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[00:00:00] I'm going to read this evening in the revised standard version.
[00:00:05] Revised standard version of one chronicles, chapter 20 from verse one.
[00:00:20] After this, the Moabites and ammonites, and with them, some of the Maonites came against Jehoshaphat for battle.
[00:00:28] Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, a great multitude is coming against you from Edom, from beyond the sea. And behold, they are in Hazazon Tamar, that is Engadai. Then Jehoshaphat feared and set himself to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah and Judah assembled to seek help from the Lord. From all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord. And Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of the Lord before the new court and said, o Lord, God of our fathers, art thou not God in heaven? Dost thou not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations? In thy hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee. Didst thou not, o our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham, thy friend? And they have dwelt in it and have built in it a sanctuary for thy name, saying, if evil comes upon us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence or famine, we will stand before this house and before thee. For thy name is in this house and cry to thee in our affliction, and thou wilt hear and say, and now, behold the men of Ammon and moab and Mount Seir, whom thou wouldst not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt and whom they avoided and did not destroy. Behold, they reward us by coming to drive us out of thy possession which thou hast given us to inherit. O our God, wilt thou not execute judgment upon them? For we are powerless against this great multitude that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon thee.
[00:02:32] Meanwhile, all the men of Judas stood before the Lord with their little ones, their wives and their children. And the spirit of the Lord came upon Jehaziel, the son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, a levite of the sons of Asaph in the midst of the assembly.
[00:02:50] And he said, hearken all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem and king Jehoshaphat. Thus says the Lord to you, fear not and be not dismayed at this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God's. Tomorrow, go down against them. Behold, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz, you will find them at the end of the valley, east of the wilderness of Jeruel. You will not need to fight in this battle. Take your position.
[00:03:24] Stand still and see the victory of the Lord on your behalf. O Judah and Jerusalem, fear not and be not dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them and the Lord will be with you. Then Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground. And all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord worshipping the Lord. And the levites of the Kurthites and the Korahites stood up to praise the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.
[00:03:58] And they arose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. And as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, hear me, Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Believe in the Lord your God and you will be established. Believe his prophets and you will succeed. And when he had taken counsel with the people he appointed those who were to say, sing to the Lord and praise him in holy array as they went before the army and say, give thanks to the Lord for his steadfast love endures forever. When they began to sing and praise the Lord set an ambush against the men of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir who'd come against Judah so that they were routed. For the men of Ammon and Moab rose against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, destroying them. And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir they all helped to destroy one another.
[00:04:56] When Judah came to the watchtower of the wilderness they looked toward the multitude and behold, they were dead bodies lying on the ground. None had escaped. When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take the spoil from them they found cattle in great numbers, goods, clothing and precious things which they took for themselves until they could carry no more. They were three days in taking the spoil. It was so much. On the fourth day, they assembled in the valley of Baraka. For there they blessed the Lord. Therefore, the name of that place has been called the valley of Baraka to this day.
[00:05:37] Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem and Jehoshaphat at their head returning to Jerusalem with joy. For the Lord had made them rejoice over their enemies. They came to Jerusalem with harps and lyres and trumpets to the house of the Lord. And the fear of God came on all the kingdoms of the countries. When they heard that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel so the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet for his God gave him rest round about now, Wilson. I think it would indeed be a tremendous thing if we all did stand boldly on the victory side till the glory land.
[00:06:20] We see it would change many a situation overnight, both personally and corporately, if we were able, by the grace of God and through simple faith, faith in him, to really stand on the victory side in the ranks of the Lord.
[00:06:44] Now, we are talking. We have been talking about this matter of executive prayer and action. I think we ought just simply to say this evening once more what we mean by executive prayer and action.
[00:07:01] We mean that prayer with all the authority of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ behind it, which actually carries into effect his will, his plan, his word, his sentence. You remember I gave you the definition in the dictionary of executive, which is to carry plan, command, sentence into effect, or to make valid by signing. Now, this is what we mean by executive prayer and action. We are not just inquiring of the Lord. Lord, shall we do this? Shall we do that? Is it your will for this matter to go forward, or is it your will that this should happen in this way?
[00:08:00] We're not just making supplication, inquiry, nor is it petition. We're not saying, Lord, please do so and so and so and so. Please bless this. Please save souls here. Please look after brother so and so in this matter. Please raise up sister so and so, who's unwell or sick.
[00:08:25] Where it's not just petition.
[00:08:28] Executive prayer and action is that having discovered the will of God or the sentence of God, we are actually, by faith, carrying it into effect. We are executing the decree of God. We are, in fact, making it valid by signing.
[00:08:54] Now, this is really tremendous when you think of it like that. And there are a lot of scriptures that are overlooked. It is not that we don't know of them. It is rather that we just tend to let them run off us like water off a duck's back.
[00:09:13] We have read the two or three evenings, those scriptures in Matthew, chapter 18, about whatsoever things ye bind on earth abound in heaven, and whatsoever things ye loose on earth are loosed in heaven. For where two, if two of you shall be agreed as touching on earth, as touching anything they shall ask of my father in heaven, he will grant it. He will give it. Wherefore, where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I. It's not that the Lord was simply saying in this wonderful passage. Now then, when two or three believers come together in a lovely way, there am I sort of sentimentally, poetically, emotionally in the midst. Thank God he is. But this was not the primary meaning of that passage in Matthew 18. If you turn to it, you will see, if you turn to that passage, that one of the primary things was all to do with discipline.
[00:10:08] Discipline and the fact that when the church is gathered together, when believers are gathered together, those who are born of God really gathered together on the ground of Christ in their given locality, it is the Lord himself who is there, and those believers act in his name.
[00:10:34] They represent him, and there is authority vested in them by the Holy Spirit to carry into effect his word and his will. Now, why is it that there is so much weakness and so much defeat and so much other than we read in the new testament and which we know in our hearts ought to be true of us? Why is there so much that is opposite? I think it's because the secret of this matter we're talking about, the secret of executive prayer and action, has never been understood.
[00:11:18] So people inquire and inquire and inquire. They ask and they ask and they ask, but they don't know how to carry the battle right over into victory.
[00:11:31] They don't know how to take the sentence of God and really make it valid.
