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[00:00:00] I was in a great quandary concerning this evening and I, he thought I had no sense of life at all about anything. And he said that what was on his heart was the possibility of saying a little bit more about executive prayer and action. He felt that that was something that needed to be perhaps explained a little more. And I remember he reminded me of a number of studies we took a while ago, some time ago, and I was trying to recall. And then I did recall and I discovered that we never did complete them due to lack of time after I was going away. And so maybe it is just the Lord's mind to look at this matter once more. So what I'm going to do now, just this reading is take a number of different verses in the word of God. So if you will take your bibles and look up a number of scriptures.
[00:01:24] First of all, we will look at John 14, John 14 verse 13 and 14.
[00:01:35] John 1413 and 14.
[00:01:40] And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do. That the father may be glorified in the son. If ye shall ask anything in my name, that will I do.
[00:02:02] Chapter 15, verse 16.
[00:02:08] Ye did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you, that ye should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide.
[00:02:23] That whatsoever ye shall ask of the father in my name, he may give it you. Chapter 16, verse 23.
[00:02:38] Chapter 16 verse 23. And in that day ye shall ask me no question.
[00:02:45] Verily, verily, I say unto you, if ye shall ask anything of the father, he will give it you in my name. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name. Ask and ye shall receive, that your joy may be made full.
[00:03:08] Verse 26.
[00:03:11] In that day ye shall ask in my name, and I say not unto you, that I will pray the father for you, for the father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me and have believed that I came forth from the father.
[00:03:32] And if you will turn back to Matthew, Matthew, chapter 16, verse 18 and 19, I also say unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
[00:04:03] I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Chapter 18 verse from verse 15.
[00:04:33] And if thy brother sin against thee, go show him his fault between thee and him alone. If he hear thee, thou hast game thy brother, but if he hear thee not, take with thee one or two more, that at the mouth of two witnesses or three, every word may be established.
[00:04:51] And if he refuse to hear them, tell it unto the church. And if he refuse to hear the church, also let him be unto thee as the gentile and the publican.
[00:05:01] Verily I say unto you, what things soever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and what things soever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
[00:05:18] Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my father who is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst.
[00:05:46] Then could we turn to mark, mark and chapter 16, verse 17.
[00:06:10] These signs shall accompany them that believe. In my name shall they cast out demons, for they shall speak with new tongues, they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall in no wise hurt them. They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover acts. Chapter three, verse six.
[00:06:44] Acts. Chapter three, verse six.
[00:06:51] Peter said, silver and gold have I none, but what I have that give I thee in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Walk.
[00:07:07] And he took him by the right hand and raised him up. And immediately his feet and his ankle bones received strength, and leaping up he stood and began to walk, and he entered with them into the temple, walking and leaping and praising God. Verse 16.
[00:07:26] And this is the account that Peter, John, are giving to the chief priests. And by faith in his name hath his name made this man strong, whom ye behold and know, yea, the faith which is through him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.
[00:07:54] Chapter four, verse seven.
[00:08:00] And when they have set them in the midst, they inquire, by what power or in what name have you done. Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said unto them, ye rulers of the people and elders, if we this day are examined concerning a good deed done to an impotent man, by what means this man is made whole, be it known unto you all, unto all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even in him doth this man stand here before you whole. Now listen. Here's the key to it. He is the stone which was set at nought of you, the builders which was made the head of the corner, and in none other is there salvation, for neither is there any other name under heaven that is given among men, wherein we must be saved.
[00:08:56] Verse 23.
[00:08:59] And being let go, they came to their own company. It's an interesting little phrase. And reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them. And they, when they heard it, lifted up their voice to God with one accord and said, o Lord, thou that didst make the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that is them is who by the Holy Spirit, by the mouth of our father David, thy servant did say, why did the gentiles rage? And the peoples imagine vain things? The kings of the earth set themselves in array, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his anointed fall of a truth in this city, against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou didst anoint. Both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the gentiles and the peoples of Israel were gathered together to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel foreordained to come to pass. And now, Lord, look upon their threatenings and grant unto thy servants to speak thy word with all boldness, while thou stretchest forth thy hand to heal. And that signs and wonders may be done to the name of thy holy child Jesus.
[00:10:11] And when they had prayed, the place was shaken, wherein they were gathered together, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. And they state the word of God with boldness.
[00:10:24] Lastly, one more very well known scripture in Matthew, chapter six, verse nine and ten.
[00:10:40] After this manner, therefore, pray ye.
[00:10:45] Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
[00:10:51] Thy kingdom come, thy will be done as in heaven, so on earth.
[00:11:03] Thank you.
[00:11:05] Now we'll sing one more hymn before we come to our study. Number three.
[00:11:11] Now shall we just have one further word of prayer?
[00:11:15] Dear Lord, as we come to thee this evening in all our need. And, Lord, thou knowest there is need in all our hearts and lives. Area of need, we thank thee. Thou hast promised in thy word that thou wilt supply our every need according to thy riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Now, our beloved father, we take the provision for our need. We take the provision, Lord, that we need in every single way. And we pray that thou wouldst meet with us, Lord. O dear Lord, we do pray that thou wouldst stand against our just hearing words, hearing things that we think we know. Lord, we pray that by thy spirit thou wouldst reveal to our hearts something of the true content, something of the true meaning of this matter. Lord, thou knowest alone how our lives, individually and corporately, could be transformed if we were to really understand something of this matter. Lord, meet with us this evening. To that end. For our faith, Lord, is not in the speaking, nor in our hearing, but in the blessed and gracious ministry of the Holy Spirit to us all and through us all, in his name. Amen.
