Full text of Derek Prince’s sermon titled ‘The Conditions For Receiving The Answer To Your Prayer’ which was delivered on Monday evening, November the 17th, 1969.
TRANSCRIPT:
Derek Prince – Bible Teacher
Thank you, brother Claude, I appreciate that. And I hope you’ll still be relaxed tomorrow night, that’s all I say. I sincerely mean that.
Okay, that’s wonderful.
I really appreciate being with brother Claude. I feel a real unity in the spirit with him and also with his precious wife. And I really appreciate what God has manifestly done in this assembly here.
Just to encourage you about the question of water baptism and children. Let me suggest to you that you do not in any way pressure or influence your children to seek water baptism. But if the initiative comes from them, then it’s probably a very real thing. And you should treat it as something sacred.
I’m afraid the majority of parents underestimate the spiritual capacity of their children. People often come to me with problem children. And they say, oh, my little boy, he’s rebellious or something like that. Or I think he’s under some kind of pressure.
I say, how old is he?
They say ten or eleven.
I say, is he saved?
They say, oh, I don’t think so.
Well, what are you doing with a problem child that hasn’t even been led to salvation?
Any child that’s old enough to be naughty is old enough to repent. And any child that can repent can be saved.
Now, I’ll just tell you a true story about the first little Jewish baby that my wife ever took in when she had this faith home for children in Jerusalem.
Many years back now, the first little baby she took in was a little dying Jewish baby named Tikvah. Tikvah is a Jewish name and it means hope.
My wife took the little baby. She didn’t have any provision. She didn’t have more than six dollars in her hand. She didn’t have a crib or baby clothes. But she emptied her suitcase, wrapped the child in her underwear, and that was how she started the children’s home. And the child was put in the suitcase. She anointed that little child with oil in the name of the Lord every day, and the Lord healed the child.
Today she’s a married woman with two children living in Australia. But when she was six years old, the announcement was made that there was to be a water baptism service in the Assemblies of God mission building called Shemariah in the center of Jewish Jerusalem. And while they were walking through the streets together, this little girl turned to my wife (her mother) and said, ‘Can I be baptized?’
And my wife said, ‘Well, aren’t you a little too young?’
And she said, ‘Well, it says believe and be baptized, and I believe.’ So that was Scriptural.
But you see, she had been brought to the home by her father, who was a Jew, and for the Jews, of course, baptism is a very, very controversial subject.
So they were walking through the streets, and the little girl said to my wife, ‘Well, Mama, why are you so sad? What are you thinking about?’
And my wife said, ‘Well, I’m thinking about your father. You know, what will he say if you’re baptized?’
And this little girl of six came out with this answer. Well, she said, ‘Isn’t my father baptized? What can he say?’ And he had been baptized, although he’d backslidden.
So my wife said, ‘Well, that’s it.’
So she took her to the Assemblies of God pastor and said, ‘Would you baptize this little child? Would you think it right?’
The pastor said, ‘Well, let me talk to her alone, and I’ll tell you what I believe.’
So he took her in the office and talked to her, and he came out and said, ‘Well, I can’t see any reason why this child shouldn’t be baptized. She understands, she knows the reason, she’s sincere, she believes.’
So, just a little before Christmas, on a very cold day in Jerusalem, without the water being warmed, the baptismal service took place. And this little frail child, clad in a kind of long white dress, was lifted into the tank, and she was too small to stand, so the pastor held her in his arms and baptized her.
And when she came up, she was speaking in tongues.
Well, one thing I say is, if God can baptize a child in the Holy Spirit, we really don’t have the right to refuse the water. But don’t ever try to pressure a child, just teach the child the truth, and let the Holy Spirit do the work.
It’s wonderful what God is doing about water baptism. You know, when I heard that all these denominational people were getting the baptism in the Holy Spirit, I forgot that I’d been a denominational person myself once. How easily we forget things like this. And I really thought God was making a mistake.
I thought, well, how can these people get the baptism in the Holy Spirit when they’re not willing to be baptized in water? It’s all wrong. But I learned that God doesn’t make mistakes.
Most people have to receive the Holy Spirit before they begin to believe the Bible in any serious sense at all. And that was exactly true in my case. But today, I’ll tell you, many of these people that have received the baptism in the Holy Spirit in the last five years are seeing the truth of water baptism.
I was in a CFO camp in Eatonton in Georgia this summer. I don’t know whether you know what the CFO is. It’s hard to describe. It’s a mixed-up bunch, if there ever was one. It stands for Camps Farthest Out. And they believe in anything from Spiritism at one end to the baptism in the Holy Spirit at the other, and everything in between.
But this camp that I was at, every member of the council ring had the baptism in the Holy Spirit. It’s one of the most spiritual camps I’ve ever been anywhere in my life. And I preached one day, and I got on the subject of water baptism by accident, and I just couldn’t get off it. And we ended up by having a water baptism service in that camp. There were about a thousand people in the camp for about six days, and we had six ministers baptizing in the swimming pool, and it took half an hour to complete that baptismal service. Something like 200 people were baptized.
There was an Episcopal priest baptizing his people by immersion in the swimming pool. I’ll tell you, God is doing something new, and thank God He is.
Now, may I just mention, tomorrow night, in case you have not heard, will be a deliverance service for those that especially need deliverance from evil spirits. I like to be specific about that. If you don’t understand what it means, come along and find out. You may find out more than you anticipated.
Wednesday night, my plan at the moment is to speak on the atonement, and it will be very natural to minister to the sick that night. I kind of jumped the gun this morning and got on to that subject, and we prayed for about 15 or 26 people this morning, and God was really moving by His Spirit.
Thursday, you have heard, there will be the water baptism service, and each morning through Friday, we will be dealing with this theme that we started this morning: Christian conflict in the spiritual realm, and the weapons of our conflict, the weapons of our warfare, and how to use them.
Remember the book table outside, it’s really not much good my telling you about the sets, because as far as I can remember, there are only about two sets left. And the material that I’m going to give you tonight, basically, is the material contained in that lesson. So many tape recorders are appearing here, and there’s scarcely room to put anything now.
So tonight, I want to deal with this great theme: The Conditions For Receiving The Answer To Your Prayer.
There’s not a single person here tonight that isn’t intimately and directly involved in this subject. There’s not one of us here that doesn’t have prayers that we need to get an answer to. It’s a practical, personal theme for every person here tonight, and I want to deal with it in as simple and as practical a way as I can.
Now prayer is one of the greatest themes of Scripture, and I certainly cannot tell you all that needs to be said about prayer in one evening. But I want to give you certain basic principles, and I believe that every one of these is true and valid and important.
GOD’S WILLINGNESS TO ANSWER PRAYER
The first great thing to remember when we deal with the subject of prayer is this, that God loves us. He wants to answer our prayers. He stretched the resources of human language to the utmost to express His intense willingness to answer our prayer.
Never get the attitude that you are approaching an unwilling and reluctant God who’s got to be cajoled and persuaded into answering your prayers. Nothing could be further from the truth. God is much more interested in answering your prayer than you are in praying.