[00:11:38] For instance, there's a scripture like that in one John, chapter three, I think it is, where it says, to this end, was the son of God manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. Now, not just to be able to sing about that, not just to say, Lord, we do praise thee, that you were manifested to destroy the works, or not even to ask the Lord, Lord, please destroy the works, but to be able to stand on this statement, this revealed fact concerning the ministry and work of our Lord Jesus Christ, that he was manifested, this was the objective of his being manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. To be able to stand upon to this revelation in the grace of God given to us in this letter of John, and to see it made valid, in other words, to see this sentence upon the enemy and all his works carried into effect.
[00:12:42] Now, no one in this room can tell me that whatever our experience has been, we do not need to learn this lesson.
[00:12:53] Whatever we may have learned of the ways of the Lord or whatever we may have discovered of his power in the past, we, I'm sure, are all aware that there is a mounting pressure. You've only got to look at the missionary magazines, the christian magazines that are generally put in the library, and you will see that from all over the world there is the same virtually, and that is that everywhere it seems, the time is increasingly short, and there is a sense of pressure upon believers as there has never been before and upon the work of God. Now, this whole matter of executive prayer and action is therefore of tremendous importance. It's not just something small, some little aspect, but it is of vital and strategic importance.
[00:13:57] You see, it really is the fighting nature of the church. It is the warfare of the service that we're talking about when we talk about executive we are not just inquiring of the Lord, and we are not just asking the Lord, and we are not even only praising the Lord, although that has much to do with executive prayer and action, praise, but we are actually entering into the battle and bringing the will of God into being.
[00:14:31] Now, to me, this is tremendous, absolutely tremendous.
[00:14:37] And thats why this evening I want us to look at some of the examples we have got in the Old Testament that, I believe exemplify the principles of executive prayer and action. You will remember that we did say last week there were three things that were vital in this matter. One is that there should be a continual and consistent affirmation of our union with Christ. The second thing, a persevering insistence upon God's will. Thy will be done, not, Lord, please let your will be done, but thy will be done.
[00:15:21] In other words, an insistence, the Lord didn't teach us to pray, nor please, if it's possible, let your will be done. Let your kingdom come.
[00:15:31] The Lord knew jolly well his kingdom was coming. He didn't have to ask for his kingdom to come. It's going to come. It's a great, it's an insistence upon a divinely revealed fact. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
[00:15:49] Thy kingdom come.
[00:15:52] And the third thing was an unwavering, dogmatic declaration of the facts of the cross. Now, I don't mean the fact of atonement, of the justifying work of God, but all sides of the cross, including even the work of Pentecost, all is bound together, an unwavering, dogmatic declaration of the facts of the cross. Well, now, this evening I want to go on with these examples, otherwise we won't get anywhere.
[00:16:28] And the first, if you will turn to it, is in Joshua.
[00:16:33] The first is in Joshua. Now here we have in this wonderful, this has often been called the illustration book of the, of the Bible. The Old Testament is the illustration book of the New Testament. In this wonderful, in these wonderful illustrations, I believe we find so much that we will help us.
[00:16:58] Joshua, chapter ten.
[00:17:04] Joshua, chapter ten, verse 42. Now, mark very carefully what is said and all these kings and their land did Joshua take at one time.
[00:17:19] Because the Lord, the God of Israel, fought for Israel. Now this is very interesting.
[00:17:31] For here we have the two sides of the coin, all these kings and their land did Joshua take at one time. That's one side. That's the human side of it. If we were there and we didn't know the Lord, we might well say, well, what a remarkable man Joshua is. What a marvelous general, what a brilliant military strategist is this man Joshua. But that's only one side of the picture. The other side is this because the Lord, the God of Israel fought for Israel.
[00:18:16] In other words, Joshua actually was making valid the will of God by signing.
[00:18:28] He was carrying into effect the will, the command, the sentence, the purpose of God.
[00:18:37] Tremendous to look at it like that. It was the Lord's battle, in fact. But Joshua on the human side was actually in an executive way realizing the will of God. Now, is that so? Well, let's turn to chapter 23.
[00:19:01] Chapter 23, verse three.
[00:19:06] And ye have seen all that the Lord your God hath done unto all these nations because of you. For the Lord your God, he it is that hath fought for you. Verse nine. For the Lord hath driven out from before you great nations and strong. But as for you, no man hath stood before you. Unto this day, one man of you shall chase a thousand. Now then, if the Lord's going to chase them out, why should one of us chase a thousand? Isn't that interesting? You see, it says, for the Lord. Thus now, for the Lord hath driven out from before you great nations and strong. But as for you, no man hath stood before you unto this day, one man of you shall chase a thousand. For the Lord your God, he it is that fighteth for you as he spake unto you.
[00:20:05] Now the question we have to ask ourselves is what would have happened if Joshua and the people had sat down and said, well, this is just simply marvelous. The Lord's going to win this battle. We do nothing. We'll sit on the wilderness side of the banks of the river Jordan and we'll wait. We'll be good Calvinists.
[00:20:25] We will believe in the absolute sovereignty of God and we will believe in the purpose and will of God. And we will believe that God's going to do it. He said so. In fact, we're people of the book.
[00:20:38] We believe in the book. The Lord says he will drive out the nations. Therefore we mustn't get in his way. We'll sit on the banks and have some little meetings and we'll glory in all that the Lord's doing. And we'll have praise meetings and we'll have prayer meetings, but we don't have to go over into the land to do anything. Now, if they'd done that, I can tell you what would have happened. They would have all died.
[00:21:04] Nothing would have happened. In spite of the purpose of God, in spite of the power of God, so absolutely inexhaustible, the resources and power of God, in spite of all that, they would have died on the wrong side of the river Jordan. Now, is it not true, I have to say to myself as well as so many of us, is it not true that many of us are just like that, on the wrong side of the river Jordan?
[00:21:37] We've been redeemed. We know something of the tabernacle of God. We know something of the word of God. We know something of the revelation of God. We've seen, as it were, something of the Lord, even if it's only afar off. Yet somehow we've settled down on the wrong side of the river Jordan. And we thank God for these wonderful things that we know to be true. We thank God for all the facts that we know in the Bible are absolutely certain. But we are not chasing a thousand we are not actually inheriting.
[00:22:18] Now if you want a little more evidence for this, then you turn back to Joshua, chapter one.
[00:22:26] Joshua, chapter one, verse three, scripture. We often quote, every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon to you have I given it as I spake unto Moses. Now this treading upon the land with the soles of their feet was all important so long as they put the soles of their feet down and said, this is the Lord's, the Lord gave it to them. It may have in some cases it took. It was a long drawn out battle. But when they put their soles of their feet down upon the ground, God gave it to them. Because they were ratifying the will of God. They were making the will of God and the purpose of God valid by signing. They were carrying it into effect.