[00:12:48] Well, now, this evening I've been asked just to say a little bit more about the matter of executive prayer. What do we mean by executive prayer and action in his name? First one, a little word of warning. It is only one aspect of prayer, and it is only one aspect of our life together. There are many, many aspects in prayer. There is communion, there is devotion, there is worship, there is supplication, which is inquiry. When we want to find out what the Lord means, we inquire of the Lord. There is an awful lot in the Bible about inquiry, and I think we all know that it's because we have not inquired of the Lord sometimes that we make the most terrible mistakes. We think we know that's the danger of knowledge, even so called spiritual knowledge, biblical knowledge, because we know, we think we can act independently on the basis of what we know. And then we find we've made a mess. Something goes wrong. We don't understand why we've made a mess. That's why inquiry of the Lord is such a vital and important thing in every part of our lives. That's why the high priest in the old days had the urim and the thummim, those stones that we know so little about, which were on the breastplate or either carried in a purse on the breastplate of the high priest's garments or were actually set in, if we believe normal christian tradition, because we have nothing in the world, is to clear up this matter. They were kept in a kind of purse that was strung on the briskly to the high priest, and they were like dice, and he took them out. And when someone came to inquire, like King David did, he threw them down on the ground after a word of prayer. And the way they fell was either yes or no or wait.
[00:14:50] Just like lots, casting of lots.
[00:14:53] Jewish tradition, rabbinic tradition is much more interesting. And even if it's not true, it contains a wonderful lesson for us. It is that these two stones were great diamonds, and they were set in the high priest's breastplate. And when a man inquired of the Lord, they either shone radiantly and clearly, or they clouded.
[00:15:18] And if they clouded, it was no.
[00:15:22] And if they shone clearly, it was yet. Well, whether that's a legend or not, the fact is that that's just what happens when we inquire of the Lord. We either have a sense of life, as we say. We either have a sense of the anointing, being with us, a moving within our spirit, not our soul, but in our spirit.
[00:15:41] Or we have what we say, peace about something.
[00:15:45] There's a clear shining of the Lord as we inquire. Or there's cloud, mist, darkness, death. We say unrest, or whatever it is, is true. Now, I'm not talking about inquiry this evening.
[00:16:04] Important as that matter is to the life and well being of us all as the Lord's people and individual. I'm not talking about that.
[00:16:20] I'm talking tonight about just one aspect of prayer, which is executive prayer. Now, what do we mean by executive prayer? Well, we do not mean petition or inquiry or worship or praise or discussion. You know, some people tend sometimes to discuss things in prayer. That's not wrong, especially if you're discussing it with the Lord.
[00:16:51] We're just disgusting. We let all the cats out of the bag and sort of just say everything you see. Discussion. No, that's not what we're talking about. We are talking about the carrying of God's word, of God's will, of God's command into concrete effect.
[00:17:17] That's executive prayer, the actual taking of the mind of God, the will of God, the word of God, and putting it into effect.
[00:17:32] So we're not saying, Lord, what should we say as an example? We're not saying Lord, oh, dear, give me an example, somebody.
[00:17:46] I'm sorry.
[00:17:48] Yes. We're not saying.
[00:17:50] That's a rather hard example, actually. But still, we're not saying nor just bless, aren't so and so.
[00:17:59] We're not just sort of saying, please do it.
[00:18:03] Well, I'll give you a good example. This hut, that's a perfect example. We weren't just saying, Lord, please remove it.
[00:18:15] But we're saying something much more. We are taking whatever the will of God is for that place and saying, it shall be done.
[00:18:23] And one day, when it is done, it's done because we took that ground.
[00:18:29] It's done because we've taken a ground.
[00:18:32] Just like that market garden was claimed ten years ago.
[00:18:37] Ten years ago. You will remember the history when we first got a little whisper of the possibilities and we peeked over the fence and looked and we thought, is this the Lord's territory here, this piece of earth? And so we said, well, the best thing to do is to claim it. So we came together, we claimed it, we took it. Ten years later, it came.
[00:19:04] There was no coincidence. People say, oh, well, it's a coincidence. But when you have coincidence after coincidence like this, it's no longer coincidence.
[00:19:14] It's because we are taking the will of God and the mind of God and the purpose of God and putting it into concrete effect. Now, by executive prayer, we don't necessarily mean that immediately it's visible that something has happened.
[00:19:26] This is where some people stumble. They think, well, now, that means, you see, we do something and immediately it happens. Just like the walls of Jericho. When they walked round them the first day, something should have happened. You can just hear. Some of them knew they were forbidden to speak about the matter.
[00:19:41] And no wonder, otherwise quite a few of them would have said, well, nothing happened when, when. And someone said, oh, shut up, give us another day or two.
[00:19:54] But the other man said, well, I'm not going to shut up. I don't think it's the will of God. We only had to put our feet in the river Jordan and the thing split until we went over.
[00:20:07] We've walked right round this place and it has none of things happened.
[00:20:12] But the fact of the matter is that it's not a question of whether it happens instantaneously or whether it happens after a week or a month or a year. The fact of the matter is, executive prayer is that you have taken the will of God and the mind of God and the word of God and you stood on it, that it may be so in any given situation.
[00:20:37] And then you've got to hold on to that position. And the enemy's whole tactic is to get you to give up, to withdraw from that position, just to sink back into a kind of morass of doubt and fear.
[00:20:56] Well, now, that is executive prayer and action. To execute something, or the word executive means to carry a plan, a command, a sentence into effect. The Oxford Dictionary tells us to carry a command, a sentence or a plan into effect. An executive is someone who makes something valid by signing executive of the firm. He has the right to execute the business of the firm. He has a right to carry into actual practice the mind of the directors or the firm, whatever it is. You understand? Now, when we speak about executive prayer and action, we're not talking about inquiring of the Lord as to whether this course is right or that course is right or that is right. Nor are we talking about just simply finding out what the mind of the Lord is on any other given subject. You know, we might want to know. Well, what is the word? What is the Lord's idea behind the ministry of women, shall we say? What is the Lord's mind about that? You see, what has he got to say in the word? We say our Lord Yeshua, we're inquiring. This is not what we're talking about. We're talking about when we know what the mind of the Lord is, when we know what the will of the Lord is, when we know what the word of God is, then we stand on it for its execution.
