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[00:00:00] Well, now let's look at the matter of prayer. I've got a number of things. Each of these subjects we've taken has been so vast, and I've had the same problem each evening of trying to cover tremendous amount of material in the time available to us. Well, now there are one or two things I want to say about the prayer time we're dealing with corporate prayer. First of all, the different kinds of prayer. I think we shall be greatly helped if we just understand that there are different kinds or forms of prayer. And if you turn to one Timothy, chapter two, and verse one, we have under four headings those kinds of prayer summed up.
[00:00:47] One Timothy, chapter two, verse one. I exhort, therefore, first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings be made for all men. And a little later on, verse eight, I desire, therefore, that the men pray in every place, lifting up holy hands, verse nine, in like manner that women. So we have four kinds of prayer, supplications, and it's all in the plural. Supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings.
[00:01:29] Now, what are these forms of prayer? Why does he, in fact, divide them up? And then a bit later he said, therefore, I desire that men pray everywhere in this way. Supplications, prayers, intercessions, thanksgiving, supplications is really beseeching, earnest prayer. And I think the easiest way to understand it is that it is inquiry. It is earnest inquiry of the Lord. He inquired of the Lord. In other words, it is the kind of prayer which is very practical. We are asking the Lord what his mind is about a certain matter. It may be a big matter. It may be understanding of some great scriptural truth. It may be something to do with the purpose of God in our day and generation. Or it may be something intensely practical, whether we should buy the house next door or whether we should put a hut up on the garden or something like that.
[00:02:47] It is supplication, inquiry. So there's a whole lot of prayer that comes under this term inquiry. Then there is the second kind, prayers. This is a pouring out, a pouring out of one's heart, of one's spirit asking petition. It is a general word for prayer, but it is particularly we're thinking of the pouring out of our hearts in petition and asking. And then there is intercessions. This is a coming between, representing men before God and representing God before principalities, before powers, before world rulers of the darkness of this world, before hosts of wicked spirits in the heavenly places. In other words, we are coming between as it were we are interceding in the name of the Lord, we bring some unsafe person to the Lord and we plead for that one. And we take the scripture and we plead on the basis of scripture, much more comes out. This is the warfare of prayer. This is included in intercession, the warfare of prayer. When sometimes we have to tackle situations in which the enemy has got a vested interest and we know what the will of God is for that situation and we've got to stand together there interceding in the name of the Lord for his will to be done in that given situation.
[00:04:22] Thanksgivings, thanksgivings, this is just simply the gift. Thankfulness, praise, praise, worship in the end. So we have these four forms or aspects of prayer in which everything in this realm is summed up.
[00:04:45] Now what is the purpose of corporate prayer? What is the purpose of corporate prayer? Well, it is that together as the people of God, as the church of God, we lay hold of the law. Now if you look at acts, chapter one, verse 14, it says very simply, acts one, verse 14. These all with one accord, continued steadfastly in prayer. That's corporate prayer. Acts, chapter two, verse 42. They continued steadfastly in the apostles teaching and fellowship in the breaking of bread and the prayers.
[00:05:36] So the purpose of corporate prayer is that we together as the people of God might lay hold of the Lord supremely. Its aim is summed up in the pattern prayer that the Lord Jesus gave us. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done as it is in heaven, so on earth. Now that really is the supreme aim and purpose of corporate prayer. Thy kingdom come. It is the bringing in of the kingdom, bringing the kingdom, the throne of God to bear upon any given situation. It is the standing together and taking hold of the Lord that his will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven. Now that's Matthew, chapter six, verse ten. And if you turn to Isaiah, chapter 62, we have it again in that wonderful cry of the Lord to Isaiah and to the other faithful remnant, verse six and seven.
[00:06:52] I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem. They shall never hold their peace day nor night. Ye that are the Lord's remembrances, take ye no rest and give him no rest till he establish, until he make Jerusalem.
[00:07:09] When we compare it with the first verse of this chapter, we find these words mouth, but out of the Lord's mouth. For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest. Then the Lord says, ye that are my remembrances, the Lord's remembrances take no rest. Give him no rest till this becomes a fact. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done as it is in heaven, so on earth. Now this covers in principle, all matters, large or small. We have just been praying for bill. We've just been praying for Gwyneth's family, for her father, for her sister, for the children in that family. What are we really praying? We are praying that the kingdom of God will move in on this situation and that the enemy will have absolutely no place in it at all. As the people of God, as those joined to the risen head, our Lord Jesus Christ, we are together asserting the sovereign rights of the Lord Jesus over his own redeemed people. And sometimes we may even pray for things where there is no redemption. And we're still asserting the Lord's rights over it. Remembering the scripture, the earth is the Lord's and it's the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein. Now, really, this matter of thy kingdom coming, the coming of the kingdom, the bringing to bear of the kingdom upon things, the will of God being established and done on earth as it is in heaven, already covers all matters, corporate or personal, universal or local, however large, however small, it all comes within this one grand aim and purpose of corporate prayer.
[00:09:12] Then we can take it a step further and say that corporate prayer is in fact the headship of Christ in its practical outworking. Now that may need a little word of explanation. Corporate prayer is the headship of Christ to his people. In its practical outworking, it is the authority and power of the risen, ascended, glorified head, right hand of the father being known, recognized and exercised by the body. Got it.
[00:09:56] The authority and power of the risen glorified head being known, recognized with our lips together, confessed in corporate prayer and place of prayer, known, experienced and exercised by the body. Now, this really means four things.
[00:10:28] It works out in this way. First of all, well, in fact, there are five things. First of all, there must be inquiry.
[00:10:36] And that's in many ways the most important part, or one of the most important parts in corporate prayer. You see, for most christians, and indeed for most companies of christians, whatever denominational grouping label they belong to, the headship of Jesus Christ is very much like a democratic monarchy.
[00:11:08] The Lord is only hid in name.
[00:11:13] All the decisions are taken by people on earth. And really it is done in the name of the queen. In other words, as you know, the government do everything and the queen signs.
[00:11:30] Now, that's what most people have done with our Lord Jesus. They have not allowed him to be absolute monarch. The attitude is you don't be mystical, don't be abstract, don't be vain. He's up there, we're down here, and we've been given brains and common sense and many other things, and we are to use these things for him. And that's why, of course, we're in such a mess.
[00:11:56] The fact of the matter is that the Lord Jesus Christ is actually head of the church. And the Holy Spirit has been given in order to make that headship of Jesus Christ a living, practical, experienced reality in the midst of his people. Therefore, the whole value of corporate prayer is that it is a place where we inquire of the Lord, what should we do? The Lord must be lord of his people. The Lord must exercise his headship over his people. If he doesn't want that bit of ground bought, we don't buy that bit of ground. Even if we have 7821 thousand businessmen who all tell us, buy the ground, buy the ground, buy the ground. If the Lord says no, we don't buy the ground. On the other hand, we may have a thousand businessmen who tell us don't buy the gram. But if the Lord says buy the gram, we buy it.
[00:12:49] The point is, he makes his headship known to the church. Inquiry we ask of the Lord, the mind and the will of the head has to be known by the church, not only in general matters, but in particular matters. Therefore, we inquire of the Lord. We must expect the Lord to speak to us, and we must give room for him in this matter.
[00:13:15] Now, our whole history from the very beginning has been really based on the discovery of this simple truth.