[00:23:15] So when they put the soles of their feet down upon the river Jordan, upon the bed of the river Jordan, the waters parted when they went on the other side and put the soldier their feet down for seven days in succession upon the surroundings of Jericho. The walls fell flat. It took them seven days and seven times on the 7th day, but the walls fell flat. They went in. Now what did they do? Did they just watch the Lord sort of cause everyone to drop dead? No, they took the sword and indulged in mopping up operations.
[00:23:47] Grisly as it may seem, it has very real spiritual significance for us. Anyway, the Lord did gave the victory, but they took the sword and they carried out the sentence of God upon apostate tribes and peoples.
[00:24:09] So the Lord says of one people, their iniquity, their cup of iniquity is not full. He was using the people of God as a judgment upon those people.
[00:24:22] Well, that's another matter altogether. But what spiritually we can draw from it is this. That this executive prayer and action is not just learnt in a Bible college or a theological course. It's not just something you can mug up, forgive the phrase, the slang phrase, but it's not something you can just mug up from the Bible, from a course on doctrine and so on, and think that you've got it.
[00:24:49] It's not something we can just sing about or talk about.
[00:24:55] It is something which means that we have a sword in our hand and the soles of our feet are in the service of God.
[00:25:05] Not just our brains and not even just our hearts, but the soles of our feet. We are standing boldly.
[00:25:17] That's the whole meaning of the soles of our feet. We're standing. Stand up, stand up for Jesus.
[00:25:25] Boldly stand on the Lord's side until the glory land we see we're standing, the soles of our feet flat upon the ground of God's purpose and will. And you must remember that. It always looked so contrary, didn't it? Didn't Jordan look more angry than it had ever looked? It was in full harvest flood when they went down. I've always felt the Lord had a sense of humor when he told his people to go down across Jordan when it was at its fullest flood. He also showed great military strategy because the people on the other side never thought anyone could come to the Jordan at full flood.
[00:26:11] But that's just like the Lord. Look at the walls of Jericho. These. This poor rabble out of the desert.
[00:26:21] I mean, they went round and round and round, and yet you see what happens. The walls of Jericho fall flat. And there's another place in the book of Joshua where it says that they didn't take one place because of an iron chariot. Said it was one of Brother Reese's favorite stories. He was always talking about the iron chariots. They didn't take it because of the iron chariots. They said the iron chariots were too much for them.
[00:26:43] And the point of the matter is this, that if they'd only put the soldiers of their feet down the iron chariots would have melted as well.
[00:26:53] But they couldn't. They came to Jerusalem and they said Jerusalem was a bit too much for them, so they left Judaism. It belonged to the Jebusites. And it waited for some 400 years till King David put his feet down on that fore lord and said, this shall be the Lord's. And it became the Lord's.
[00:27:13] The thing that was impossible took place not because David was more clever than Joshua or the people, but simply because he exercised faith in the purpose of God. He knew what executive and action meant. He simply said, I know what God's will is. It's not God's will to have this jebusite stronghold in the promised land. Out with it.
[00:27:37] It may be built on a pinnacle, but we'll get it. Well, we won't get it, but the Lord will get it.
[00:27:44] It's as simple as that. And the iron chariots, what are they?
[00:27:48] In our day, we would have thought of them as some kind of nuclear warheads of some description or other, something. In the last war, we would have thought of them as tanks.
[00:28:00] But now, of course, we've gone far beyond. I understand the realm of tanks, but you see what I mean. We would have felt, how could you go out against that? But the soles of their feet, or let's put it in new Testament language, boldly standing by faith meant that the will of God came into operation.
[00:28:23] They realized the sentence of God upon anything that was not of himself. And they did it simply by putting their feet down and saying, this is the Lord's.
[00:28:37] Well, there's Joshua for you. If you look at Joshua, chapter one, verse nine, this is what the Lord says to him. It's interesting. Again, have not I commanded thee be strong and of good courage? Now then, Lord, why do you say that to Joshua?
[00:28:58] Why say, be strong and of good courage? Surely, if you're going to drive out the nations, all he has to do is to sit in a deck chair on the other side of the, of the banks of Jordan and watch while the Lord puts the fear of God into all the nations and drives all the ipsac.
[00:29:14] But the Lord says, be strong and of good courage. Well, we might say to the Lord, why, Lord? You're going to do the work, aren't you? Why should Joshua be strong and of good courage? Well, the Lord says, this is the whole point, executive prayer and action. Unless Joshua goes in my name into that country and puts his feet down on it, nothing will happen. So he says, joshua, be strong and of good courage. And then what does he say? Well, go on. Be not affrighted, neither be thou dismayed. Could the Lord say more.
[00:29:51] Be strong and of good courage. Be not affrighted, neither be thou dismayed. For the Lord thy God is with thee. Whithersoever thou goest. Now, that's a marvellous declaration of the grace of God. Whithersoever thou goest, the Lord thy God is with thee.
[00:30:14] Now, we might well have said, now, Lord, you've got all that wrong.
[00:30:17] You should put it like.
[00:30:20] I'm going first, Joshua.
[00:30:23] And so long as you get behind me and follow me, I'll be with you.
[00:30:29] I'll protect you. But the Lord doesn't put it like that. You see, the Lord stressing this very simple fact of executive prayer and action. It was as if God said, joshua, upon your human frailty, upon this little vessel of clay, my whole purpose depends.
[00:30:55] My whole purpose. My. My will depends upon you. Josh will all be strong and of good courage. Dear child of God, it's exactly what the Lord says to you tonight. He looks at you and he says, my purpose in your life depends in some strange way upon your human frailty.
[00:31:15] Upon that vessel, that fragile vessel of clay that is you.
[00:31:22] Be strong and with good courage be not affrighted, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee. Whithersoever thou goest. In this land.
[00:31:34] You go back into Egypt, you'll find that you'll sorrow. But in this promised land, the Lord thy God is with you. Wherever you put the soles of your feet, the Lord your God is with you.
[00:31:49] Now, that's the secret. Here, then, is our first lesson.
[00:31:53] And it's a tremendous lesson.
[00:31:57] There would have been no promised land without Joshua. Now, isn't that a remarkable fact?
[00:32:05] If we cut dear Joshua out, there wouldn't have been a promised land. In spite of the great promise of God. I know, of course, there is the sovereignty. Of course, he would have raised up another and another and another and another. But these others who are. They're only. Only the same human frailty as Joshua is made of. They're only vessels of clay, like Joshua. If one fails, the Lord will raise up another.