[00:22:44] Now, don't ask me because it's a mystery.
[00:22:49] And the christian life and church life is filled with mysteries.
[00:22:57] Don't ask me why the Lord waits for us to ratify his will, but he does. It seems to be the principle of the body, the head and the body, that the head will not work without the body. I don't know why, but it is infinite grace and mercy. It's as if the Lord says, now, look here, I'm not going to work without you. I could. I could, but I'm not.
[00:23:26] I'm going to work with you, through you and by you.
[00:23:32] So that if you know my mind and will and you ought to grow up in such a way that you can discern it, then together you can stand with me for the carrying into effect of that will and that mind. Now, that is what executive prayer is.
[00:23:56] It's as if we take something that has been decided in heaven and we take it together and we write on it at the bottom. The church in Richmond side said it done.
[00:24:13] Now, death. Don't think for a single moment that means, oh, the Lord says, are they wonderful people down there?
[00:24:20] Look at them.
[00:24:22] Such sweet christians, such zealous christians, such knowledgeable christians, such experienced christians, such.
[00:24:38] All the other things that he could say about us. No, the Lord doesn't say any of that at all. He might look down and say, what an unworthy quail.
[00:24:47] What a mess.
[00:24:49] What confusion, what weakness, what ignorance. But he may say, look what they've done.
[00:24:58] They'll find something.
[00:25:02] Well, then he'll have to say, I'll have to do it.
[00:25:05] Now, that's very extraordinary, because just down the road there is a marvellous group.
[00:25:11] Or perhaps we better say just up the hill, as someone thinks. I'm talking of some other group. Just up the hill, there's a maw and a swoop and the Roman says, what seal there is there?
[00:25:24] What knowledge there is there? Why, they hardly need Bible studies there.
[00:25:29] They all know it. Marvellous crowd. Marvellous crowd. And they've got a lot of love there, a lot of experience. When you put them all together and pool their experience. But you say, what can we do? They never sign a thing I give them.
[00:25:47] So, you see, all we can do is leave them a sort of beautiful old age home.
[00:25:57] Everything is beautiful up there. In one way, it's a very wealthy kind of home.
[00:26:02] They're already refined, educated, nice people, but we can't do anything because they know it. They're elite spiritually. They've got real measure spiritually, but they never sign anything.
[00:26:18] Now don't think that this is nonsense, what I'm talking even, and I put it in a very childish way because it goes right to the root of the matter. That's why the Lord honours a simple person. Sometimes we have someone come into this place and we all think, well, if we. Now I'm talking for myself now, I would perhaps say if I saw that person, I wouldn't give twopence for them, let alone ask them to stand on the platform and speak. Yet when we get to know, we find they had the most amazing history behind them, their most amazing history.
[00:26:50] Why?
[00:26:53] Because they've learned to take the mind of God and execute it. It's as simple as that.
[00:27:04] Of course, really what I'm talking about basically is faith.
[00:27:11] It's what the Bible calls the prayer of faith, really what we call executive prayer. Prayer of faith.
[00:27:19] When you found out the Lord's will, not trying to persuade the Lord to do something, you have very real misgivings about, or very real doubts as to whether he really wants it, and you're trying to persuade him to do it, that's not the prayer of faith. But the prayer of faith is when the Lord shows you quite clearly what is his way and his will, you stand on that again, another little word of warning. A further word of warning is this, that in this realm we have to be very, very careful of individualism, for it is precisely along this very line of executive prayer. There have been the most casualties amongst the Lord's people, people the enemy. Knowing he can't stop a Christian from really going on with the Lord. He whispers something into the ear, they get some idea of something that they believe is going to come to pass. It's nearly always centered in themselves and always for their own well being.
[00:28:22] And he breathes this into the area and then they believe they've got to stand on that and then the enemy draws them out. They become a casualty.
[00:28:37] On that line lies deception. That's why I say fellowship is a necessity in the matter of executive prayer, to fellowship in the church to be together, generally speaking. This matter of executive prayer is corporate prayer, generally speaking.
[00:28:57] And even if it can't be the whole church in prayer, then it can be the responsibility brothers or sisters together in prayer. Or just ones or twos.
[00:29:11] And even when it comes to personal matters, sometimes it's good to fellowship with another brother or sister about this kind of thing.
[00:29:21] That's what the word means. It says, two of you shall agree shall be agreed. They shall sympronize together, they shall be not they shall agree to agree, but that they shall be agreed in that sense, that somehow it's an inward thing of the spirit.
[00:29:41] Spirit touches spirit in this letter. And there's a whitlaws, then it's the mind of the Lord.
[00:29:50] Well, there's a lot I could say. We've said a lot in times past about this matter. And I'm here this evening. I'm supposed to be here this evening to define and make it clearer, not to give you much more to think about, but to seek, to just make the whole matter clearer.
[00:30:18] Where, in what realm, in what sphere are we clear, 100% clear, that we're on unshakable and invincible ground.
[00:30:34] Well, my dear family, I think the real ground upon which we're absolutely unshakable is when we come to matters which are to do with the purpose of God for his people.
[00:30:51] Where we have to be most careful is when it comes to things that are self centered, you understand? When they center in ourselves. Now, I'm not saying the Lord doesn't show things to each one of us personally about our conditions, about our way. He does, but there's always more danger.
[00:31:09] But for instance, take this word. Take this word, this one simple word, and I say that this one word is the key to telling history, the key to church history. And I'll tell you what it is, the key to the so great a collapse that has taken place in evangelicalism. What is the, the word? Matthew 1618. Thou art Peter. Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I say that's the key to church history. But you say, of course everyone agrees. Yes, yes, and maybe they do. But isn't it a common teaching that the concept of God concerning the church, the nature of the church, the function of the church, the real organic life of the church has been lost, and therefore we are told. We are now in an age where everyone must make their way individually.