[00:13:23] That stupid as we were, green, as we were young, as we were in our teenage teenagers, and in our early 20s, when we came together in 51, we found one great discovery, that we, in our stupidity, could get on our knees and ask the Lord to direct us. And furthermore, we found the Lord did direct us in all kinds of ways, sometimes an inner sense that this was the way of the Lord. And it was unanimous. Sometimes it was through a scripture read here, there, which proved to be prophetic. It was the mind of the Lord. It wasn't in context sometimes, but it was absolutely the mind of the Lord. It was prophecy. And we went ahead when we were one on the matter. We can give you example after example after example of not only material things, but spiritual things in which we moved forward after inquiry of the Lord.
[00:14:15] Well, we must expect that. Now, a second thing about corporate prayer, the fact of his being head, is that obviously it is a question, a matter of petition. We ask the head to step in. We ask the head to act, we ask the head to say the word, and we know it's going to be done. We're not absolutely sure about a given situation. What is the mind of the Lord about it? So we say, lord, will you please do so and so and so and so we ask him to step in. It is the head that we're asking to step in, enthroned at the right hand of the father with all authority in his hands, in heaven and on earth. A third thing is possession of the will of God, actual possession of the will of God. When we know his mind to inquiring of the Lord, then in his name and with his authority, we possess whatever the matter is, we possess it.
[00:15:12] We execute his will. Now, this is the meaning, for those of you younger in the Lord of the term, we often use executive prayer. Executive prayer is when in fact we've found out the mind of the Lord. And in the place of prayer, we execute the will of God long before it's happened.
[00:15:32] People think they're mad, of course. I mean, sort of taking the will of God and saying it's going to come to pass, it's going to go. It's not just asking, it's not just permission, it's not inquiry, and it's not just petition. Now we are actually going forward, although outwardly not a thing is happening. It's faith we are possessing in the name. We took that whole market garden years before we ever got there in faith. We had a marvelous time sort of putting our feet down upon it and taking it in the name of the Lord and so on. Years afterwards, it came to us by a miracle, an absolute miracle. But I mean, the beginning was that we took it long before it happened. And we could give you example after example after example of things that we took. We found out this was the will of the Lord. The Lord said yes. And so we went forward on it.
[00:16:24] This is always first in prayer, this executive action. And then we may have to take outward action in the name of the Lord, as we've done two or three times when we launched ahead with hardly a penny in our pockets on something. And within a matter of weeks or months, God had provided everything. Once we were clear that it was his will, we moved ahead on it. And that's how God taught us. Now that is the possession of the will of God. And that's a very important aspect of corporate prayer.
[00:17:03] It is faith, the gift of faith in action. Then there is warfare. Now the place of corporate prayer is a place of warfare. It's not only the head enabling us to possess his will on earth, but it is also the head, enabling us to resist the enemy and to break his power in any given situation. It is the warfare of the service we are resisting in the name of the risen head, those powers, et cetera, that would frustrate the purpose of God and paralyze the work of God. Prayer of this sort is like a military operation and must be run like a military operation. That's why we can't afford to have these long winded prayers. It's got to be a military operation, and that's why your heart sinks when it's smothered by a lot of victorian sort of thrills and fancies.
[00:18:06] It's a military operation. Now, it says in Ephesians six, verse ten to 13, that we're to put on the whole armor of God, and having done all, we're to stand. And what is it all to do with? It's not to do with flesh and blood. It's to do with what is not flesh and blood. Principalities, powers, world, rulers of the present darkness, hosts of wicked spirits in the heavenly places. Therefore, we are all together to put on the armor of God, Christ himself, and then taking the word of God, and by the spirit of God, we are to stand, not go forward. We are to stand, and this is the warfare, to stand, having done all to stand, and we shall see the victory of the Lord marvellously manifested. Now, I was not brought up at the beginning to see this kind of prayer. It happened for me in Egypt. I had a serious attack of a trouble I'd had from when I was a child. And when I was partly recovered, I was sent away to two old missionaries in port side. And I was told before I went to them, now, you must watch your p's and q's, because they are tremendous saints.
[00:19:16] This was another missionary who, by the way, told me that I was to watch my p's and q's and sort of.
[00:19:24] And she said, they are honor oak.
[00:19:29] I didn't mean a thing to me. I didn't dare ask. She said it in such a mysterious way that I thought, my goodness me.
[00:19:38] Anyway, I went to these two dear missionaries and had an amazing time with them for two weeks in that flat by convalescing. But the thing I couldn't understand was that there was suddenly a ring, ring, ring at the telephone. The telephone bell rang, and then I would hear Aunt Kathleen saying, yes, yes, where are you, phoning?
[00:20:03] Yes, well, I put it down, dear. We'll be praying.
[00:20:09] Let us know what happens. Down went the phone. And then a bit later, I'd hear, Alex. Alex. The two of them would go off and shut the door. And that's all you'd hear.
[00:20:21] You'd hear some sort of sentences coming out of the room. Couldn't hear much else. Later in the day, again and again it happened. There was a phone call. And then you'd hear Auntie Smith, Auntie Kathleen, saying, oh, yes, well, we knew that, dear. We knew it. We knew it. Now, the second week, I was so mystified by this amazing prayer. It came from all over the arab countries. These phone bells ringing. There's all of different matters coming. And these two going off into them and they gave themselves to prayer. I was so amazed. I thought, what on earth happens? Because again and again, the same people a bit later say, it's happened, it's happened. And we hear this on quite calm, sort of. Oh, yes, yes. Well, we knew that. We knew. Praise the Lord, dear. Praise the Lord. And down went home.
[00:21:08] So then I thought, well, I don't know. I'd like to see what happens. And my opportunity came because you didn't dare ask.
[00:21:16] I was asked if I would like to go into the time of prayer with them on one of these occasions. I'd never seen anything like it. The two of them prayed and prayed about a particular matter. On this particular matter was something to do with a place called Shabino Kanatar. And they prayed and prayed and prayed for it. And then all of a sudden, the older one turned around to the younger one and said, do you think we're through? And the younger one said, I don't think we are yet. So back they went. Now, the thing that amazed me was, I remember as a boy seeing those pate news things about a war, and there used to be a bell that rang through the ship. And then everyone jumped onto the guns. Tin hats went on and round they swiveled the guns, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. And the thing was shot to pieces in the sky, fell into the sea. Do you remember those things, some of you? Have you ever seen those old documentaries? Well, I had the feeling that this prayer was just like that. I had the sort of feel they spiritually, as the alarm bellworm, they put on their spiritual helmets, ran into the room, jumped onto the gun. And the amazing thing was the use of scripture. The amazing use of scripture. Because they were walking bibles, both of them. They knew their bibles inside out. But all kinds to me, obscure scriptures in place like Obadiah. And in those days for me, even Ezekiel, they would stand on them and say, now, lord, this is your word. This is your word for this situation.
[00:22:54] And in the end, after a while they would turn to praise and say, thank you so much, lord, the things settled. Pray we praise you together. And sure enough, a little later the phone would go, or the next morning there'd be a letter or something in a few days and the thing had been settled. Now that was my first introduction to real prayer.
[00:23:15] I had always thought prayer was a kind of little religious exercise, that people said a few things together and it was important because we were commanded to pray. But that was the first time I ever saw real warfare in prayer. And it had a tremendous effect upon me.
[00:23:36] And then of course, I think that it is not only warfare, but it is praise and exaltation.
[00:23:45] Now, exaltation, the confessing with our lips of the fact that Christ as the one with all authority is on the throne.