[00:32:35] But it's still the same stuff.
[00:32:39] It's still human frailty. It's still vessels of clay that God is using. Until finally he achieves his purpose. And over they go. Over through a cleft river Jordan into the land. And there they go on gloriously.
[00:32:59] Well, that's the first lesson. Well, now we come to another lesson. If we turn to the book of judges and chapter six, of course, it's another wonderful story.
[00:33:15] Joshua. Chapter six.
[00:33:18] Judges. Chapter six, judges, chapter six, verse twelve. Now I always again fear some of these. I always feel that some of these stories have been written with some humour.
[00:33:34] I don't mean that they were written deliberately in a humorous way, but I'm quite sure that humour being part of life, you have humour. Here, listen to this.
[00:33:44] The last part of verse eleven. And his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him and said unto him, the Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.
[00:33:58] And Gideon said unto all, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then is all this befallen us? And where are all his wondrous works which our fathers told us of, saying, did not the Lord bring us out from Egypt? But now the Lord hath cast us off and delivered us into the hand of Midian. And the Lord looked upon him and said, go in this thy might and save Israel from the hand of Midian have not I sent thee? And he said, o Lord, wherewith shall I say Israel? Behold, my family is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house. And the Lord said unto him, surely I will be with thee. And thou shalt smite numidianites as one man.
[00:34:52] Now, it's not been written in a deliberately humorous way, but there's no doubt there's humour there.
[00:34:57] Here was this young man. I think he must have been the most startled young man in the whole universe. When the lord said to him, thou mighty man of valour.
[00:35:09] I'm sure Gideon sort of looked, well, where is he?
[00:35:17] Me, a mighty man of valour? And then he says, now then, this must be something from the enemy. And he goes on arguing where he doesn't quite argue, but he thought he oh, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why is all this befallen us? I mean. And so he goes on just thinking out loud.
[00:35:35] He's just thinking out loud. His mind's muddled.
[00:35:38] He can't understand it. Thou mighty man of valour. And then the lord says again to him, the Lord looked upon him and said, go in this thy might and save Israel from the hands of the Midianites. Now, here is a tremendous thing. I mean, it's quite obvious that Gideon didn't feel a mighty man of valor at all.
[00:36:03] And it's quite clear that he didn't feel he had any power or might at all.
[00:36:08] He says, quite spontaneously. And it's not that false modesty so common in evangelical circles. But it was obvious that it's a true modesty. He says, no have I. I am a leased in the home of the nursery, and I am the least in my father's house.
[00:36:25] I don't understand this.
[00:36:28] Now you see, here is executive prayer and action. Now what someone says, now, how do you mean executive prayer and action in this way? Well, I mean this. The Lord said something to Gideon, and although he has a bit of a battle about it, he goes and does it. Now that's the whole point.
[00:36:47] He asks for two signs. It's perfectly true. But he goes out. He doesn't feel any different.
[00:36:54] He doesn't feel a mighty man himself. He doesn't feel that he's got great power, great strength. He just goes out in his weakness. Out he goes, and the Lord is with him. And the key to it again, you see, is this.
[00:37:09] Surely I will be with thee. It's as if the Lord is saying, now look here, Gideon, everything depends upon you. Yes, your human frailty, all that you are, but everything depends upon you, thou mighty man of valour. Go.
[00:37:27] It's very interesting how often the Lord says go.
[00:37:30] And how we have to go in faith. Now, if you turn over the page to chapter seven, verse nine, we read this came to pass the same night that the Lord said unto him, arise, get thee down into the camp, for I have delivered it into thy hand. Now I'm quite sure by this time Gideon didn't know whether he was coming or going.
[00:37:58] And he one thing, it seems quite clear, he'd learnt to trust the Lord.
[00:38:03] How could the Lord say, I delivered it into your hand?
[00:38:06] The Lord speaks of it as past.
[00:38:09] And yet there is this great camp. And listen, some people say you should never exaggerate. But listen to this in verse twelve. And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like locusts for multitude. And their camels were without number, as the sand which is upon the see saw for multitude.
[00:38:29] My word, what an exaggeration. Well, what the Lord is saying here at least what the writer is saying here, is that this camp was absolutely seething with activity. They were armed with teeth. Look at them. They were just like the grains of sand on the seashore.
[00:38:49] Tremendous. And the Lord had said to Gideon, I have delivered this camp into your hand.
[00:38:56] Now see the executive prayer and action with Gideon, verse 15.
[00:39:05] And it was so when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and the interpretation thereof. That he worshipped the first sign of executive prayer. And action. He hadn't seen a single midianite slave, and he was worshipping the Lord.
[00:39:21] He hadn't heard the first breath of battle going in his favour. And he was worshiping the Lord for something already accomplished. Executed. Action. He was taking it for granted. It's done. It's done. It's as simple as, oh, for faith like that. That takes the lord of his word and just says, it's done.
[00:39:43] Absolutely done. Just like that. It's done. There's no more to it. He just worshipped. You can't worship when you're all tensed up on the eve of a battle.
[00:39:53] You're so bothered about the battle tomorrow, if anyone's going to get you, whether you've got chinks in the armor or whether it's on the right way or back to front or anything else, you're so worried about it, you don't know what you're going to do. You're all tensed up. How can you worship? Oh, you know as well as I do, do you not? The only time you can really worship the Lord fully worship the Lord. Is when you're relaxed.
[00:40:14] When your heart is at peace. Then you worship the Lord. Here was a man worshiping the Lord. Let's go on. He worshipped. He returned into the camp of Israel and said, arise, for the Lord hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian. O my word.
[00:40:34] And the Lord hadn't given them a single midianite or the malachite yet. And he went into. Now he says it publicly. He'd already worshipped the Lord before the invisible host staked his.
[00:40:48] He'd nailed his colours to the mast before an invisible host. Now he goes out into the open and says, now then, all of you. The Lord's given these Midianites into your hand. Of course, there were only 300 of them, you know. The Lord had cut them down for a very large number. Now we go on reading.
[00:41:08] And he divided the 300 men into three companies. He put into their hands, all of them. Trumpets, empty pitchers with torches within the pitchers. Surely the strangest weapons for a battle ever given to anyone. I'm quite sure that when we were in danger of being invaded, if the Home guard had been given trumpets, pitchers and torches, many people would have thought we were mad. He said unto them, look on me and do likewise. And behold, when I come to the outermost part of the camp, it shall be that I, as I do so shall ye do when I blow the trumpet and I and all that are with me? Then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp and shout for the Lord and for Gideon.