[00:32:08] Denominationalism, divisionism, all this labeling of groups and sects has come to stay, we're told, so we must accept it. The middle wall to petition. And all we've got to do is to try and shake hands over the wall.
[00:32:25] As one dear pastor put it, let's never build a wall too high that we can't shake hands over it, and if so, let us get a step ladder, he said, and go up and shake hands over it.
[00:32:44] Well, that's all very good. It sounds very, very sort of broad minded, very, very loving to speak like this, but, my dear friend, should we even be entertaining the thought that middle walls of petition, there are general, general walls of petition such as between Jew and Gentile, which have been abolished by the blood of Christ and the finished work of Christ? We are entertaining even the suggestion that they can remain.
[00:33:10] I say this scripture goes right to the root of it.
[00:33:14] People can even talk of that kind of thing. That is sin, absolute sin of the very first order.
[00:33:25] And therefore, I say this scripture goes to the root of that matter.
[00:33:30] How can I be a Baptist?
[00:33:33] How can I be a Methodist?
[00:33:36] How can I be anything other than a Christian?
[00:33:41] I don't believe in middle walls.
[00:33:45] I've experienced a lot of difficulties, both with myself and with you, but those difficulties, I know, are part and parcel of the church down here. They're quite New Testament. So let us be happy about it.
[00:34:02] Let's not get in a kind of silly, ethereal idea that we're all supposed to be wrapped around one another's necks, sort of twittering in one another's ears, a kind of sickly drooling thing over us all that's not as artificial, but I call United nations.
[00:34:30] All the flags flying outside, and they're all divided into.
[00:34:35] That's all the kind of thing that happens so often. But that's not the church. You look behind me in the new Testament, one single true church, where there are not difficulties, and in some of them there are very big difficulties, things like Jezebel, my word, I'm thankful so far we haven't got that difficulty.
[00:35:01] Come near it now and again, this kind of thing. Nicolaithanism, false teaching, jewish teaching, all this, everywhere, everywhere, have they ceased to be churches? Not. So.
[00:35:16] What shall we do then, when we see all this? Should the apostle Paul have run around and said, now then, dear friends, we must all part?
[00:35:24] No, these were two churches. They weren't labeled, they weren't denominational, they weren't sectarian. They were two churches expressing the unity of Christ.
[00:35:33] They must not. Paul's whole ministry was, you mustn't depart from that ground. Stay there and let the overcoming be done there.
[00:35:42] Now, of course, I'm not saying that we are just to be divided, just to be factious, just to be difficult with one another, just to allow our temperaments to run riot?
[00:35:53] None at all.
[00:35:55] But what I am saying is this, that we do not expect the absence of those things down here, all that being boiled up to the surface.
[00:36:06] So we expect to see a lot of scum while the work's being done.
[00:36:13] But I mustn't stray from the point. I said that, that verse, upon this a rock I will build my church is the key to summer. So it is. So it is.
[00:36:25] What did the Lord say? Did he say, upon this rock I will build my church? Until the end of the open brethren movement.
[00:36:34] I mean, by that, the beginning of the 8th of the 19th century. And then after that, there was no more. And then after that would come terrible days when we first just shrug our shoulders and say, now it's all over, it's finished with. He never said it. He said, upon this rock I will build my church. But he said something more. The gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I am led to believe by some that the gates of hell have prevailed against it. How do I explain scripture?
[00:37:05] I am asked to accept from some quarters that the Lord has given up and forsaken his whole concept and plan and design in the church which he has called.
[00:37:18] I say that to me, is unbelief, blatant, ugly unbelief.
[00:37:29] Therefore, executive prayer is not, Lord, build thy church. Please, Lord, build thy church. Please, please do it, Lord. But the kind of prayer we need, executive prayer in its roommate, is, Lord, thou hast said, upon this rock I will build my church. And, Lord, you're going to do it.
[00:37:52] When we do that, we release life in the atmosphere.
[00:37:57] Every time we come together and we have a really bad time, it's because we're all sinking, each one. If you could only see it, as it were, through sort of. What shall we say? Sort of, yes. X ray spectacles of a spiritual kind. You would see a kind of drooped little spirit in every body.
[00:38:19] Just sort of cinque finished, you say. And what we're really saying is, no good. It's no good.
[00:38:29] And you see, we think that we're the only ones. We can look at them all. No, God. We don't realize that the person next to us is looking at us and saying, no.
[00:38:39] And so you go all the way and then you get a heaviness in the atmosphere. Why? Because it's unbelief.
[00:38:45] Unbelief.
[00:38:47] It's no longer faith. It's unbelief.
[00:38:54] Now, when we take that down and say, lord, you said it, not I.
[00:38:59] You said it upon this rock. And, Lord, you said, thou art Peter. Now, isn't that wonderful? Forget all the catholic overtones or undertones.
[00:39:11] And just think for a moment how wonderful it is that the Lord even put that little word in. He could have easily said, upon this rock I will build my church. Which is the way we normally quote it.
[00:39:24] The more protestant we are, the more we quote it like that. But the Lord didn't say that. He said, thou art Peter. In other words, he was saying, look, here you are, Peter.
[00:39:35] And for all eternity it's there for everyone to read. What happened? The failing Peter, the impetuous Peter. It's all there. But thou art Peter. Upon this rock I will build my church. He played on the word Peter, you know, Petros and Petra. He played on it. And then he said to thee, will I give the keys to this Peter, I will give the keys of the kingdom. In other words, every time Peter said, lord, I'm nothing, I'm nothing. I'm nothing. But upon this rock you're going to build the church. The door swings open and life comes. For whatsoever thou in the singer shall bind, honor shall be bound in heaven. So if you say, no good, life is bound.