[00:24:00] Now you see, this is part of corporate prayer apart from worship. At other times it is the confession with the lips, the exalting together in the fact of the sovereignty of God, of the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the throne of God being far above all established in the heavens of the name of the Lord, from which devils fear and fly and so on. It can also be exaltation in the salvation of God, the fact that we are in him saved, redeemed, and are safe and secure. You see, all this is part of corporate prayer and has very much to do with victory. You will find again and again in the Old Testament, in our great illustration book, that when they began to praise, the victory was theirs.
[00:24:57] And so you have these different things in this matter of praise and exaltation. We bear testimony in corporate prayer to the unseen, and we have to learn when to pray and when to praise the Lord.
[00:25:14] Now, the purpose of corporate prayer must govern its scope. In other words, we must be very careful about the introducing of all kinds of things, however good or even biblical they may appear, which do not in fact help to realize the purpose of corporate prayer.
[00:25:34] And this is one of the mistakes people make. They want to turn it into a happy, blessed little session or they want to turn it into something which is just really a kind of self satisfying session or just an expression for ourselves. We must be very careful of that. The purpose of corporate prayer must govern its scope. It's not just a time when everyone must take part. This is a mistaken idea.
[00:26:03] It is not just a time when everyone must take part, as in pray.
[00:26:09] That is open to everyone. So is prayer open to everyone, but not everyone must take part. That would make it quite impossible.
[00:26:18] The aim which governs the whole time must be to get things settled and done to the glory of God in union with the head. Now, that's really the purpose which governs every part of it. So therefore, the absolutely vital matter, the strategic necessity, is for all of us to recognize and experience the headship of Christ by the spirit.
[00:26:48] The prayer burden must come from the throne of God by the Holy Spirit. The spirit must therefore be the practical leader and enabler of all prayer in the time.
[00:27:06] Do note the words of our Lord Jesus again and again. Watch and pray. Most christians take a second pray and forget that the Lord nearly always prefaced it with watch and pray. Be alert, be awake. Keep awake. Keep alert and pray. Now, I think that's quite important, because I don't think it's just a question of don't go to sleep in the time of prayer. Many people can't help going to sleep in the time of prayer simply because they're not following through the Holy Spirit. That's all. If they would only watch, keep alive to the Holy Spirit, you wouldn't go to sleep. You'd be more and more involved.
[00:27:50] You can't pray unless you first keep alert and sensitive to the Holy Spirit. So every one of us must look to him and obey him. The result will be that a prayer time will have divine, it will have harmony, it will have cohesion, and there will be an awful thing about when you've got a time of prayer, when you go away with that awful sense of unfulfilled something.
[00:28:22] I'm not least but bothered about myself being fulfilled. But you go away with the feeling of the Lord's not got the fulfillment what was on. His heart's not got through, it's not been fulfilled. And every time a prayer should be like that. There are things that have got to go on and on and on. They can't just be settled in one time. But there should be. When the Holy Spirit is in charge, there is a design, there is a harmony to all the prayer and all the matters that come up, and there will be fulfillment. There will be some sense that something's been touched, or at least another stage has been reached, an advance has been made on a matter.
[00:29:04] Furthermore, we must not only look to this holy spirit to lead us at the beginning, but right through the whole time. And that's another important point. That's why, sometimes the prayer time can begin on the right point and fiddle out halfway through. Everything gets lost in a morass of human feelings and ideas and opinions. And in the end, words we must look to the Holy Spirit right through the time. And especially when we've gone off track, we'll always be going off track being human beings and having an enemy. And we all do it sooner or later, even the greatest of us, we lead the rest off track. And when we have gone off track and we all know it, there's a kind of inward pain.
[00:29:53] Depending on how near you are to the Lord, you will know when you've gone off track. And that's the time to stand firm in your heart. And possibly, as we've said in the open time, even take outward action. Now we must. There are just one or two things we'll say before we pass on to another point about the purpose of the corporate, of corporate prayer. We must learn to assess when a matter is settled. We must learn to assess when a matter is settled. Some of our problems is that once a matter is settled in heaven and there's been an amen from heaven to it, people go on praying and praying and praying for it when it should have long since it's been settled and done with.
[00:30:35] And some people who feel that they should have prayed about it later obviously feel very bad that they haven't. And then about two thirds of the way through come back from the first point and heaven sort of says, what are you doing?
[00:30:50] The matter settled.
[00:30:53] You see, the problem is then it's a wasting of time.
[00:30:57] Valuable time is just wasted.
[00:31:01] Learn to assess when a matter is settled. Now that only can come to experience and we shall all make mistakes, but learn to assess. And every one of us, by the anointing within us can learn to assess when a matter is touched. And it's amazing how it is. So when it's a really good clear time, everyone knows that's done. Praise the Lord. A sense of burden's gone in that matter. And then secondly, do not be afraid to thank God for the answer in faith. One of the greatest things in the time of prayer is the manifestation of the spirit in faith, one of the most important of the gifts. And it doesn't come by saying, I've got faith. Oh no, we don't want that. But what is marvelous is when a person thanks God with obvious faith and others are lifted up.
[00:31:55] You thank God this matter settled. Lord, you're going to do so and so and so and so and so and so over this it's settled.
[00:32:03] Oh, don't be afraid to thank God for an answer in faith when you know that the thing is settled. And don't be afraid of praying for a new matter or subject when you sense that it is right.
[00:32:16] Again, many people are frightened, and they're only frightened of losing face. That's the trouble with most of us. We're so afraid, we'd much prefer to wait for one of the big guns to start. And then when they have come in, we feel, now we're safe. In we go. But just supposing one of the big guns is wrong and it does happen.
[00:32:40] The fourth thing is, remember that all of us are disciples. All of us are disciples. We are learning in the school of prayer. We are learning in the school of prayer. And if we can all just remember that we're all disciples in this matter, we're all students in the school of prayer, it'll be a great help. Now, what about the character of corporate prayer? Well, it's found in Matthew 18, Matthew 18 and verses 19 and 20. Matthew 18, verses 19 and 20. Again, I sound to you that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my father who is in heaven, or where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst. What a marvelous statement.
[00:33:37] Just think that this is the key to corporate prayer. For he says again, I sound to you that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my father who is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst. I don't think that the truth of that has dawned upon hardly any of us.
[00:34:04] This is the character of corporate prayer.
[00:34:09] Now what do we mean? Well, mark it. Two of you shall agree, for I am in the midst.
[00:34:19] Two of you shall agree, for I am in the midst.
[00:34:23] It shall be done for them of my father who is in heaven.
[00:34:30] Now it is being agreed through the Holy Spirit. Now, this is very important.
[00:34:37] We all have such a capacity for bringing spiritual things down to the earth. And people seem to think that as long as they agree to agree, that's got it. That's a fulfillment of the Bible. That does not what it means at all. It doesn't mean two people who agree to agree on any given subject will then. No, it means that they are agreed by the witness of the Holy Spirit. And how it happens is that this, a person prays for something and there's a witness in somebody else. That's right.
[00:35:10] Now you must have all had that, even the youngest. As you listen to someone's praying and it's really in the spirit that person's praying, something in you says, it's right. It's right. Now, you ought to open your big mouth just after that person said amen and say, lord, I second that. Don't be afraid. Then just say, lord, I second that. That's all you've got to do. Heaven says done.
[00:35:31] Now, of course, I'd put it rather simply. It's not always done quite as easy as that. I mean, sometimes there's got to be a good deal more prayer. But the fact of the matter is that it is an amazing thing when there's a witness of the spirit and a whole lot of people that that matter is the burden on the spirit of God.
