphrase, but that's exactly what it means.

14:07 It's exactly what it means. And then the parable of the unjust judge. The man says, look, woman, I'm not moved at all by your state as a widow. I'm not at all moved by your plight, but you're just going to bruise me.

14:21 That's the emphasis in the original. You're just going to bruise me by your continual coming after me. What in the world do you want? I want to get you off my back.

14:27 Now there's a teaching of our Lord about insistence, and yet the Scripture says, he gave them their request, but sent leanness to their soul. They kept asking, referring to the children of Israel, kept asking for meat and for flesh. And finally God says, all right, I'll give you what you want. Well, that's a problem.

14:45 At what point does biblical importunity drift over into petulant whining? That's a problem. And if you've not faced that problem, you've not taken prayer seriously. So they're not only the mysteries as we think of God's sovereignty and our part in the outworking of his decrees, but the problems of delayed answers, of no answers, of the seeming silence of God.

Four Exhortations for Approaching Petition and Intercession

15:13 Well, in the light of these three things that we ought to be aware of, let me give you four exhortations as we start this aspect of our study. And you see that ends up with a number of perfection. Three observations that we ought to be aware of, and four exhortations, and I didn't know a total of seven until I just said four and three right now. So this is not planned.

15:33 This is not planned at all. All right? Number one. Exhortation number one.

15:40 In the light of these three things that I've set before you, don't expect an exhaustive treatment of this subject, of this aspect of prayer. We can only hope in our discussion together to lay hold of a few broad guidelines. Then you and I individually must continue in our study of the word of God to learn what it is to be efficient in petition, intercession, and supplication. We must continue to expose ourselves to good literature on prayer.

16:15 And may I give a warning here. Don't limit your reading to any one author on the subject of prayer. Because the subject is so vast that as God has been pleased to give teachers to His church, let this represent the whole spectrum of the teaching of the word of God on prayer. Now, God alone sees that spectrum to its perfection.

16:41 And what happens is that one servant of God, in terms of his own training, his own experiences, God's dealings with him, he sees this particular aspect of prayer with unusual clarity. The Holy Spirit sheds light upon that aspect. And then he writes his book. Hoping to be comprehensive, but everything in his book is strong on this dimension of prayer because it's a part of his own experience.

17:12 We're in the realm of experimental religion, you see. And no matter how much solid exegesis there is, he's going to be dealing with those verses, those examples, those dimensions of prayer which most suit his own God-given illumination against the backdrop of his own experience. However, here's another author. He has not denied this.

17:33 But he knows that in God's dealings with him, there is this aspect of prayer that comes out with greatest definition in his own understanding and in his own writing, you see. And so, right along the line. And one of the great dangers is that a Christian will find that early in his Christian life or somewhere along the way, he reads a certain author who brings out a certain dimension of prayer concerning which he was woefully ignorant. And he gets hooked on that author.

18:02 And what happens is a tremendous imbalance then enters into his whole thinking about prayer. For instance, two of the finest books on prayer. Now, there are aspects of these books that I do not endorse. I thought I brought...

18:16 Yes, both of them. Andrew Murray, The Ministry of Intercession. And you can see what I think about this one from what's happened to it. With Christ in the School of Prayer.

18:26 Andrew Murray has some of the most profound, helpful things to teach on prayer. He was a tremendous man of prayer. But there are certain glaring weaknesses, deficiencies, and even wrong emphases woven through all of Murray's writings on the subject of prayer. And if someone gets hooked on Murray and does not expose himself to another servant of Christ, he will then be encased not only in the strengths of that author but in his weakness.

18:56 And that's one of the things Jesus meant when he said, call no man master. Don't submit yourself to any man, regardless of what his name may be or his reputation may be, as the sole channel of your instruction on the subject of prayer. Now, A.W. Pink,

19:16 in his book On the Sovereignty of God, his concluding chapter is with Deals, I think it's the concluding chapter, one of the last chapters, on the subject of prayer in relationship to the sovereignty of God. No, it's the third from the last chapter. God's Sovereignty and Prayer. Now, what Mr. Pink does

19:37 is to wonderfully bring into focus the aspect that we dealt with at the beginning of setting out the mystery of prayer, namely that this is God's world and he runs it and he rules it. And the fact that he's given his people the privilege to pray does not negate everything that Scripture says about the sovereignty of God and the affairs of the world and of the Church. And he's very helpful in showing some of the Biblical answer to that profound mystery. But if all you did was get your notions of prayer from this treatment of Pink, you'd be woefully deficient in certain other dimensions of prayer.

