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Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Now, a few weeks ago we spoke upon what we have entitled executive prayer and action in the name of Jesus. It arose out of a question that one or two brothers asked me about as to really what is prayer in the name of the Lord, that is executive prayer. Now, we can't go over that first preliminary study this evening when we dealt with the name of Jesus, its significance, the person of the Lord Jesus, and then its significance for us now, or what the phrase in the name means.
[00:00:46] I want to go on this evening and speak really about executive prayer and action in practice. However, I will, I think, just go back to this point and underline it so that everyone knows what we're talking about. What do we mean by executive prayer and action? Now, it's not supplication and it's not inquiry and it's not petitioning and it's not discussion. That is, when it comes to action, prayer obviously isn't discussion, although now and again in some prayer meetings it does tend to become a kind of discussion. People are simply airing their views at one another.
[00:01:31] But this executive prayer and action is none of those things. It is the carrying of God's word, of God's will, of God's command into operation.
[00:01:47] The word executive to execute or executive means to carry a plan or a command or a sentence into effect. I repeat that that is the Oxford dictionary definition. To carry a plan, a command or a sentence into effect, or to make validation by signing.
[00:02:13] To make valid by signing. Now, really, in a very real way, this goes to the root of what we call executive prayer and action. We take a promise of God and we make it valid by signing.
[00:02:31] We ratify it. Whatsoever things ye bind on earth are bound in heaven.
[00:02:38] It's as if we take the authority of heaven and we bring it into operation in a given situation down here on earth. We are carrying God's plan into effect. We are carrying God's command into effect. God's commands into effect. We are carrying God's sentence into effect. For instance, it says in the word of God that the prince of this world is cast out.
[00:03:10] It says that the Lord Jesus Christ was manifested to destroy the works of the devil. It says in Colossians chapter two and 15 that through the cross the Lord Jesus openly triumphed over the principalities and powers and stripped them naked. Now, all that we know that is God's sentence on the satanic host and upon Satan himself.
[00:03:39] We carry that sentence into effect by executive prayer and action. That is, the enemy can be as busy and as active and as alive until we bind him, until we first bind the strong man and then take his goods. Now this is what we mean by executive prayer and action. We take the finished work of Jesus Christ in all its glorious fullness, in all its many sided aspects. We take his finished work and we apply it to different situations, corporate, local, personal or general, and we carry the efficacy and the power of that finished work into operation.
[00:04:38] We actually touch things for God.
[00:04:42] That's what we mean.
[00:04:44] We take Christ's victory, his complete, once for all time victory.
[00:04:53] We take it into operation, we carry it into effect.
[00:05:02] It's as if it's an absolutely dynamic thing.
[00:05:06] Only when you and I make it valid by signing, it's as if it's somehow or other, if you know what I mean.
[00:05:20] Just withdrawn. Until you and I stand together in the name of the Lord Jesus. And by executive prayer and action we bring the victory of the Lord Jesus Christ into any given situation, whatever it might be.
[00:05:38] It's his victory over Satan, over Satan's foes, and over all the results of sin and the fall, whether it's a disease or illness or many other disorders. These are the things that we are carrying the victory of the Lord Jesus Christ into effect. Or we can put it this way. The Lord Jesus Christ is the anointed one. Anointed by God the Father, to liberate the captives, to heal the brokenhearted, to do so many things. He is still the anointed one. He is the anointed one. And you and I in his name, carry his anointing into effect so that through us, the members of his body, he still carries on his glorious and predestined ministry to touch men and women and to touch all that human conditions of men and women. This is what we mean by executive prayer and action.
[00:06:46] Now what? That's just simply covering a little of what we've said. Now then, this evening, executive prayer and action. And action. In practice.
[00:06:58] We are in a battle.
[00:07:01] We are in a battle. There's no need to be afraid about the battle. Sometimes we can talk about the battle and the conflict and make ourselves all very depressed. We can talk about it in such a way that it seems gloomy and dark and somehow rather hopeless and we are helpless.
[00:07:20] But there is no need to fear the battle that we are in because the ultimate objective is already secured. We are in an extraordinary battle because the objective has been already won.
[00:07:36] And all you and I have got to do is to, as it were, ratify what the Lord Jesus Christ has already done. If we do that, his victory is manifest. If we don't do that, his victory is not manifest. Indeed, we may come into bondage to the enemy. We may come under oppression of the enemy. Everything depends upon this matter. We are in a tremendous battle. It is a lifelong contest.
[00:08:08] A lifelong contest. Now, when we are young in the Lord, thank God, we don't always know so much about the battle, although we very quickly get to know that there is a devil.
[00:08:20] One of the first things when we become children of God is that there is a personal devil and that there are evil spirits, evil forces at work all the time seeking to trip us up and ensnare us. We find that very quickly. But this lifelong battle, the battle that we're talking about, is often hid from those of us when we're young in the Lord, and we're rightly in the nursery stage of God's kingdom. But as we go on with the Lord and as the Lord prepares to put us out into the actual battle, right out in the front line, then we begin to get to know this simple fact that we are in a lifelong battle and this battle will never let up.
