A_Short_Series_On_PrayerE°ŅzE°ŅzBOOKMOBI??H ˜˜+˜;˜K˜[˜k˜{˜‹˜ ›˜ «˜ »˜ Ė˜ Ū˜ė˜ū˜ ˜˜+˜;˜K˜[˜k˜{˜‹˜›˜«˜»˜Ė˜Ū˜ė˜ū˜  ˜!˜"+˜#;˜$K˜%[˜&k˜'{˜(‹˜)›˜*«˜+»˜,Ė˜-Ū˜.ė˜/ū˜0 ˜1˜2+˜3;˜4K˜5[˜6k˜7{˜8‹˜9™,:ģ;Ō“<ŌŲ=Õ>”9MOBIääŌĄqd’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’:4:R’’’’’’’’;=<’’’’’’’’’’’’EXTH@,2€ ģ¾ōķ@™@œ@A Short Series On Prayer

Information. 2

Chapter 1 - The Lord And Prayer 3

Chapter 2 - Answers And Prayer 9

Chapter 3 - Fasting And Prayer 15

Chapter 4 - Time For Prayer 21

Appendices. 27


David Legge studied at the Irish Baptist College, Belfast, Northern Ireland. He served as Assistant Pastor at Portadown Baptist Church before receiving a call to the pastorate of the Iron Hall Assembly. He now serves as pastor-teacher of the Iron Hall, and resides in Belfast with his wife Barbara and their daughter Lydia.

The audio for this series is available free of charge either on our website (www.preachtheword.co.uk) or by request from info@preachtheword.co.uk

All material by Pastor Legge is copyrighted.  However, these materials may be freely copied and distributed unaltered for the purpose of study and teaching, so long as they are made available to others free of charge, and the copyright is included. These materials may not, in any manner, be sold or used to solicit "donations" from others, nor may they be included in anything you intend to copyright, sell, or offer for a fee. This copyright is exercised to keep these materials freely available to all.

A Short Series On Prayer - Chapter 1

"The Lord And Prayer"

Copyright 1999

by Pastor David Legge

All Rights Reserved

We're turning in our New Testament to the Gospel of Luke, Luke's Gospel and chapter 11. Luke's Gospel chapter 11 and reading from verse 1: "And it came to pass, that, as he" - the Lord Jesus Christ - "was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil."

Verse 1 says: 'And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples'. Let's just do that and come before the Lord, and ask His blessing and His unction as we come to His word this morning: Our Father in Heaven, we thank Thee for Thy truth and we know that Thy word is truth. Lord, Thy word is more powerful than we can ever imagine and therefore we bow humbly before it, not even realizing what it can do. And Lord, we know that Thy Spirit comes upon Thy word, and we pray that He would come, and He would breathe the breath of life, the breath of God, upon these pages. That He would illumine the figure of the Lord Jesus Christ to each eye here today. Lord, that we would be different believers, even if there is those that have not looked upon Christ in faith, that they would leave this place today, knowing Christ, knowing that they are born again. Lord help us, I need Thy help, fill me with that holy fire, that power of God, that pentecostal power of the Holy Spirit - Lord, that these words may be Thy words. For Christ's sake we pray. Amen.

Many people within the church of Jesus Christ today ask the question - and I'm sure all of us, if we're honest with one another, have asked this question - 'Why no blessing?'. Why no blessing? Why does God not seem to bless us the way He used to bless us? We read about it in books, we watch about it in films, we hear about it from pulpits - how God, in days gone by, God came by His Spirit, even in our land, even in our town, even in this district, up to fifty years ago: God came, and God moved, God revived, God saved, God regenerated - and it was not men that took the glory, but God took the glory because God did it.

Why are so few saved today? Why is there so little weeping within the pew? Weeping of contrition, weeping of penitence for sins that they have committed and they see God in holiness, God standing before them, that they cannot - they cannot - resist Him, and they fall on their knees in conviction of sin and they cry for mercy. Why? Why does it no longer happen? We know that it happens across the world. We were hearing from Eric even on Wednesday night how in places like Vietnam, in China, in Korea, God is moving - in South America God is moving. Now, I don't know about you, but as I see God moving all around the world it makes me - and I hope it's a holy jealousy - I covet that blessing! I long to see a day when in East Belfast, when in Iron Hall, when in Ulster, when in all of Ireland, God came again in blessing!

The question was often asked within the Old Testament, 'Where is the God of our fathers?'. The question was asked by Elisha, 'Where is the Lord God of Elijah?'. Gideon, as he stood there, he cried this prayer in Judges 6 and verse 13: 'Oh Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us and where be His miracles that our fathers have told us of?'. I don't know about you, but there are times - and I'm being honest with you this morning - there are times that I feel like that. Here is God's word, here are His promises, we can claim them as God's people but nothing, nothing seems to happen!

Now I've only been preaching much shorter a period than many people sitting before me, but in the time that I have been doing this, I have found it so hard to stand before people to preach the word of God and to watch, evening after evening, as men and women, as children walk out of the door seemingly unconvicted, seemingly untouched by the word of God, by the Spirit of God, or by the power of God. Now, I know that I cannot see into the heart of a man, and I know that I don't know what's going on in a man's mind, or a woman's heart - but my friend I hear it so often said to me to comfort me, 'As long as you sow the word of God, that is you being faithful'. You can challenge me with this afterwards: in the law of nature and the law of the harvest, it would be a strange if there was sowing continually going on but the fruit was never ever reaped. And every seed that is sown, some reaping will take place  - it will either be a reaping of judgement or a reaping of justification. My friends, I believe one of the answers - you can't give a blanket answer for these problems today, and let's face it today, it is a problem. There are many answers, but one of them I believe is this, it's found in James 4 and verse 2 and it's seven simple words, where James said to that little church: 'Ye have not because ye ask not'. He went on to say, 'Ye ask and receive not because ye ask amiss that ye may consume it upon your lusts'.

Maybe you are asking for things, maybe you're asking God to bless - but you're asking with the wrong motives, you're asking because you want to squander it, you want to take pride in it, you want to make a name in it, you want it to happen in your church and not someone else's church. But something is happening brethren, something is going wrong, we are either not asking or we are asking amiss. I wonder like these disciples of old, in Luke chapter 11 and verse 1, do we need the Lord Jesus Christ to teach us to pray again, do we? Do we need Him to teach us to pray again?

You might say, 'Well, I know how to pray'. It's interesting, isn't it, that in this passage of Scripture the disciples who had sat and listened to the Lord Jesus Christ and had watched those honey, golden words drop from His lips day by day, hour by hour, they did not run to Him and say 'Lord teach us to preach!'. No, they realized that it was useless to preach, unless they knew how to pray. Isn't it interesting that within the word of God, God calls His house, God calls the place where He dwells - and today that is the church of the living God, not a building but you and I who are believers - He says 'My house shall be...', not a house of preaching. How many houses of preaching do you know? Can our churches - and this is the word that God has laid upon my heart - can our churches become preaching centres? Where we come to meet a preachers message, rather than coming to meet God, and do business with God, and find God, and look into the very face of God? He said 'My house shall be a house of prayer'!

Franz Baker, a Dutchman, said this: 'No matter who we are, if we haven't personally learned what it is to pray, we will meet an unknown God after death'. What a tragedy! To name the name of Christ, to name the name of Jehovah, but to live a life that is ignorant of who He is, of the power that He has, of what He can do in our families, what He can do in our lives, what He can do in our assembly - to not have ever tapped in to the dynamite, atomic power of God!

John chapter 13 and verse 15 says this, the Lord Jesus Christ says: 'For I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done for you'. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ, in some ways, is not our example and in other ways He is our example. He is not our example simply because we could never hope, ever, to live the way that He lived. In fact, the only life that God is pleased with today, and any day, is His life - the Lord Jesus Christ. So it must be His life that lives through us, and that practices what He practiced, to please God. His life, through His Spirit, must live through us. We can never, ever hope to emulate what Jesus Christ did. But thinking about that, when we have His Holy Spirit within us, when we know the power of God in our lives, we then have to follow Him, and follow His footsteps, and seek to emulate what He did.

And therefore, this morning, in the few minutes that remain, I want us to learn a lesson from the prayer life of the Lord Jesus Christ. And there are four questions that I want us to ask of the Lord Jesus concerning His prayer life. The first one is this: Where did He pray? The second is: When did He pray? The third thing is: How did He pray? And the fourth thing: Why did He pray? Now I want to stress that this is not an exhaustive list about the prayer life of the Lord Jesus Christ - but it is the things that I believe we need to be [reminded] of.