As a boy growing up with the form of religion of the Anglican Church in England, I had this vague mental picture of God, which I’m sure many of us grew up with, as an elderly gentleman with a white beard who sat in an office at the end of a very long corridor. And if you ever had to get involved with him, you had to tiptoe all the way down the corridor and knock on the door and he’d probably answer you in a very grumpy tone of voice and scold you. That was the general picture I had of God.
And I think a lot of people grow up with that idea of God as someone who’s to be approached only as a last resort and probably it’s going to be a pretty painful interview when you do get to meet him.
Well, this is totally wrong. The Bible presents God as a loving Father who delights to have His children come to Him. We can never weary Him by coming too often and nothing is too big and nothing is too small. He’s concerned about everything.
As I heard a preacher say once, ‘He even takes time out to attend the sparrow’s funeral.’ He loves the big, He loves the small, He loves us all and He wants to answer our prayer. Let’s get this firmly fixed in our mind before we study anything else.
I’d like, if you have a Bible, that you turn with me and we’ll read some passages of Scripture together. Just read them.
The first one is in Matthew chapter 7, verses 7 and 8. I’ll read it once and then if you have a Bible, I want you to read it out loud with me the second time and I want you to hear yourself read these words.
You know, faith cometh by hearing and you know the best person to hear is yourself. You get more faith from hearing yourself than anybody else. That’s why it’s such a good thing to read the Bible out loud when you’re alone because you get faith by hearing the Word of God as you read it.
In the ancient civilizations, they always read out loud, you know that? Even when they were by themselves. For instance, in the eighth chapter of Acts, you’ll find that when Philip came up to the chariot in which the Ethiopian eunuch was sitting, he heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He wasn’t reading to anybody else. He was reading to himself. This is the normal way.
The Arab people in Palestine still, the more primitive Arab people, if they read, they’ll always read out loud even if there’s nobody else in the room. And there’s much more power in reading out loud the Word of God than there is in just reading it to yourself.
So, what we’re going to do this evening, we’re going to build up an atmosphere of faith by filling this auditorium with the Word of God as we read it out loud.
Now, I’ll read it the first time and you read it the second time. Now, I realize there are certain basic differences in my pronunciation and yours. I say ask and you say ask. Well, that’s all right. You say ask and I’ll say ask. Don’t let’s differ on that.
I have a tape. I just tell you this by way of it appeals to my sense of humor. I have a tape on deliverance. I think it’s number 601 in my catalog in which I’ll lead the people that need deliverance in a prayer claiming the rights that they have as believers in Jesus Christ and the benefits of the shed blood of Jesus on their behalf.
And I have a very good friend who’s an insurance agent in Midland, Texas. And he said one day, he said, you know, I’ve repeated that prayer so many times I say it now with a British accent. Well, God understands your accent and mine too.
So, I’ll read it the first time and we get it together.
Matthew 7:7-8: ‘Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For everyone that asketh, receiveth, and he that seeketh, findeth. And to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.’
Notice there’s not one breath of the negative anywhere in there. Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened. Everyone that asketh, receiveth. He that seeketh, findeth. To him that knocketh, it shall be opened.
Six times Jesus says, go on and ask. It’s there for you.
Now let’s read it again. Ask and it shall be given you. Seek and ye shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh, receiveth. And he that seeketh, findeth. And to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.
All right, let’s turn on to Matthew 21, verse 22.
Matthew 21:22. I’ll read it once, we’ll read it together. ‘And all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.’
You think of that phrase, all things whatsoever. You could not think of any phrase more inclusive than that. Nothing is left out. All things whatsoever.
This is what Jesus is telling us. We’ll read it together. ‘And all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.’
Let’s turn to Mark 11 and verse 24.
Mark 11:24, I’ll read it once, then you read it together with me. ‘Therefore I say unto you, what things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.’
Notice again, what things soever ye desire. What could be wider than that? It’s impossible to think of any words that would be wider in their scope than that.
Let’s read it together, then. ‘Therefore I say unto you, what things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.’
Okay, now we’ll turn on to John’s Gospel, just the three passages there. There are many other passages I could have chosen, but I’m only taking a selection. John the 14th chapter, verses 13 and 14.
John 14:13-14, I’ll read it first of all, then we’ll read it together. ‘And whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in My name, I will do it.’
Again, whatsoever ye shall ask. Wait a minute, just let me say this, just to point it out. The scope of it, every time, whatsoever ye shall ask. If ye shall ask anything. It is perfectly clear that God is much more interested in answering our prayers than we are in praying.
All right, let’s read it together now, those two verses.
‘And whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in My name, I will do it.’
John 15:7. The next chapter of John, the 15th chapter, the 7th 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.’
What ye will. See, again, broad as you can make it.
Let’s read it together. ‘If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.’
And one more passage, John 16:24, I’ll read it first, then we’ll read it together. ‘Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.’
As I said, I believe, yesterday, nothing makes our joy so full, so complete, as the wonderful realization that Almighty God really does answer our prayers. For instance, when God stops the rain, so that you can cross the road. To me, that’s fascinating. You don’t think God does that? Well, He does. Sure He does.
I remember being with my wife in Copenhagen, Denmark, at the end of October. One or two of you have heard this testimony. We were going to Britain, and we were going to spend a month, the month of November in Britain. We were praying in the morning, as we normally do together. And I heard my wife say these words, ‘Lord, give us fine weather all the time we’re in Britain.’
And I nearly rolled out of the bed. I was in the bed at the time. I thought, does she know what she’s saying?
So, when we finished praying, I said, do you know what you asked for? Did you know that you asked for fine weather all the month of November in Britain? She didn’t even recall saying it.
It was what I call an inspired prayer. You know that you can pray sometimes things that just don’t come through your mind. They just come by the spirit, out of your spirit. She didn’t even know she’d said that.
We went to Britain, arrived there the end of October, and left the end of November. The weather was like spring the whole time we were there. And any of you that know Britain, know that this is contrary to all the laws of nature. When we left, and the people came to see us off in the airport, we said, now we’re going, look out, the bad weather is coming.
Well, but it so strengthened my faith, this fact, that God could make even the British weather obey Him. For our benefit. It really does make you joyful. It makes you feel important, not in a self-important way, but it lets you know how much God really cares for you.
All right. Then we’ll read John 16:24. This will be the last one of these readings together. ‘Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My name. Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.’
All right. Now we know that people do pray, and they don’t always get the answer to their prayers. There are times when we encounter frustration, and disappointment, and misunderstanding in prayer. Therefore it is clear that there are certain specific conditions for receiving these answers that Jesus has promised.
And I say there is no one wiser or more influential in the world today than the person who knows how to get his prayer answered. He is more influential than the President of the United States. The person who knows how to get Almighty God moving on his behalf to do what he asks is undoubtedly the wisest and most influential person in the world today. And I believe God wants us to be like that.
He wants us to get to know the art of praying, the business of prayer, how to enter in. So I’m going to offer you these suggestions or conditions that I find in the Word of God. But I don’t want to do this in such a way as to make it complicated. So that every time you pray from now on you don’t try and think of my six conditions and see if you’ve met them all. See that isn’t the way to do it.