[00:41:54] Well, I don't have to go on to tell you the story. You know exactly what happened.
[00:41:58] They blew their trumpets. They smashed the pitchers. They took out the torches. They waved them and did nothing. That's all they did. Blew a trumpet, smashed the pitcher and waved the torch.
[00:42:10] And this great host of the Midianites and Amalekites did the job for them. They slew each other till there wasn't one left.
[00:42:19] In the confusion, they wiped each other out. It had been marvelous. And I sometimes think that this is exactly what the satanic hosts do with each other. When really they get confused. They simply nullify each other.
[00:42:33] Well, there you are. Executive prayer and action. Here is someone who was first told, thou mighty man of valor. Girl, he didn't feel he was a mighty man of valor, and he never did at any point that he was a mighty man of valour. In those early days he had a great following. He was told to cut it down to 300. Well, might he have argued with the Lord and said, no, I need many more. But he cut it right down to the 300. And then out they went. And what did they arm themselves with? Trumpets, empty pitchers and torches.
[00:43:09] Most remarkable. But the secret, and get this. The secret wasn't the trumpets and the empty pitchers and the torches. The secret was that already he had said that the host of Midian has been delivered into our hands. It was executive prayer and action at work. Now let's go on to another one. We turn over to one Samuel and chapter 17.
[00:43:45] And I think you have another wonderful illustration of this in the young David. Of course, you all know this story tremendously well, I'm sure.
[00:43:54] One Samuel, chapter 17, verse 26. And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, and remember, he was only a shepherd lad. Then what shall be done to the man that killeth this and taketh away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine. That he should defy the armies of the living God?
[00:44:18] And the people answered him after this manner, saying, so shall it be done to the man that killeth him. Now this is very interesting. It reveals the spirit of David. He had the majesty and the honor and the glory of the Lord at his heart.
[00:44:35] And he had such a vision, though he was only a shepherd lad and the rather despised son of his father. It seems at least he wasn't exactly despised so much as that. They looked upon him as the kid, you know, the baby kid, baby brother. He was the little one that they all sort of rather sort of patted and looked after and never felt would ever do anything big.
[00:44:57] Well, this was David. But you see what David has to say. He says, who is this uncircumcised Philistine? There they all were, from Saul down all of them, their knees knocking each other with fear.
[00:45:10] Not one of them had called this Philistine an uncircumcised Philistine. How dare he reproach the armies of the living God.
[00:45:19] They were absolutely fearful of the man. Verse 37. And David said, this is to Saul. When Saul was a bit taken back, that so young a lad had got such faith, he said, the Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the poor of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine.
[00:45:41] And then verse 45.
[00:45:45] Then said David to the I will just say this from verse 43. And the philistine said unto David, am I a dog, that thou comest to me with stone? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And the Philistines said to David, come to me and I'll give thy flesh unto the birds of the heaven and to the beasts of the field. Then said David to the Philistine, thou comest to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, three things. But I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, that is executive prayer and action.
[00:46:26] Here comes someone armed to the teeth. They said that while his javelin, I think, was like a huge cost beam, and he strode out, a great giant of a man David might well have feared.
[00:46:40] Saul tried to dress him up in his armor, but as you know, he wouldn't take it. So he goes out with his little five smooth pebbles, of which he only used one, and his little catapult, and out he goes to meet this man who is absolutely outraged that some little lad could think to come out without even any armor and without even any weapons, just not done. It's not according to the etiquette of war, according to the sort of conventional rules of war in those days. But you see what David says, I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel. Do you not think that that great giant of a man could have made mincemeat of David? Of course he could have done, and so can the devil do to you and me. He can make mincemeat on us. Let us be absolutely clear on that.
[00:47:40] But when we come against him, in the name of them all, we are hid.
[00:47:47] This it goes on, whom thou hast defied. This day will the Lord deliver thee into my hand, and I will smite thee.
[00:48:03] And just to be absolutely sure, take thy head from off thee.
[00:48:09] That's wonderful.
[00:48:11] And then he goes on. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the philistine. Ay, ay. How could a little shepherd lad say these tremendous things? I will give the host of the Philistines this day unto the birds of the hench, of the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord Saveth not with sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord, and he will give you into my hand. Now, that was faith, dear children of God. That was real faith. We glorify these biblical stories. We dress them up somehow in our mind and take away from them the horror of it all. You think of that great man clad in armor, with all armed teeth, great weapons. And this little lad striding out to a well, as I said to the children when I was telling them the story a little while ago, it must have been absolutely the most exciting thing we've ever seen.
[00:49:11] Absolutely the most exciting thing you've ever seen. There was that little loud sort of just moving out there, everyone. You could have heard a pin drop, everyone baited with good. What's going to happen here? That little lad's going to just simply be murdered.
[00:49:27] But you see, Davidson, the Lord will give you into my hand. I'll not only smite you, I'll take your head off your shot brush.
[00:49:37] Well, I love that. That's just the kind of spirit. It's not that David thought he was anything in himself. He knew it was the Lord. It was the Lord.
[00:49:47] And dear child of God, you can't expect to get what you want, but you can expect to see the revealed purpose of God.
[00:49:58] You know what the revealed purpose of God is for your life. You can well expect that to take place. If God has described the christian life, did he describe what the church has to be, then we must see that there's no other alternative. It's revealed.
[00:50:15] That's not something you and I want. It's something the Lord has revealed and provided for us, and we shall have it.
[00:50:23] What we need is to go out against this uncircumcised Philistine and say, in the name of the Lord, you think you're going to rob us all of everything that is ours. We will smite you in the name of the Lord our God. And we'll take your head from off your shoulders.
[00:50:40] We'll make sure you'll never come back again into a battle. That's really what it was. We'll finish the job off.
[00:50:48] And that's the kind of spirit that's needed amongst christians. Instead of as soon as the devil gives us a glance in our direction, we all fall down like a pack of cards. We collapse.
[00:51:01] All we need to do is stand up and resist him in the name of the Lord. Now this is tremendous, absolutely tremendous. And you've got executive prayer and action exemplified in a little land of 1617 years of age at the most.
[00:51:20] And if you and I were to see it in the battle of wooden some little land going out like that, my word, it would have been written into the history of this country for all time.