[00:09:10] It is a battle which is not just personal in one sense, it's hardly anything to do with me or you as people. It is a tremendous battle that goes behind time and stretches right through the ages of time. It is a tremendous contest of battle between God and his Christ and Satan and his host. Tremendous battle. And you and I, because we've been taken out of the kingdom of Satan, out of the power of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of God's son, to the son of his love, because you and I have been taken out of the enemy's control and grasp and freed from his bondage and given to the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, because of that, you and I are in this tremendous battle. Now, if you will turn to John, chapter 16, verse 33.
[00:10:13] John, chapter 16, verse 33, these things said the Lord Jesus, have I spoken unto you that in me ye may have peace in the world, ye have tribulation. Now, here is something that would save a lot of us, heart searching and heart burning.
[00:10:35] It is this that in Christ there is a paradox in the christian life. In Christ we have peace, and at the same time in the world we have tribulation.
[00:10:46] In him we have peace. In the world we have tribulation. But listen, the Lord says, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. That's glorious. The Lord says, you're going to have tribulation in the world. In me you're going to have peace. You're going to have tribulation in the world, but be a good cheer. I have overcome the world.
[00:11:08] That's tremendous. Now you turn to one Timothy, chapter six, verse twelve.
[00:11:17] One Timothy, chapter six, verse twelve.
[00:11:22] Fight the good fight of the faith. Lay hold on the life eternal whereunto thou hast called and didst confess the good confession in the sight of many witnesses.
[00:11:36] Fight the good fight of faith. Here's a contest. Fight it says Paul to Timothy. Fight the good fight of faith. Don't just be one of those spiritual conscientious objectors. Don't be a spiritual pacifist. There's no such thing. Fight the good fight of faith. Get into it and fight. Don't just sort of stand there wringing your hands helplessly, as it were, in the background. Fight the good fight of faith. Get right into it. There are no such things as spiritual pacifists. There are only those who know how to fight in God's army and in Ephesians chapter six.
[00:12:21] Ephesians chapter six and verse ten.
[00:12:25] Finally, be strong in the Lord. Now, thats a very strange thing to say to us. Be strong in the Lord, as if we can ourselves be strong. But this is exactly what Paul says. He says, be strong in the Lord as though its absolutely up to us. We can either be weak and sort of all over the place, vague, somehow dithering, or we can be strong. He says, finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts or hosts of wicked spirits in the heavenlies. Wherefore take up the whole armour of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day. And having done all to stand, stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, peace with all, taking up the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, with all prayer and supplication, praying at all seasons in the spirit and watching thereunto in all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. Here is a tremendous battle, and we are told to put on the whole armor of God. There is a provision made for every one of us to stand in this great battle. If you turn to two Timothy, chapter two Timothy, chapter two, verse three and four, suffer hardship with me as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. Jesus, no soldier on service entangleth himself in the affairs of this life that he may please him who enrolled him as a soldier. Now, we are all in a lifelong battle. Whether we are as yet aware of it or not, we are in a great battle. And the great need in this battle is not merely for supplication or for petition or even for intercession. The Lord knows there's a little enough of it, intercession.
[00:15:17] But the great need in the battle is for executive prayer and action. That's the great need in the battle. Supplication is needed, inquiry of the Lord. Petition is needed, absolutely. So it is needed. Intercession is vitally needed. But the thing the matter of vital, of paramount importance is executive prayer and action in this battle in which you and I are. Now, let me give some examples. For example, James chapter four, verse seven, says this, humble yourselves under the mighty hand. Or it says, let me put it this way. Let me put it in the words of scripture, rather, be subject therefore unto God, but resist the devil and he will flee from you. Be subject unto God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. I was very sorry on Tuesday evening when one of the questions asked was to do with resisting the devil. And a gentleman got up and said, the answer to this question was to ask the Lord to resist the devil.
[00:16:40] This is not scripture. The scripture doesn't say, like so many of us, Lord, please resist the devil.
[00:16:50] That's not what the word of God says. The word of God says, be subject unto God, resist the devil.
[00:16:58] In other words, you resist him. And what does God's word say? He will flee from you.
[00:17:05] He will flee from you.
[00:17:08] It's as if the Lord says, my dear child, if you cry to me, I can do nothing because it's unbelief.
[00:17:15] Unbelief.
[00:17:17] You resist the devil in my name, and he will run from you.
[00:17:24] He's taking just as much as you give him. Resist him in the name of the Lord, and he will flee. Now, what is executive prayer and action? Well, it means this. Do not just ask the Lord for help.
[00:17:40] Don't just say, lord, Lord, please help me. The devil's coming in like a flood. Please help me. Yes, don't just do that. I'm not saying don't do it, but don't just do that in the name of the Lord. Resist the devil and he'll flee. He's got to flee. I've never yet met a person who's resisted the devil, really resisted the devil, and he hasn't fled.
[00:18:08] That is executive prayer. That is executive action. When you and I carry the battle into carry the victory of the Lord Jesus and the word of the Lord Jesus into effect.
[00:18:20] If God's word says, resist the devil, then in simple faith, whatever my feelings, I'll resist him and he'll flee.
[00:18:30] Now we have to sometimes be honest with ourselves. Some of us don't want the devil to fly. Flee.
[00:18:37] We are deceitful creatures.