BASIC CONDITIONS
In the name of Jesus
You’ve just got to get them into you so that they naturally control the way you pray. I would say the first great condition for praying is in the name of Jesus. We have no other basis of access to God whatsoever. As sinners we have no right to approach a holy God unless we approach Him in the name of Jesus.
Because when we come in the name of Jesus we come on the basis of the merits of Jesus Christ. We are not coming because of what we are, but we’re coming because of what He is and what He has done.
John 14:13-14: ‘If ye shall ask anything in My name I will do it.’
The great thing in praying is to get your eyes off yourself and off your problem. The more you look at your problem the bigger it looms. The more time you spend thinking about it the more your faith sinks. But by coming in the name of Jesus we get our eyes off our problem and on to Him. We begin to consider not what we are or what our problem is, but who He is and what He can do.
There’s a beautiful verse in Psalm 143 which has been a tremendous blessing to me. I’d like to share it with you. Psalm 143 and verse 1.
Psalm 143:1. Just this one verse. ‘Hear my prayer O Lord, give ear to my supplications. In Thy faithfulness answer me and in Thy righteousness.’
Notice, in Thy faithfulness and in Thy righteousness. Not my faithfulness, not my righteousness, but Thy faithfulness and Thy righteousness. You must get your eyes off yourself and your problem and your situation. You must get them on to God.
You must realize that you have no claims on God apart from Jesus Christ. But that in the name of Jesus you are given absolute right of direct access to almighty God. You are coming not on the basis of what you can do, but on the basis of God’s faithfulness and God’s righteousness.
‘I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord.’ (Psalm 121:1-2) Lift up your eyes.
David says in Psalm 5, ‘every morning I will look up and direct my prayer unto Thee.’ Look up and direct your prayer straight up to Almighty God through the Lord Jesus Christ. You have an open heaven. You have open access.
By Him, the Scripture says, we have access unto God. We have complete right of access if we come through Jesus Christ. So many people forget this.
I was in a meeting of the Seattle Council of Churches in Seattle in the year 1963, I think. It was a meeting of ministers representing all the churches except the Catholic Church, I believe, in Seattle. And we were together the morning and for lunch we were together at least two and a half hours. And in that time four or five different ministers must have been asked to pray for different things.
And do you know, not one of those ministers ever mentioned the name of Jesus once. See? Oh, ‘in the name of the master’ and ‘in the name of him who has taught us to pray.’ But they all skirted around the name of Jesus.
You know why? Because the name of Jesus is a powerful name. And if you’re not altogether right with God, it’s an embarrassing name.
I noticed this in the British Army. I was saved in the British Army. And I had to live out five more years after I was saved, four and a half more years. And I had to have real salvation to change overnight in the British Army and live in the same company and amongst the same people and live saved. But God gave me the grace.
But I noticed in the British Army you could talk about God in a general way and people wouldn’t turn around. You start to talk about Christ and people will begin to turn around and look at you. You start to talk about Jesus and a dead silence falls on everybody around about you. Because there’s power in that name.
Now we have the right to use the power that’s in the name. God has made it available to us. Never come to God without coming deliberately and specifically in the name of Jesus. It will change the entire atmosphere in which you’re praying. It will change your own attitudes. It will cause you to lift up your eyes. It will cause you to stop thinking about your failures and your limitations and your problems. And it will begin to open up heaven to you. That name unlocks heaven. Never throw away the key. Come by the name of Jesus.
With Thanksgiving And Praise
All right. The second great condition I find in the word of God is that we have to come with thanksgiving and praise. Never start with a list of requests. Actually, if you work it out, it doesn’t take you long to tell God all you need. And when you’ve told Him, He knew it beforehand. Because Jesus says, your Father knoweth what things you have need of.
The important thing is to get into that relationship with God where you know you’re going to get what you need. And the way to do that is to come with praise and thanksgiving.
I’m sure that most of you know what it says in Psalm 100, verse 4. Enter into his courts with praise. Isn’t that right? Am I quoting it right? Enter into his gates with praise. Let’s have a look and see. I want to be right. Yes. As a matter of fact, it’s more correct than I am.
Psalm 100:4:‘Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. Be thankful unto Him and bless His name.’ This is the way of access into the presence of God. It is with thanksgiving for what He’s done and praise for what He is. And the moment you begin to do that, your faith rises.
The more you thank Him for all He has already done, the more convinced you become that He’s going to answer the next prayer too. See, psychologically it’s very solemn.
As your pastor said, never get in the realm of the negative. The devil lives in the realm of the negative. Somebody said this, I don’t know whether you’ve heard this, it’s rather a good one. ‘Unbelief is the dark room in which we develop our negatives.’ Have you ever heard that? That’s where the devil lives. He lives in that dark room called unbelief and he helps you to develop all your negatives. But God lives in the light and He lives in the positive.
So come with thanksgiving and with praise. Be thankful unto Him, bless His name.
There’s a beautiful scripture and psalm in Isaiah 60.
Isaiah 60:18: ‘Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders. But thou shalt call thy walls Salvation and thy gates Praise.’
Notice God lives in a city and the wall is called Salvation and the gates are called Praise. And the New Testament tells us you can’t get in except by way of the gate. So every gate into the presence of God is a praise gate. If you don’t come by the praise gate you don’t have access. The wall is salvation, the gates are praise.
If you want to turn to the New Testament, Philippians the fourth chapter and the sixth verse. This was one of John Wesley’s favorite Scriptures.
Philippians 4:6: ‘Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.’
Never leave out the ‘with thanksgiving’. John Wesley said this, ‘God does everything by prayer and nothing without prayer.’
And Paul says in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. Never leave out the thanksgiving. It’s one of the great secrets of prayer.
If you’re going to pray for 15 minutes my advice to you is take at least 10 minutes praising God. And you’ll be amazed how much you get praying you get through in the remaining five minutes. Always begin with praise, always go in by the praise gate.
Motives And Our Attitudes And Our Relationships
The next thing that I want to speak about is our motives and our attitudes and our relationships. Now this is tremendously important.
Christianity is not really a religion of doctrines or rules, it’s a religion of personal relationships. It’s very important to understand this. You can be right in all your doctrines and wrong in all your relationships. And many of our dear, let’s say all the doctrinally minded people, the Pentecostals, the Baptists and so on. They got every doctrine, every ‘t’ crossed, every ‘i’ dotted and they’re living wrong. Because they’re living with wrong personal relationships.
I believe you can say this, that Christianity is primarily a religion of personal relationships. First and foremost our relationship with God. But secondly our relationship with other people. And I’ll tell you this, you cannot be right with God if you’re wrong with man. It’s impossible.
This is represented to me so vividly by the cross which has got two beams: the vertical and the horizontal. To me the vertical represents the relationship between God and man. But the horizontal represents the relationship between man and man. And this is a fact of the laws of nature.
If the horizontal beam is out of place, the vertical beam must be out of place. If one of them is out of place, the other is out of place. And if one is right, the other is right. And if you are wrong with man, you are not right with God.
Now there are three principles in this area that I’d like to mention.