[00:51:32] No wonder it's one of the great stories of history, of world history, that little lady. Right, then we go on. Of course, if you want to see what David said in later years, you turn over to psalm 18 and you got him when he's an older man now. And this is what he has to say as he looks back upon many another victory that he has won through the grace of God. From 34, psalm 18, he teacheth my hands to war so that mine arms do bend. A bow of brass hast also given me the shield of thy salvation. And thy right hand hath holden me up and thy gentleness hath made me great. What a strange thing for a great man of war like David to say, thy gentleness made me great. Thou hast enlarged my steps under me my feet have not slipped. I will pursue mine enemies and overtake them. Neither will I turn again till they are consumed. I will smite them through so they shall not be able to rise. My dear friend, if only we will had a spirit like this. Instead we are running away from the enemy all the time. Lord, Lord, keep us from him. Keep us from him. We are running as fast as we can. But what does David say? He says this, I will pursue mine enemies and overtake them. Neither will I turn again till they are consumed. I will smite them through so they shall not be able to rise. They shall fall under my feet. For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle. Thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me. Thou hast also made my enemies turn their backs unto me. I think it's really wonderful. Really wonderful. Read right through the rest of that chapter on your mind, here is David talking about executive prayer and action.
[00:53:14] Here was a man who knew something about it. He didn't just know it was a foregone conclusion that they've got weak enemies. He knew. He knew the strength of his enemies, but he also knew that he was going out against them in the name of the Lord, his God.
[00:53:29] If you go on, then, of course, to the chapter we read this evening, we have one of the greatest stories of all in two chronicles and chapter 22 chronicles, chapter 20. This tremendous story of Jehoshaphat and the host of Moab and Ammon and Edom.
[00:53:51] It's a tremendous story. Now, here again, we have the same principles exemplified. If I were to underline them very simply, I would put it like, look, here is a situation in which the enemy is going to rob God's children of everything, as we said on Sunday morning, over another incident, and was going to make them subject people, a subject people. Now see something of Jehoshaphat's attitude. First of all, verse seven.
[00:54:26] Verse seven.
[00:54:31] Didst not thou, o our God? I'm sorry, not verse six. O Lord, the God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? And art not thou ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? And in thy hand is power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee. Now, here is a glorious affirmation, we would put it in new testament language, an affirmation of our union with Christ, his glory, his majesty, his power, his enthronement.
[00:55:07] Never begin any battle.
[00:55:10] Somehow or other, under the hoofs of the enemy, always start. And you'll find this true right the way through the whole Bible. Always start with the throne of God. You see, Jehoshaphat said, this is where we begin. We are absolute. This is our Dunkirk. This is our end.
[00:55:31] This really is an impossible military situation. But he says these words, which surely rang with faith in days as dark as those terrible as those, o Lord, the God of our hearts. Art not thou God in heaven? Art not thou ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? Ruler over the Moabites, ruler over the ammonites, ruler over the Edomites. That's what he was really saying.
[00:55:59] And in thy hand is power a knight, so that none is able to withstand thee?
[00:56:04] Tremendous.
[00:56:06] We had prayer. That's executive prayer.
[00:56:09] Executive prayer isn't just saying, now, lord, we do this, we do that. It's a tremendous affirmation in the unseen of the of God, of what he is, of what he's done, of his position, of his character, of his power.
[00:56:26] Never forget that.
[00:56:28] Not just poetry.
[00:56:30] Every time someone says he is lord from the heart, hell shudders.
[00:56:39] It shudders.
[00:56:43] It hates it.
[00:56:47] Well, then the next thing I want you to notice is in verse seven.
[00:56:52] And this is very interesting. In executive prayer and action, he uses the word of God.
[00:57:00] Verse seven. He uses the promise of God's word to Abraham, verse eight and nine. The promise of God's word to Solomon. Now, this is tremendous. Executive prayer and action is not based on feelings, even wonderful feelings, even ecstatic feelings, even wonderful thoughts and ideas, even visions. It always must come back to the word of God.
[00:57:27] Always.
[00:57:29] And no battle can ever be won, believe me. We shall be pitched into utter blackness if we depend on merely what we see or what we feel.
[00:57:40] Jehoshaphat went back to the word of God and he said, Lord, now listen to it. This was the first one. Didst not thou, o our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people, Israel, and give it to the seed of Abraham, thy friend forever?
[00:58:00] He got his feet right down on the promise of God. To thy seed I give this land forever.
[00:58:10] The next thing.
[00:58:13] And. And they dwelt therein, have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying, if evil come upon us, the judgment, pestilence, famine, we will stand before this house and before thee. For thy name is in this house and cry unto thee in our affliction, and thou wilt hear and save. It's exactly what the Lord said in that wonderful revelation to Solomon. When Solomon dedicated the temple and said, lord, in that great prayer of dedication, if ever a man comes, if any thy people turn in affliction or trouble or whatever it is, they come before this house and stand before it and turn toward it. Lord in heaven, hear their prayer and do for them as they ask.
[00:58:54] He's got his feet upon the word of God, the promises of God. Now, the next thing is verse ten and eleven. Now, I hope you note this, because not only now does he describe the condition.
[00:59:08] And most of us describe the situation in such depressing terms at the start of our prayer that we've lost the battle. Before we started praying, we saw, oh, Lord, so and so is getting me down and all the rest of it. Oh, it's terrible, Lord. I just can't get up to it. I can't stick it anymore. I shall give in, and it's lost.
[00:59:29] But here, you see, only after first he has established the throne and glory and power of God. And then appeal to the word of God. Then he says, now listen. And now. Now behold the children of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir whom thou wouldst not let Israel invade. That's a clever word. When they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned aside from them and destroyed them not. Behold how they reward us to come. To cast us out of thy possession which thou hast given us to inherit.
[01:00:01] There's the condition. That's the situation. And then next we have the petition. Only then have we got the petition. O our God, wilt thou not judge them?
[01:00:14] Wilt thou not judge them? For we have no might against this great company that cometh against us. Neither know we what to do, but our eyes are upon thee.
[01:00:22] Petition. Only then is the petition. After the condition. Then the petition. Now there's a revelation from verse 14 to 17. Now, just you note this wonderful revelation here. We won't read it all, but the spirit of God came upon someone and it was revealed to them what the Lord was going to do. A revelation was given to them. That's how it comes in prayer. Whether it is in a spirit of prophecy or however it comes, or whether it is just in an awareness by everyone of what the will of God is, it's revealed to everyone in the heart. This is the way.
[01:01:00] And now he's got the solid ground for working. Now. I do love Moffat's way of translating. Moffat had a marvelous way of translating certain verses. And he translates verse 17 like this.