[00:40:25] If you say, praise God, I'm nothing. Look at me. Look at me. The ugliest, most worthless saint in this place. Well, I won't even call myself a saint. I'll call myself a sinner.
[00:40:40] But upon this rock, Lord, you're going to build your church, and you're doing it. And then the dam gates open and life comes out.
[00:40:51] That's executive prayer.
[00:40:55] So then what happens is this, that the drooping spirits suddenly become renewed, fulfilled.
[00:41:05] And then strength comes in.
[00:41:10] You see, that's what I say is executive prayer.
[00:41:17] It is that you take something that God has revealed as his will. Well, now, can anyone contradict me on this point? I mean, maybe you feel you can almost. You contradict me, but all I can say is this. You've got the word.
[00:41:32] You've got to have an argument with. The Lord never said, upon this rock will I build my church. Until the 20th century.
[00:41:40] Then the devil will get just that little bit too powerful for me to do it. But don't you worry, I'll get you all there individually.
[00:41:49] He never said that. He said, upon this rock I will build my church. And the gates of hell shall never.
[00:42:00] To thee I give the keys. You use them. You use them. Now, that's why I believe this matter is so important in the last era of this age.
[00:42:10] For doesn't it say in the book of revelation, that there will come a flood of evil?
[00:42:16] Doesn't it say that the only way they will overcome him is by the blood of the lamb, by the word of their testimony? The word that they. That's faith. That's faith. The word of their testimony. Testimony to what? To him, to what he's done, to what he is, in spite of all the flood of evil. And the moment it comes out on the lips, it's faith.
[00:42:42] It's expressed. That's why when you bottle it up, you feel worse. Just say, even in prayer, even in prayer, you can give a word of testimony in your quiet time by just saying, lord, thank you. You've saved me. I feel awful this morning, but you've saved me, Lord, do you know that's a word of testimony you've overcome? You'll go out of that room stronger than you would if you just said, oh, dear, I do feel awful, because it's the word of. You see, the word of your system is not just to people outside.
[00:43:14] It is the accuser of the brethren. They overcame him. It's not the chums to indulge in talk with him, but through the word of your testimony. He hears. He says, what can I do? It's not that you're hitting him, saying, don't you dare talk to me. Then you'll get into trouble. But it's rather that you, through the word of the autism, you say, thank God, I'm a child of God. Thank Lord, though I'm worthy, I am. I'm saved by the blood of the lamb. Thank God I'm a member of the body, the least of all the saints and the chiefest of all the sinners.
[00:43:46] But I'm in the body.
[00:43:49] Then the devil says, oh, dear, the word of their testimony.
[00:43:54] What can the devil do? Dear child of God, because you're telling the truth.
[00:43:59] If you could only tell a lie, see, if you could tell a lie, go back to God and say, he's told a lie.
[00:44:07] He said he was the chiefest of the apostles.
[00:44:12] And then the Lord might say, well, I'm sorry about that. And the devil said, well, let me have him.
[00:44:18] And the law might say, well, I'm afraid I'm going to have to let you have him, because we can't have people going around saying, the chiefest of apostles when he's the chiefest of sinners.
[00:44:29] So you're sieved.
[00:44:32] It's quite simple.
[00:44:35] But when you say, thank God, I'm in the body, how can the devil go to the Lord and say? He says he's in the body.
[00:44:42] What will the Lord say? He is.
[00:44:47] What happens? Word of your testimony washed in the blood of the lamb. What can the Lord say? The Lord says to the enemy, he is.
[00:44:58] You see, it's so simple. Executive prayer.
[00:45:04] Of course, we can talk about it in all kinds of ways. I mean, we know very well of the Lord's plan is to conform us to the image of his son. Isn't that so? Now we also all know how unconformable we are. Or to put it in the words that everyone likes to use. Unconformable, saying rather ugly. We like to use the word nonconformist.
[00:45:26] See? We're non conformist.
[00:45:30] Oh, and how nonconformist we are when it comes to being conformed to the image of his son. But what has the lord said? Foreordained. It says in romans eight, foreordained to be conformed to the image of his son.
[00:45:44] There's a wonderful word for executive prayer. Well, we're going to stand on that till it's done. How is it going to be done? Are you shooting off into your small corner when I into mine?
[00:45:58] Never. The way it's done is by trapping us all together.
[00:46:05] And then when we stay together and go through together, this work does actually take place. Now, we're not at all conscious of it at the time.
[00:46:15] Oh, not at all. But it is done in that way. I must be careful. We won't get to any examples at all in the word. You see, what we've got to do is we've got to take the finished work of Christ and apply it in all its power and fullness and meaning to every situation that comes. Isn't that what executive prayer is? Why just say, thank you, Lord, for this, or praise the Lord for that? Why don't we also sometimes say, Lord, we take that finished work? How can a lie of the devil exist when a young fellow like David Rundle says to me, I just felt so unreal. Why should we allow it?
[00:47:04] Isn't that a direct contradiction to the scripture? Christ was manifested to destroy the works of the devil. Then why do we allow the works of the devil to last one more minute than necessary? How shall we overcome the works of the devil? By doing a war dance.
[00:47:21] The devil would laugh himself hoarse if he could only see us all doing a war dance.
[00:47:27] Why, he would be the best thing that happened for ages as far as he was concerned. Look at them all, he'd say, supposing we had three, four, five Bible studies of the deepest kind. The devil will still say, well, I'm very sorry about them having Bible studies, but I'm rather glad because quite honestly, they're not touching the point.
[00:47:50] Or then it may be that we say, oh, we must rush out and do everything everywhere, all over the place.
[00:47:57] And the devil will say, I'm even more sorry about that because the Lord did say to them, go and preach the gospel.
[00:48:05] But whilst I'm going to honour it, the Lord I know will honor it. The devil might well say, I don't know what to do, but I'm glad they're still being sidestepped.
[00:48:19] They don't know it, but they've been sidestepped.