First of all in Psalm 66:18, the Psalmist says, ‘if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.’
You know really the problem is not getting your prayers answered. It’s getting your prayers heard. Because every prayer that gets heard, gets answered. But some prayers don’t get heard. They never get above the roof of the church. That’s the problem. I’ll show you another scripture about that later on.
Well now the Psalmist says, ‘if I regard iniquity in my heart’, you don’t have to be perfectly sinless to get your prayers answered. Isn’t that good news? Because if that was the condition, then we might as well fold up, most of us.
But, if the Holy Spirit has made you conscious of something that God is dealing within your heart, and you do not submit to the Holy Spirit, you do not put that thing right, then God will not hear your prayer. If you are conscious of iniquity, of rebellion, of something wrong in your heart, and you do not put that right, you just keep it, then you’ll find every time you come to pray to God, you’ll be made conscious of this thing. And you’ll feel condemned, you’ll have no liberty, and you’ll have no faith.
You’ll have to put it right, before you can expect God to answer your prayer. Now do not dig around. Do not try to find trouble. Because I’ll tell you, the more you look, the more you’ll find. Never get started off. That’s the devil’s tactics, to get you looking in yourself for something good.
Because Paul had got the answer when he said, ‘I know that in me, that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing.’ (Romans 7:18) If you start looking at what you are, and what you’ve been, and what you’ve done, you’ll be so condemned, you won’t even feel like praying. That’s not what I mean.
But, if the Holy Spirit has convicted you, then don’t resist the Spirit of grace. Let Him deal with you.
See, there’s a tremendous difference between condemnation and conviction. The devil is the author of condemnation. Did you know that? The Holy Spirit is the author of conviction.
Condemnation can leave you feeling awful. You’re weighed down under a burden. You don’t know what to do about it. The more you think about it, the worse you feel. Conviction is specific. Jesus called the Holy Spirit, the finger of God. And when the Holy Spirit convicts you, He doesn’t put His hand on an area and say, there’s something wrong there. He puts His finger on the very thing and says, that’s it, now repent. It’s completely different.
And every Christian has to understand the difference between Satan’s condemnation and the Holy Spirit’s conviction. Conviction is clean. It’s specific, and it’s practical. And it’s directed towards helping you out of something that you’re in.
Condemnation, the more you wallow in it, the worse you’re going to feel. Isn’t it marvelous? So many people have got the idea that if we can get people condemned, we’re doing them good. Do you know that?
I had that idea as a preacher for quite a while. I thought, the worse I’ll leave people feeling, the more wonderful the sermon I’ve preached. I couldn’t have been more wrong. I know quite a lot of preachers operating that scale. They’ll go on saying, now did you do this? And what about that? And what about this area of your life? Now you walk out of that place feeling like a worm. It isn’t God.
God’s quite different. The Scripture says in 2 Corinthians 5, God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. Isn’t that tremendous?
Jesus didn’t go around telling people how wicked they were. Have you ever noticed that? He went around telling them, God’s waiting to forgive you. That’s why He got that response.
I’ve studied the ministry of great evangelists, some. And I’ve tried to find out what made them successful. And you know, I’ve come up with this conclusion. It’s just my own poor little conclusion, and I’m not an evangelist. But I believe that every successful evangelist starts with this attitude, that if only men knew how to get right with God, they’d want to do it. I believe that.
And if we walk around with this attitude, people welcome us. The majority of people don’t want to be told how wicked they are. They know it already. They want to be told, God’s waiting to forgive you. He’s not bothered with your sin question. It’s been dealt with, if you’ll only trust Him.
God was in Christ — think about that — reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. 2 Corinthians is full of that.
I want you to turn to 2 Corinthians 3 for a moment. 2 Corinthians 3. Notice the difference between the law and grace. I’m reading now in the 6th verse and following. This is a tremendous lesson. I mean, I’m ashamed to think of the people that I left feeling condemned when I preached years back. And I know lots of people think this is spiritual. I’ve read many books. There’s one or two authors I pick out. They think they’re really spiritual if they make you feel really awful. That’s doing the devil’s work. Condemnation is the work of the devil. It’s not the work of the Holy Spirit.
I said last night, didn’t I, the Holy Spirit is the encourager, not the discourager.
2 Corinthians 3.6: ‘God hath made us able ministers of the New Testament, (or New Covenant), not of the letter, but of the Spirit: for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.’
You can preach correct doctrine all night and kill everybody. And they’ll walk out of there dead.
‘But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones was glorious, (that’s the law) so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance, which glory was to be done away: How shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious?’
We are not ministering death. We’re ministering the Spirit of life.
And then verse 9: ‘For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.’ Be just quite sure what you’re ministering. You’re not ministering condemnation. You’re ministering righteousness. That’s your business. You don’t have to get into the condemnation end of the business. Leave that to the devil. You’ve got to leave people feeling good, not bad. The gospel is good news. If anything ever comes to you that’s not good news, it isn’t the gospel. You can just know that for sure.
And if anything discourages you in the Christian life, it’s not the Holy Spirit. He’s the encourager, not the discourager. So, nevertheless, we have to honor the Holy Spirit.
So if the Holy Spirit specifically tells us something’s wrong and it’s got to be put right, then, before we pray, we’ve got to put that thing right. There’s no alternative there. We have to honor the Spirit of grace.
In this area, we also have to examine our motives. These are of tremendous importance. The longer I preach, the more I see that God does not look on the outward man. He looks on the heart. He searches our motives.
I’m ashamed to think what a Pharisee I’ve been about things in the past. A real good Pentecostal Pharisee.
I remember an African girl, a Presbyterian, coming to apply for a job. And because the poor girl was wearing a necklace of beads, I thought she was worldly. The Lord forgive me. The Lord forgive me.
She was one of the sweetest girls we ever had in that college. She brought a revival with her. Well, anyhow, I can’t do anything about that now, but there it is.
RIGHT MOTIVE: GOD’S GLORY
Now, verse, James chapter 4, did I tell you James chapter 4?
James 4:3: ‘Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.’ The motive with which you pray matters. Are you praying with selfish ends? Do you just want to get something for your own carnal self-satisfaction? To promote your own ego? Then God will not hear. That’s asking amiss.
Now, don’t think he’s asking amiss to ask for any good thing that you need. And a little more than you need. God doesn’t keep you on the level of bare need. Do you know that? But it’s a question of your motives.
I feel tonight I’ve got to emphasize this fact more. That God is really a good and loving God.
Psalm 84:11, I think so many fundamentalists and Pentecostalists have been under condemnation so long that they need to get out. Psalm 84. I’m not saying you have, but I just find that where I go. They’re living under condemnation.
Psalm 84:11: ‘For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD will give grace and glory. No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.’
Not one good thing will God keep from you. Isn’t that good news? I’m glad I’ve been called to preach that. Not one good thing.
And I have to give you one of my favorite Scriptures. I just can’t keep away from it. 2 Corinthians, chapter 9, verse 8.
2 Corinthians 9:8. If you find this, you’ll be doing yourself a favor. I’ll read it, the King James Version, then I’ll read the Prince Version. Or rather, I’ll give you the Prince Version.
