Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

Pray With Purpose Pt.2

Hallelujah. Let's turn to Matthew Chapter 7. One of the great commentators said about this subject that it's the most written about in all Christendom and least practiced, and that's the subject of prayer. Aren't you glad that's not the case in our midst? A lot of books written. You can find just book after book written on the power of prayer and the need of prayer and the privilege of prayer, the purpose of prayer, all of these different books by great men that have been practitioners themselves of this great privilege. Yet, so much of Christendom really don't avail themselves of the privilege of coming boldly into the presence of a living, loving heavenly Father. Bold access having been provided us by the blood of Jesus and, yet, there just seems to always be something else to do in the lives of so many people. When we look at the subject, as we spend these next weeks going over this subject, we need to remind ourselves of the privilege and also the purpose of prayer. Why are we coming before Him? So much of modern day Christianity has made prayer a grab bag and made God the great genie or the Santa Claus, if you please. Some see Him as Santa Claus, that He just comes and delivers what He wills; and others as a genie that see God as someone who has to respond to their wishes. Of course, we know that the Scripture teaches that God isn't either of those, but He is a loving heavenly Father, and He knows the things that we have need of. Amen? That's exciting for us.

The disciples, then, in Chapter 6 of Matthew, when the Lord was with them and they were taken by His prayer life. As He would slip away in the evenings when they were grabbing a few extra hours of sleep and those last few little moments that they would rest, He would slip away and spend time in the presence of His Father. The Scripture says very clearly that He had meat to eat that most men didn't know anything about. It was to do the will of His Father that had sent Him. We don't know that there was any visible change in His outward appearance, as there was on the mount of transfiguration at that time that He was in the presence of God and the inner circle of disciples. Peter, James, and John saw Him transfigured before their very eyes. We don't know that there was any special glow that came from His face like there was from Moses when he was in the presence of God. It's very obvious that when He came back from those sessions, if you read the Scripture closely, that the disciples were taking note. Something was happening in His life.

They said, "Lord, teach us to pray." Teach us as John taught his disciples. Give us some insight into what Father would have for us in this great privilege. Of course, the Lord's prayer, as we talked, was brought forth. He made very clear to them that they weren't to be as the heathen and taken up in praying with vain repetition, for verse 8 says, the heathen pray, whether it's mantras or whatever it might be as they would go through each of these chanting episodes. He said you're not going to be heard for much speaking or repetition. "Be not ye therefore like unto them: [He says in verse 8] for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, [then say it with me] before ye ask him." We're going to talk about that a little bit this morning--before you ask Him.

Now, if God is omniscient, and God is sovereign, and He's going to do what He wants to do, why should we bother praying in the first place? Isn't God going to do His will? He knows what we have need of even before we ask, so why should we ask if it's His good pleasure, the Scripture says, to give us the Kingdom? If Father is a loving father that already knows what we need, and the Psalmist said, "I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor His seed begging bread" (Psalm 37:25) then what are we doing having to come and ask? The answer to that's very obvious--because God said to. Amen? He just said "that men ought always to pray and not to faint" (Luke 18:1). When we realize that we're called to that type of a prayer life, that we're to pray about everything, we're to live in an attitude of prayer and expectancy; and the most important word in prayer is dependence. You see, prayer is what reveals to us our need of God, not our needs to God, but our need of God. Prayer is a continual reminder to us of our dependence on His presence, on His promises, on His power. We pray for us; we don't pray for God. We pray for us. We pray to keep our hearts stirred. We pray as a way of continually allowing the presence of God to transform us as the Holy Spirit then begins to rise up in us, so that we can pray according to the will of God.

One of the most important things about prayer that we have to remind ourselves of is this: We don't know how to pray as we ought. We don't know how to pray as we ought, but the Holy Spirit, the Scripture says, prays through us with groanings which cannot be uttered. The Holy Spirit then is the agent of prayer, as the one that stirs up and brings to remembrance all things that Jesus said. Isn't that what the Scripture says? That's the Holy Spirit's role. That's what His ministry is--reminding us of everything that Jesus promised and said. All prayer initiates by the Holy Spirit. It initiates internally by the presence of God in us. This great privilege is something that's just effected as we walk in Him, as we live in Him, as we have our very being in Him, as the book of Acts tells us.

Jesus speaking here said, "Look, your Father knows what you have need of even before you ask Him. So pray this way, 'Since God already knows before you ask, then don't bother asking.'" That's not what He said. Since your Father knows before you even ask, pray after this manner, "Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. [Say it with me.] Thy will be done..." You see, the real power of prayer is being able to subordinate our will to the will of God. When we come before God, we don't have an agenda. We don't come to tell God what to do. We come to worship Him as the loving heavenly Father that knows what we have need of even before we ask. We come to a loving heavenly Father whose good pleasure it is to give us the kingdom. We come before a God who does exceeding abundantly above anything that we could ask or even think, praise God. Isn't that exciting about prayer? You know, what you thought you needed, God already knew. What you wanted, God's going to give you more; praise God, if you'll seek Him first.