[01:01:20] I'm sorry, not Moffat. I'm so sorry. The. Actually, Moffat does do it the same. But it's. The revised standard version puts verse 17 like this.
[01:01:31] You will not need to fight in this battle. Take your position.
[01:01:36] In the authorized version, it's set yourselves, I believe. And in the standard version and the revised version. Set yourselves, I do like that. Take your position.
[01:01:46] Then it goes on. Take your position.
[01:01:51] Stand still and see the victory of the Lord.
[01:01:57] Take your position. Here's the revelation. Take your position. Here you are. This battle is not yours, it's the Lord's. Now then, take your position. What is your position?
[01:02:07] What is your position? Your position is this. The battle isn't yours, it's the Lord's. So the victories have foregone conclusion.
[01:02:16] That's all. That's your position. Now. That is your position, isn't it?
[01:02:21] Is the battle in your life your battle or the Lord's battle?
[01:02:26] Is the battle of the church your battle, our battle or the Lord's battle?
[01:02:31] It's principally his battle. Of course, some of us have got battles of our own running concurrently, and that's half the trouble.
[01:02:42] But when they're the Lord's battles, then we can take our position. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Now, I say, that's a wonderful, a wonderful verse. Never forget it. And remember the revised standard version. Take your position. Stand still. It reminds me of ephesians six. Stand having done all stand so that you're able to withstand in the evil day. You see. Take your position in the armor which God has provided you in Christ. Take your position in him and stand and see the victory of the Lord. The trouble with us is we come out of our armor in order to try and do something in the battle. And of course, we are quickly mocked up by the enemy.
[01:03:37] Then notice faith. In verse 18 and 19, Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord, worshipping the Lord. That isn't that remarkable? The battle hadn't even been fought. It was due to be fought next morning.
[01:03:54] And here they all were having a thanksgiving service.
[01:03:59] Now, that is remarkable. We normally have a thanksgiving service after the battle's won, but here was this company, the whole lot of them, having a marvellous time of thanksgiving, just as if the battle had already been won.
[01:04:15] Congratulating each other, no doubt rejoicing, joy on everyone's face.
[01:04:22] Faith, executive faith, prayer and action. There's nothing like it when you can't kid yourself about the Lord's way. When it's being revealed to you, it's revealed and nothing on earth can shake you.
[01:04:40] You stand there by the grace of God and go through it. And then, of course, there's executive prayer and action, verse 20 and 21. Of course, when Joshua said, let's put the singers, let's put the choir in front. Has the battle ever been fought? Do you know the Bible, the Old Testament, is filled with the strangest battle, surely, in world history.
[01:05:05] Fought with trumpets, pitchers and torches. Some cases fought with catapult and pebbles, and here fought with a choir.
[01:05:15] I mean, after all, if we'd sent the Emanuel choir out in front at Dunkirk, people would have thought this mad.
[01:05:26] They would have thought it absolutely mad.
[01:05:29] They really would.
[01:05:32] It's an amazing thing here. Here's Jehoshaphat saying to all these people, we'll put the choir in the fun. Now, he wasn't being autocratic. For mark you, it says very clearly that when he had taken counsel with the people, now that means they were all mad together, they all talked together. And I said, yes, that's right. Put the choir in the front. But have you ever heard of a nation like it saying, we'll put the choir in the front? And they all put the choir. What faith. Here's Executive Brown. They put the choir in the front at the battle. And of course, victory was realized as before. They never had to use their sword. Once the, the Moabites and the Ammonites fell on the Edomites, polished them up off, and then they fell on one another and polished each other, and it says, and none escaped.
[01:06:28] End of the battle.
[01:06:30] Victory absolutely realized. It's amazing. Really amazing. Executive prayer and action. Now I hope you're beginning to see, because we're drawing to the end of our time now. I hope you're beginning to see that this executive prayer and action does not mean that you sit in an armchair and sort of sing a happy hymn or two and say, what is so wonderful being a Christian and read a little book on the victory life and say, well, it's marvelous, really, but it's not really your experience at all. And you know it. You really know. It's not your experience. It's not it at all. You've, I'm sure you've begun to see that executive prayer and action means that you are carrying the command, the will, the purpose, the sentence of God into effect. Everything depends on you and me. If you and I take the step and do it in obedience to the word of God, he does the rest. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. It's no good you getting on your knees and saying, as I said last week, o Lord, please, please resist the devil.
[01:07:41] It's not obeying God's word. It's not executive prayer. Next thing he says, resist. You resist in the name of the Lord, and the Lord will do the rest. The moment you'll resist, the devil will be gone because you'll have seen the law, not you.
[01:07:55] Then, of course, there's the story of Hezekiah. Well, I think you all, we talked about the story of Hezekiah. That's in two chronicles, chapter 32, and we spoke about that on Sunday. I'm not going to say anything about it now this evening, except this one thing, that executive prayer and action in the story of Hezekiah, as we find it in two chronicles, 32 and Isaiah, chapter 36, 37 and 38, is exemplified in this.
[01:08:24] They took nothing on.
[01:08:27] That's a big lesson.
[01:08:29] When you are really engaged in executive prayer and action. The enemy's whole means of getting you down is propaganda. I said that on Sunday morning, if you remember. Propaganda is his means. Propaganda. And these people took nothing on. It says they answered him, not a word. That was the moment when the victory was won.
[01:08:55] It was just as if the Lord said, oh, that's marvelous.
[01:09:01] They refuse to believe a lie.
[01:09:05] You know, the enemy knows that if he can get us to believe a lie, he has the first foot in the door.
[01:09:12] And relentlessly he forces the door open until he's in.
[01:09:18] Like one of those awful salesmen who knock on the door and then as you're going to shut, they put their foot in and shove their hands and they go on and on and on.
[01:09:29] Can't get rid of them short of damaging foot. And now, well, that's very much like the anime. Then I'd like you to turn to nehemiah and we won't spend long on this because it's a very short little story. But nevertheless, it's another wonderful one. I think it reveals again, if you're taking any notes that you want to read yourself, then it's Nehemiah 416 to 18, 1620.
[01:10:01] And I will just tell you what happened here. You know, they were building the walls of Jerusalem and all these other folk were out to stop them and they got very near to stopping them. And so Nehemiah said, very well, this is what we do. You have your weapon in one hand and your trowel in the other.
[01:10:24] And this is how we'll do the work and we'll do it in ship.