2 Corinthians 9:8: ‘And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye always, having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.’
Now, why I want to change that is because in the Greek, owing to the nature of the Greek language, the Apostle Paul has got the word all in different forms, five times in one verse. And this is so emphatic that I want to bring it out.
In fact, this verse contains the word ‘all’ five times and the word ‘abound’ twice. And it’s almost a masterpiece of writing to get so many words of that kind into such a short verse. Read it again.
Or rather, I’ll read it and I’ll give you the version that brings out the alls. God is able, I’ll put my finger up for every all. God is able to make all grace, and I’ll put my other hand up for the abounds, all right?
‘God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye always, having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to all good works.’
Five alls and two abounds.
Now, where is there any room for inadequacy or insufficiency or lack anywhere in that verse? You know my firm conclusion?
God doesn’t want us to lack any good thing whatever. He doesn’t grudge us anything good.
You know what I discover in walking with the Lord? He nearly always wants me to have something better than I would have dared to ask for. It’s fantastic.
And do you know what I discover? Incidentally, I just mentioned this. God is so practical. When you buy the best, in the long run, it’s the most economical, you know that? I’ve discovered that.
I was brought up the opposite way. It was almost sinful to buy anything really good. And now I delight to buy good things, you know? I never stop and think, can I afford it? I go to the store and I say, does God want me to have it? That’s all. And if I get the green light and I get the inner witness, I buy it.
And do you know what I find? I find persistently God wants me to have better than I would have chosen for myself. That’s the way I find it.
Now, if that wasn’t Scriptural, I would think this is a sort of, I’m getting off course, but it is.
No good thing will God withhold from them that walk uprightly.
Do you want another Scripture?
Isaiah 1:19: ‘If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land.’ Praise the Lord. I believe that.
I have a friend who’s an evangelist, Pentecostal evangelist. And like most of us, for years he’d struggled on insufficiency. And of course, many of you are aware that was the usual picture of the struggling evangelist. His wife didn’t get good clothes. His children didn’t get good food. And he was always somewhere just on the verge of being in the rain, like many.
I can remember the time when I used to buy my razor blades one at a time because I didn’t have the faith to buy a packet. I say I didn’t have the faith, I don’t say I didn’t have the money, I didn’t have the faith.
And this friend of mine, one day he said to the Lord, he said, ‘Lord, what about this Scripture? It says, ‘if ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land.’’
And the Lord answered him this way, ‘Well, you’ve been obedient, but you haven’t been willing.’
He said, ‘Lord, I’m changing that right now.’
And that was a turning point in his entire ministry and experience. Some of us are not willing for God’s goodness, you know that? We’re cheating ourselves out of what God wants us to have. I’m not talking merely about the financial, or the material, I’m talking about in every area.
And you know we glorify God when we have abundance. When we’re living an abundant life, we glorify God. We don’t glorify God by living in our need. Basically, the problem with the church today is it’s so deep in its own need it has nothing to offer the world. Am I right? Most cases.
My picture of the church today is like people sent out in a lifeboat to rescue the perishing. But there’s such a big hole in the bottom of the boat that we spend all our time bailing to keep afloat. We can’t get any rescuing done. Let’s stop the hole in the bottom of the boat, let’s get our own needs supplied, and then we can reach out and yank the perishing in. I mean this.
You do not serve God acceptably out of lack. There’s not a Scripture in the Bible that gives the faintest reason for believing that God wants you to lack.
I know this is the British attitude. Absolutely. If you want to be holy, you better be poor. And the prayer when they install the new minister is, ‘God, You keep him humble and we’ll keep him poor.’ And they certainly do their side of the bargain.
And now I’m British and I can say this, you Americans probably couldn’t say it. I’ve told the British people to their face I’ve said this. And I’ve said once more, that’s why Britain is in financial straits, because they’ve been mean with God. Mean, you don’t use that word. Stingy. Stingy with God.
You have to be careful when you, as General Eisenhower said when he was in Britain, it’s so good to be in a country where they speak almost the same language.
I remember the first time I had an American missionary talk about mean, he said he’d met the meanest bull he’d ever seen. And I spent 24 hours trying to think how a bull could be mean, you know. Because when we say mean in Britain, we mean stingy.
There’s another word we’ve got to be awfully careful about, that’s homely. In England, homely is rather a complimentary word, you know. Boy, you better watch.
Well, where were we?
Yeah, why don’t we look for a moment at Deuteronomy 28. I can see the Holy Spirit is yet going to get His way with me. I’m struggling, but it’s coming out.
One of the funniest things that ever happened to me was, and my friend Don Basham was there, and he always talks about this. I was preaching in a camp for rehabilitating alcoholics, and you know I thought these alcoholics, they’re going to get it. I’m going to give them a sermon on repentance.
And I stood up and I said, I’m going to preach today on repentance. And I just began to talk, and I preached one hour and 30 minutes on abundance. I’ve never had such liberty in my life. And you see the wisdom of the Holy Spirit? Those poor people, they’d been, they’d had repentance rammed down their throats till they were sick of it. They wanted to know that there was something to get. If we could only show people there’s something to get in the Christian life, we’d have people running after us.
Deuteronomy 28, verses 47 and 48. Now I want to point out to you that this chapter contains a tremendous revelation. It contains two things, the blessings for obedience to the law and the curses for disobedience. The first 13 verses are the blessings for obedience, and then the remaining, I think it’s 53 verses, are the curses.
And in these 53 verses are summed up every curse for the breaking of God’s law. And everything that’s in those 53 verses is a curse and not a blessing.
And shall I tell you something? In those 53 verses, every kind of sickness is included. So every kind of sickness is a curse. I notice you’re becoming silent. Did you believe that?
Well listen, if you don’t believe it, just listen for a moment. This is not what I was going to read to you, but I feel the Lord would have me.
Reading from verse 58, a few verses, just to prove to you conclusively what I say.
Deuteronomy 28:58: ‘If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD; then the Lord will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance. Moreover, He will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt.’
How many of you have ever been in Egypt? Anybody? Well, if there ever was a disease-ridden country in the world, it’s Egypt. I’ve lived about two years in Egypt. Believe me, there aren’t many diseases that the Egyptians don’t have.
And God says He will bring upon them all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of, and they shall cleave unto thee, (stick to thee). Also, every sickness and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the Lord bring upon thee until thou be destroyed.’
Notice, every sickness which is written in the book, and every sickness which is not written in the book. And by simple logic, that means every sickness is a curse.
And the Scripture says in Galatians 3:13, Jesus was made a curse for us. He hath redeemed us from the curse of the law. That’s why Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses, and with His stripes we are healed, because He had to. It was the exhausting of the curse. Otherwise, He would have left out some curses that He had not dealt with.
So, every sickness is a curse. Never let the devil persuade you that sickness is the will of God in your life. You don’t really believe it. Because if you did, you’d cultivate it. Not try to get rid of it, see.
But you’ve got to face this. Be very clear about it. Sickness is a curse. And Jesus was made sick with our sicknesses. He took our curse. He exhausted it. That’s why God not merely offers you healing. Healing is for the unconverted.