[00:48:23] How can we get rid of deceptions? How can we get rid of delusions? How can we get rid of the works of the devil? How? What does the word of God say? Christ was manifested. Was manifested. Was manifested to destroy the works of the devil. How was it done? He brought to naught him that had the power of death. Through death.
[00:48:44] It's done.
[00:48:46] It says he nailed it to the cross, triumphing over them in it strict principalities and powers. Naked Colossians, chapter two. It's done, finished work. So we must take that. Now. What happens so often is when we take it. When we first take it, we expect an immediate result. But don't give up. Take it and stand on it.
[00:49:14] The devil knows better than any person in this room the truth of that word.
[00:49:24] And when that happens, the gates of Hades yield.
[00:49:31] They yield. Well, we can go through all other kinds of things. When I say, take the finished work of Christ, what is the finished work of Christ produced for us? Has it not brought forth fullness to us? Isn't Pentecost the outcome of the finished work of Christ? Isn't there therefore, something personal for every single child of God and for us all as a people? Is it not the fruit of his finished work on the cross? Why should we not experience it? Why should we not be in it day to day?
[00:50:04] It's all there. How shall we get it? By running from this speaker to that speaker, from this meeting to that meeting, from this conference to that conference? I had nothing against conferences or the ministries that are within the body, but I'm just saying the motive behind it, it's there for us. The finished workers were it for us. We have to take it. If we could only see it.
[00:50:31] Oh, I mean, we could say very, very much about executive prayer in this matter.
[00:50:38] It touches every realm that there is to be touched.
[00:50:41] We can cover the whole New Testament what does it say? What do we know, dear child of God, to be the will of God for the end of this age? Don't we know it? We know that it is that. The bride make herself ready.
[00:51:00] The bride make herself ready.
[00:51:07] If that is so. We have before us the revealed objective of God for this dispensation, for this age.
[00:51:19] And therefore, we have before us the ground upon which we can, as it were, make valid the mind of God.
[00:51:30] We can take this and say, lord, it's got to be. And it's not only got to be enrichment. Why should it be just cooped up in Richmond? It's got to be in every place.
[00:51:39] It's got to be all over Europe. We're not content with anything else.
[00:51:45] President de Gaulle or no President de Gaulle. It's going to be everywhere.
[00:51:51] Doesn't matter what's happening otherwise. What will happen? Anarchy, confusion, political disorder, the forbidding of preaching the gospel, persecution will come upon us like a wave in the end. And too late we shall wake up. Too late we shall wake up. Some people have got this dreadful muslim type of fatalism in their approach to the will of God. Oh, it'll be. It'll be.
[00:52:24] Whereas the scripture shows us that even though the Lord has said so and so and so and so, it doesn't always will be just like that. There's a mystery there. I know.
[00:52:38] But if the Lord can't find some here, he'll find someone somewhere else, some folk elsewhere, but he'll find them. He'll do it.
[00:52:47] He'll do it.
[00:52:48] Well, now, I think I should draw to a finish and just speak about one or two examples.
[00:52:56] Have we got some examples in the old Testament of executive prayer? I think we have really quite a number of them.
[00:53:05] In actual fact.
[00:53:07] We have, for instance, in Exodus.
[00:53:14] In Exodus and chapter four and verse 18. Now, you will remember about this. It was all about Moses being called. Remember the burning bush? And the Lord speaking to Moses out of the burning bush. And then the Lord said this to him, I'm sorry, that's not right. It's not.
[00:53:52] It's not chapter, it's Exodus four. I'm so sorry. It is Exodus four. It's the first part of chapter four. And the Lord said to him, what is that in thy hand? And he said, a rod.
[00:54:12] And he said, cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground. It became a serpent.
[00:54:17] Moses fled from before it. And the Lord said unto Moses, put forth thy hand and take it by the tail.
[00:54:24] He put forth his hand and laid, hold of it, it became a rod in his hand. Now, this was the rod. That was the sign of the authority of God. If you wanted to use a New Testament term, you would say it was the name of Jesus. The authority of the name of Jesus. Now it was this rod. If you look through those of you who really want to follow this matter, look right through exodus. You will find all the plagues started with the rod. When they lifted up the rod, then this plague, that plague, the other plague. Then you will remember when they went to the Red Sea, they lifted up the rod. Moses lifted up the rod, and across they went. When they needed water, the rod was lifted and touched the rock, and water flowed out all the way through. It was the rod. It was the rod. It was the rod. Why do you think this strange story we have here? What did the Lord tell it into a serpent? For if the Lord wasn't trying to teach us one of the deepest lessons in executive prayer, that is this simple lesson, that it is not something that can be exercised by the soul, life or self life, however you like to put it.
[00:55:37] There's a serpent in there.
[00:55:42] Only when you've let go of your ministry, your function, your position, do you see the serpent. You know that when I hugged something to myself and said, lord's given me this, I'm going to hold on to it.
[00:55:55] And if anyone was to say, you know, the devil's in that, how could they say such a terrible thing? Devil's not in that. Something given me of God, you let go of it, and you'll see the serpent there.
[00:56:10] You'll see it.
[00:56:13] In one sense, this is exactly what had happened with Moses. See, when Moses began, he didn't know there was a serpent in him. And so when he saw those two, the Hebrew and the Egyptian fighting, he got in between them and he slew the Egyptian. He was God's man. He was God's chosen man. He was the man who was going to save the people of God. He stood in between the two of them.
[00:56:33] You know this story. He went for 40 years into the desert. Now, when he was in the desert, he let go of the road.
[00:56:42] And when the Lord spoke to him after 40 years, he said, me and he, he wasn't this kind. Wasn't that false kind of immodesty. Please play the piano. Only not me.
[00:56:53] It was like l r a m, you know, sort of thing. I couldn't possibly do it. I'm awful.
[00:56:58] If anyone else said they were awful, they'd be so offended they wouldn't come back.