Christ Jesus taught His disciples how to pray. Isn't it lovely when you hear a person, who is a new born babe in Christ, not long out of the womb of God, and you hear them pray for the first time, isn't it beautiful? It's like a child that has only learnt to walk, and maybe then they learn to talk and the first words that they speak to their mother or father - isn't it beautiful? It's something that the mother or father looks out for, it's something that they remember. And oh, how beautiful it is to listen to a new born babe in Christ speak the first words to Abba Father. There's no lingo, there's no rehearsed language, there's no set sentences, sometimes they get their words muddled up and maybe we think they don't use the right words - I don't know, but God, I believe this morning, thinks it is beautiful because it is from their heart! And many of us who pride ourselves in the fact that we do not believe in a liturgy - we do not read prayers - many of us rehearse our own liturgy when we rehearse it over and over again.

My friends, this morning, I want us to look at the prayer life of the Lord Jesus Christ, but I want us to learn something. Where did He pray? Well if you were to turn with me to Matthew chapter 14 and verse 23, Matthew 14 and verse 23 we read this: 'When he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone'. That's the first place that we read of the Lord Jesus Christ praying, He prayed on a mountain. Then we read, in Luke chapter 5 and verse 16, that He also prayed in a desert, it says He withdrew Himself into the wilderness and He prayed. Both Matthew 14 and Luke 5 tell us that He prayed on a mountain, in a desert - but He prayed alone.

Was it not the Lord Jesus Christ that said, it is the hypocrites that stand on the street corner, that cry and pray aloud in public because they want to be seen of men, but in their closet there is an emptiness, there is a coldness, there is a lifelessness! Could that be us? Do we pray in public? Men, do we pray in public, but we do not pray in our closets? Could there be a facade? Let me ask you the question: does the closet - in general terms today, in the Christian evangelical world - does the closet exist? Does it? Does it really happen, where there is a place - and what the Bible is trying to get across to us when it said, 'Jesus went to a mountain', 'The Lord Jesus went to the desert', is this: that the Lord Jesus Christ got alone. Because He knew that it wasn't until He cut Himself off from the rest of humanity and He got in contact, 'electrical' contact with God, that things would start to happen. Is the powerhouse of evangelical religion dead? Is it? The place in your home - do you have a place? Where you have set aside as a place where daily you go to pray before God, to seek His face, to seek His blessing, to seek His salvation for the lost? Is there? Is there a place?

You know, the reason why I believe in many households there is not a place like this is because it's extremely hard. It is extremely hard - do you know why? Because no one is watching you apart from God. We can do great things for God, can't we, when the church watches us. We can do great things for God when our family watches us, or even when the unsaved watch us - but when we are alone with God, oh, it's hard even to spend five minutes with Him!

Why is the prayer meeting the least attended meeting in the church? I believe, sincerely, it's because you can't 'tart' a prayer meeting up. The essence of a prayer meeting isn't singing, the essence of the prayer meeting isn't getting your ears tickled with some new doctrine or new way of presenting it, but the essence of a prayer meeting is: you and God, and no one else - and that's hard. My friends this morning, do we have a place where we pray? Where we intercede Almighty God?

But secondly look at this: when the Lord Jesus prayed. If you look at Mark chapter 1 and verse 35 you read there, Mark chapter 1 and verse 35, that Jesus Christ prayed in the morning. Why did He pray in the morning? Well He prayed in the morning simply because He wanted to give the best hours of His day as a steward of the time that He had - He wanted to give His best to God. Watchman Nee had a little phrase like this, 'No Bible, no breakfast'. If he didn't get to read his Bible in the morning, or to get before the face of God in prayer he put everything back in the day that was ahead, simply because this was the most important appointment that he could possibly have. The great preacher Spurgeon said, 'Let God's face be the first face that you look into in the morning, let God's voice be the first voice that you hearken to day by day.

Do you pray in the morning? It'd be crazy to hear of someone who had a big Ulster fry for their breakfast, but they had it at evening. Wouldn't it? They're feeding their face and their body, in order to prepare them for the day, for a day, ahead yet they go to bed and they sleep on it. And then when they wake in the morning, what happens? They're not ready, they're not fit, they're not full of energy for the day that lies ahead - but so often that's what we do. We feed ourselves spiritually before we go to bed, and then we go to bed and squander it all. But the Lord Jesus Christ, He prayed in the morning. But we look in Mark 6:42 and we see that He also prayed in the evening. You see prayer, prayer is the key of the morning, it's the bolt of the night. And the day that is spent in communion before God - the word of God seems to indicate, and I believe it teaches - should be ended on your knees in prayer. What about Daniel? What about Daniel? Three times a day he prayed. Well, I believe that he didn't pray three times in the morning, but he probably spread them over the whole day, morning, afternoon and evening. David testifies to it, he says, 'Evening, morning, afternoon will I pray and cry aloud and He shall hear my voice'. Do you pray in the evening?

But this is what I'm really getting at, believers, this morning. It says in Luke chapter 6 and verse 12, that the Lord Jesus Christ - He prayed all night. It says this: 'He went into a mountain to pray, and continued in prayer all night to God'. I'm being honest with you this morning, that this is something that in the flesh seems impossible - and let me ask you today: when was the last time you heard of a fellowship of believers in Northern Ireland who met all night in prayer? When was it? Now ask yourself why the blessing doesn't come down! When was the last night I met with God all night? Personally, me, you? When was the last time, as a follower of Jesus Christ, I actually followed Him for a change and did what He did?

Charles Chinkweed (sp?) who was converted out of Roman Catholicism, and wrote that famous book 'Fifty years in the Church of Rome'. One day he preached a sermon - and the figure is unknown - but it seems that there were hundreds of people, maybe even thousands of people that day, that trusted the Lord Jesus Christ in simple faith - but do you know what the secret of that sermon was? He spent the twenty-four hours before it on his knees before God in prayer. Now listen! That is what twenty-four hours before God can do! And we can cry to God in our simple prayers, in our little prayers, in our weak prayers: 'Lord, why are You not blessing? Why are You not moving? Why do we not see people saved?'. But deep down within my heart, I'm not willing to count the cost. He prayed all night

That's where the Lord Jesus Christ prayed, He prayed alone; when He prayed, morning, afternoon, and evening and all night at some occasions. But how does the word of God say that He prayed? It says, in Matthew 26 and 39, that He prayed in the will of God. Now I'll hopefully deal with that in weeks that are still to come, about how we pray in God's will and how we get our prayers answered. It says also, in Luke 22 and verse 41, that He knelt in prayer. He got upon His knees before God and He prayed. Now, that doesn't mean that we have to kneel to pray, it says that Enoch walked with God, Enoch walked and talked with God. It says in the Psalms that David lay upon His bed and cried out to God. It says in other places that men sat and talked with God, but the point is this that their outward act signified an inward, an inward position. The Lord Jesus Christ, when He was on His knees before God, body, soul and spirit - He was in submission to Him.

But this is what I really want you to see about how He prayed. It's found in Matthew 26, if you turn with me to it, Matthew 26 and 42 - and we have there the account of the Lord Jesus Christ in the garden of Gethsemane. Matthew 26 and verse 42: 'He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done'. It says there, 'the second time'. Then verse 44: 'And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words'. He had prayed those words once, He had prayed them twice, He prays them now the third time and the point is simply this: that the Lord Jesus Christ was a persevering pray-er.

I want you to grasp this today, this is no church father we're talking about, this is no reformer, this is no revivalist, this is the blessed Son of God - and He prays, three times, the same thing. What does persevering prayer mean? It means this, it simply speaks to God and tells God that we mean - we really mean - and want what we're praying for. See if you're willing to hold on to a thing, if you're willing to grab God, if you're willing - like the Lord Jesus Christ said in Luke 18 verse 1: 'Men ought always to pray and not to faint' - to stand there in prayer before God until the sweat drops from you, until the strength dries from your very veins, crying upon God like Jacob: 'I will not let Thee go until Thou bless me' - that is persevering prayer! To wrestle, to wrestle with God.