[00:35:51] That is the burden on the Lord's heart and it's coming into the time of prayer. Oh God preserve us. When people start shooting ammunition all over the place at all other matters, just at a point, it is the devil's work they do. Just at the point where some matter can be absolutely settled from heaven on earth someone comes in with a shopping list prayer and takes us right round the whole gallant of suggestions for prayer and no one knows where they are or they start on a world tour.
[00:36:24] Now that's why I know people say, oh, you are so unkind, but you've got to be severe.
[00:36:31] I mean, good gracious me, what would you do if we went to war and we had a whole lot of people that were shooting their own folks?
[00:36:39] You suppose us to be sentimental about and say, oh dear, dear, dear, doesn't really matter they're firing.
[00:36:54] But that is the attitude to many a prayer meeting. It doesn't matter they're praying. Rubbish, rubbish, absolute rubbish. And many a Christian is used by the enemy to destroy a prayer. Time. Now, we don't want to frighten everybody. The fact of the matter is, if we'll only all look to the Holy Spirit, there's no need to be frightened. And it is the people who so often are completely unaware of the fact that they are blind, deaf and insensitive to the Holy Spirit.
[00:37:28] And therefore it is a problem when people who are older in the Lord get into that habit because they are not teachable, they're not open, they're not ready to be corrected. So now we've all got to learn these lessons. They're drastic lessons and we have to be very severe in this matter because again and again, just when heaven's getting a matter absolutely settled on earth, where does the problem come from? Right from within, from ourselves. So we do not agree. To agree. It's something which is of God. There is an inward witness as another plays. And this is the indication both of the mind and burden of Christ. It is supremely to the being agreed that we give expression in corporate prayer. Otherwise, we might as well stay at home and pray, because God hears all the prayers just the same if you pray in your bedroom and I pray in mine, or someone else in their lounge, someone else in their kitchen. Although God hears just the same as if we were here, doesn't he?
[00:38:33] What's the point of being together?
[00:38:39] It's most important to get hold of this matter. This is also what it means to pray in the spirit, not pray with the spirit. That's another matter. But to pray in the spirit. In Ephesians six, verse 18, the spirit has only one mind, and he gives expression to that one mind through the different members of the body.
[00:39:01] Now, the whole point of corporate prayer, listen carefully to what I've got to say in this matter, is that we allow the holy spirit to take up a matter and disseminate it, as it were, distribute it almost into this one, that one and the other until it's settled, and then we know we can move on to another. Now, there are therefore, a number of practical matters that we must all watch, we must treat. Well, let me put it this way. We cannot treat corporate prayer as if we are all on our own. Now, if you take the usual prayer meeting, isn't that exactly what it really is? You've got 20 people together who all pray exactly as they would pray, except for a slightly louder voice in some cases, and not in others, exactly as they would pray at their own bedside.
[00:40:00] Now, what do I say? Well, here, let me illustrate. I'm not saying that he does it. Here's Derek, you see? Well, now he starts to pray. He prays for point.
[00:40:11] Well, what shall we say? Well, he prays.
[00:40:14] He prays for the Congo. Yes. And then he prays after he's prayed for the Congo for a little while, he prays for Billy Graham's evangelistic crusade somewhere in the southern states. And then he comes back here, home. And he prays for us here. And then he prays for someone who is ill. And then he prays finally for his family and for his work. Okay, now, that's how he prays at home.
[00:40:42] Here comes Brother Shaw. And he prays more or less the same. He prays. We shall say he prays for New guinea. And then after he's prayed for New guinea, he prays for something else. And something else, something else, something else. Now, that's how he prays at home. Now, what you do in many an evangelical prayer, just. We get them all together, and Derek starts off praying. He prays for the Congo. Then he goes to Billy Graham's evangelistic meeting. He prays for us here, asks for great blessing upon us all. And ends up praying for someone who'sick. Then brother Shaw starts and he prays for the New guinea. And then he prays for the evangelistic crusade that Billy Graham has. And prays for someone else who's sick. And finally prays for the ministry on Sunday. And then John starts and he prays for Halford House. And then he prays for someone who's sick. And then he remembers someone in Tokyo and amen. John prays. He prays. He's, shall we say, a young believer. So he prays for only two things. And then Ron prays. He prays for seven things.
[00:41:40] And then.
[00:41:54] And then finally he comes down to London and prays for us here. Now, that is the normal type of prayer meeting. Now, quite honestly, what's the point of being together? Except for a bit of fellowship? What is the point of being together?
[00:42:10] That means that these prayers could have been as easily prayed at home in unity, because we're all one. There's no difference between these folks. They're all one with each other in the Lord. They believe the Lord's their oneness. They could have prayed at home.
[00:42:24] Now, a good time of prayer, that's the commonly held mistaken idea of the prayer of a prayer time. A corporate prayer time.
[00:42:38] Now, a corporate prayer should follow the pattern of private prayer only. The only difference is that a number pray for each matter as the Holy Spirit leads. It's so sensible. Once you've seen it, it's so spiritually logical. For instance, we take the matter of Congo. I pray for Congo. Jimmy has the same burn on his head. He prays for Congo. Ralph prays for Congo. And then Gerda prays for Congo. And then Leslie prays for Congo. And then Doug prays for Billy Graham's evangelistic crusade. And Mrs. Paul prays for the evangelistic crusade. And then Sandra prays for it. And then Paul prays for it. And then Sicily starts off on something to do with health and health. And Basil comes in and prays for a thing. And Janet comes in. And then brother Shaw comes in. You see? Then two people pray for someone who's sick and then something. Now, you see, what's happening is not to be slavish, but the fact of the matter is, these things are getting settled.
[00:43:34] This is corporate prayer.
[00:43:37] It's following the same kind of thing as a personal prayer. The only thing is, we are a body. There's only one spirit. And just as the spirit speaks to you about this matter and that matter and the other matter and the other in your personal prayer, so now he speaks to us all as a body, not as individuals, individual units. We might as well stay at home.
[00:43:57] And that is the whole point of corporate prayer. We must avoid, as I have already said, what we call shocking list prayers. Now, this just means a whole list of things. You note it all down and then suddenly you come in and pray for the whole lot. This is like firing all your ammunition all over the place.
[00:44:16] You don't get anything in target, you just go bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. And then you say, well, we've done it, haven't shot anything at all. And all you've done is confused everybody else.
[00:44:29] And then world tour prayers are just the same. It's not therefore everyone praying that matters. It is the one spirit who prays through all that matters. It is our togetherness and the genuine amen from us which matters. A genuine amen from us. In other words, whilst we mustn't hide now, we must be careful here that we hide and say, well, now, I'm going to leave it all to those who can really pray. The fact of the matter is, it isn't that it's important that I should pray or that you should pray. But it is important that, for instance, if Ron prays, and I'm with him in that he's praying for me, but it's not really Ron who's praying. It's the Holy Spirit who's praying.
[00:45:13] Get it? It's only the one Holy Spirit. He's using his personality and lips and heart. And so with all. Well, now, why should I start to get all personal about this? Oh, I haven't had any part of me shut out as long as the burden's got through and it's got settled, praise God. On the other hand, we must be very careful that we don't sit back and say, well, let everyone who's getting on, we all never grow. How did they get there?
[00:45:41] You've got to come into their place.
[00:45:44] And we do that by exercise. And the key to it all is relaxation.