[00:18:39] We don't always want the devil to flee. Yet we have a horrible conscience about it. So we sort of half heartedly, sort of whine about it and are very happy in some ways to cooperate in certain matters with the evil one. We have a traitor within us, that's the trouble.
[00:19:01] But if you and I resist the devil, this is what we mean by executive action. What are you doing? You are taking the word of God and you are, as it were, making it valid by signing. You are carrying the word of God, the will of God into operation. What is the will of God that you should be defeated by the devil? Is it the will of God that you should be overrun by the devil? Is it the will of God that you should be overpowered by the devil? Of course not. Of course not. Then the Lord says, resist the devil and he will flee from you. So when you resist him in the name of the Lord, he goes, that's what we mean. Or let me give another example. Two corinthians, chapter two, verse 14.
[00:19:51] Two corinthians, chapter two, verse 14. But thanks be unto God who always leadeth us in the triumph in triumph in Christ.
[00:20:07] Thanks be unto God, who always leadeth us in triumph in Christ.
[00:20:13] Don't just ask the Lord for victory. Don't just ask the Lord for victory, but stand into it and praise the Lord and you'll find you've got the victory.
[00:20:26] The moment you say, Lord, I'm standing into your victory, you're always leading me in the train of your triumph. You stand and you say, Lord, I praise thee for the victory. You've got the victory. That moment enemy finds it impossible to get in. Once you really start to stand fast into it and praise him for it, you are in fact carrying the will of God into operation.
[00:20:59] Then in Philippians four, you turn to Philippians 413.
[00:21:07] I can do all things in him that strengtheneth me. Don't just ask for Christ's help. Take it and do the job on hand.
[00:21:21] Do the job on hand. It's very interesting. The word of God says, whatsoever thy hand find it to do, do it with all thy might.
[00:21:29] Do it with all thy might. In other words, don't just dither all the time, but take the grace and the strength that is yours in Christ and do the job, and the Lord will be with you.
[00:21:42] That's what haggai meant when he said, work and the Lord, your God, is with you. Get on with it. Get on with it. There comes a point, you know, where unbelief makes us seem to be very humble.
[00:21:57] There is a kind of unbelief that makes us wait when we should be working.
[00:22:02] You know, we're waiting all the time for some tremendous experience or something that's going to eject us powerfully into the service of the Lord. But, you know, in the end, it goes back to faith.
[00:22:15] What the Lord has provided for you in Christ, take it by faith as take it and go forward and do the job. And you'll find the Lord is with you. That is executive, providing you sure that it is the work that God would have you do. You go forward. When God gives you a job to do, you go forward and you do it in his name. I don't know of any true servant of the Lord who's gone forth from these shores and has gone forth in great arrogance and bombast.
[00:22:46] Two servants of the Lord, they're going to turn continents upside down. They're going to do this. They're going to do that. No. The true servant of the Lord is so knocked about, so brought into difficulty and trial and problem, that they are fearful in themselves, yet they go forth in the name of the Lord and they do the job, and the Lord is with them. And the marvelous thing is that in some of these weak vessels, my, what he's done. When I think of Mary, I've often mentioned Mary. She was such a. Such a timid girl that she couldn't even cross one of the streets in Edinburgh if a horse and carriage was in sight. She hid behind the corner till it had passed, and then she darted across the street. And even at the end of her life, whenever she addressed a meeting, if there were any gentlemen present, she spoke the whole time with her face permanent to the side of the wall she was so terrified of. And yet this was the woman who alone, absolutely alone, tramped cannibal territory and in fact, became such a power that the commissioners used to ask her to go out and settle trouble with these warlike cannibal tribes. Mary Slasher.
[00:24:06] I remember Mary Reese when she was here and a dog barked and she. She nearly jumped out of her skin. And I said to her, good gracious me and you. With all the stories you've told us about the Congo and what you faced, you, she said, I believe me. She said, it's the grace of God. And she. For some unknown reason, the grace of God doesn't always seem to be with me in this country. She said, I cannot. I've been brought up on a farm. She said, I can't cross a field with cows alone. Yet. She said, I've gone on those trails in Congo and gone through packs of baboons and have met so many other creatures. Remember the story of the gorilla? Or many others that are just absolutely incredible.
[00:24:52] The point is this, that when God gives you a job to do and calls you to do it, get on with it, and the Lord will be with you. And he will give you all the grace you require and all the strength you require. And you can say at the end of it, I can do all things in him which strengtheneth me. Well, we can go on and on. For instance, there's John, chapter six, and verse 56 and 57. And it says here, he that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood abideth in me. And I in him. As the living father sent me. And I live because of the father, so he that eateth me, he also shall live because of me. How often you and I are simply asking. Asking, we want more of this. We want more of that. We ask if we could have this. We ask if we could have that. We want more of the Lord. But, you know, sometimes all that prayer becomes, in the end, just sheer unbelief. Sheer unbelief. For the Lord says, hear not. He that continually asks, but he that eateth. Listen. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood.
[00:26:12] When you eat and drink, you're not asking, you are taking.