There's a story that's told of two monks in St. Catherine's monastery, near Mount Sinai in  Egypt. And twelve centuries ago those two monks vowed a vow of silence to one another, simply for this reason: to devote their lives perpetually to adoration, and to petition to the God of heaven. They were chained to one another through a cell. Think of it! As young men they vowed this vow that they would not speak but only to God - and through this cell this chain came and it chained unto their wrists, and whenever one needed to sleep and had finished praying he would tug the chain and the other would feel it and he would begin praying. And for all their lives they spent in prayer, until they died and their last request was that they would stay in those chains. And you can go today and visit their skeletons still in chains!

Now I'm not going to analyse the morality and the theology of that - but all I want to ask you this morning is this, do you not admire their devotion? Do you not? What drives a man or a woman to give their life over to prayer in such a way - whether they do it in sincerity, or whether they do it wrongly, or whatever it may be - what makes them do it? They're persevering pray-ers. When God visited the Moravians - who were a religious organisation and community - in the early days when God came in blessing upon them, what they did was they recognized and they appointed two prayer bands, one of men and the other of women. And there were 24 women and 24 men appointed - and one man and one woman out of each of those groups was assigned to an hour of the day, and they set apart those people, and continually for 100 years, two groups of those Moravians prayed over every hour, every minute, every second of every day. That's persevering prayer! Do you know what the result of that was? The revolution that we heard this morning from Raymond - the French Revolution - it was about to spread into England but those prayers stemmed it. Why? Because those prayers gave birth to two men, John and Charles Wesley, who were used of God to revive sweepingly over England and even across into America, the breath of God. What happened? The Moravian Church, through Moravian missionaries, was multiplied three times same as their home church that they had left. Why? Because they were persevering pray-ers!

'But I can't get out of my bed in the morning, I take the extra minutes. I can't cut my social life, I can't cut the amount of hours I watch the television, the things I read, the sport I play - not that they are wrong - but they will not, and I will not let prayer encroach upon my life!'. Is that not what we are like?

My friends, I am looking smack into my own face this morning and I think that I'm looking into yours and all I'm doing is asking us to rethink this again - to look at our Lord Jesus Christ and to ask the question, ought we not to be like Him? He prayed perseveringly, He prayed earnestly, Luke 22:44 says: 'He sweat as it were great drops of blood'. Earnest prayer! Fervent prayer! Bunyan said, 'The best prayers have often more groans than words'. Why? Because sometimes what is in our heart - if God gives us a burden - cannot be put into words, and we groan to God. And isn't it great that God loves prayers like that, simply because He is a God who searches the heart, not searches the mouth. Do we, do we pray earnestly?

What is earnest prayer? I want to read you a story written by Dr. Wilbur Chapman, and he wrote this to a friend in a letter, he said this: 'I have learned some great lessons concerning prayer. At one of our missions in England the audience was exceedingly small, but I received a note saying that an American missionary was going to pray for God's blessing to come down upon our work, the man's name was 'Praying Hyde'. Almost instantly', he says, 'the tide was turned, the hall became packed, and at my first invitation fifty men accepted Christ as their Saviour. And as we were leading out of the building I said, 'Mr. Hyde I want you to pray for me'. He came to my room' - listen to this! - 'he turned the key in the door and he dropped to his knees. And he waited five minutes without a single syllable coming from his lips and', he says, 'I could hear my own heart thumping and his beating. I felt hot tears running down my face, I knew I was with God. Then, with upturned face, while the tears were streaming he said, 'Oh, God'. Then for five minutes, at least, he was still again. And then, when he knew that he was talking with God, there came from the depths of his heart such petitions for me as I had never heard before, and I rose from my knees to know what real prayer was'.

My question, as we close this morning, is this: Do you know what real prayer is? The fourth, and last, question. Where He prayed, when He prayed, how He prayed, why He prayed. John chapter 5 and verse 30 we read this, listen, I want you to grasp this! This is the eternal Son of God speaking, this is the second person of the blessed holy Trinity, this is the One who set the stars in space, the One who named the stars! And in John 5 and verse 30 he says this: 'I can of my own self, do nothing'. I can't enter into the magnanimity of that, I can't enter into the humility of that - that Christ could do nothing! He couldn't do anything! So much so, that He had to spend His life resting in prayer, the only break that He could get from the work was to pray to God - for He knew that if He didn't pray to God, His work, even as the Christ, would come to nothing. My friends this morning, this is the Lord Jesus Christ who did no wrong, who knew no wrong, who learned obedience in His self through the pain that He had to bear - yet we think that we can get away without prayer! I can't do it, you can't do it, because Christ couldn't do it.

There's a story that's told of African missionaries who went out to tell the Gospel to those who were dying in their sins, pagans. And there was a great revival that broke out within that little township and what happened was simply this - they didn't have a church to go to pray in - but what they used to do was they all, each individual little African Christian, used to walk to their own little 'cathedral' in the forest, and there they waited upon God. But as they walked, day by day, to their little temple - with the trees, and the flowers, and the birds of the air - each one would walk a little trail in the long grass. And day by day, morning by morning, evening by evening as they walked, continually, they trampled down this trodden path in the long grass. Do you know what used to happen? Whenever a brother was not praying, whenever he had backslidden a little, whenever he had grown cold, one brother used to say to another: 'Brother, your grass is growing'. Is our grass growing? Do we need, as we close this morning - and I'm sorry for going a few minutes over - as we close, do we need to ask: 'Lord, teach us to pray'?

Dear Lord Jesus Christ, we ask Thee today in our lives, in our homes, in our assembly here, Lord: teach us to pray. Amen.

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Transcribed by Judith Watkins, Preach The Word - September 2000

www.preachtheword.co.uk

info@preachtheword.co.uk

A Short Series On Prayer - Chapter 2

"Answers And Prayer"

Copyright 1999

by Pastor David Legge

All Rights Reserved

We're turning to Luke chapter 11, Luke chapter 11, and you'll remember that last Sunday morning we began a study - leading up to the week of prayer that we will be having in the first full week of September - and we were thinking on this subject of prayer. Last Sunday morning, you'll remember, we thought of 'The Lord and Prayer', and this morning we're going to think of the subject: 'Answers and Prayer', and next Sunday morning - hopefully, God willing - we will be thinking on the subject of 'Fasting and Prayer'. And then possibly, if we have time and if time permits, we will think of the subject of 'Revival and Prayer'.

Now, I said a wee prayer there because I'd lost my notes, but I've now found them and we're turning to Luke chapter 11 and verse 1: "And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples". And you'll remember that's the verse that we thought about last Sunday morning - it was the fact that they saw Jesus praying, it was after they saw Him rise from prayer that they asked Him to teach them to pray, because they saw the way in which He prayed.

Verse 2: "And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened".

 

Let's come before the Lord, just as we come to His word, and ask His help in a word of prayer: Our dear Father, we come to Thee, as our Lord Jesus Christ taught us to pray, and we ask of Thee help, this morning. We seek the power of God to be in this place, we knock upon the door of God and ask that it may be opened unto us, and Lord, dear God, You would grace us with Thy presence. Help me I pray today, fill me I pray with the blessed Spirit of the living God. For Christ's sake. Amen.

'The atomic bomb will never go off, and I speak as an explosive expert'. That is what Admiral Leahey (sp?) said in 1945 - and we all know that the atomic bomb did go off. An aviation expert, Octave Channet (sp?), predicted these words, and I quote: 'Aeroplanes will eventually go fast, they will be used for sport, but they are not to be thought of as commercial vehicles'. And we know what happens today is that thousands of people weekly, daily even, are shuttled across our world by large jumbo jets. Perhaps more significant, one man, Lieutenant Joseph Ives (sp?) in 1861, after his exploration of the Grand Canyon in the US of A, he stated abruptly: 'The Grand Canyon is of no value at all, it is altogether useless', he went on to say, 'Ours has been the first and, indeed, doubtless the last party of white people to visit this profitless location'. You all know this morning that the Grand Canyon brings in more tourists in the United States than any other scene there. But what was this? Three seemingly experts that dictated negatively about something that has been proven today to be absolutely positive. There is, as we read their statements, a spirit of negativism. In their predictions, in what they have said, it resounds [through] it all - they think of something and they say it will never, ever happen. But if you turn with me, not just to the passage that we read together this morning, but to Mark's Gospel and chapter 11 and verse 24, we read similar words to the words that we read earlier. The Lord Jesus Christ said in chapter 11 and verse 24: 'Therefore I say unto you, What things so ever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them'.