[00:45:50] It is to relax and to watch and look to the Holy Spirit. And when you know the Holy Spirit is prompting, you, pray. I remember the first time I had to pray. My word was right back in the old days at Duke Street. I was so frightened. I finally, it was just like fire enveloped me, and I just had to. Finally I jumped up on my feet and burst out into prayer. That was the only way I ever got going. But for me, if I'd bottled it in, I think I would have had a stroke.
[00:46:27] I just knew that the Lord wanted me to pray. And I was very young. I was the youngest in the prayer meeting, by the way, by ten years.
[00:46:36] And so, of course, I was frightened to death, you see. Well, praise the Lord. They were all very kind and so on to me. Indeed. Now we can pray as many times as the Lord burdens and leads us. So long as we obey the spirit.
[00:46:53] We need to be direct, simple, uncomplicated, and definite, specific in our prayer. May God preserve us from the kind of praise theology where in the end you don't know what someone's been praying.
[00:47:10] Be specific. Don't be like the gentiles. Vain repetition.
[00:47:16] Be specific.
[00:47:18] What did the Lord mean when he said, when you pray, don't use vain repetitions as the gentiles do, but say, in this manner. Pray. And he used absolutely simple, uncomplicated, specific, definite words. Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, honor as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them the trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. What simple things so uncomplicated a child could understand, except possibly for hallowed and trespass.
[00:48:03] Be definite, be simple, be uncomplicated.
[00:48:08] Never forget that real prayer is something brought into us by the Holy Spirit from the heart of God.
[00:48:15] Well, now, next point. The word of God and the prayer time. The word of God and the prayer time. We should always have our Bible with us in a prayer time.
[00:48:25] The contribution of scripture in a time of prayer must be under the Holy Spirit's government and not a religious exercise. May the Lord preserve us from people who read a whole chapter as a kind of religious devotional exercise.
[00:48:41] That's not the place. It's not the place for that. But there are times when in prayer, especially times of inquiry and waiting upon the Lord, when the Lord lays on people certain parts of the word, and it's so important that those should be contributed when it is the right time. Now, don't forget that don't think that prayer just means that all we must do is petition. Remember these four things and remember that if we're inquiring of the Lord, we also expect to hear his voice and to hear what he's got to say to us. So the word of God is very important in this matter. If the Lord leads you to a passage, contribute it.
[00:49:22] If it's a longish passage, don't pray afterwards.
[00:49:31] That is something always to be resisted. Reading a long passage and then praying. It's because you cannot trust the Holy Spirit to take up the matter if it really is of the Lord. You give the passage of scripture and someone else will take it up by the spirit of God. This is the law of mutuality.
[00:49:52] Allow the spirit of God just to have his way in this matter. Now, that kind of contribution is often prophetic. And it is amazing how the Lord can lead and speak in such a time. The place of the promises of God in a time of prayer. You know, it says in two corinthians one, verse 20, how manysoever be the promises of God in Christ is the. Yes, through him is the amen to the glory of God. Now we need to stand upon the promises. This is quite different. In this matter, you have a specific promise about a matter which God has given you. You quote the promise and you stand upon it. None of us can ever forget the prayer of Bakht Singh in this matter. What an amazing man he was for prayer. He didn't spend too much time. All he used to do was say something like, now, Lord, concerning this matter, here we remind you of acts, chapter twelve, verse seven. Jeremiah 30, verse 18, psalm 143, verse five. Revelation seven, verse something else. And according to your word, let it be done. Amen. And things got done. They really got done. It was because he knew exactly how to pray. It wasn't a religious exercise. He was taking the promises of God. And it was direct, specific prayer. None of this kind of lovely, flowery stuff was getting right and getting a job done.
[00:51:25] Marvelous. Now that's the promises of God in the time of prayer. And then again, what is the place of the revealed will of God or purpose of God in scripture and its place in prayer? You remember Daniel, chapter nine, verse two and three. When Daniel found out from the book of Jeremiah what time that it should be 70 years. And when that 70 years had begun, he started to pray.
[00:51:51] In other words, when he found out that the prophecy was about to be fulfilled, he started praying. He started praying where most christians give up praying when they find out what the will of God is, they stop praying. Daniel started when he found out what the will of God was, to clear the way for God to do it. Amazing, isn't it? That's the mystery of prayer. Now, I think that this is important because the word of God reveals to us the will of God, the purpose of God in general terms and sometimes in particular terms, and we have to stand upon it. Now, be very careful of the danger of sermonizing.
[00:52:27] It became a great habit in christian circles because of those who really were able to get scripture into their prayer in the most marvellous way. Spurgeon in particular. It became an absolute tradition in christian circles to sermonize. And the result is the Lord gets told a whole lot of things that he knows all about.
[00:52:53] People tell him what's in revelation here, what's in. And it's not the revealed will of God that's being. It's not just, Lord, we're standing on your will as revealed here. But it's a kind of. It's really for our benefit. So instead of being prayer, it's preaching.
[00:53:11] Instead of being prayer to God, it's prayer to one another.
[00:53:16] Now, we must always be careful of prayer to the gallery.
[00:53:21] You know, the kind of thing where we are shooting things at one another.
[00:53:26] Should we be going out in the streets or not?
[00:53:29] Well, Lord, you know what it says about becoming fishers of men. And Andrew went and fetched Peter and brought him to Jesus. Truly, then, therefore we ought to be doing it.
[00:53:40] Remy, what's that? That's not prayer. Doesn't the Lord know that already?
[00:53:44] Of course, he knows all about it. So what's that? That's for our benefit. So someone has prostituted prayer into something that it should not be.
[00:53:53] And the Lord is angry.
[00:53:57] Much, much better it would be for whoever it is to come and say what it is than to put it into a guise of prayer. And so prostitute prayer, what a serious thing it is when we're talking to the Lord.
[00:54:12] Well, now, there's much like that that comes. It always brings death in. Have you noticed that? Always terrible Paul of death comes in.
[00:54:20] And sometimes folks themselves get unhappy. The people who themselves have indulged in it, they're unhappy, but they don't know why.
[00:54:29] What about the manifestation of the spirit and prayer and corporate prayer?
[00:54:35] Now we shall say a bit more about this on Saturday. But in one sense, all real prayer is the manifestation of the spirit. In romans eight, chapter, chapter eight and verse 26 and 27, we read about in like manner, the spirit also helpeth our infirmity. For we know not how to pray as we ought, but the spirit himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the heart knoweth what is the mind of the spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. Now this is really rather wonderful, because what it means is that prayer is like an iceberg.
[00:55:19] The audible part of prayer is really only the visible tip of the vast amount of prayer which is deep, deep down within us and too deep to be even audibly uttered. Now this surely must always be a great comfort to us that if we are praying in the spirit, our poor words are but expression of something which cannot in fact be uttered. Then again, faith is a manifestation of the spirit. The word, a word of knowledge, a word of wisdom. These are all manifestations of the spirit, and they are absolutely vital in the place of prayer in our years. I'll say more about this on Saturday. We've known at times the kind of operationalist gift, even when folks didn't even know what it was.
[00:56:24] But how again and again in matters in prayer, which God had shown us, faith was given and manifested in one or another. And then, as it were, it was witnessed to by the whole company and we move forward. Or another times there's been a word of knowledge, just someone's come up sometimes after a time of prayer and said, you know, I can't help feeling that so and so and so and so and so and so. And they've hit the nail on the head. No one else has seen it. It's a word of knowledge. They're marvelous. And that means that the next time of prayer has taken a new course, because the finger of God has been put on the point. Now, I think it's a great thing if in the time of corporate prayer, we're open to the spirit of God to manifest himself in these ways. For instance, sometimes when there's a heaviness, what a wonderful thing it is if someone knows in their heart, not tries to find out, but knows in the heart from the Lord.