[00:26:17] When you take, you have. It's not as if I'm continually saying to my folk at home, please, I want to eat. I want to eat. I want to eat. And when they put a meal before me, I go on saying, I must have more. I must have more. I never touch what's on the table. I want more, I want more. Please give me more. Please give me more. I must have two or three sweets. I would like ice cream and fruit. And I would like cake. And I would like something else. And the point is, I can go on and on and on and on. But if I don't take, I shall starve.
[00:26:49] Some Christians are just like that. They say, lord, I want more of you. Lord, I want more of you. Oh, there's nothing wrong in a desire, a hunger and a thirst. But remember that executive action is when you go over and take what is there. By faith, in the name of the Lord, you actually take it. You actually take it. You say, at the beginning of the day, Lord, I need more of thee now, Lord, by faith, I take.
[00:27:17] It doesn't seem to you as if anything happens, but something does happen. That's my secret anyway. If I've got a secret at all, that's been my secret every single day and in every given situation, to say, lord, you know I can't do this. I take thee for this matter.
[00:27:37] I never feel any different. I envy these people who feel power throbbing for who? Their bodies. And they've got such a hilarious joy that it carries them out of themselves. I envy them.
[00:27:50] I can't say I've ever had it. Although people come to me and say, you never seem to have a bad time.
[00:28:01] Never seem to have a bad time. All a bad time.
[00:28:05] The whole point is this. It's what you take.
[00:28:09] And whether you feel it or don't feel it, what you take you've got.
[00:28:14] What do you take? You've got.
[00:28:16] When Moses touched that rock, it may have looked as flinty, as arid, as dry as rock, bound as anything in this world. He looked at the rock.
[00:28:29] Don't you think the devil came to him and said, moses, you fool.
[00:28:33] You absolutely fool.
[00:28:36] You think standing in front of that eerie, dry, flinty rock, anything's going to happen to it. You've chosen the wrong rock. This time may have happened the last time. It won't happen this time. You will look a fool in front of all these people when you pray and say, in the name of the Lord, let there be water, and there won't be any water.
[00:28:58] And it could easily be that if Moses looked at the rock, it may have seemed more dry and airy than the last one.
[00:29:04] He may have looked worse than ever.
[00:29:07] Don't forget that he had behind him a pack of ravening wolves. Murmuring murmuring murmuring murmuring murmuring all the time murmuring prepared to stone him at times.
[00:29:19] What a life of tension.
[00:29:22] What a life of pressure Moses must have had. And yet, you know, every time he touched that bog, water came out. Through all the 40 years of their wandering in the wilderness, it never failed. It was the rock that followed them and that rock was Christ. You know, that's the key to so much. Sometimes we touch a rock and it seems so dry and we're all so thirsty and the sun seems to be beating upon us and there seems to be nothing, and you think, what's the good? There's no point in it. There's absolutely no point at all in it, really. It's silly.
[00:30:04] But if by faith, executive action. Executive prayer and action, you lift the rod and in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the rod is a symbol of the name of the Lord Jesus in the Old Testament, that rod. You lift that rod of authority and you say, in the name of the Lord, let there be water. Water comes out, the miracle takes place and there, in that arid desert, water flows.
[00:30:32] It happens again and again and again. Touch the rock in the name of the Lord. But it's a very, very interesting picture, because the rock is a picture of the Lord Jesus. And sometimes I think that although the Lord is altogether lovely and the chiefest of 10,000, sometimes he appears to us like a flinty rock, just like a flinty rock in a dry and thirsty land.
[00:31:03] Nothing on earth will open that rock. You can sing your hymns to your heart's all day long. Go right through the sacred psalms and solos and start on redemption and go right through them and right through Keswick and right through all the others, and you won't see a thing happen with the rock. You can have a prayer meeting round the rock and pray and pray and pray till you collapse in a heap at the bottom of the rock. Nothing will happen to it, believe me. You can have all kinds of little meetings. You can have a testimony meeting round the rock, nothing will happen to it. Only when somebody, someone by faith touches that rock and says, in the name of the Lord, let water flow. Does it happen that moment the water flows because God waits for it? Reputation.
[00:31:54] The moment it is touched, in the name of the Lord, it opens.
[00:31:59] It's an interesting thing, isn't it, that on mount, the prophets of Baal shouted themselves hoarse from sunrise to sunset and all they got for their labours was to be chopped up by the prophet of the Lord. That's all that happened to them. They shouted themselves hoarse. Sometimes I think we, God's children, are unfortunately copy the prophets of Baal and all. Dear old Elijah did well, sat by and watched them dancing up and down and cutting themselves. They were in an absolute frenzy, trying somehow or another to bring this fire down out of heaven and nothing happened. And all dear Elijah did while he just got up and said the name of the God of Israel, that something happened and fire fell just like that. It must have been the most amazing sight of the poor old Ahab had ever seen in his life.
[00:32:58] Well, it's true what we say. You take another scripture. Ephesians 518. Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the spirit. Be filled with the spirit. How are you filled with the spirit? How can you be filled with the spirit? The fullness is yours not just by asking, but by taking. If you take by faith, then you are filled. And you can live that filled life as you take. Of course, I'm. I am taking it for granted that there's no sin, that there is no disunity, that there is no unbelief. These things rob us of everything. But once those things are put away and under the cleansing of the precious blood and the forgiveness is ours, then you and I can enter into that fullness of the spirit. There's not one single thing that stops anyone from knowing the fullness of the spirit of God. But it doesn't come just by asking. Please, please, please. It comes by taking.