[00:57:04] But not that kind of. Some people think the idea is that Moses got a sort of. That kind of thing. Oh, no, Lord, really. In his heart, he was saying, of course I'm the man. I've been here for 40 years waiting. What does he think?
[00:57:16] No, not at all.
[00:57:18] He really believed he was not the man. Why, he'd throw the rod down, and the rod had become a serpent.
[00:57:25] He'd seen for the first time that it was himself. But he'd seen more than that in his ministry. He'd seen that there was a serpent in the ministry. Not something personally malicious, but he couldn't help it. It was constitutional.
[00:57:45] Then the laughter. Take it by the tail. Now, I don't suppose many of you know anything about snakes. I know very little. But what I do know is you never take the serpent by the tail.
[00:57:56] Otherwise it just comes back and stings you.
[00:58:00] Never. So if ever you meet a snake, grab it by the head, the back of the head, pick it up by the back of the head, and it can't do a thing. It can't touch you. Take it by the tail. It'll curl straight round. It'll. You're finished.
[00:58:18] And the Lord said to Moses, take it by the tail. Now, Moses had lived for 40 years in the desert. He knew all about snakes.
[00:58:28] He knew that you don't take a snake by the tail.
[00:58:32] But he did that there were no more human resources. It was faith. You see, I became a rod again.
[00:58:40] Became a rod again.
[00:58:44] It was that rod which was to execute the will of God again and again and again. It was the symbol of executive prayer and action.
[00:59:01] So, of course, if you turn to Exodus 17, you have the wonderful picture of it there in Exodus 17, where you have Moses up on the hill with the rod in his hand and Joshua down in the plain fighting.
[00:59:16] Joshua in the plain fighting. Moses on the hill, praying.
[00:59:21] What a strange battle this was. Don't you think we might have said, look here, everyone. It's God who's going to win this battle. Don't you think we should all go up with him?
[00:59:31] No. Joshua had to stay down there fighting.
[00:59:36] Moses had to stay up there with the rod. And it was the rod. It wasn't Moses. Because if it had been Moses, the moment he just. I mean, I thought if it had just been the presence of Moses, he could have sat.
[00:59:48] But the moment the rod came down, the battle went against the Lord's people. The moment the rod was up, the battle went for the Lord's people. Executive prayer. See, the trouble with a lot of us is we try to battle without the rod.
[01:00:09] So we are all with Joshua down on the plain, furiously battling with the. It was the Amalekites, wasn't it? Yes, the Amalekites, furiously battling with the Amalekites. What have they done? You read the story. It was a divinely given spring and supply of water.
[01:00:28] God had given it to them. Then the Amalekites came along and said, you're not going to have it. We're going to have it. Isn't that just like the enemy? Like the devil, as soon as some precious life springs up, the enemy comes along and says, I'm going to cut you off from there. You thought you were in for the time of blessing and walking with the Lord.
[01:00:46] I'm here now, and you know what we do? We sort of, it says in the scripture, resist the devil.
[01:00:52] You see, fight the good fight.
[01:00:55] So without all ready for the battle, a few hours and we're finished taking out my stretcher because if the devil says take him out, he's left his bible. Take it with you.
[01:01:09] He's finished because we haven't got the secret. The secret was not just Joshua. The secret was Moses with the rod. So unless the rod is being lifted up, which is executive prayer and action in the background, the battling is of no good. They're no avail.
[01:01:30] So we can battle and battle and battle, and what will happen? We shall just get exhausted, that's all. Absolutely exhausted. And the more exhausted we get, the more it comes back on us, because as we begin to get exhausted, we all become tired. And so all little trivial difficulties take on a very large proportion in our lives. We become more and more depressed and so we give up.
[01:01:59] Well, there are so many others, you know. I mean, why? Where can we go to Elijah? Well, now, look at that. Two kings and one kings and chapter 18. Now, you know all about the story, don't you? The altar on Mount Carmel. I mean, you know what happened. The prophets of Baal, 400 of them prayed all day, right the way from dawn till noon. And they danced up and down and cut themselves with knives and swords as they danced. And like dervishes and their blood gushed out and the scripture says very beautifully, and there was no attention given to them. The heavens were like brass.
[01:02:47] Then Elijah built an altar, took twelve stones. There's the church for you. He didn't take just the ten of the northern, although he was a prophet in the northern kingdom. He took twelve whole church unity, built the stones up. Then he dug a ditch and he took a bullock sacrificed it, laid it on the wood and filled the trench with water and then poured water over the whole thing.
[01:03:16] Could a man go further?
[01:03:18] He made it impossible.
[01:03:21] I mean, if I'd been with Elijah, I would have stopped him on the last day. I would have said, all right, all right, all right, let's put the water around. That's for good effect.
[01:03:30] But don't put it there. I mean, even far from heaven, it's not going to burn the water. I mean, that means it's a bit stupid that the trench of water be round about. But he poured it all on. Now, what was that? That was absolute conviction that the Lord was in this thing and that when it was most impossible, the Lord would answer from him and that everyone would see it wasn't Elijah. It was the Lord.
[01:03:53] And that's what he did. Now, that's his executive prayer. Could there have ever been a simpler prayer than Elijah's prayer after the others had prayed from dawn till noon and danced up and down all day and cut themselves with knives till their blood fell out of them? And what does it say here? It just says, hear me, o Lord, hear me. That this people may know that thou, the Lord, art God and thou hast turned their heart back again. The simplest prayer in the whole wide world, the firefell.
[01:04:24] His executive prayer was in the way that he had made it impossible. He knew very well what the Lord was going to do.
[01:04:32] We can go on and we can go on and we can go on, but you'll be here all night.
[01:04:36] If we went on, we could talk about David.