[00:57:20] The enemies are pressing us on this because there's a matter of importance in this time, and we need to stand together in Christ and praise him.
[00:57:31] Just do that and the thing breaks.
[00:57:34] Or again, it's a need to take the blood of Christ.
[00:57:40] Immediately there's a break. It's sometimes a word of wisdom and word of knowledge right with the world. And what about praying with the spirit? One corinthians 14, verse 14, nothing wrong about that either.
[00:57:54] But remember, it is the aim of the time which governs the use of the gifts. And this is the point that the apostle Paul makes. He says, I pray with my spirit. I speak in tongues more than you all. Now, if he prayed more than them all, at courage of all places, he must have done an awful lot of speaking in tongues. But where did he do it?
[00:58:19] It's quite clear that it was in his own times of prayer with the Lord.
[00:58:25] So I think we must remember that the aim, our purpose of corporate prayer is the thing that governs its scope, and we've got to be careful of anything which in one way or another would take away from it. But there are times, there's no doubt about it, when there's a point being prayed for which we can't just get hold of. And then there may come such a time when someone prays in an unknown tongue and an interpretation comes and we know that somehow something's been touched. Generally speaking, it is for private prayer. Do be careful of literalizing things. Now, I've been asked a number of questions about groaning, about the groaning in romans eight in verse 26. But most people appear to me to have overlooked the fact that it says which cannot be uttered.
[00:59:22] And it does not say groanings because of words which cannot be uttered, but groanings which cannot be uttered.
[00:59:31] It is not the humming and hawing and so on that goes on in a normal time of prayer. I will come to that in a moment. That is not this groaning. This groaning is much deeper than that, much, much deep. It is inaudible. Now, I remember once again when I was in Egypt, when these two dear sisters said to me, oh, we are going to be joined in prayer this afternoon by two other missionaries. Yes, I said, so we had this time of prayer and they asked me if I'd like to be present when it was I wanted to be and I was present. And in the time of prayer, suddenly everyone prayed the different matters. It was a marvellous time of prayer. All of a sudden, one of these ladies began and she went, oh, lord, we pray for Egypt. And she went on like this for about two minutes in a kind of, oh, terribly melodramatic sort of, kind of wail. That was the only word for it. And then when she said amen, it was switched off just like that.
[01:00:36] I'd never heard anything like it, you see. So then I said afterwards, when they'd gone, whatever was that? Oh, they said, you see, she understands from psalm 126 that that is going forth with precious seed and weeping.
[01:00:52] And I was only a boy really of 18, but I thought, oh, lord, what a defoof.
[01:01:00] Does any servant of the Lord really believe they can take him in? Tears are tears.
[01:01:08] You can't just turn it on with a kind of wail and you can't just groan just like that. It's something that's right in you.
[01:01:18] God preserve us from literalizing these things and making them something earthly.
[01:01:24] Now, personal responsibility in the prayer time. Well, very simply, we must every one of us be ready to pray in the spirit as he leads us when we come to the time. Look positively to the Lord for leading and enabling. Be open to the Lord to use you. That's the biggest thing. Most people come and they ready for the Lord to use everybody else. Remember that we can only learn lessons about corporate prayer when and as we take part. Now, the youngest of you will only learn when and as you take part.
[01:01:54] And we have to learn sometimes by our mistakes.
[01:01:57] Don't be ignorant of Satan's devices to deter you from praying or indeed to stop you from coming at all. It is an amazing thing how a general tiredness falls upon everyone Tuesday afternoon. Now for your comfort. This has gone on since 1954 on a Tuesday afternoon.
[01:02:20] We have always found that most people are tired and it is an extraordinary thing. And it's one of the reasons why I believe in the devil that these strange things happen. Why should it be a Tuesday, do you know? I'll tell you this. If we switched the Bible study to Thursday and the prayer time to Tuesday and the prayer time to Thursday, you'd find that everyone was tired on Thursday afternoon again, people who don't come because there are times when you really are whacked out and you should put your feet up and go to sleep. But there are other times when you feel tired and something whispers in you. It don't go tonight. I mean, you won't get anything out of it and you can't get anything anyway, so why do you want to go? And so you say, no, I won't. I cannot be tired. Now. The strange thing is that every Tuesday the same thing will happen.
[01:03:11] It's the same with circumstances that go wrong. I can't come. I can't. My circumstances have gone wrong. You will find out your amazement that every Tuesday the circumstances go wrong. Once the devil's got you, he'll keep you on that until in the end you stand up and say, tired or not, I'm going.
[01:03:30] And then suddenly you find you're no longer tired.
[01:03:34] Have you ever had the experience of coming into a prayer time. Perhaps not always, but you have had this experience where you've come in tired and gone out refreshed.
[01:03:42] Thank you.
[01:03:49] Well, it's a good thing anyway. It is true. Sometimes it happens. Absolutely wonderful. And that's when you've triumphed and come in and the Lord really touches you. It is a wonderful thing. Remember, fight the good fight of faith. Lay hold on life to which you have been called.
[01:04:05] Now, some practical matters. Should we stand, sit or kneel in prayer?
[01:04:11] There is absolutely no law in the word. There are a number of references to kneeling in prayer. There are many more to standing in prayer, and there are some to lying flat on the ground face downwards in prayer. There are none to sitting in prayer.
[01:04:27] However, I don't really think it matters so much.
[01:04:34] The point is this. Should we always remain in the same position? Now, this is a point. There are those who seem to feel inhibited in this matter. They feel that having once knelt, they should doggedly stay on the knees right to. No, it's not necessary. The question is this. I personally find it impossible to pray really seriously sitting in a chair. I find it very, very hard indeed.
[01:04:57] And I think many of you have found how much easier sometimes it is to praise the Lord when standing. It is a question of posture, but it's not something that you can lay down regulations and say, you've got to stop forever like that. If someone sent me a question, said that their knees get very sore.
[01:05:16] Well, if your knees do get sore, obviously. All right then, when kneel for a while and then get up quietly and sit, and if necessary, kneel again is another point. I mean, be free, don't feel. And by the way, one other point about standing up, when we stand up, don't all feel you've got to rigidly stand up. I mean, if you feel that you're a bit weary and would like to sit down, sit down. Much better than being passing out altogether.
[01:05:45] Be careful of the length of prayer.
[01:05:50] When people pray for over long, it is nearly not always, but nearly always combining matters. Now, you'll note this, that all those who pray for a long time nearly always combine at least two or three matters together. And the simple law of just praying for one thing would cut down this problem or sermonizing. You'll always find the sermonizing sides always long.
[01:06:17] Especially be careful about a prayer which begins in life and ends in death. That can sometimes happen. Learn. Pray as many times as you are led, but be brief. Take hold of a matter. Now, on the other hand, there are times when there's a matter really being dealt with in a time, and it does sometimes need more prayer. But always the key to a longer prayer is life. And you can always tell it in the church because everyone says amen.
[01:06:46] It's not just that everyone's agreed to say amen, you just find it. There are times when you want to say amen to somebody, but you desperately solicit for them, but you just can't do it.
[01:06:55] And you hear this kind of sort of humming.
[01:06:58] You know, everyone's trying to be kind to the person. You sort of say amen to them. They ought to know better, really.