[00:34:07] We can go on. And we can go on. Galatians 220. I have been crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I. I can pray and pray and pray to be crucified, and never will be until I see that I am crucified. I have been crucified when I see that and take that position. No one knows anything of the death of the cross. Until they deliberately, consistently take that position.
[00:34:34] Doctor Fima told Auntie Dagmar, who now, at this moment, is dying, she was entering into the kingdom of God. I've never forgotten it. And I was a lad, she said to me, Doctor fbe Meyer once said to me, when I asked him, how. How am I to know the death of the cross? He said, my dear, pinch yourself.
[00:34:56] Well, she pinched herself. Did you feel it? Well, he said, every time you feel it, say, I'm dead.
[00:35:04] I died with Christ. Do it. He said, continue.
[00:35:08] Just do it. Continually, consistently take the ground that you're crucified. Every time you find yourself alive in your flesh, take the ground you've been crucified with Christ. Now again, I can only say this, that it works.
[00:35:25] When by faith you take, then you really want it, you'll find it works. You take the death of the cross. When you're getting ruffled, really ruffled. And you really take the ground of the cross, and you'll find something does happen.
[00:35:41] Remember that all these things are true. Ephesians 122. It says, seated far above all principality and power. And then it goes on to say, and be made head over all things to the church.
[00:35:56] Now listen, you and I know perfectly well that it does not seem at times as if the Lord Jesus is head over all things. Now, why not?
[00:36:06] Why does it seem instead that so often we're at the mercy of the evil one?
[00:36:11] Because there is no executive prayer in action.
[00:36:15] Executive prayer and action takes the headship of Jesus over all these things and carries it into effect.
[00:36:24] It's as if something has strayed away and is brought back and put in its right place under his headship, under his feet.
[00:36:35] Head over all things to the church. And, of course, one that we often quote, Matthew 1618 upon this rock, I will build my church, as you and I take it, as a very different thing. It happens. It's as simple as that. Now, executive prayer and action is nothing if it is not practical. It cannot be theoretical by its very nature.
[00:37:00] You see, you will all look as some of you are utterly bored about the matter of executive prayer and action, unless.
[00:37:11] Unless it really is carried into action, because this is the one subject that can't remain theoretical.
[00:37:23] It is something that demands that you and I do something about it. So either somehow or other, it all seems, or it's life to us. It's our very life line with heaven, the very thing that keeps us alive.
[00:37:43] The basis for such prayer and action. We have already talked about last week, the time before, when we spoke about what the phrase in the name means and the significance of the name of Jesus.
[00:38:00] But I would like to say this evening that there are three things that ought to master us in our whole approach to this matter of executive prayer and action. The first is, if you and I are to know this kind of prayer and action in practice, there must be. Now listen very careful to these three things. A continual and consistent affirmation of our union with Christ.
[00:38:36] That is a secret.
[00:38:39] A continual and consistent affirmation of our union with Christ. You may not feel it. That doesn't matter.
[00:38:48] You may not feel it. The point is, there has to be a continual and consistent affirmation. We're one with Jesus Christ.
[00:38:56] We're in him. He is in us. The moment there is that affirmation, that glorious, ascending to something that God has done, that moment we lift ourselves out of enemy territory, we say, Lord Jesus, we're so glad we're one with the never approach the enemy in it other way or any of his works in any other way. You and I can't face the enemy alone. We can't face the enemy divorced from Christ, apart from Christ. Why, we'd be absolutely bowled over.
[00:39:36] But you see, this is a secret.
[00:39:39] You can put it another way if you like.
[00:39:41] Never approach this kind of prayer and action unless you're hidden in him.
[00:39:47] Our life is hid with Christ, in God, hid in him. Now, what is this union with Christ? Well, I can only mention it. We are dead, crucified with Christ, buried with Christ, raised with Christ, ascended with Christ, enthroned with Christ. Now that is the affirmation you and I have got to continually and consistently make. When I approach any given situation, I say, Lord Jesus, perhaps it's one in which I'm personally involved. And oh my, there's a great danger that I'm going to come right out in the flesh and blow off steam. And the only way I can approach that is say, Lord, I'm crucified with thee. You in me are my love, you in me are the grace, you in me are the patience, and so on. You see, I am affirming my union with him. Or maybe it is there's a situation in which the enemies come in like a flood. It may not be anything to do with me, and I approach it in this way. I say, Lord, we're enthroned with thee. We've been made to sit with thee in heavenly places. We're above this thing, not under it. We're on top, not beneath. We're the head, not the tail, as the Old Testament put puts it, with a head in Christ, a continual and consistent affirmation of our union with him. Perhaps there's some kind of thing that's coming into the family atmosphere through the children or through someone else, and somehow or other is just getting us down, and we need the resurrection life and power of Christ. Then approach it this way. Lord Jesus, I've been raised with thee. Thou art the resurrection life and power in me in this situation.