I want to relate to you a personal story from my own life. On one occasion I preached within a church, and I preached on this verse that I've just read in Mark chapter 11. And after it, I was imploring and exhorting and encouraging the people of God to ask God for their desires according to His will, to claim His promises, to put their faith in God and His word. And after it I was pulled over by a senior gentleman in the church, and he began to go into all sorts of spiritual and theological contortions in order to show me that that verse of Scripture is not for today. Is it? Or is it not?

We read in church history of a man called George Mueller, and this man in the last century was a man who - personally speaking - he moved the obstacle of unbelief in his own life. He testified of himself that, 'God has never failed me yet'. And in seventy years of looking after young children and orphans he testified that God - as 9500 orphans had gone through his hands - God had provided every single meal for them. In his seventy years of life he testified - and remember it's last century we're talking about - that he received $7,500,000 - that was last century! He declared that he had no committees, he had no collectors, there was no voting, there was no endowment or envelopes, all he had was faith in God. It was God answering to believing prayer.

 

One of the incidents that is written in his biography, is about when this man - George Mueller, this man of prayer and intercession and faith - was going on a journey to Canada, to preach in the city of Toronto. We read within the story that something awful happened on his journey, that a very dense fog fell upon the ship and the whole of the ocean. Suddenly, to the captain's door there was a great knocking. And there, as the captain opened the door, was George Mueller standing there. He said to the captain: 'Sir, I must be in Toronto to preach tomorrow'. The captain stared right into his face and he said, 'Well sir, there is simply nothing I can do about this, because I am not moving from where I am for fear of colliding with another vessel - and you will have to wait until the weather makes that possible'. George Mueller looked at him and said, 'In forty years of serving God I have never missed an appointment yet, and I will be there'. And he implored the captain to drop to his knees, and both of them fell on their knees and Mueller - he did not shout, he did not cry - he simply, in simple faith, implored God that He would lift the fog and that tomorrow he would be in Toronto. Then the captain began to pray, and as soon as he had started to pray Mueller tapped his shoulder and he says, 'You don't need to pray, sir. Because you don't believe'. The man was a little irate, a little annoyed at this wasting - as he saw it - of his time and he walked immediately out of his cabin - only to be absolutely astonished, because the fog had lifted. Mueller stood with a look upon his face as if to say, 'I knew it, I knew this would happen', because Mueller was a man who knew what it was to pray to God, but not just to pray to God, but to have God answer his prayers.

Do you know what that is this morning? Do I know what that is? Not just simply to pray generally, 'Lord, if it's Your will I pray that You'll do it'. Not just to come before God and pray for all the missionaries, and to pray for all the pastors, and preachers, and all of God's people, and all of the sick - but to actually come to God with specific requests and to get from God specific answers.

There are three things that I want to leave with you this morning in relation to answers and prayer. The first thing I want to deal with is this: some of the prophets of prayer in the Old Testament. Then I want us to look at the prayer of faith within the New Testament. And then quickly if we have time I want us to look at some practical hints concerning answers to prayer.

The first thing is this: prophets of prayer. I don't know about you this morning, but my mind goes back to John chapter 3 and verse 10, where there was a man standing there in the middle of the evening, in the middle of the night - for fear of the Jews - before the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord Jesus Christ turned to him concerning the new birth and He said this to him, 'Art thou a master in Israel and knowest not these things?'. As I look at answers to prayer, I feel like him. Am I a person who has been saved for many years, am I perhaps a leader within the church of Jesus Christ - and could it be that many of us do not know what it is to pray to God and be sure of His answer? I must say, and I must confess that, in over ten years of being a Christian, I have never ever heard a message on the prayer of faith. Could that be one of the reasons why, today, so little prayer we think - or we believe - is answered, but if we look at the prophets of prayer in the Old Testament we see some mighty men and mighty women.

 

If you were to turn to Joshua chapter 10 this morning, you would see that man of God, Joshua, in the midst of a battle - and they were almost prevailing within the battle, but the night is rapidly approaching, and therefore they realize that they need a few more hours in which to prevail in which to get the Lord's victory. And Joshua, realizing the distressing situation, he drops to his bended knees, depending upon God, and cries 'Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, moon, on the valley of Ajalon' - and it says that in answer to his prayers God granted it, and the sun stood still.

If you were to turn to 1 Samuel chapter 1 and verses 10 to 17, you'd see a woman staggering into the temple of God and falling on her knees - she is in absolute turmoil and anguish, so much so that Eli the priest thinks she is drunk. But then he realizes that this woman can't even find words for her prayers, her heart is breaking because her womb is barren. And then as she is before God, she cries from the depths of her soul, and Eli looks on and he asks that the God of Israel may grant thee thy petition. And as we read on in that chapter what do we find? We find that God gave to that woman, Hannah, Samuel the great man of God, in answer to her prayer.

Then, almost miraculously, more so than these events that I have been describing - if you do turn with me to Judges 15, you see here another great event, in the life of Samson. Judges 15 and beginning to read at verse 14: 'And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him: and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands. And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith. And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men. And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand, and called that place Ramathlehi. And he was sore athirst, and called on the Lord, and said, Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant: and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised? But', it says, 'God clave an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout; and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he was revived'.

Now if you're a rationalist this morning, and you look at that, you can't make any sense out of it. If you believe in logic today, you look at that passage of scripture and you see Samson, you can't even make head nor tail out of him slaying a thousand men with the jawbone of an ass - but the message this morning from the Lord is this: God can even use the jawbone of an ass. But more than that: Samson turns round to the God who has given him deliverance and given him victory and he says, 'I have slain all these in Thy name and now I'm going to die of thirst, what are You going to do about it?'. And God cleaves a hollow in the jawbone of that ass and gives him water to drink. My friend these are only three, three of the prophets of prayer, and simply what I want to show you quickly this morning is this: that the Old Testament saints of God knew what it was to have their prayers answered.

What was the key? This is where I want to come to the prayer of faith. What was the key? Look at Luke chapter 11 again, our passage this morning: What does the Lord Jesus say?. 'I say unto you' - now let me say this, when the Lord Jesus Christ says, 'I say unto you', that means there is no argument about it. If He said it, it is true, because it is the blessed Lord Jesus Christ speaking. And let me say, in reference to the man who asked me whether this passage of Scripture was for today and for the church of Jesus Christ today: was the Lord Jesus Christ truthful? Or was He a liar? When He said, 'When you ask, you receive what you ask for', was He true? Or did He not mean what He said? He said it, 'I say unto you', what does He say? 'Ask', that is: vocally ask with your mouth. Ask God, cry unto the God your Maker for what you need, for what is your want, for what is your heart's desire. 'Ask', and then it says 'Seek', that is not from your mouth, but that is from your heart - and you don't even need to speak to pray, you don't even need to get on your knees, you can be walking, you can be talking, you can be singing, you can be driving, but you can be seeking, you can be desiring after something in your heart, and God will answer. 'Knock', that is a loud asking, a loud imploring, where you implore God that He must, in answer to your prayers, give you what you ask. He has promised, 'I say unto you'. It is a promise, it cannot fail, he has promised, 'Ask and you shall receive', and it is heard - it is heard in heaven.

You know it's possible for Christians to ask too little, but it is impossible for the Christian to ask too much. Let me say this, this morning: that often the reason why we receive so little is because we ask for so little - and most Christians want so little today, because they are satisfied with so little. We need to learn what the prayer of faith is. There are four things that I want us to learn this morning. The prayer of faith is the prayer that God answered. And the first thing that you need within the prayer of faith is this: perseverance. You see it doesn't matter how good a pray-er you are, it doesn't matter how good a preacher you are, in fact Hoover Hodge said this: 'I am even now convinced that the difference between the saints like Wesley, Fletcher, Edwards, Brainerd, Bramwell and ourselves is energy, perseverance and the invincible determination to exceed, or die, in the attempt to get your heart's desires'.

It's not someone with great talents that God needs, it's not someone with great preaching ability or great learning that God needs, but it is men great in holiness, men great in faith, men great in fidelity, men great for God. What do we read in Luke chapter 18 and verse 7 with regards to perseverance and prayer? The Lord Jesus Christ Himself spoke and said, 'Shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him?' God has to answer! God will answer! There must be perseverance, but we dealt with that last week and I don't want to go on too much about it. But you see effective prayer and effectual prayer doesn't depend on the power of the pray-er. This is the key - if you want to have your prayers answered today, tomorrow and the rest of the week remember these three things: you must claim His promises, His prophecies and His providences. His promises, His prophecies and His providences.