[01:07:10] If your voice is soft, if your voice is soft, never belong in public prayer.
[01:07:17] I know this is a difficult thing, but if you can't speak up, really speak up. Don't belong in public prayer because there's nothing more terrible than to have two thirds of a company can't hear what someone's praying. The whole point of prayer, that's why it says don't pray in a tongue unless someone can interpret it. The whole point is that people can say amen intelligently.
[01:07:38] A lot of times we are sort of listening to a kind of, well, we don't know what it is.
[01:07:46] Always speak up. Lift up your head. Now, this is such a simple thing. If you'll always remember, when in prayer, lift up your head. Especially when we're in one of those comfortable rooms or you're in your district home groups and you're in a big arm chair. Don't bury your head right down with two cushions on either side.
[01:08:06] Pray into the crease of the sea.
[01:08:10] But again and again, vital and important prayers are prayed right into fatigue, which completely deadens every word. Oh, do be careful of it.
[01:08:24] If you will. Only remember, lift up your head. So when you take part, just lift up your head. It makes all the difference in the world.
[01:08:33] Be natural and be your spiritual measure. Now remember what it says in James 516 about the fervent prayer of a righteous man. There are some people who seem to think that fervor is something which is outsourced of the soul. No, it isn't. There is such a thing as fervency, and we don't have to pray in a kind of measured manner as if there's not a frame in it. Elijah prayed fervently, and I think we can say that because it releases some. On the other hand, if you're not by nature that type of vehement person, don't try to be. Be yourself, be alive and alert. And not vacant.
[01:09:24] Amazing. If you should ever open your eyes. The prayer to see the sometimes vacancy that there is in one or two, one wonders where they are. They're certainly not seeing a vision.
[01:09:39] Should one always close one's eyes in prayer? Now here is the point about closing one's eyes. Nowhere in the scriptures does it say you must close your eyes. But it has a general experience for most human beings that to pray it is easier to close your eyes. However, it is true that with certain people, and I'm not being funny, as soon as they close their eyes, they start to go to sleep. Now that's a psychological fact. As soon as some people close their eyes, they start to fall to sleep. And we've got some of them with us.
[01:10:16] I remember some years ago when someone fell so fast asleep and someone gave them a knife and they went, oh, much to the amusement of the whole company. I'm not down.
[01:10:33] Now, the point is this, that if you are the kind of person who does fall asleep, don't get condemned about this. Don't shut your eyes. Keep your eyes open. I mustn't tell you many other stories that I have in this matter, but I remember once in Egypt when a brother whose next exclusive was going on at great length with his Bible thumping, we were out in the open. A great cat called tiger came in. I happened to have my eyes open because I thought I was going to go to sleep. And so did Mrs. Botham, who was the leader of the mission. And the cat went round, went round, round, then saw the chair of this very bulky brother who was praying and jumped up behind him once round, twice round, third time round, and went to sleep.
[01:11:19] And of course I thought, oh, so I, being a very artificially spiritual, shut my eyes. But Mrs. Bertham kept them open. And just when he today mentioned, mind the cat, and I might say that saved the life of the cat, be careful of unbelief in prayer. Sometimes prayer can be unbelief. It can be unbelief. Underneath it lies unbelief. So be very, very careful of prayer which is unbelief. Now, what do we mean by a prayer which is unbelief? We mean the kind of prayer where you can just feel that really there is not believing, can't explain it. And often it comes like a paw on everything. Should one lift up one's hands in prayer it says in one Timothy two, verse eight, about lifting up one's hands again, some clasp their hands, some pray, some hold their hands up. I really don't think it is so vitally important. One thing I do think is this, don't be inhibited.
[01:12:40] The great thing to overcome is bondage. And the thing that's always helped me is this. Can I lift my hands up? When I see people lifting my hands up, I think, can I? It's a holler. When you find I couldn't, then you know you're in bondage.
[01:12:53] And after all, quite honestly, lifting up one's hands to the Lord is the most biblical form of prayer. But I don't think it's so important whether you clasp your hands or whether you hold your hands up or how you pray. The great thing is to pray. Well, now, you see, our time's gone, and I've got so many questions, many of them that are good, and I don't know whether the best thing really is to leave it over. I could just answer, say, three or four of them. When someone's young in the faith, when someone young in the faith comes along to the prayer meeting, is he or she expected to take part? Well, we don't expect them to take part, but they can take part. Do you understand? In other words, it doesn't matter how young you are in the Lord? Of course you can take part. You're a believer, and the sooner you learn how to pray, the better. And you can be a great blessing to us, believe me. And I must say, sometimes a young one who's just been saved, who opens his mouth in a sentence of prayer, lifts a whole time.
[01:13:48] Lovely. So if you're young in the Lord and you feel well, all these great big people here, all these saints, they all know how to pray. I don't know how to pray. No. Good, me praying. No.
[01:13:58] You've got a right to pray. Do pray, but you don't have to. But I think if you're going to grow in the Lord, you should, and be ready to be open to the Lord. If I'd never prayed, how do I start?
[01:14:16] I've never prayed. I mean, in public, evidently, is the question, how do I start?
[01:14:23] Well, you've got to just decide it in your heart that you're going to be ready to pray. And then the next thing is to be absolutely open to the law. And when you've got a burden, launch forward.
[01:14:40] Don't wait for opinion, common sense or anything. Launch forward and open your mouth. Once you've got your mouth open and the first word out, you'll probably be all right. And then when you finish, you will probably feel awful, and you will feel everyone I know people, even when there's been a great amen. Some people who first prayed they feel it was terrible, but in actual fact it isn't. So quite honestly, when a person prays for the first time, everyone's delighted.
[01:15:13] So I think if you've never prayed before, how do you start? Quite honestly, it seems silly to say it, but you've just got to play.
[01:15:26] You've just got to start and you'll never go on till you've started and made mock mistakes you will have to make. We've all had this experience, so don't forget that we've all started the same way.
[01:15:42] It is sometimes said that you can only help someone up to the point to which you have come yourself. Does this apply in prayer? If you are an immature Christian, can you only pray for small local matters and the saving of souls? And are you excluded from national level political or executive missionary prayers? In other words, often you can only come in at the end when we start on accommodation, jobs and so on. If you are still feeling with it by that time.
[01:16:15] Well, that's a good question. The point really is simply this, that yes and no. The fact of the matter is this. You will never grow and you will never learn how to pray till you start to pray. Don't try to go beyond your measure or you will make mistakes. But you see if you'll only look to the Holy Spirit and when you've got a burden and when you witness to something else that someone's praying just in a sentence, say so in prayer you will find that you're involved and you will not feel out of it or out of touch. We are always being nagged to take part in prayer, but often it's impossible because some people pray many times in one meeting and I just feel like giving up.
[01:16:58] Well, that's another good question, I suppose. I'm not sure about the spirit of the person here. The fact of the matter is, as I think I've been at pains to say, that it is really the one Holy Spirit who is praying. And that's the important thing, the one Holy Spirit who's praying through different ones.
[01:17:22] And of course they can pray again and again.
[01:17:26] On the other hand, I sometimes wonder in one of the groups they tried this, stopped for about few minutes and still no one prayed. The fact of the matter is that we all make excuses, say we can't get in and quite honestly there are gaps and silences and people don't come in. I think that's an important point to remember. Sometimes the root of the problem is, in us a time of prayer is not everyone in a round bobbin should take part.