[00:41:37] Now, the moment I take this, I take, I don't just say, Lord Jesus, give me resurrection life and power. And then immediately after the devil comes and says, you, you resurrect alive and power and you can be quite sure. Then the phone will ring and grandma's tipped over a broken her ankle, or someone else will call over the fence and say, your cat's just killed my canary, or something like that. Always three, four, five things will come at once. Where is your resurrection life and power? Gone. It's fled, simply fled. The devil will make sure to let but take it. You'll still have the battle. You can be quite sure the enemy will be out to submerge that away. Resurrection, life and power. He couldn't bear it. But the moment you and I move over to the ground of faith and we take these things, they become ours. Otherwise, not one of us will be converted in this room. It's as simple as that.
[00:42:36] How many of us in this room had such wonderful feelings that led us like a ring in the nose to the Lord Jesus Christ pulled us along, wonderful feelings so that we just suddenly opened up to him like that? It didn't happen that way. Most of us, the majority of us, came really on the bedrock of cold feeling.
[00:43:02] Nothing.
[00:43:03] Nothing.
[00:43:05] And we said, lord Jesus, come into my heart.
[00:43:10] I asked it, and he came in.
[00:43:13] That's how we were converted, and that's how we must live this life. And as we take, we receive, we get what we ask for. It's as simple as that. So take the resurrection life and power. And when the devil comes and says, just say, don't you. I'm resisting the name of the law. I'm not talking with you. Out. I've got that resurrection, life and power, and he will go.
[00:43:36] There's no doubt about it. He will go.
[00:43:41] He's a liar.
[00:43:43] Just remember that Samuel once said, he roars like a devouring lion, seeking whom he made, like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. He's not a roaring lion. Lord Jesus is the lion of Judah. The real lion is the Lord. The devil's only an imitation, that's all. You just stand up to him, and he goes away with his tail between his legs.
[00:44:12] Resist the devil. He will flee from you. Well, that's one thing. A continual and consistent affirmation of our union with Christ. The second thing is a persevering insistence upon God's will. Now, listen to this. A persevering insistence upon God's will. You know, I often feel that we've got quite the wrong idea of the Lord's prayer, or however you like to call it, disciples prayer, whatever you like to call it. Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. And if we get the idea that we're saying, please, Lord, please, Lord, let your will be done.
[00:44:51] But I am quite sure that it's not that. It is an insistence upon the will of God. Thy will be done.
[00:45:02] An insistence upon it. Not just, please, Lord, if it's at all possible, let your will be done, but thy will be done. Thy kingdom come.
[00:45:14] That's the kind of executive prayer and action we want. The Lord Jesus said now and then pray like this. Pray like this. Get hold of the will of God and say, Father, thy will be done.
[00:45:29] Not please, if it's possible, let your will be done. But, Father, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
[00:45:40] Now, what does this mean? Well, it means this. Don't have any other alternative. In any given situation, when the devil comes to you, executive prayer and action means this. You simply say, thy will be done in, Lord, thy will be done. Take nothing else on. Take nothing else on. The devil knows that this battle is a war of minds.
[00:46:06] Everything starts up here.
[00:46:10] And if the devil can insinuate some idea into the head which just governs our whole course of action and influences our whole attitude, that's just where he will start. That's just his point of coming in. Always, always.
[00:46:29] Now, in this matter of executive prayer and action, there can be no alternative. There can be renewed.
[00:46:38] There's one single possibility, my will be done. You know, I'm quite sure that in many of our situations and in both corporate and personal, much would happen if there was an absolute insistence on God's will. Some of us, of course, take the thing now, Lord, let your will be done in this. But, you know, within being frail human beings, within hours, all our insistence has been wiggled away, worn down by the insistence of the enemy that he will have his way.
[00:47:17] But, you know, truth will always triumph.
[00:47:22] It's as simple as that. It may take the Lord a thousand years, but he'll win.
[00:47:28] Don't worry about that. Your body may be under the daisies and. And gone back to dust, but that doesn't make any difference at all to them. Lord, his truth triumphs always, always, always. We're on the winning side. Never forget it. We are on the winning side. We may want to see very quick returns, but we are on the winning side. And even if we lose everything, in the end, we're still on the winning side. The devil cannot win. It's as simple as that. So there must be a persevering insistence on the will of God. When those people tramped round the walls of Jericho for seven days, they were. It was a persevering insistence on the will of God.
[00:48:15] It was in the face of the most colossal evidence to the contrary. There were those heavily fortified walls that stood as tangible evidence that Jericho was an impregnable thought to.
[00:48:32] But those children of God, they went round with the soles of their feet on the ground with a persevering insistence. Thy will, Lord, be done concerning Jericho. Thy will be done.
[00:48:46] And the 7th time round, on the 7th day, the walls came down.
[00:48:50] The impregnable fortress proved that as far as God was concerned, it. It was nothing.
[00:48:59] I will be done.
[00:49:02] And then the third thing is an unwavering and unwavering dogmatic declaration of the facts of the cross.
[00:49:12] These three things, I would have you see, are nothing in one sense to do with us. This is where we all come unstuck.
[00:49:22] They had all to do with Jesus Christ. All to do with God, of course, our union with him. Of course, it's true. But first, it's the law. It's what happened with the Lord. He was crucified, he was buried, he was raised, he is ascended, he is enthroned, and we are in him. The second thing is, it's God's will, not mine. God's will. Mine can crack up my own little designs and ideas, will.