[01:10:27] And as soon as anyone along the walls blows a trumpet, let everyone resort to the place that the trumpet is blown and there fight. Now, it's interesting that Nehemiah did use this word fight.
[01:10:42] But he also said, you see verse 20, in what place soever ye hear the sound of the trumpet, resort ye thither unto us. Our God will fight for us.
[01:10:53] In other words, you've got to do the fighting. But it's God who's going to fight God. This is the Lord's battle and they finished the wall. Now, here is executive prayer and action. You know, we are, if we've seen something of the church and the nature of it, we are engaged in rebuilding walls. And there is one terrible battle to stop those walls from being rebuilt. And the only way they can be rebuilt is, in one sense, the building instruments in one hand and the weapons of war in the other. And in that way, it will be built. There's no good just saying, oh, the Lord will do it. The Lord will do it. Oh, that's not good enough. You and I have got to say thy will be done.
[01:11:40] It's executive prayer and actual. Now, the last reference I have this evening is a remarkable one and quite different to all these others. And I take it as one example of an altogether different kind of executive prayer and action. But vitally important. It's in Daniel, chapter nine, verse two. In the first year of his reign, I danielle understood by the books the number of the years whereof the word of the Lord came to jeremiah the prophet for the accomplishing of the desolations of Jerusalem. Even 70 years. And I set my face unto the Lord God to seek by prayer and supplication with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
[01:12:33] And then it says, verse 20. And while I was speaking and praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God. Yea, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning being caused to fly swiftly touched me about the time of the evening oblation. And he instructed me and talked with me and said, o Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee wisdom and understanding. At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment went forth. And I am come to tell thee, for thou art greatly beloved. Therefore consider the matter and understand the vision. Now, isn't that wonderful? At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment went forth. Here is another kind of executive prayer in action.
[01:13:27] What would have been your reaction? I think we've said this before in years gone by, but what would your reaction have been if you had discovered that the 70. You'd been in Daniel's position and you'd discovered from your study of the scriptures that the 70 years was just finished, just about to be finished. You were just in the closing part of that 70 years. Now, I wonder what you would have done. Would you have said, oh, isn't that marvellous? Is that not marvelous? Why, it means the return of the Lord's people is just about to come. The return from exile, the rebuilding of Jerusalem, the temple. And you would have perhaps had wonderful times of praise or I don't know what. Perhaps you would have had little cottage meetings or meetings in your home where you would have told people all about it.
[01:14:18] But you know what Daniel did? He did a strange thing when he found out what the will of God was in his day. He started to pray and he started to pray the will of God into being.
[01:14:38] Now, that surely is strange for some people stop praying when they discover what is the will of God. They say, well, we know what the will of God is now. There is no need to say anymore. But Daniel started where most people stop. Now, that is executive prayer.
[01:14:57] It is imperative that we have the other kind of prayer preceding.
[01:15:02] It is also just as imperative, if anything is ever going to be done, that we go on with Daniels kind of prayer till the will of God is realized. Is that not interesting? Daniel prayed and he prayed on and on and on and on until he saw them return.
[01:15:25] And because of his times of prayer, as Moody once said, he ended up in the lion's den.
[01:15:31] There's no doubt about it. It was his times of prayer that got all his cabinet colleagues antagonistic.
[01:15:41] And they said, we'll catch him out on this thing. And it was his time of prayer that they caught him out. They waited and they said, there he is. Look. Look at him, windows wide open, bowing down, when we just had a decree passed by the king that no one is to pray to any God.
[01:15:58] And so he was put to the lamb's den. I think you know the story. And Moody has put it cheap, charmingly, if you've ever read that in his, in his biography by Pollock.
[01:16:08] He put it like this, describing, of course, to a victorian audience. He said, there were the lions roaring around Daniel. Suddenly he took out his waistcoat watch and looked at, oh, time for power.
[01:16:28] And down he went, on his knees with the lions all, and said, now, lord, I'm on time, so my third watch of the day, Lord, get the people back to Jerusalem. And the lions listened.
[01:16:43] They may have felt hungry, but they weren't able to do anything for it, says the Lord shut their mouths. And they listened to the man of God praying. And what was he praying? Not to be delivered.
[01:16:54] Of course, that's conjecture, but three times a day he prayed in all the time. And his objective was, get those people back. Get those people back. I know what the will of God is. It's been revealed to me. It's nearly there, but we're going to pray it into being. We're not just going to rest on the sovereignty of God in a lazy way, we're going to pray it into being. And that's what he did. And he said, lions or no lions, we're going to keep those times until they're back. And the Lord said, that's the kind of prayer life I like, and took him out of the lounge den and he continued his prayer ministry until it was fulfilled. Lord couldn't let a man like that go by, couldn't let him be killed by the lions. He had a job to do. It wasn't just that he was the big prime minister, as it were, the whole thing. It was rather that the Lord had gone, got an even bigger job.
[01:17:50] You see, it was as if the Lord was saying about Daniel, my whole purpose linked to human frailty, to a vessel of clay.
[01:18:02] But it was as if the whole plan of God depended on that one frail, white haired old man death.
[01:18:13] And he prayed God's revealed purpose into being. Well, now that's executive prayer and action. I'm quite sure that what we have said is raised will have raised, if you've been following carefully, many questions.
[01:18:29] And it may be that sometime in the future we shall have time. But we'll talk about the whole thing together. Because I'm quite sure that this is one of the things that the Lord is seeking to teach us as a people. We have got to learn now that it's not just petition that is. That is so vital and not just inquiry, but we've got to learn how to take hold of things in the secret place and bring them into being. And I would suggest to you any who would like to follow this study up by other ways other than not only just the word of God, because the word of God is the most important. All. I suggest you read the biography of Rhys Howells.
[01:19:10] And I think as you read that story, I think you will be gripped not by a life of prayer merely, but by a life of executive prayer and action.
[01:19:26] Now read it and see if that's not so. And if that's not the kind of thing that God looks for in you and me in these days in which we are living, surely it is our very life supply is dependent upon the prayer of faith. Shall we pray?
[01:20:00] Lord Jesus, we do pray together that thou wouldst really reveal by thy spirit something of this whole matter that we've been talking about. We've taken these great stories, Lord, in thy word we pray that thou wouldst make them live to us. Make them continue to live to us, Lord, and through them by thy spirit. Give us the key practically in this matter that we might know, Lord, how to pray. In this way we might learn what it is to carry thy command, thy word, thy will, thy purpose, thy sentences into effect. We ask it in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Hallelujah.