In James chapter 1 and verse 6 we read: 'Let him ask', let the believer, the man of God ask, 'in faith, with never a doubt'. But what is faith? What does it mean to pray in faith? I believe that many Christians today, and much of the church of Jesus Christ, has this idea that faith is something that they muster up within themselves, and they go over and over again in their mind: 'I must believe, I will believe, God will do it' - until they try to convince themselves psychologically and emotionally that God is going to answer their prayers. That is not biblical faith. What do we read in Romans and chapter 10? Verse 17 says: 'Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God'. And if you break that equation down a little this morning, what it says is this: faith comes by the word of God. Hearing is the medium, faith is the method. Faith comes by the word of God, this is our faith delivered to us, but it is the promises of God that we are to look upon, we are to read and inwardly digest that will cultivate, that will produce faith within the depths of our soul and our spirit. It is the word of God, we are to take the promises of God, we are to stand upon His promises that will not fail, as we have been singing. We are to take God at His word, we are to believe Him - but what are we to believe?

I believe that faith is not without evidence. What I mean is simply this: that I could go to anyone here in this gathering, and lay my hand upon you and say, 'You are to be healed'. Or I could go to you and tell you that you are going to get that job, or that you are going to do wondrous things for God, or that your life is going to be changed, I could say many things to you - but what is what I am saying based upon? You see, we can be sure that God answers our prayers, but we can only be sure when our prayers are based upon the word of God and are in accordance with His promises. You say to me, 'David, well how do I pray in faith?'. Simply this: you take the promises of God and you claim them! When was the last time you did that? That is faith! Taking God at His word and bringing His word to Him and saying 'Lord, I did not write this Book, I didn't make this up, I am not saying this! Lord, You have said it, and You must honour Your word! You must answer!'. That is how we get our prayers answered - when we pray in accordance to the promises of God, taking God at His word. We must believe, that when we pray to Him, that He will hear us. As the Lord Jesus Christ said, if we ask bread, will He give us a stone? And when we ask God, if we ask in faith, if we ask based upon His promises, God will give us our hearts desire - because when we ask according to His promises we are giving Him, in prayer, His desires - for God works His desires through you and through I.

What kind of promises are there? Well, there are specific promises. In other words, you don't flick through the Bible and say to yourself, 'Well, is it God's will that I should be saved?'. Sure you know that it's revealed in His word that it's His will that you should be saved - therefore what do you do? You don't pray about it, you lift the word of God and say, 'Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved', and you believe it, and that's it! Specific promises. Then there are general promises. For instance - we haven't time to look at it this morning - but in Isaiah 65 verse 24 you have a promise there, that as soon as your mouth opens in the spirit of God, to pray to God, God hears your prayer in Heaven. That's a general promise to everyone. Then there is the desire within your heart, the providences of God, when God lays a burden upon your heart, so heavy that you are driven to your knees to pray, and implore, and cry to God for those desires. Then you can take God at His word and claim the answer.

Of course, we can pray for the Lord's return. We've talked about His promises and His providences, but we can pray for His return - why? Because it's prophesied that He will return. Remember, He reprimanded the hypocrites, the Jews, the Pharisees and the Sadducees because they were able to discern the signs of the weather, but they couldn't discern the signs of the times. We can, because we have the promises, we have the word of God.

 

C.H. Spurgeon has a book, and I would encourage you to get it: 'The Chequebook of the Bank of Faith' it's called - 366 promises of God for each day of your life to claim. Do you know what the promises of God are? Do you know what the word of God is? It's a chequebook from start to finish, for you to take to God, the Great Banker, and give to Him and say, 'This is what my cheque says that I ought to have as a believer, a child of God. You are implored to give it to me!'. You may think that that is forward. You may think that that is being pushy with God. You may even think that it's being cheeky with God - but do you know what God says in Malachi chapter 3 and verse 10? 'Prove Me now!' - God wants you to prove Him!

In the Isle of Lewis - you've heard me speak about it before, because it's burned upon my heart - a revival took place. And there was a prayer meeting on one occasion, and it's where it all seemed to start. And this young man got to his feet in this prayer meeting, and they had been meditating upon a verse of scripture, 'I will pour water upon him that is thirsty' - and listen to this! He rose to his feet and he said 'Lord, Your word says I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, are You not a Man of Your word?'. Would you say that to God? It says the building shook, and God moved through that little island like a fire, because one simple man brought, he cashed in, the promises of God for him.

Leonard Ravenhill, in his little book 'Why no revival?' he says this - and I've written it on the front of my Bible because I think it's astonishing. He said, 'We will sit one day in our fellowships and we will watch as some simple, newly converted soul will walk to the front and open the Book of God and simply believe it!'

This is not a book that is to be explained. It is not a book that is to be [torn] apart, and broken down, and talked about until we're sick - but it's a book that is to be believed! A book that is to be claimed! A book that is to be lived!

I've run out of time this morning, but I'd so much more to say to you all today - but just for a moment, Hebrews chapter 11 we read this, of men and women who claimed God's promises, who took them and stood upon them. It says of them: 'Who through faith they subdued kingdoms, they wrought righteousness, they obtained promises, they stopped the mouths of lions, they quenched the violence of fire, they escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness they were made strong, they waxed valiant in fight, they turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, they were tempted, they were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;  (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise'! But brethren this morning, we have received the promise - and what more can we do with it, if we claim it at the throne of grace?

In one occasion there were two bishops, Bishop Lambeth and Wainwright. And they were one of the first missionaries to China, and they had a great missionary meeting in Osaka, Japan. And on one occasion, as they were taking their meeting, there were two officials from the communist government that came in and told them that they could no longer have that meeting. And what it did was it drove those two men to their knees in prayer that evening, two of them in a little room. And the little servant girl came to call them to supper, and the power of God and the power of prayer was so great that she fell beneath it! And then his wife came up, to find out what was going on, why the little servant girl hadn't come back, and she fell underneath the power of prayer and they altogether, when they came to their senses, went to a prayer meeting in that little upper room - and through it, two of those official's sons were born again! The next day one of those officials that had came to them on a previous occasion, came and said: 'You can continue with your meetings, no one will hinder you'. Do you know what it said in the newspaper the next day? 'Last night the Christian's God visited town'.

You know that most banks close at half past three or four, but have we ever thought of the fact that the throne of grace, one day, will close? We will not pray in glory, the way we pray down here. We can not see God do the impossible in a sin sick world, see Him save multitudes, see Him change lives up in glory - it can't happen. It is a special blessing for the Christian, that can only happen down here. Therefore all the more reason why we should say: 'Lord teach us to pray, but teach us to pray to be answered'.

Our dear Father we do just that, we praise Thee for the great things that Thou hast done in the past. But Lord we acknowledge Thy word and Thy promise that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. And what has been done in the past, greater can be done still, if we would only believe our great and glorious God. Lord we pray now that Thou wilt take us to our homes in safety and part us with Your blessing. For Christ's sake. Amen.

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Transcribed by Judith Watkins, Preach The Word - September 2000

www.preachtheword.co.uk

info@preachtheword.co.uk

A Short Series On Prayer - Chapter 3

"Fasting And Prayer"

Copyright 1999

by Pastor David Legge

All Rights Reserved

We're going to turn in our Bibles to Isaiah chapter 58, Isaiah chapter 58. And you'll remember that, over the past Lord's Day mornings, we've been thinking on the subject of prayer. We began a few weeks ago with the subject of 'The Lord Jesus Christ And Prayer'. We looked at His example, we looked about how He lived, what He did in relation to prayer. Then last Sunday morning we thought on the subject of 'Answers to Prayer' - and we thought there that it is the prayer of faith that God answers. We don't just pray generally, but we pray specifically - we can't just simply pray for anything, but we must pray in the will of God, and we know the will of God by His revealed will within the word of God. So it is when God gives us a word to pray for something, when God gives us a promise to pray for something - it is only then that we can be sure that He will answer our prayers.

But this week we're going to think on the subject of 'Fasting And Prayer'. Isaiah chapter 58: "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God. Wherefore" - why? - "have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? Wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. Is it such a fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? When thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward. Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; and if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day: And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it".