[00:49:48] What has been initiated by me will end in the dust, but God's will will be done.
[00:49:56] Now that's wonderful. But the other thing is this, an unwavering, dogmatic declaration of the facts of the cross. What do we mean? Well, we mean his finished work. Keep to it, brothers and sisters, keep to it. When we stray from the finished work, the devil will knock us out.
[00:50:12] But keep to the accomplished work. Work of Jesus Christ. And the devil doesn't know what to do. He runs around in circles. He can't do anything, can he? It's finished. It's absolutely finished. So once you and I start to take the finished work of Christ and declare it in a dogmatic way, what can the devil do? He just hears a bell tolling, as in a graveyard, spelling out his end. That's all. It rings.
[00:50:40] Just rings and rings.
[00:50:45] The Father reckons on the finished work of Christ. The Son reckons on the finished work of Christ. The Holy Spirit reckons on the finished work of Christ. And the question is, do you and I, we come unstuck because we don't reckon on what the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit reckon on a finished work.
[00:51:07] And of course, we have to say his enthronement of the poured out Holy Spirit is another thing to do with the facts of the cross. He's gone up on high.
[00:51:18] And we can declare that whatever the devil does with me or with you, we can say, well, the Lord Jesus is on the throne.
[00:51:27] He is on the throne. Now that I believe those three, three things are three things that should master us in our attitude to this matter of executive prayer and action. Now, I think we'll close, and perhaps if we have another study in this, we will take the examples that we find in the Old Testament, of which there are so many. We read one this evening, these wonderful examples of executive prayer and action in practice. But I would like to say this evening, end on this note. What are the weapons to use in this matter in such prayer? What are the weapons? Well, here they are.
[00:52:15] The first weapon is the blood of Christ.
[00:52:19] The first weapon is the blood of Christ. And you will find it in revelation, chapter twelve and verse eleven. They overcame him by the blood of the lamb. They overcame him because of the blood of the lamb.
[00:52:39] You know, many of us are defeated in this battle because we do not know how to avail ourselves of the blood of Christ. And we do not know the full efficacy and power of that precious blood. Oh, my, what a releasing thing the blood of Christ is how the enemy plays on those sombre tones from our past or from things we've done or things we've said or things we've thought. He plays on those things and simply binds us tongue after tongue after tongue, until we're paralyzed.
[00:53:23] Far from being able to indulge in executive prayer and action, it's impossible.
[00:53:33] We are absolutely fettered. The blood of Christ is the answer. It is one of our greatest weapons.
[00:53:41] I never dare to go in the presence of the Lord without mentioning the blood of Christ. I'm sure this must be so with many of us.
[00:53:50] It is interesting that in church history. It is the blood of Christ that has borne along with the word of God the greatest assault of the enemy. This is the point of the arms, or what they call, what liberals have called blood theology.
[00:54:06] Blood theology, despising blood theology.
[00:54:13] The blood of Jesus Christ, loosed from our sins in his blood, made nigh unto God through his blood, reconciled and made one with God through the blood of the cross.
[00:54:31] Ushered into the holiest place of all by the blood of the cross. Continually cleansed by the blood of the cross.
[00:54:41] An evil conscience sulled and cleansed by the blood of the cross. The blood of the cross. The blood of Christ is one of our greatest weapons. It is interesting that this great innumerable multitude that came out of the tribulation when John said, who are they? Whence have they come? The angel said, they overcame the devil by because of the blood of the lamb. Isn't that wonderful? Think about it. Think about it. That's what the angel said to John, he said, this great company have come off victorious because of the blood of the lamb that bears thinking about very deeply. And ask yourselves this question, do I use the weapon of the blood of Christ?
[00:55:38] Is it in my armory in this great matter? I can never, ever know anything of executive prayer and action without the blood of Christ. That's the first thing. The second is the word of God. Ephesians, chapter six, verse 17, which says to us in these words, take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Now, this week we've already heard those of you at the counseling classes quite a lot about the word of God, so we won't say so much about it, except to say this, that the word of God is essential in executive prayer and action. No one can carry the will or command or sentence of God into effect without a right use of the word of God. The word of God is the sword of the spirit. That doesn't mean I can just use it willy nilly. But as the spirit of God brings me to see the word of God and enables me to use the word of God, so I use it, the word of God. That means that I can find the word here in this book concerning a given situation, and I can stand on it, and I can expect to see it realized, made effective.
[00:56:59] I can take the promises of God, for in Christ they are, yea, and through him as they are men, and we can actually carry that into effect.
[00:57:07] That's why we should always have our bibles for us in prayer. Always, always, never be without a bible in the place of prayer, the word of God. Second great weapon is the word of God. The Lord Jesus used the word of God, as you know, again and again and again and again. And if you look through, you'll find it, oh, in so many places. And although we shall talk about it as at another time, Jehoshaphat did in his whole prayer in this great victory was based on two distinct parts of God's word, which he quoted to the law, executive prayer and act, the word of God. The third thing is the enthronement of Christ. This is the third great weapon in our armory, the enthronement of Christ. Ephesians, chapter one, verse 21 and 22. Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church.