[01:17:56] It is that different. One should come in and we've got to learn to come in and come in. That's all. Just come in one point when you really got the burden, come in and you'll find that you'll be right in. How do you know when you have prayed through a matter that only comes by experience? But I think most of us know when a matter has been prayed through. As we go on with the Lord, we just feel a burden lifted. We feel, no, can't pray for that anymore. That's done, that's settled, burdens lifted. And I think that really that's the only answer to that one. How do you know when it's time to start praying for another matter? Well, really it's related to the last. It's really when you feel the other matters settled in a way. When you feel that you can. Now, should you wait for someone who's more responsible? No, I don't think so. If you've got a real burden for another matter and you really do feel the other's finished, launch ahead and pray. If the Holy Spirit is prompting you, what should we do if someone changes the direction of prayer before we feel the matter has been fully dealt with? Now this does happen.
[01:19:10] Someone jumps in and prays for something and there's only one thing for it. We've all got to look to the Holy Spirit. Don't try to correct it, just yourself, but look to the Holy Spirit. Generally speaking, we have to go right back again to the point which has got to be dealt with until it is finished. But this can confuse people. When a matter is being dealt with and then you feel it's not true yet and someone else starts on another matter, what do we do after a shopping list prayer just the same as the last one? Look to the Lord and overcome it.
[01:19:45] To what extent should I be led by others? Topics suggested, matters actually being prayed about? Should I be ready to be the first to move into a new topic, suggested or otherwise? In other words, should we slavishly follow what the brother who leads has suggested for prayer or so on? Or should we follow only what is being prayed by others? Now therein lies the problem, because if we only follow what has been suggested or we only follow what is being prayed about, we're not looking to the Holy Spirit.
[01:20:21] The key to corporate prayer is the leadership of the Holy Spirit and everyone looking to him. Remember that.
[01:20:34] Do you think that there is more of a battle to come to the prayer meeting than any other meeting, especially for the new Christian. Yes, I think that there is. It is always battle, partly because when you're a young Christian, you may not quite know what it's all about and what is happening. This is one of the reasons in corporate prayer why we do need to remember the young christians amongst us, young in years as well as young in faith, because it is hard when you have very, very long prayers for such to really learn and to be involved and be drawn in.
[01:21:11] Sometimes one is so worn out by work at home or in one's job that it seems silly to go to the prayer meeting and possibly neither give nor get anything out of it. What should I do? Well, I think we've answered that really earlier.
[01:21:24] I think the right thing to do is to make sure as to whether this being worn out is just an enemy thing or whether there are times when you should have arrest. Is it natural in effective prayer meetings to often experience a battle in prayer due to it being, in part, spiritual warfare? The devil can often use our temperaments to chill the atmosphere. But can there be at times a heaviness which has nothing personally to do with us as believers? Very definitely in the time of prayer, there are times when a heaviness suddenly descends for no apparent reason. There are other times when there's a sense of oppression and there's a sense of darkness or a sense of confusion. Now, this is where we need spiritual equipment. It's just at those points that we need to be directed by the spirit of God as to how to overcome. It's no good ignoring it. It's got to be overcome. And once it's overcome, the thing disappears.
[01:22:20] And that's where we need, I think, what we've talked about, word of knowledge, word of faith and so on, word of wisdom and so on, these are, I think, very necessary. Just at these points, should we not have times of silence so that God can speak to us?
[01:22:42] Now, this is a good question.
[01:22:44] It's surely a matter of what kind of prayer time it is now. When we had, like we did those weeks of prayer, it is good that there should be sometimes times of silence, because we are not only inquiring of the Lord, we are waiting for him to speak to us. And there are times when it's good to be quiet and to allow him to speak. But I think again that this is a question where it's a matter of the scope of the time.
[01:23:12] You wouldn't expect it so much on a Tuesday evening unless there's a big matter that is being inquired of in which we really do need to know the Lord's mind. Furthermore, the Lord understands us all and he knows the time available to us and gets through to us.
[01:23:27] What is the key to the situation?
[01:23:36] Well, there are many other questions here. I think we ought perhaps to leave it. Should we ever have times of prayer and fasting or are these only for special matters?
[01:23:46] Well, I think that they are. Generally speaking, fasting is with prayer for specific matters when we really want to give ourselves to God. On the other hand, there are times when we can fast which will anyway do us good apart from the spiritual value. But generally speaking, I think corporate fasting is when there is a specific matter and a company wants to really look to God and wait on him.
[01:24:25] Sometimes when we are praying, the company sounds like a field of cows. All the humming and harring that goes on. Is this all really necessary?
[01:24:37] Well, now, again, I suppose it's a good question.
[01:24:41] The fact of the matter is that it can be automatic, this kind of thing. I remember some years ago when we had a sort of humming and harving and quite honestly, I do believe you could have said, charlie's aunt is dead.
[01:25:03] Absolutely routine, automatic. I remember some years ago in a big meeting and a man kept on yelling out in another language, it was in another country, praise and thanks and praise praise and thanks and so on. And he went, Joseph, like a sausage machine. Literally, literally, he went, praise and thanks praise and thanks. Praise thanks praise and thanks praise and thanks praise and thanks. Just like that. I couldn't think where it was coming because of the congregation and I thought, my goodness me, if the spirit of God could only come upon that man, would silence him, because it wasn't praise and thanks.
[01:25:44] Were we trying to preach to the unsafe people? There were quite a few unsaved people who couldn't understand what on earth these men were yelling all the time for. But this is the kind of problem you get. You can get routine automatic responses. Now we must be careful of those. On the other hand, I must say this groaning, which isn't romans 826, this humming and whoring is really ascent and it is of course where we get amen from. It is just that sort of thing. You don't just say amen at the end. It is in fact the ascenting of a people with what is being prayed. And this, after all, is another matter, really goes to the key of corporate prayer, which is togetherness. And so when we pray we say yes or amen. Well, I think you should be free on that matter, providing that it does not become a kind of automatic routine.
[01:26:41] Well, I think we ought to leave these other matters. There are other questions, but I'll go through them again and maybe on another occasion we'll lump them with some of the other questions we haven't been able to answer.
[01:26:54] There are a number of books on prayer. I've got one here, pray in the spirit by Arthur Wallace, which I think is very good in the matter of prayer.
[01:27:06] And there's a very fine book by brother Sparks called in touch with the throne. And it's a deeper book dealing with perhaps what I would call really the depths of prayer, life in touch with the throne. There are, of course, other books which I believe are on the bookstore about matter of prayer. But unfortunately, the matter of corporate prayer is not dealt with a lot, largely because it is not understood.
[01:27:37] The personal side of prayer has just been brought over into corporate prayer. And then may the Lord take all this material and make it real to us and practical to us, not put sort of fear into us so that we're all frightened to pray at all, but rather use it so that we can together really know the power and authority of God in times of prayer. Shall we pray?
[01:28:11] Dear Lord, we lift up our hearts together to thee that there is no matter, Lord, in which we need thy help so quickly as in this matter of prayer. And we would ask thee now, Lord, that thou wilt in thy grace and mercy take all this amount of material this evening and, Lord, make it alive and real to every one of us. We pray that we may be delivered from those things, Lord, which somehow or other paralyze the times of prayer and make ineffective, Lord, a real reaching out to thyself and a knowing lord of things being settled in the place of prayer. Lord, come upon us with great grace. We pray, may we all know from the youngest to the eldest, what it is to pray in the spirit. May we know, Lord, what it is to pray together with one accord, Lord, taking hold of thee, father, we commit then this evening into thy gracious hands in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.