We're turning, just for a moment, to Matthew chapter 6, Matthew chapter 6 and we're beginning to read at verse 16. Matthew chapter 6 and verse 16 - this is recorded within the Sermon on the Mount, where the Lord Jesus Christ laid down rules - principles rather - for those who followed Him. In verse 16 He begins to talk about fasting, He's been talking about prayer and now He turns to the subject of fasting - verse 16: "Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly".

Matthew chapter 17, Matthew chapter 17 and verse 21 - and you'll remember here there is a story about, as the Bible calls it, a lunatic boy who was healed. You remember, the disciples came and tried to heal this young man, and they had no spiritual success - in verse 21 the Lord Jesus resounded to them, first of all He said 'You have little faith', and then in verse 21 He says: "Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting". And then, quickly, Hebrews chapter 11, Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 6 - the great chapter upon faith, the writer to the Hebrews says this, verse 6: "But without faith it is impossible to please him" - God - "for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him".

Last Sunday evening, and even in the morning, I alluded to a sermon* that was preached by a man called Jonathan Edwards. I don't want to repeat myself unnecessarily, but save to say this: that you remember, when this man stood - who was half blind - and read his sermon off a piece of paper, that those people felt the very presence of God in such a way, that they mounted the pews for fear that the ground would open and that hell would swallow them. What I failed to tell you last week was simply this: that before Jonathan Edwards got into that pulpit, before he preached that message, his diaries tell us that for three days before it he fasted and he prayed. He did not let a morsel of food go through his lips, in fact he had three sleepless nights - as without food, without sleep, without the normal resources of life, he got on his face before God, he sought God in answer, to answer his prayers - and the result was that men and women had the conviction of sin, the conviction of the Holy Spirit falling upon them, and they could see hell with their very mind's eye -- and many were saved. Those who witnessed that scene said that as he mounted the pulpit, as he looked in the congregation, he looked as if he was a man who had stared for days into the very face of God - and he needed not even to speak a word, because as he looked at those people with the look of God in his eyes, conviction fell upon all. He fasted and prayed.

*The sermon Pastor Legge is referring to - “Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God” - can be read in our Book Store.

We've been thinking, these weeks, about praying - but there is a discipline that is found in the word of God, in both the Old and the New Testament, that I read and that I find, but I find that within the church of Jesus Christ, within our lives today it may well be a forgotten discipline. I wonder is it - is fasting - is it a forgotten discipline? The hunger strikers did it, that's right, they fasted. They didn't eat food, some of them didn't drink water - they did it for political reasons, I know that, but they still were fasting. And in Isaiah 58 and verse 6, that we read this morning, we read about those who do it for strife, those who do it for the wrong reason - Satanists fast - did you know that? In our land, this very week, many Satanists, on Friday gone by, would have been fasting and praying to their god - Lucifer - for the downfall of Christendom, and for the break-up of many of your marriages here today. They do it, why do they do it? They do it - and they do it error, they do it, as Isaiah 58 says, in strife, they do it for all the wrong reasons and the wrong motives - but they do it because they know that it works! There is something about fasting that works.

Matthew Henry says: 'Fasting is a laudable practice, and we have reason to lament it, that it is so generally neglected among Christians today' - and that was in his day. Martyn Lloyd-Jones says: 'I wonder whether we have ever fasted. I wonder whether it has ever occurred to us that we ought to be considering the question of fasting. The fact is, is it not, that this whole subject seems to have fallen right out of our lives, right out of our whole Christian thinking’. Now let's be honest with ourselves here this morning: how many of us, gathered here today, fast and pray? How many of us, is [it] a regular practice in our lives that we daily, perhaps one day, perhaps several days, but somehow we fast for God, we pray to God? Do you know what I find - over these past weeks as I have been studying the word of God with relation to prayer, and now in relation to fasting, in relation to blessing - do you know what I find? You could sum it all up in one sentence: we cannot have apostolic power without apostolic practice. You cannot separate the ends from the means, with regard to prayer and blessing, with regard to this subject of fasting and blessing. And if we ignore the practices of the Apostles - the early disciples, elders and deacons, the people of God in the New Testament and Old Testament - and we look around and we wonder why God does not bless us, we charge God in our foolishness.

There are several questions that I want to ask this morning with regard to fasting. First all: what is fasting? Secondly: who is to fast? Thirdly - and I would encourage you to take notes because I can't remember all these, so I don't think you will either - thirdly: how to fast? How do we fast? Why do we fast? And finally: when do we fast? What do we fast? Who is to fast? How do we fast? Why do we fast? And when do we fast?

The first question is this: what is fasting? A simple definition of fasting, from the word of God now, is this: 'abstaining from food for spiritual purposes'. Many writers today think that fasting can be fasting from sexual relations, they think it can be fasting from things that you normally do like watching the television, or reading a book - some people think it can be fasting from sleep. But as we look at the word of God we find that that is not, specifically, what fasting is in the word of God - but fasting, specifically, is fasting, abstaining from food - food - for spiritual reasons. I wonder, men, have you ever been in the garden, or maybe you tamper with cars, and maybe you've been in the garage, or maybe you've been doing something in the workshop - and the wife has called you for tea, your dinner is ready, and you're out there, and you're in the middle something, you're engrossed in something, and you can think of nothing else but the thing that you're doing, and you wait! You wait till you have finished. It might be half an hour, it might be an hour, it might be several hours - and the wife's still calling, and still asking [you] to come for the dinner - but you have something more important on your mind! Friends today, that is what fasting is. That, in simple layman's terms, is what fasting is: that your mind is so taken up with God, or your heart and your soul is so engrossed in what you want God to do in answer to your prayers, that you cannot find time even to eat. God has burdened your heart so much that you find the necessity to leave food aside, to leave perhaps one meal aside, or a few meals aside - why? Because it maybe takes an hour of your time, that you feel that you could spend more appropriately, and profitably, in prayer before God. That is what fasting is. And do you know what it is? What we've been repeating week, after week, after week - it is showing to heaven, and it is showing to hell, that you are serious about your prayer!

What is that wee word that we have used so often? Persistent prayer, persevering prayer, insistent prayer - in other words, you're showing by the fact that you're not willing to be easily beset or laden down, even with food for a few moments, to call upon God in prayer - you are coming showing your determination, your perseverance, that you want God to answer. That is what fasting is. If we had time this morning, we would be able to look at chapter 6 of Matthew, [where] we read about fasting - and it's interesting to look that when Jesus, the Lord Jesus Christ, talks about prayer, He talks about fasting in a similar way. How do we pray? We pray individually, don't we? You pray - I hope - individually - at home you go, as the Lord said in Matthew chapter 5 and 6, into your closet. You lock away the world and, by closing the door on the world, you're opening the door to the Saviour, and you have sweet communion with Him. But of course, where else do you pray? Well, you pray with the people of God, and in this assembly we come together on a Wednesday, and then on a Friday in the winter, and we meet together to communally - together - unite and call upon God in prayer. We pray regularly, don't we? At least we should pray regularly - but there are times, [aren't] there, when there are crises that enter our lives, or enter an assembly, or enter our land, that we feel the burden that we ought to come together for a special season, for a special time of prayer. In the same light, we ought to fast individually, we ought to do it in our closets at home - but I believe that we ought to do it, and the word of God teaches, we ought to do it unitedly, together, communally, as the people of God, calling upon God for His blessing, calling upon God that we may see His hand. We ought to do it regularly, if we have to pray regularly - and we even insist on praying daily, don't we? Surely we ought to fast regularly, individually speaking - and then there ought to be special times, like special times of prayer, when there is a need, there is a crisis, there is a burden, that we all come together with the one burden and bear it to God in fasting and prayer. That is what fasting is.