20:14 So I need not bore you, I trust now, with illustrating it further, but I do, from a pastoral standpoint, earnestly plead with you in the light of the profound problems of prayer, intercessory prayer, petition, supplication, in light of the vastness of the subject and then the real problems attached to it. Do not expect balanced comprehensiveness in the class. Don't expect it from any human author and make the subject of prayer a lifetime concern, both in the study of the Scriptures on your own and in the Christian literature which you read. Bunyan has an excellent treatise on prayer

20:57 and he deals with certain aspects that you won't get in Pink or in Andrew Murray. Excellent little treatise. Do you have any of these on the book table, Harry? All right, good.

21:09 I hope you won't have them after today. In typical Bunyan style, very well laid out, structured beautifully, applied simply and pastorally, very, very good stuff. Then when it comes to the matter of arguing with God, a wonderful aspect of the Biblical teaching, how do we bring our case before God like a lawyer before the jury? You'll find few things more helpful than Spurgeon's sermon put in this booklet called Effective Prayer.

21:35 And it deals with the whole subject of divine argument and how we argue with God. But that's not the whole of prayer, you see. And if someone takes this aspect, John Blanchard wrote a book in a past generation called Prayer Asking and Getting Things from God and it's done irreparable damage to having a Biblical notion of prayer because his thesis is in essence prayer is simply asking. Nothing more, nothing less, that's prayer.

22:01 Well, prayer is much more than that, even in petitioning and in supplication. All right? So that's exhortation number one. Don't expect an exhaustive treatment here or in any book on the subject of prayer.

22:14 Secondly, don't expect simple answers and formulas, and in our American language, formulas is the preferred plural as opposed to formulae, which is the Latin plural. And I just checked it this morning to make sure I was saying it correctly or last night. Don't expect simple answers and formulas. When you see a little booklet on Ten Steps to Effective Prayer, stay clear of it.

22:46 The thing is too vast. It's too profound. It's shrouded with too much mystery. It's encumbered with too many real problems to reduce it to a simple little set of formulas and rules.

22:59 So if you hope you're going to get here, something that'll send you out of here, a mighty wrestling with God after three weeks, well, friend, let me save you from being disappointed at the end of three weeks and just dump the disappointment in your lap right now this morning, and you can cradle it and rock it and fondle it because that's what you're going to have. All right? Thirdly, don't ever expect to have a sense of mastery of the subject of prayer. I believe it is proper for a person to seek to attain mastery in his understanding of the truth of God.

23:40 And there is a sense in which it may be rightly said that so-and-so has mastered the biblical teaching concerning the person and work of Jesus Christ. In other words, all of the essential lines of truth as they've been hammered out in the history of the church and in the profound insights of servants of Christ, someone has mastered that material. There's been acquaintance with it. There's a comprehensive, balanced, symmetrical grasp.

24:10 But it is not right to say that any man has ever mastered the privilege, the grace, the discipline of intercessory prayer. When all is said and done, you'll never get beyond the confession of Romans 8, 27 and the prayer of Luke 11. We know not how to pray or for what we ought to pray, and Lord teach us to pray. If you ever get to the place where you cannot naturally, reflexively, make the confession of Romans 8 and pray the prayer of Luke 11, you've gone too far.

24:50 You've gone too far. The more we are unable to penetrate the mysteries of prayer, the more we shall be forced to cry, we know not. And Lord teach us to pray. And then fourthly, don't expect fixed rules and regimented patterns in the outworking of what we learn in this class.

25:15 You see, the quality, the quantity, the direction, the emphases in your prayer life with reference to intercession, supplication, petition, will be determined by many variables. Your present growth in grace, your present circle of responsibilities, your present sphere of opportunities, your temperament, your natural interest, all of these things color how you conduct yourself as an intercessor. And you see this in the scriptures. There is no proper way to pray in the scriptures.