Do you know what God offers to the believer? Health.
‘Beloved, I pray above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health as thy soul prospereth.’ But I didn’t want to turn to the sickness. I was looking at this other angle.
Deuteronomy 28: 47-48 of the same chapter. Notice this. The pastor prayed that we’d get on to the atonement, and we’ve got there. I didn’t intend to, but we’ve arrived. His prayer is being answered.
Deuteronomy 28:47-48: ‘Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart for the abundance of all things’ — That’s what God wants. That’s what He offers. That’s the blessing. To serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart for the abundance of all things.
You know what abundance means? More than enough. It means an overflow.
The alternative is in the 48th verse.
‘Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the Lord shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things:’
That’s the curse. And you notice that if you disobey, God sends your enemies against you. And when God sends your enemies against you, don’t go to any preacher to pray them away. Because no preacher can pray away the enemies that God sends in your life. God will send your enemies against you. And you’ll serve those enemies. Listen, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness and in want of all things.
And when you’ve been through that list, you know what that is? That’s absolute poverty. Total poverty. And do you know what it is? It’s a curse. And do you know the areas of this world that are truly poverty stricken? They’re the areas where they worship demons and Satan. It goes with it. And if you let those demon powers invade this area of the world, you’ll find this area of the world will go down in poverty.
You want to know what real poverty is? You go where people worship demons. And you’ll find it. Demons and poverty go together. And God and abundance go together. God is a God of abundance. And God wants His people to be people of abundance.
Now the great secret of this revelation, something that came to me while I was standing preaching in New Zealand, is this: That Jesus exhausted the poverty curse on the cross. Notice, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness and in want of all things. And when Jesus hung on the cross, He was hungry. He hadn’t eaten for 24 hours. He was thirsty. He said, I thirst. And let no religious artist deceive you, he was naked. Completely naked. And He was in want of all things. And He had to be. Because it was the curse. And He had to exhaust that curse.
And by that one sacrifice, He exhausted every curse that had come on the Adamic race. The poverty curse has gone for the children of God. And God’s will is for you to serve Him with joyfulness and gladness of heart for the abundance of all things. And when you do that, you know you’ll be glorifying Him.
What kind of a God have we got to demonstrate to the world? A God that cannot meet our needs? A God that cannot supply what we ask for? Or a rich God? A loving God? A gracious God? An abundant God?
The Bible reveals that kind of a God. And unless we live in the revelation of the Word of God, we’ll never believe it. It’s too good to be true.
I remember when I lay sick in hospital, one year in Egypt. I studied the Bible from cover to cover to find out what the will of God for healing was. And the more I read, the more I read about healing, health, strength, long life. I thought, this is unbelievable. It’s too good to be true. God couldn’t really mean what He says. That’s what I thought.
I’ve got such a picture of religion being miserable that I couldn’t believe that it was intended to be joyful. And one day when I was thinking like that, it was just as if the Lord spoke to me.
And I was saying, well, He couldn’t mean that. It’s too good to be true. The Lord said this. He said, ‘Just wait a minute. Tell me this. Who is the teacher and who is the pupil?’
And I said, ‘Lord, You’re the teacher and I’m the pupil.’
And he said, ‘Well, would you mind letting Me teach you?’
Many, many people read the Bible with their minds made up beforehand what God ought to have said. And if He doesn’t happen to say that, they just don’t hear Him at all. The Bible is a revelation. It’s not a composition of the best that man could think of. It’s a revelation of an Almighty God, a loving God, a rich God, a gracious God. A God who loves you personally and wants to do more for you than you can ever imagine or think. That’s what the Bible teaches.
Well, I don’t know where we’re going to get to now.
Let me say three more things briefly about praying. And I’ve missed out one, which is the need for forgiveness of other people, but I’ll deal with that. God helping me tomorrow night.
RIGHT RELATIONSHIPS
But let me just point it out to you. Here’s one basic requirement that the majority of people, when they pray, overlook. I’ll give you the Scripture.
It’s Mark 11:25: ‘When ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any;’
Now, ought against any leaves nothing out, does it? It doesn’t say forgive if your enemies come and ask for forgiveness. It says forgive whether they ask or whether they don’t ask, whether they know or whether they don’t know. The obligation is placed upon you when you pray to forgive everyone who has ever harmed you, done you any wrong, or against whom you have any resentment. And if you do not, you close the way to answered prayer.
This is the greatest barrier to the answer to the prayer of God’s people in the world today. I preach on forgiveness from time to time. I preach a whole sermon on it. And I’ve done this in many different types of congregation. And when the anointing of the Holy Spirit is upon me and upon the meeting, I challenge the people and I say, how many of you acknowledge here tonight, be up lifting a hand, that there’s someone whom you need to forgive? And you know the response is nearly always over 50% of the people.
That’s how Christians are living. No wonder they’re sick. No wonder they’re poor. No wonder they don’t get their prayers answered. They’ve missed out this vital requirement. I think you better turn and look to it. I just hope I’m going to finish before midnight tonight. But I’m struggling, really I am. I’ve got my outline and I’m trying to stick to it.
Mark 11:25: ‘And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any, that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.’
That’s clear. If you want God to forgive you, you must forgive other people. If you do not forgive other people, God will not forgive you. And there’s the barrier. Unforgiven sin. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. This is the barrier.
ACCORDING TO GOD’S WORD
All right. Now the next great thing I want to say about getting your prayer answered is, pray according to the Word of God. The great revelation of the will of God is the Word of God. The great revelation of God’s will for your life is His promises. The simplest and shortest form of prayer you can think of is the most effective.
In 1 Chronicles chapter 17, I think I must read this. 1 Chronicles chapter 17, beginning at verse 23, David prays this.
1 Chronicles 17:23: ‘Therefore now, O Lord, let the thing that Thou hast spoken concerning Thy servant and concerning his house be established forever, and do as Thou hast said.’
That’s the great secret. Tell God, do as Thou hast said. When you know that God has said He will do it, and you ask Him to do it, you know He’ll do it. Don’t you?
God’s promises are His will. God never promised to do anything that was not His will. He is not so illogical.
So if you want to pray in faith, which is the great basic requirement, pray according to the written Word of God. Pray like David. Lord, You’ve said it, do as You have said.
That prayer is as far above the best that you can pray as heaven is above earth. The highest you can achieve by your natural thinking and reasoning is still on the earthly plane. God’s prayer answers are on the heavenly plane. God says, My thoughts are not as your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways. But as the heaven is high above the earth, so are My thoughts above your thoughts, and My ways above your ways.
When you pray in your own natural understanding, facing your problem for yourself, and thinking what’s the greatest I can ask God to do it, you’re praying on the earthly plane. When you pray in accordance with the written Word of God, you pray on the heavenly plane. It’s a totally different plane.
What God has promised in His Word, the Scripture says, is exceeding abundantly above all that you could ever ask or think without the word of God. The greatest miracle that ever took place in human experience, in my opinion, was the birth of Jesus from the womb of the virgin Mary. I do not believe any human being has ever experienced a greater miracle than that. Wouldn’t you agree?