The second question is this: who is to fast? Well, I'm quite aware that there are medical reasons, and various other reasons why certain people should not fast. It is hard - in fact it is nigh impossible - for a diabetic to fast. It is hard for other people, with dietary disorders, to fast - and I'm not accusing, or I am not pointing the finger at them, or I'm not asking you to do something this morning that you can't do, medically speaking. But who is to pray and fast? Was it something for the Old Testament saints? Was it something for the apostles or the disciples - and it is not for today? Well, if you look into the Old Testament, you find that on the Day of Atonement, every person in the nation of Israel [was] to fast for that day. One day in the year - no exemptions, everyone had to do it, they didn't look at one another and say, 'Well, you're more spiritual than I am', or 'You're in the Lord's work, you're the priest, you're in the tribe of Levi', they didn't say that. Each one of them, every single one, fasted before God. We read that Moses fasted, David fasted, Elijah fasted, many of the kings fasted - and ordered fasts in the whole land, some of which went to also the beasts, that they were to fast from eating their fodder daily. We read in the New Testament, the Lord Jesus Christ fasted, the early Church in the Acts of the apostles fasted - in fact, church history teaches us, that in the early Church they fasted every Wednesday and every Friday, and many of them fasted before the Lord's Supper on the Sunday - all day Saturday they fasted. Oh, we try to emulate the early Church, don't we? We try to emulate it in its blessing, in its abundance of gifts and fruit and salvation - but if we ignore the means, we will not have the power! The apostles fasted, the early Christians fasted when they were appointing elders, when they were sending missionaries and apostles out, they fasted when they had to make important decisions, they fasted when they needed guidance. Wesley, John Wesley, would not ordain a man to the ministry unless he covenanted with him and with God to fast on a Wednesday and a Friday till 4 p.m. in the afternoon. The church fathers fasted, the reformers fasted, the revivalists fasted - what about us? Do we fast?

Who is to fast? Well, if you look quickly at Matthew chapter 9 and verse 15, you read this: 'And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast'. The disciples were asking, perhaps, the same question that you are asking this morning: should I fast? The Lord Jesus said to them, 'You don't need to fast now because I am with you. But when I go, then you ought to fast' - when the bridegroom goes. We'll be looking this evening in the Gospel, at Matthew chapter 25 about the ten virgins - and you remember, five of them were foolish, but it says not just about the five of them but about all of them, that when the bridegroom tarried they all - all of them - slumbered and slept. I wonder was it an allusion to fasting? As the Lord says in verse 13: 'Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh' - and as we wait for Him, as we watch for Him, as we work for Him, surely it is our imperative to fast as the children and the people of God.

Thirdly: how do we fast? I wish we had more time to deal with it this morning, but how do we fast? Well, we read in Matthew 6 and verses 17 to 18, that we're not to do it before men, we're not to try and look gaunt and look smelly, as if we're fasting and we're abstaining from everything. We're not to draw attention to it, we're not to stand on the street corner and have a sign around our neck, 'I am fasting for God'. But we are to fast in quiet, in secret - and God says that those that fast in secret will be rewarded openly. That's a promise! Hebrews 11 verse 6 that we read, says that we are to fast in faith: 'He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him' - why do we fast? As I said already, like Paul said to Timothy, that a soldier that is warring can't be entangled with the things of this world. And oh, there's some men of God that I believe that if they could live without food totally, they would have done it! But you can't, so fasting is for a special time - where you come before God and all you can think about is God and the prayer that you need to be answered, and you grab upon Him, and fast.

There are three fasts that we find in the word of God. The first fast is the total fast. That means you don't eat bread, you don't eat food, and you don't drink water - a total fast. Moses fasted like that, Elijah fasted like that for 40 days the word of God says. In Acts chapter 9 and verse 9 we read that, after his conversion, Paul fasted like that - a total fast - for three days. Now I want to say this: that when Moses fasted like this, and when Elijah fasted like this for 40 days - if you do it tonight, and start it, you'll die. Because they were in the direct, intimate presence of God when they fasted like this. This was a supernatural fast, and unless you have a word from the Lord to do this - and I'm not ruling that out - but unless you have a special word from the Lord, you're advised only to fast like this for maybe a day. Total fast - and this type of fast does the most damage to the devil.

The second type of fast in the word of God is the partial fast. We find it in Daniel chapter 10 and verse 3, the partial fast. We read there that Daniel - you remember, he did not take of the king's delicacies, of the delicacies of the kings table - he didn't eat the meat and he didn't drink the wine. It was a partial fast, he still ate, he still drank, but he didn't eat certain foods. That may be a fast for those that have dietary problems - cutting out certain things to call upon God.

And then thirdly, and quickly, there is the most common fast within the word of God, and that is the normal fast. In Matthew 4 and verse 2 we read of the Lord Jesus Christ - Matthew 4 and verse 2 - that for 40 days in the wilderness He fasted. The normal fast is not eating, but drinking water - not eating, but drinking water. There are men - and need I say, I'm not one of them - who have stood in this pulpit and have fasted 40 days. Needless to say, they are men who have seen blessing on their ministry. How do you fast? Take your pick. How long do you fast? Well, listen: that's not really the question - and there isn't this idea that the longer you fast, the more spiritual you are, and don't get that into your head - and neither, don't get into your head the fact that you should be punishing yourself, or denying yourself something that is good - that is not what fasting is about! It's not about how long you fast, but what it is about is our attitude as we get before God, our motive, our sincerity as we beg before Him. I would advise you to fast in small amounts, and then as God leads you, you be led.

That's how to fast. But quickly: why do we fast? Why do we fast? Simply: we fast for results! Now I don't know whether that's too simplistic for some - and maybe it's too unspiritual for some - but that is why we read in the word of God that there is only one prayer, one prayer in the Bible, that does not ask God for something. Only one. Why do we pray and fast? Isaiah 58, that we read, turn to it very quickly - Isaiah 58 and if you look at verses 8 and 9, Isaiah 58 verses 8 and 9, and verses 11 and 12, you read all of these things: that if you fast the Lord's fast you will receive light, you will receive health, you will receive righteousness, you will become closer to God, you will receive the glory of God in your life, you will receive answered prayer, you will receive - listen to this! - continual guidance, you will receive satisfaction in your spiritual life, you will receive refreshment, you will receive work and fruit that endures - and finally you will receive, if you need it, restoration. What do you get if you fast? If you look at Psalm 35 and verse 13, you read this: 'I humbled my soul with fasting'. Matthew 5 and verse 4 says: 'Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted'  - there is humility in fasting. You are coming before God, you are debasing yourself before Him, and you are crying in humility to God to answer your prayer. You get closer to God when you fast, for in James 4 and verse 8 we read: 'Draw near unto God, and he will draw near unto you'. Ephesians 6 and verse 18 - we see that fasting can be used for spiritual battle, for the battle with the forces of darkness - and sometimes I wonder have forgotten that they're there! For Paul says to the Ephesians: '...with all prayer...', once you've put on the armour of God you’ve to take all prayer, praying with all types of prayer and kinds of prayer - and one of those is praying and fasting.

Then there is guidance - this is marvellous! Ezra 8:21 says this: 'Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river of Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance'. They sought the Lord together, fasting for guidance for the future. In Isaiah 58 and verse 8, in Matthew 17:21 [it] speaks of healing - and we read in the Gospels that, before Christ went into His ministry of healing and deliverance, He spent those 40 days fasting and praying. For crises that come into our church, or into our life, there is an intervention from God by fasting - 2 Chronicles chapter 20, we read about King Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah, and they were up against an enemy that they could not beat, and what they did was they got on their faces, they fasted and prayed, and God dealt with their enemies and they didn't need to lift one weapon.

And we can fast for others. My friend, listen to this: who has loved ones that are not saved? Who has those dying in their sins, with no thought of God - and, as far as you can see, no hope of God? And maybe you have been praying for years for them - can I ask you: could it be that prayer won't answer it? God is waiting for you to fast and pray - why? Why fast and pray? Why is that different? Because when we are weak - and don't ask me to explain all of this - but when we are weak, God is strong! And when we humble ourselves, God exalts Himself through us! And this is a doctrine, this is a teaching that is far from the philosophies and the wisdom of men in today's age - they feed the flesh, but if God wants us to hear our prayer’s answers, we must starve our flesh! Can I say: are stomachs are too full, and our souls are starving, and the world around us is starving - but we need to get on our knees, we need to get before God, and before God with empty stomachs - realising our weakness, realising our physical weakness - we must cry to God, and God will answer our prayers! The flesh is debased, and when we fast before God we are made more aware of the spiritual.

Quickly, and finally: when do we fast? Matthew chapter 6 and verse 2, we read: 'Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward', then verse 5, 'And when you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the street corners...I say to you, They have their reward'. But when should we fast? Verse 16: 'When ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward...' - when ye fast, not if ye fast, not if that's your calling, or if that's your gift, or if the Lord leads you to do it - but when ye fast!