[01:04:41] How David really executed the will of God. We could talk about Jehoshaphat. We could talk about Hezekiah. We could talk about Nehemiah. And you would see in every single instance, it was executive prayer. Remember how Jehoshaphat prayed to the Lord? Stood up and said, lord, you can't let this thing happen. You said in your word that if we turn to you toward the place where thou hast, thou dost dwell, thou hast here. Forgive us and wouldst give victory to us. Now, Lord, here we are. We all stand before you, Judah.
[01:05:13] Our wives, our children.
[01:05:16] We're surrounded by these enemies that are going to blot us off the face of the earth. Now, Lord, we don't ask you to do something because we are wonderful people. Because even we're saved people because of what you've said.
[01:05:26] In other words, it was the word of God. It was there. It was there. The Lord couldn't go back on his word. He committed himself he had already said through Solomon at the dedication temple, if they turn from anywhere towards this place, even if they sinned, they confessed their sin and turned towards this, my dwelling place and lift up their heads, I will answer.
[01:05:47] So they stood on it. Then Jehoshaphat said, right, right. That's the end of it.
[01:05:55] We'll put the choir in front.
[01:06:00] I mean, you know the story. I mean, it was the strangest battle ever fought. Like a Billy Graham mass choir going out in front singing glory songs for the Lord. His loving kindness, endurance, whatever. Praise ye the Lord.
[01:06:16] What a way to win a battle. I mean, don't you think that the others all sort of thought as they saw, well, what kind of world. Look, we'll mop them up. Look at this.
[01:06:26] Look at them. All hymn books.
[01:06:32] We'll just mow them down.
[01:06:35] But you know the story. You know what happened. They were invincible. Why were they invincible?
[01:06:41] Because of executive prayer. Hezekiah was the same. You remember when he came to the walls and rabshaker and Sennacherib came and shouted up, don't listen to that man, Hezekiah, they said in the jewish tongue so that people could hear. He knows very well that we are going to wipe this place as we wiped out all the other cities. And there was the army like that. The sea Jerusalem was laid siege to. It was impartial.
[01:07:10] What did Hezekiah do?
[01:07:12] If you read the story in two chronicles 32, you will see what the Lord said through Hezekiah. Hezekiah encouraged the people. He said, don't you do anything of the kind. The Lord's going to give us the victory in this thing.
[01:07:31] This is what the Lord said. Verse seven and eight. Be strong and of good courage be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him. For there is a greater with us than than is with him. With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves on the worms of Hezekiah, king of choice.
[01:07:59] The situation hadn't changed spiritually. It was the difference between night and day that won the battle.
[01:08:08] Next morning, you know the story. There wasn't what a single one of those armies to be seen. They fled as fast as they possibly could. And when Zenekorab got back, he went into his temple and there one of his own children slew him.
[01:08:22] That was the fate.
[01:08:26] Then you've got another man and I will end here. Another man called Nehemiah. At the very end of the Old Testament, building the walls of jews in the final part of recovery.
[01:08:39] And everything was against him. Everything was against him. And we read here in chapter four of Nehemiah these wonderful words.
[01:08:51] Nehemiah, chapter four, verse 16.
[01:09:02] And it came to pass from that time forth that half of my servants wrought in the work, and half of them held the spears, the shields and the bows and the coats of mail. And the rulers were behind all the house of Judah, they that builded the wall, and they that bare burdens laded themselves. Every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other held his weapon. And the builders, every one had his sword girded by his side. And so. And he that sounded the trumpet was by me.
[01:09:30] And I said unto the nobles and to the rulers and to the rest of the people, the work is great and large. And we are separated upon the wall, one far from another. In what place so ever ye hear the sound of the trumpet that exhort ye thither unto us, our God will fight for us.
[01:09:49] He didn't say, and we will ask the Lord to fight for us. He said, our God will fight for us. And so the outcome was certain, because it was the will of God that the temple should be built, it was the will of God that Jerusalem should be rebuilt. It was the one of God that the walls of Jerusalem should be recovered. And so finally, if I can just find the word, it says somewhere here. And so the work was finished.
[01:10:20] I did note it down, but I've lost it anyway. If you look through Nehemiah, you'll find it. He clearly says it. And so the work of the war was finished.
[01:10:32] Executive prayer.
[01:10:37] Thank you very much, misses luck. Nehemiah 615.
[01:10:43] We'll just read that, because there's no better word to end on. Chapter six, verse 50. So the wall was finished in the 25th day of the Mount Elul in 58. Two daddies.
[01:10:58] Now, don't you think that's wonderful? And don't you think that has something for us? From the youngest to the eldest?
[01:11:07] It is just a question of faith. In the final analysis, it is our attitude to the word of God. If we're going to look at the word of God as something for the mind, something to be revered, something to be held in awe, something to be received, something now and again to be studied, something to be read devotionally, or whether we really believe that this book contains the plan and purpose of God for the ages, and whether we believe we are an integral part of the realization of that plan.
[01:11:45] That's all.
[01:11:48] If the Lord could help us there, I say it would be a tremendous thing indeed.
[01:11:55] May the Lord help every one of us.
[01:11:58] If we hug the rod to ourselves and haven't discovered the serpent in it, to let it go, and then to take it up the other end and discover that it is the authority that is in the name of Jesus to be wielded in the spirit together.
[01:12:30] Shall we pray?
[01:12:34] O beloved Lord, thou knowest so much in all this.
[01:12:40] But we do pray, Lord, that thou wouldst somehow take something of it and write it on our hearts.
[01:12:46] We each need something, Lord. We therefore pray that, as it was once said in days of old, each gathered some more, some less.
[01:12:57] But in the end there was none left over and none wasted. And we pray that this may be so, Lord, even this evening, as thou hast met us in this matter. Teach us by thy spirit, Lord. Don't let it stay in our minds. But, Lord, in our spirits we pray that we may receive of thee in these things and may know thee. And above all, we may know how to. Together in the spirit, by the spirit, to resist the enemy. And to take hold of all that thou dearly won for us at Calvary and given to us through Pentecost. We ask it in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.