And do you know the words that brought it into being? Turn with me for a moment to Luke chapter 1.
Luke, the first chapter, when the news was brought to the virgin Mary that God had chosen her for this special responsibility and privilege.
And she said, ‘How shall this thing be?’
And the angel told her, in verse 35, the angel answered, that’s Luke chapter 1:35. The angel answered and said unto her, ‘the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.’
And then verse 37, ‘for with God nothing shall be impossible.’
And Mary said, ‘behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to Thy word.’ That’s the words that liberated that great miracle.
Be it unto me according to Thy word. And when you pray that, you pray the highest you’ll ever achieve. Be it unto me according to Thy word. It’s far higher than anything you can ever think of for yourself.
THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
The next great condition, and I’m going quickly, is the power of the Holy Spirit. And this, as always, must be united with the Word. It’s the Word and the Spirit together.
Ephesians 6:17, take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.
Ephesians 6:18, praying always in the Spirit.
Pray in the Spirit, but take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word. Never separate those two things. You’re invincible when you pray in the Spirit and you take the sword of the Spirit.
And in Ephesians 3:20, Paul says this: ‘Now unto Him which is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that were given us.’
Notice, and Paul really runs out of words, let me try to illustrate this. This is the highest that you can ask or think. This is the maximum you could ever imagine of asking God on this level. God can do above, abundantly above, exceeding abundantly above. And Paul runs out of words at this point.
See how high it is? What’s that level? That’s the level of God’s promises.
What’s the power that gets you into that level? It’s the Holy Spirit.
Unto Him that is able to do, exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that were given us.
Romans 8:26-27: ‘we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, for He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.’
When you do not know how to pray, turn over to the Holy Spirit and let Him pray. Have a prayer meeting inside and let the Holy Spirit lead it. That’s praying in the Spirit. It’s praying above the level of the natural understanding.
Paul said, I will pray with the understanding. That’s fine. But he said, I will pray with the Spirit also. And there are times when we cannot face our problems. We cannot have the answer by prayer in the understanding. We turn loose and pray in the Spirit. The Holy Spirit takes the burden, the problem, the need, the person, and prays through us according to the will of God.
And every prayer that the Holy Spirit prays, God is obligated to answer. The Father will answer the prayer prayed by the Spirit in the name of the Son.
You see, prayer is such an important business that all three persons of the Godhead get involved in it. The Father answers the prayers offered in the name of the Son through the power of the Holy Spirit. And if we are going to pray effectively, we’ve got to have the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We’ve got to learn how to turn over to the Holy Spirit. We’ve got to let go and let God.
I thank God for a praying wife. Those that know my wife know when she prays, we move up about three levels in the next thirty seconds. She has got that ability to get into God’s elevator and move up. And God’s elevator now is the Holy Spirit. It’s tremendous. Oh, the power there is in prayer.
One more thing. And this is the time element, and I’m closing appropriately enough.
WHEN DO YOU RECEIVE?
There has to come the moment of receiving. You can go on praying forever and never getting anything if you don’t receive. There must be the moment of receiving.
What is the moment of receiving? It’s the moment of praying.
Mark 11:24: ‘Therefore I say unto you, what things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them’, it says in the Greek past tense, and ye shall have them, future tense. Notice this is not fanaticism, it is not foolishness. There is something left into the future. It’s the having, but not the receiving.
Can you understand that? There’s a difference between receiving and having. Receiving by faith, having in experience.
When do you receive by faith? When you pray. I’ll say that again now.
What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, when? When you pray, and ye shall have them. You walk out of the prayer meeting different from the way you walked in. Why? Because you walk out having received. Not going to receive. Going to have, but having received. Does that make sense? Can you understand that?
If you go on always receiving in the future, you know what we say, there’s always a tomorrow. Tomorrow never comes. There must come the moment when you close in with God and say, God, now. I don’t know how many of you, I know that Gillies have been to Greece, that they’ll understand this.
This is a true little incident. Long before I was converted, when I was a student of Greek culture and philosophy, and the university used to pay for me to go to Athens. The university paid for me to go and look at the statues, but I was much more interested in the modern Greeks than the statues.
So I didn’t spend too much time on the Acropolis, the Parthenon, or any of these other places. I looked them, gave them a once over, and moved on. It wasn’t very ethical, but that’s the way I lived in those days.
Well, I stayed in a hotel in Athens with an English friend of mine. And those of you that know cities like Athens, or Cairo, or many other cities in the Middle East, you’ll know that one of the features of life is the shoeshine boys that are determined to shine your shoes. And I mean determined.
In Cairo, during the Second World War, you didn’t have to, you didn’t ask whether you wanted your shoes shined, they were shined, that’s all. Even while you were walking. I mean that literally, literally. And if you didn’t want them, if you didn’t think they were dirty, they’d make them dirty and then polish them.
Well, outside this hotel in Athens, there were two little boys that pounced on us every day and said, shoeshine? And we said in our best Greek, óchi, which means no, and they still shined our shoes.
So my friend worked out a plan. He said, tomorrow we won’t say óchi, because that’s no good. We’ll say something else.
So the next day we woke up, there they were. We looked them in the face and said, Avrio. And they stood back a moment, hesitated and were lost. We got past them.
Now you know what Avrio means? Tomorrow.
We fooled them. See, if we’d said no outright, they’d say we shined them. But Avrio just gave them that moment’s pause that let us get past. And that’s how the devil will fool you. When you want an answer to your prayer, he won’t say óchi. He won’t say no. He’ll say, Avrio, tomorrow.
And more prayers remain unanswered because of tomorrow than any other word. There’s got to be the moment that’s now.
2 Corinthians 6:2: I have heard thee in an accepted time, and in the day of salvation will I succor thee. Now listen. Now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation.
God lives and in eternal now. And when you get to God for the answer, it’s got to be a now answer. Now Lord, I receive it now. Now this is not just something you can work up. As I said before, if you want percolated coffee, you’ve got to go through the percolator. The instant variety doesn’t taste the same. A lot of people want instant Christianity, but God doesn’t deal in the instant. You’ve got to go through the percolator. And the percolator is what we’ve been through tonight.
And you cannot miss out the percolator and come to the result. But when you’ve been through the percolator, there’ll come a moment when you can say, God, now. Now. And you mean it. You mean it. In all reverence, in all humility, but with absolute determination, you mean it. God, it’s now. Not tomorrow. It’s now. Thank You.
And you never ask God to do it again. If the result isn’t immediately manifested, you just thank God. Thank God. I received Monday night Lord. Thank You. I received Monday night Lord. Thank You. I received Monday night Lord. Thank You.
I shall have.
Never let the devil beat you back into asking again when you’ve come to that point of receiving now. Now this is not automatic. There are no rules that make automatic prayer. It’s principles. It’s a percolator. You’ve got to go through it. You’ve got the bubble up. Something’s got to be squeezed out of you.
But when you get there, then it’s instant. It’s immediate.