My friends, I have said all that God has given me to say today - but, God, teach us, Lord instruct us to fast and pray. Our Lord, we remember that when that immoral woman broke the alabaster box that the ointment flowed forth. And it is not until the alabaster box of our flesh is broken, our appetites, our pride, our desires are crucified - and it may be through the medium of fasting - it's not until then that the ointment, the release of the Spirit will be effective, and seen of men in our homes, in our workplace, in our fellowship and in our world. Lord, teach us to fast and pray. Amen.

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Transcribed by Andrew Watkins, Preach The Word - September 2000

www.preachtheword.co.uk

info@preachtheword.co.uk


A Short Series On Prayer - Part 4

"Time For Prayer"

Copyright 1999

by Pastor David Legge

All Rights Reserved

Now if you have your Bible with you this morning, we're turning to Mark's gospel and chapter 14. You'll remember that we're going through a series, leading up to our week of prayer in the assembly here, on the subject of prayer. We began a few weeks ago with the subject of "The Lord and Prayer", then we had "Answers and Prayer", last Lord's day morning we thought of "Fasting and Prayer" and this morning we're going to meditate upon the subject of "Time For Prayer"...time for prayer. We begin reading at Mark's gospel, at chapter 14 and verse 32:

"And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane: [the Lord Jesus Christ] saith to his disciples, Sit ye here, while I shall pray. And he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy; And saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death: tarry ye here, and watch. And he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt. And he cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? Couldest not thou watch one hour? Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak. And again he went away, and prayed, and spake the same words. And when he returned, he found them asleep again, (for their eyes were heavy), neither wist they what to answer him. And he cometh the third time, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: it is enough, the hour is come; behold, the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise up, let us go; lo, he that betrayeth me is at hand."

Keep your finger in that passage of Scripture and let's, for a moment, come before the Lord and ask His help this morning, as we come to what He says to us: Lord God, the Holy Ghost, in this accepted hour as on the day of Pentecost, descend in all Thy power. We meet with one accord, in our appointed place and want the promise of the Lord, the Spirit of all grace. In Jesus name. Amen.

Time for prayer. "The Lord and Prayer", "Answers and Prayer", last week "Fasting and Prayer"; but I want us to think especially this morning of "Time for Prayer". The passage of Scripture that we read today is a very famous one. It is one that we read together on Wednesday evening, where Gordon brought to us such a vivid picture of the Lord Jesus Christ there, the burden of sin that He saw of the world, and how He would bear it to Calvary. There are two people that are seen within this passage of Scripture. There are two types of people in the garden of Gethsemane; one is the Lord Jesus Christ, who is so vivid as we see Him. And the word of God seems to indicate that He was near to dying at the great burden of sin that He would bear, the hell that was ours that we should bear, that He was facing at Calvary. That is the first person we see, but the second type of person that is so vividly portrayed for us in this passage is: people. Peter, James and John, like ourselves: sinners. We read that as the Lord Jesus Christ went alone to pray, as He went to look into the very face of our sins that He would have to bear, as He was near unto death, He asked His disciples to go and watch and pray for Him at that time. You remember they went, and the three of them were watching and praying -- but what happened? It says that they fell asleep, and the Lord Jesus Christ came to them again and said, 'Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready or willing, but the flesh is weak'. It says He went away again a second time and prayed the same words -- He came back again and they were sleeping. He went away a third time, He came back the third time and again they had fallen into temptation, they had let the flesh get the victory. He said, 'Sleep on, for the hour is come'.

There are a few words that I want us to meditate on this morning, with regards to this great subject of 'time for prayer'. It's found in verse 37: "And he cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? Couldest not thou watch one hour? Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter [into] temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak." The Lord Jesus came to His disciples, and remember that they, in their time and in this present moment in history, did not have the Holy Spirit in the way that the church of Jesus Christ has it today. He was not their Comforter at that time, He was not the power that He is to us in our present dispensation. But He came to Simon Peter and He looked him straight in the eyes, eyes that were burdened with sleep and tiredness, and He said these piercing words -- as I believe He says to the church of Jesus Christ today -- 'Could you not watch one hour? Even one hour? Could you not spend at least one hour with Me in prayer? Praying for Me, praying to our God, watching -- just one hour, Simon? Can you not do it?' He went on to give the reason why Simon couldn't do it. Because although Simon, maybe in the depths of his soul, and in his very spirit he was desirous to come and to spend maybe hours and nights and weeks in prayer, Jesus Christ the Son of God said to him, 'Yes, you might want that within your spirit, but your flesh is so, so weak'.

Is that your experience this morning? Is it your experience believer, that you as you have listened to these messages, as the word of God has spoken to you, you've sat and there has been a desire, a want, that has welled up within your being, that has asked 'Oh, that I could pray like that, oh that I could follow these great men of God within the word of God and within church history -- that I could emulate their example, but I can't! I'm so weak, I get so tired, I haven't the strength. I can hardly spend 5, 10 minutes before my God, yet the Lord Jesus Christ came to Simon Peter and said 'One hour, just even one hour, could you not do even this?'' I read recently about a man called Mr Payson (sp?), and it says of him that he actually wore grooves into his floorboards because he was so often on his knees in prayer, spending time in and for prayer. The history books tell us of James, and many of you know it, that he was nicknamed 'old camel knees' because his knees were calloused because he prayed so often, so frequently and so long. The Marquis of Rentree (sp?), on one occasion went up to his room, and he was in the habit of praying in half-an-hour spells, and he told his servant to come and to disturb him after half-an-hour. But he was so engrossed in prayer, that when she came up to him and she looked through the keyhole to see what he was doing, if he was ready to be disturbed -- he had such a godly look upon his face as he almost gazed into the very face of God, and she didn't disturb him - and she let three half-hours go by. And when she came at an hour-and-a-half and knocked upon the door, he opened the door and he said, 'How quickly half-an-hour goes when you're before the face of God in prayer!' Bishop Andrews -- it is said of him that he spent the greater part of five hours day-by-day before the face of God in devotions and in prayer. Luther said there were some days in his life that were too busy that he couldn't spend only but three hours in prayer.

I would recommend to you all a book that has done great things in my Christian life, it's entitled 'Power Through Prayer' by E.M. Bounds. But he, in one of the chapters of the book, talks about Dr. Adoniram Judson, who was a missionary to Burma, and it says of him -- and I'll just read it out to you, 'Dr. Judson's success in prayer is attributable to the fact that he gave much time to prayer.' He himself, Dr. Judson says this, 'Arrange thy affairs, if possible, so that thou canst leisurely devote two or three hours every day, not merely to devotional exercises, but to the very act of secret prayer and communion with God. Endeavour seven times a day to withdraw from business and company and lift up thy soul to God in private retirement. Begin the day by rising after midnight and devoting some time amid the silence and darkness of the night to this secret work. Let the hour of opening dawn find thee at the same work. Let the hours of 9, 12, 3, 6 and 9 at night witness the same. Be resolute in this cause, make all practical sacrifices to maintain it, consider that thy time is short and thy business and company must not be allowed to rob thee of thy God'. Bounds says of these words, 'Dr. Judson impressed an empire for Christ'. You might say this morning, 'This is too great! To ask of us in our generation, our busy life, to spend so much time -- even one hour -- before God in prayer'. But witness this man Judson: he shook an empire for God, he changed a continent for Him, he was successful - one of the few men who mightily impressed the world for Christ. Many men were greater in their gifts, but they made no impression. Many men were greater orators, they were more learned, but this man made footsteps for God because he kept the iron red hot in prayer. He helped, with God's skill, to fashion it in enduring power. E.M. Bounds says, 'No man can do a great and enduring work for God, who is not a man of prayer. No man can be a man of prayer who does not give much time to it'.

We read about them in the word of God do we not - we have thought about them in days gone by - about Daniel, who three times a day (and he was locked up for it) - three times a day he called upon God. David said, 'Evening and morning and afternoon will I cry aloud and He will hear my voice'. Listen to the Lord's words, for I believe they're our words - they are for us, in a generation of apathy, in a generation of unconcern and little, if not absolute prayerlessness. Listen, it is His voice - the Saviour's voice to you - 'Couldest not thou watch one hour?' Can you imagine what would happen if just ten people in our little assembly here, ten people agreed with one another, but more importantly covenanted with God almighty, that they would not pass through a sunset or a sun-rising unless they had spent one hour with God in prayer? Can you imagine what could happen? Not what could happen, but what would happen! In answer to pray