25:53 No one proper way. Daniel prayed a certain way with reference to certain needs and we cannot reproduce that in the prayer of someone else. Now if we take the prayer of Daniel, the prayer of Ezra, the prayer of Nehemiah, the prayers of Paul, if we look for the common denominators, we will see certain basic principles that were present in all of those prayers. But beyond those basic principles that are like the common denominator in the equation, the outworking of those principles is as diverse as the people who are praying and the circumstances in which they pray and the concerns for which they pray.

26:36 So you will not find us saying that every Christian ought to have a prayer list. That every Christian ought to pray every day for sphere one, two, three, four. Every Christian ought to pray once a week for this, this, this and this. That kind of regimentation has absolutely no warrant in the word of God.

26:54 Now if you've come from the typical evangelical background, I know what you're thinking. You're saying, but what in the world is the church for? But to disciple people and teach them how to pray. Yes, but to teach them how to pray how?

27:06 In terms of man-made regulations or in terms of the scriptures? Well, if we stick by the scriptures, we will find that we cannot bind men's consciences to fixed rules and regimented patterns. You tell some people that they ought to actually engage in petition, supplication and intercession for a solid half hour a day or they're not spiritual and you'll drive them to despair. There are some people in terms of their present spiritual growth and development, their understanding of the word of God and the concerns of his kingdom, couldn't pray for a solid half an hour if their lives depended on it.

27:43 Now they could mark time in mild words and then dishonor God by doing what God forbids, bringing vain repetitions, drawing near with the lips and having the hearts far from Him. And you see, you can actually force people into abominable activities by artificial rules and regulations. On the other hand, if some of you try and cannot pray with liberty and delight and with real substance for half an hour, it's a reflection of spiritual declension and barrenness because your light, your instruction, your opportunities, your responsibilities are such that half an hour of engagement in petition and intercession ought to be as natural to you as breathing. Now it may not always be easy but it ought to be natural, it ought to be native

28:28 to your spiritual experience. Now with the great diversity that we have here, the diversity of temperaments, the diversity of spiritual development and background and knowledge of the scriptures, the diversity of responsibilities, what a stupid thing it would be, I'd say it would be pastorally cruel and irresponsible to seek to come before you with fixed rules and regimented patterns. Well, you say, if you're not going to treat the thing exhaustively, we shouldn't expect simple answers and formulas, not expect a sense of mastery and no fixed rules and regimented patterns, what in the world are we going to do for these weeks? Well, I hope what we're going to do is go to the scriptures and seek to glean those principles that ought to guide us

Defining Petition and Intercession

29:12 and assist us as we engage in the subject or as we engage in the activity of intercession and supplication. All right, any questions on my introduction? All right, if not, let me just give you the heads again quickly. Let's be aware, first of all, of the vastness of the subject, the mysteries of the subject, the problems of the subject.

29:41 In the light of it, let us not expect exhausted treatment, simple answers. Let's never expect mastery and let us not expect fixed rules and regimented patterns. All right, with that behind us, for the interest or in the interest of simplicity and clarity, I shall divide this main aspect of prayer, the hand coming empty, seeking things from God, into the two main areas of petition and intercession. And I'm using those words not in a technical biblical sense because this would mean going into some Greek word studies and other things that I don't feel would be in the interest of our edification, but generally speaking,

30:23 in the vocabulary of Christian thought and Christian literature, petition, generally speaking, has to do with seeking God on behalf of specific things, of specific personal needs. That's petition. Intercession has to do with seeking God on behalf of the needs of others. And that's the loose general way in which I will be using the two terms.

The Fundamental Concern: Praying According to God's Revealed Will

30:58 Petition, asking God for things that are distinctly related to my own personal needs. Intercession, seeking God on behalf of the needs of others. Now, question number one that I hope will launch our discussion this morning, in all the dimensions of petition and intercession, what should be our fundamental concern? Whenever I'm petitioning God for my own needs, interceding on behalf of the needs of others, what should be my fundamental, my primary concern in those acts of petition

31:43 and intercession? Now, many concerns are present, but what should be the fundamental, the primary, the most essential, and any other adjective you can think of, concern? Now, you all think for a minute, all right? All right, how many think you've got some answer?