[00:58:21] The enthronement of Christ. This is a great weapon because you and I can bring the enthronement of the Lord Jesus Christ to bear upon the devil. The devil cannot bear the enthronement of Christ. Why? Because Christ has passed beyond his power.
[00:58:42] Beyond his power. His last great fling with the Lord Jesus was on the cross.
[00:58:48] And the Lord used the great exertions of the devil to win our salvation.
[00:58:56] As the devil overreached himself, God turned the tables and the devil became a servant of the Lord, working out his will.
[00:59:06] It is amazing. The enthronement of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why the book of Daniel rings with the enthronement of God's Christ. It rings with it right through, from beginning to end. Absolutely. Brings with this wonderful thing the most high. Most high it is all the time. The most high ruleth and the saints of the most high shall possess.
[00:59:31] That's wonderful. The enthronement of Christ. And then there is the believer's union with Christ. We've mentioned that if you want to turn it. Revelation 1211. They loved not their lives unto the death.
[00:59:48] They loved not their lives until they knew something of the death of the cross. They loved not their lives unto the death.
[00:59:54] It's wonderful. Believer's union with Christ is a great weapon. You can never meet the devil, as we've already said, apart from Jesus Christ. But your union with him is a weapon, a tremendous weapon. Your hand in his name you can move. And then there is the authority of Christ given to us. Matthew, chapter 18, verse 18. All authority is given unto me. Go ye therefore.
[01:00:31] All authority is given unto me in heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore.
[01:00:40] Therefore. Yes, because the Lord Jesus Christ has all authority in heaven, on earth, we are to go into the world not only in heaven, but on earth. Tremendous weapon, the authority of Christ. We have authority. We have authority to touch satanic situations. We have authority to touch hell. Locked problems. We have authority. If only you and I, our eyes were opened to the authority which is ours. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the thing the Lord, I believe, is trying to lead us into as a company. The authority which is ours in the ascended Christ, given to us in the Holy Spirit. Authority. And lastly, the last weapon is this. The testimony of the believer.
[01:01:33] Listen again. Revelation, chapter twelve, verse eleven. They overcame him because of the blood of the lamb, because of the word of their testimony, and because they loved not their lives unto the death testimony. Now if you read aside that the word of their testimony, we decide it. This one, this scripture in one John five and verse four. This is what it says.
[01:02:04] For whatsoever is begotten of God overcometh the world. And this is the victory that hath overcome the world, even our faith.
[01:02:20] Have you ever thought that no one ever gives testimony except through faith?
[01:02:29] That's why it says in romans chapter ten that it is not only believing in the heart, but confession of the mouth that leads unto salvation.
[01:02:41] Because only when, by the words of our lips, do we make confession, is it clear that faith is really in us.
[01:02:53] This is a tremendous thing. A tremendous thing. Misses Penn Lewis used to stress again and again the blessedness of testifying with the mouth. Not only to unsaved people, but in your own private time, just to say, lord, oh, how glad I am that I'm saved. That's testimony. Word of testimony. The devil hears it.
[01:03:22] You don't have to conduct a conversation with him. Don't do that.
[01:03:27] But you can testify. The word of your testimony. I'm saved. I'm a child of God. I'm redeemed. I'm crucified with him. Oh, how the enemy would like to rob us of all that testimony. Just press us down and until we've lost it all. But it's the word of our testimony. Of course, it also means outwardly we are witnesses. But you know, every time a man or a woman in an office says, the Lord Jesus Christ is my savior, it's faith.
[01:03:57] It's faith.
[01:03:59] They are bearing testimony to something that's happened to them, and they're giving expression to their faith in Jesus Christ as the son of God. And they've overcome. Have you ever found that every time you open your mouth and confess, such a joy comes in? You have such a battle in the office, you have such a battle amongst friends, and then suddenly, Lord gives you the victory, and you really take a step and you say something, something. And somehow such peace, such joy. It's the same when you open your mouth in prayer. In a prayer meeting, you may only say a few words. You may just say, Lord, thank you for saving me or thank you for doing this. And you feel such a joy and such a peace you've overcome. You've overcome. And the more you're hemmed in and the more you don't have. There's no word of testimony. The more unhappy and. And the more miserable you become and the more empty you are.
[01:04:57] It's so interesting. The word of our testimony, they overcame by the word of our testimony. Those are the weapons. Then in this matter of executive prayer and action in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Wonderful weapons. Wonderful weapons. The blood of Christ. The word of God, of Christ. Our union with him, his authority given to us and our faith. The word of our testimony. Shall we pray?
[01:05:39] Lord Jesus, we do pray together that thou wouldst really make real in our lives something of this matter.
[01:05:47] There is not one single one of our lives, Lord, that does not need executive prayer and action in one way or another. In thy name, o beloved Lord, that thou teach us how to appropriate, how to take, how to stand, how to stand fast into thee, how to stand into all that thou art for us, o beloved Lord, by thy spirit teach us. We pray that we may not only know what it is to ask, but we know, might know what it is to praise thee. To set before us in the battle the praise of the Lord.
[01:06:29] Oh, we just cry to thee, dear Lord Jesus used this evening to every one of our hearts to bring some further light in, to show us something more. Lord, of the way of true victory in this great battle. We ask it in thy name. Amen. Amen.