Now listen, I’m going to repeat what I say, then we’re going to apply it. I believe in making people act on what is preached. I’m going to give you the simple basic principles I mentioned, and I’m going to challenge you to believe God in prayer tonight.
First of all, it’s in the name of Jesus.
Secondly, it’s with thanksgiving and praying.
Thirdly, check on your motives, attitudes, and relationships.
Are you conscious of sin that has not been dealt with? Are you asking for the wrong motives? Are there people whom you need to forgive?
Praying according to God’s word. Lord, You said it. Do it.
Praying in the power of the Holy Spirit, according to the power that worketh in us, and coming to the moment when it’s now, Lord. Thank You.
You know this well, with regard to leading the sinner into salvation. If you let the sinner believe that he can always be saved tomorrow, he’ll never be saved. Isn’t that right? And it’s precisely the same with any answer to prayer. If you live in tomorrow, it will never come. There must be the moment of appropriateness.
Now, I want you to consider tonight, in the light of what we’ve said, whether there’s a prayer you’d like to pray here tonight to God, and say, God, thank You, I receive it. Right now. I’m going to walk out of this building tonight having received.
Is there a need, is there a situation to which you can apply God’s word in your life tonight?
Now, don’t, I could give you plenty of promises, but that’s not percolated. You’ve got to find them for yourself. You’ve got to appropriate them. You’ve got to lay hold upon them.
But if there’s a promise in the word of God which you need, it meets your situation. You know it. It’s real to you. Then why don’t you say tonight, God, I’m receiving it. I’m receiving it tonight.
What about Philippians 4:19? My God shall supply all your need. Is there something you really need tonight? Why don’t you accept it tonight? Lord, that job, that financial help, that situation. It’s my need. You’ve said You’ll supply it. Thank You, God. I’ve received it tonight. I’m never going to ask for it again. I’m just going to thank You and wait for it to come.
You know, it was a remarkable thing. I want to close, but I want to give you this testimony. I was preaching to those alcoholics. I got onto this theme of abundance. I quoted Philippians 4:19. My God shall supply all your need. And I said, is there anybody here who’s got a need that isn’t supplied? And every hand went up in the building. Every hand. Christians, unbelievers, alcoholics, the whole lot.
And I thought to myself, you’re a hypocrite. There’s a need in your life.
It just came to me that moment. We needed someone to take care of my home when we traveled. And I just sent a quick mental telegraph up to God. You know that need, Lord?
And I went on preaching. We went to Australia a few weeks later. And in Australia we received a letter from our youngest unmarried daughter, who’s a nurse in England. I’d like to come and live with you in Florida. God had supplied the need. But He didn’t supply it till I acknowledged it.
Is there a need in your life tonight? A real, genuine need? A need that if it were met would glorify God and enable you to serve God better and be a more effective witness? Set you free from pressure that keeps you from doing your best for God? Is that right? Well, why don’t you claim it?
You know God has got marvelous ways to answer prayer. I want to be careful what I say. I think it’s all right.
The Gillies will know what I mean. About a year and a half ago, two young married women started praying together and reading the Bible. They got tired of going to church and getting nothing. They decided they’d do better at home seeking God. And they prayed for about a year and sought God and nothing really seemed to happen.
But they came to our meetings in Palo Alto. And one of them came to me and the Lord made it clear to me I was to minister to her with my wife. And we spent three days ministering to these two married couples. And thank God, God abundantly met their needs.
Now why I tell you this, I will normally not devote that measure of time to anybody. Especially when I’m ministering in public. I tell people I will not make appointments for ministry. But God changed my mind. Why did He do it? Because they prayed. Because they had prayed.
I’ll tell you, God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. You can never seek God diligently and go unrewarded. You don’t know how the reward will come. You don’t know when the reward will come. But come it will. Almighty God has committed Himself. You never seek God diligently and go unrewarded.
Now tonight, I’m going to ask you in just a moment to bow in reverent prayer. And in the light of what I’ve said, the Scriptures I’ve quoted. If you are brought face to face with the fact by the Holy Spirit, that there’s a real need in your life, your home, your situation, your ministry which is not met. Why don’t you tonight.
Look, turn with me to Philippians 4:19 first.
Philippians 4:19. I mean, I want you to see that Brother Prince didn’t put this in the Bible. It was there when I started reading it.
As I said to a Presbyterian minister once about the baptism in the Holy Spirit. I’d had a long talk with him. And he said, well, some things I can accept and some I can’t.
So I said, well, let me just tell you one thing, brother. I didn’t invent this. I just discovered it. And that’s true of this verse. I didn’t invent it. I just discovered it.
Are we there? Shall we read it together?
But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Shall we read it once more?
But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Shall we read it just once more?
Faith cometh by hearing.
But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. And that means God won’t be any poorer when he’s supplied everybody’s needs.
You won’t embarrass God. Nor will He go bankrupt.
I said once upon a time God has no sales. He never reduces His prices. And that’s true. But the Holy Spirit showed me something else. With God there’s no inflation either. The price never goes up. It just remains the same.
If you want what Paul had you have to pay what Paul paid. That’s all. Nineteen centuries there’s been no inflation and there’s been no sale. The prices remain static.
Now let’s just pray reverently and quietly together in the presence of God. And in the light of the Word and the Spirit. See if the Holy Spirit doesn’t show you that there’s a very real need in your life which God is just waiting to meet when you acknowledge it.
I’m trusting to the Holy Spirit now to minister to you. It’s not in my hands any longer. The Holy Spirit the third person of the Godhead is here tonight. He’s a real person. And He will really speak to you.
Now if you have felt that the Holy Spirit has directed your attention to a need which is covered by Philippians 4:19. And tonight you really feel that you’re convinced that God means what He says that He will supply all your need. And you’re prepared to claim it tonight. You’re prepared to say God tonight. Now by faith I receive this. I want you to stand up and to walk out to the front of this church. And stand here in front of me.
I’m going to lead you in a prayer of receiving. If that’s the way you have been led by the Holy Spirit. And we’ll close this meeting with this prayer. If there’s a real need in your life. And you’re prepared to bring God and that need together tonight. I want you to walk up and stand in front of me here.
Now I’m trusting the Holy Spirit. I’m seeking to bring no pressure upon anybody. It must be something that the Holy Spirit will do. To me there are so many needs in the lives of the children of believers. Could you move just a little out that way to leave room for those that are coming down the middle?
Now I would like you to say a short simple prayer after me. And this prayer is your transaction with God. It’s your receiving act. Would you say these words.
Lord Jesus Christ, You are my Savior. I am Your child. You redeem me by Your blood out of the hand of the devil. And I belong to You. All I am. And all I have. Is yours. And now Lord you know that specific need in my life. I’m coming on the basis of Your word. My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
Tonight Lord I thank You that I receive by faith the complete supply of my needs. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Thank you Jesus. Hallelujah!
For Further Reading:
(Through The Bible) – 1 Samuel: Zac Poonen (Transcript)
(Through The Bible) – Joshua: Zac Poonen (Transcript)
Derek Prince Sermon: The Gifts of The Holy Spirit (Transcript)
True And False Church (Part 1): Derek Prince Sermon (Transcript)
[/read]