32:05 All right, we'll take one from one side and one from the other. All right, Greg? I would say, bring God the good of ourselves in the petition and the good of others. All right, the glory of God in the context of His will being done, and then the good of the creature,

32:48 both mine and the other person's. All right? Some other thoughts now. We'll go back to this side and then we'll keep alternating.

32:55 Who had a hand raised over here? Jim? More or less on the same line what Greg said, is that praying to the Lord in the context of petition and intercession, that the people involved, myself and those for whom I am interceding, will maintain that constant walk in the revealed will of the Lord in relation to the Scriptures and that His will would be done and the church would be built up. All right, so you're saying that our primary concern in prayer must have some conscious reference to the revealed will of God.

33:29 Okay? Now, back here. Bob? That was it?

33:34 All right. Someone else on this side had his hand raised? All right, anyone? Either side.

33:41 You all pretty much agree with what's said here? All right, let me follow it up with a question that I hope will lead you to state what I have put down as the primary concern, and it's not, it's not in contradiction to this, I just think it helps to define it in a little more concreteness. How do we know what glorifies God? Suppose I get the notion that God would really be glorified if I drove up next week in a Mercedes Benz or in a, in a Rolls Royce, and I pray, Lord, give me a Mercedes for the glory of God.

34:17 Well, you say, that's ridiculous. Well, how do you know this? Well, I'm really convinced that would glorify God. And people say, hey, where'd you get that Rolls Royce?

34:26 I'd say, man, my God's a rich God. I don't ask him for peanuts. That's a monument of God's faithfulness in a crunching economy and in a Baptist church, the preacher driving a Rolls Royce, that's really, that shows God's faithfulness. That's, oh, you say you're being ridiculous.

34:42 Well, how do you know I'm being ridiculous? You see what I'm pressing for? How do I know what glorifies, how do I know what is for my good or what is not for my good? Or the good of those for whom I pray?

34:53 Bill? All right. Anyone want to agree with that or enlarge on that? Is that what the rest of you are thinking?

35:07 Okay. All right. I've stated it this way. There's nothing inspired in the way I've stated it.

35:13 It's just the best way I knew to state it at present. And you may want to alter it or improve upon it. And it is this. In all our engagement in petition and intercession, our primary concern should be that we are praying according to and consistent with the revealed will of God in Holy Scripture.

35:34 Now this brings us back to something we touched on way at the beginning of our study on prayer. And I would simply remind you of that and I would do so and hope to whet your appetite for Bunyan's little book on prayer by reading a statement from Bunyan. Prayer is only true when it is within the compass of God's word. It is blasphemy or at best blasphemy or at best blasphemy or at best vain babbling or at best vain babbling when the petition is unrelated when the petition is unrelated to the book.

36:11 It is blasphemy It is blasphemy and then as though Bunyan said well there is some poor tender soul out there I don't want to kill him. He drives the sword and then he pulls it out a little bit or at best vain babbling or at best vain babbling when the petition is unrelated when the petition is unrelated to the book. Then he goes on to illustrate that from David's experience particularly in Psalm 119. David therefore in his prayer kept his eye on the word of God.

36:41 My soul says he cleaveth to the dust quicken me according to thy word strengthen thou me according to thy word and indeed the Holy Ghost does not immediately quicken and stir up the heart of the Christian without but by with and through the word by bringing to the heart and by opening that whereby the man is provoked to go to the Lord and to tell him how it is with him and also to argue and supplicate according to the word. It is praying then according to the word and promise the spirit by the word must direct in the manner as well as in the matter of prayer.

37:25 I will pray with the spirit I will pray with the understanding but there is no understanding without the word is in them and in a beautiful way Bunyan treats the whole subject of what it is to pray in the spirit by starting at this polar point namely the spirit always operates with and by the word and if we are to pray with all prayer in the spirit we are to pray with prayers that are directly related to the book and two verses of scripture to remind us of this the words of our Lord in John 15 and verse 7 if John 15 7 if ye abide in me

38:10 and my words abide in you ask whatsoever ye will and it shall be done unto you the picture being the will of the Christian so captive to the will of God expressed in the words of God that the will of the Saint confluences flows in two and is expressing the will of God if my words abide in you ask what ye will that's what the abiding of the word in us is it's not merely sticking verses up here on the memory files of the mind but the word abiding in us is the word taking hold

38:54 of us at the citadel of our beings possessing the will our chooser our wanter our desireur his will revealed in his word and then first John chapter 5 another key passage and it's in the context of intercessory or asking prayer in fact he uses the common word for ask I tell first John chapter 5 verses 14 and 15 and this is the boldness which we have toward him that if we ask anything he heareth us

39:39 and if we know that he heareth us whatsoever we ask we know we have the petitions which we have asked of him now you see the condition for that confidence is the knowledge that we're asking according to the will of God and the will of God is known in the word not the word without the spirit but never the spirit it seems as though the history of the church with reference to experimental religion is this constant deviation from that proper fusion of spirit and word word and spirit and you get people reacting

40:23 against deadness where people claim to have the word but there's no light there are not these overtones of sensitivity to the spirit of God and then they say well there's a plague on your house of dead metal religion and they run off and they've got the spirit without the word and somebody sees that and says a plague on your house we're going to have the word and it's like this and rare have been those individuals and movements in the history of the church who have held to that course of spirit and word now Bunyan is one example of someone who did and thank God there are others and I trust by God's grace we shall be kept in spirit and word but you cannot

41:08 pray in the spirit without the word it is in the word that we find the revelation of the will of God the shorter catechism has a beautiful statement in answer to the question what is prayer may I say you could do well to read the section in the larger and shorter catechism on prayer some excellent material and I went over it in preparation for the lesson this morning and found it the question what is prayer here's the answer in the shorter catechism prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God for things agreeable to his will that's the first thing

41:53 then they go on to say or it goes on to say in the name of Christ with confession of our sins and thankful acknowledgement of his mercies see the three dimensions of the hand with confession of sin but when we petition God it is to be for things agreeable to his will and so our fundamental concern when we come to prayer assuming now that the overriding concern in every kind of prayer is to hold communion with God we're not even saying that's understood but with reference to intercessory prayer petitioning prayer our fundamental concern must be that we are praying

Practical Implications of Praying According to God's Will

42:38 in the light of the will of God as revealed in the word of God now if that's so what does that tell us in a very practical way about the relationship of petition and intercession and the scriptures what demands does that make upon us in a very practical way in other words you give the application now to the exposition all right yes Bob and then Bob I'm going to give you a little more detail of what God has done

43:21 in this respect what God has done in this manner for if we know not how to divide the word we could be just in the name of the words all right so it's a spur then to general improvement of our general biblical knowledge and our general ability in general to find us

44:06 to know the word of God we might praise scripture all right so there will be then will or not a direct proportion between our growth in effective petitioning intercessory prayer and our general absorption of the word of God now notice I didn't say reading or hearing but absorption however we absorb it whatever point in life we come in contact with it in our private devotional lives in our reading listening to tapes whatever contact we have it is not the measure of our external contact that will have a direct bearing upon our prayer lives it will be

44:50 the measure of our absorption if ye abide in me and my words what abide in you not if my words float by your eyeballs when you're having your quote devotions not if my words are preaching if my words abide in you that's the key word in that passage if they have their home in you and then we go back you see to where we were weeks ago with meditation assimilation of the word of God so you see you cannot separate these things so it will make thus far we've had two answers if this should be our primary concern in prayer that everything we ask be according to the revealed will of God about general growth

45:34 in general biblical knowledge be we must be concerned about this matter of the absorption of the word of God assimilating it into our very spirits alright some other practical implications growth well of course

46:19 that brings us into a whole dimension of biblical concern but let me take a couple of for instances alright am I warranted to pray that God will give me greater likeness of Christ yes or no now on what grounds can I plead with God to do that I can come to him and say Lord you have said that you foreknew me and predestined me to be conformed to the image of your son now Lord is one of those for whom your son has died in whom the spirit dwells I plead with you to make me more like your son and Lord this spirit of impatience this spirit of pride this spirit of selfishness

47:03 is so unlike your son Lord I plead with you to crucify those things not so much for the pain they may bring to me but Lord because they are contrary to your revealed purpose for my life that's what we are talking about my name is not there in Romans 8 but as one who has been foreknown and loved and purchased and quickened my name may as well meus should have something that'll make the world take sit up and take notice that our God is no you know baggy pants God that he really takes good care of his children I begin to really storm the gates of heaven and God will give me a Mercedes Benz I love a Mercedes Benz just from the standpoint of workmanship

47:47 and everything people tell me about Inner Love you see but where in the scripture can I begin to find some basis to plead with God to give me a mercedes I'll be pretty hard pressed right so I can plead God. This does pertain to me when it comes to the matter of a man who's out of work. And he's pleading with God that he might have a job. What grounds can he plead with God? Well, he has

48:13 solid grounds. The scripture says that he is to provide for his own. Six days shalt thou labor. Life is to be conducted in seven day cycles. He can bring the law of God

48:23 before God as an argument. Say, Lord, I want to keep your law. Not only having one day and seven for special religious exercises and spiritual rest, but Lord, I want to fulfill the other part of the commandment. I want to labor the six days. And I need a gainful

48:37 means of employment. You've told us to pray, give us this day our daily bread. And Lord, you've not promised you're going to send ravens, but you'll give that bread by the sweat of my brow. And you bring these arguments to God.

48:49 You're praying according to the revealed will of God. So just off the top of my head, those are a couple of concrete examples. Alright.

49:07 Although what he was saying, he could not pray in faith for her healing. I think that's what you said, was it not? Best place?

49:29 That is, those things for which the mediator has purchased for us, which God must bestow upon his people.

49:41 I was saying this. Because so many people were leader and young, saying, God has commanded me to pray. So I said, if my wife is ill, I find no verse or portion in scripture which says Mrs. Ashu plays, must be healed at such and such place. I don't mind that.

50:02 But, I bring through the scriptures and bring to God all the principles of his word. Lord, you have said, you are the God that he is. You have said, if you're troubled, cry unto me. You have said, see my face. And here is your daughter,

50:24 your child whom you yourself have seen. Therefore, bring those principles to God. That's the ground on which I can separate it. Yes. But I don't have

50:36 the same degree of scriptural assurance that God will answer that cry, as I do, that he will make me a more holy man. And that's the, you see, things that accompany redemption. I don't need to pray at the end of them, and Lord, if this is not your will. I don't need to pray, make me more like Christ, if it be thy will.

50:58 I mean, that's clearly expressed in the word of God as the will of God. But, I do not have a similar degree of confidence with reference to the health, the well-being of my own body, that of my wife, my children, etc.

51:11 Okay? Good. Alright, any other questions now, growing out of this first question that we've asked? What should be our primary concern when we engage in intercessory and supplicating prayer, namely that we are praying according to the revealed will of God? Any other

Addressing the Problem of Praying for the Unsaved

51:28 observations? Yes. Well, let's hold off on that, and we'll probably have to take the whole section on it. It's a great, and this is one of the profound problems.

51:52 How do you pray for the unsaved? Some would say you don't pray for them. Well, that's unscriptural. The Apostle Paul is praying for his unsaved Israelites.

52:02 Clear statement. My heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is they may be saved. And he's not talking about spiritual Israel. He says, my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh, I could wish myself a curse that they might be saved.

52:17 But then, on the other hand, you have people who say, the Lord has told me that so-and-so is going to be saved. I get unhinged whenever I have anybody to help me.

52:28 Really, I get unhinged when somebody starts talking that way. Because you know what happens, and I've seen it happen invariably, they're so convinced, they have a special revelation about that, that even if the person died in impenitence, they led themselves to believe that somewhere, between their last sigh and their entrance into the world to come, they repented and believed the gospel because God wouldn't lie to them, and God had told them that that loved one was going to be saved. Well, somewhere between those two things, there is some Biblical materials, I think, that will help us. But we'll have to hold off our...

Concluding Question for Next Week

52:58 I say 20 minutes until. Is that about right? So we're going to have to bring the shade down. And I studied this morning, and Lord willing, we'll pick it up next week.

53:09 Alright? And my question that I'd like you to come prepared to discuss next week, if our primary concern should be to pray according to the will of God, is there any particular help given to us in the Scriptures to guide us in this matter of praying according to the will of God? Not general precepts or promises. Is there any special aid given to us by our Lord or by the apostles? And if you think

53:35 so, you come prepared to tell us what it is. And support your assertion. Alright? Let's pray.

53:42 Our Father, it is right for us to pause at the close of this time of study.