The context, as we saw a little bit on Wednesday, said that we're to seek first the Kingdom of God, His righteousness, and then all of these other things that He knows you have need of, He adds to us, according to His sovereignty, according to His character, His goodness, His mercy, His justice. One of the great revelations of the character of God is revealed to us in one of the great passages on prayer as you read through in Genesis, [and I think like over 18 or something] and as Abraham is interceding, and in that particular area, as he's interceded; and he's coming before God and praying for the righteous few that might be saved out of Sodom and Gomorrah, and one of the great revelations of prayer is when he makes this statement and says, "Shall not he Judge of all of the earth do right" (Genesis 18:25). Is that what dictates your heart when you're in prayer? Are you coming and trying to somehow straighten God out so that He makes things just? Prayer is not a vehicle used to straighten God out and to fend for our own rights, and the fact that we've been mistreated, and things don't seem right, and, God, we want You to just straighten this up, so that I get mine. We come with an attitude that Jesus speaks of in this sixth chapter, "Thy will be done."

The very heart of the Master in Gethsemane, when He says, "If it's possible, let the cup pass; but, nevertheless, not my will but Thy will be done. This cup isn't going to be easy. I would just as soon not have to endure these trials, these afflictions, the persecutions, the adversities, and the sicknesses. But, nevertheless, I stand sure that You are just, and that You do exceeding abundant above anything that I could ask or think. The one confidence that I have, Father, is this--that You want to do me good all the days of my life." We're going to see that that's what dictates the real heart of prayer and that of the Master. He said when you pray, pray this way; and make sure that you realize that we're praying for the will of God at all times.

We don't pray for abundance. We don't pray for privilege, but the Scripture does tell us that, verse 11, we pray for our daily bread. Hmmm. Strange thing in this nation, isn't it? So many Christians today are praying for that little bump up into the six-figure category or the seven-figure category. I mean, after all, God wants to bless us, and He wants us to be in health and to prosper even as our soul prospers. Surely God wants me to have more. Oh, beloved, we are so blessed and in our abundance we lose the point of this whole privilege of prayer that says that prayer is a continual reminder of our momentary daily dependence on Him. Amen? "Give us this day our daily bread." How are you praying that when you're knocking down a hundred thousand a year? Prayer reminds us who the source is. Prayer reminds us that there's not anything that we have that's sure and guaranteed because riches take wings and fly away, the Scripture says, but a man's righteousness will sustain him. That's what prayer will do in your life. It will make you remember that, and it will make you daily dependent; and it will make you daily thankful. How tragic it is to lose our thanksgiving when we have self-dependence, and we begin to rely on the job and the employer and the investments and the strength of our own right arm, and not be able to come in daily and say, "Father, You are my source. I recognize You as the provider of my very sustenance, my daily bread." Ah, beloved, when you have that daily dependence, you're moving in what's called the true purpose and power of prayer.

The Master goes on, and He speaks to us. Not only do we pray "Give us this day our daily bread" but we say, "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." Again, dependence, the need to realize that all that we have is privilege, and that we are debtors. We deserved a devil's hell, but while we were sinners, Jesus sought us; and He bought us with His redeeming blood. The Scripture goes on and tells us if we've been so freely forgiven, then we ought to forgive one another. I want to tell you something, beloved. You cannot be a man or woman of prayer and not have forgiveness in your heart. You can't be a man or a woman who accesses the presence of God and isn't able to in that access drop all of those burdens of unforgiveness and resentment and prejudice and pride and hatred because you realize in prayer that you're the debtor. So, we pray, "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors."

I don't want to get off on it right now, but as I was doing some study and cruising the other day on the subject, it was really kind of interesting to see, if you'll do a study on this on your own, I think you'll enjoy it--but see how much of prayer as it's mentioned in the Scriptures. You know, today prayer, if people use it at all, is for petition. Give me, give me, give me. "My name's Jimmy, take all you gimme." That's how we approach God--more, more, better, better, faster, faster.

When you begin to study prayer, do you want to know what the Scripture reveals as one of the main topics of Biblical prayer? Repentance and the heart's cry for forgiveness. When you approach a holy God, you understand how undone you are. As you study this out, you're going to see that so much of prayer in the Scripture is, "God, I've fallen short, and I need your presence; and I ask you to forgive me, and I ask you to give me grace to be forgiving." I'll tell you what. If you begin to spend more time in purifying your heart and in worshipping His holy name, if you spend time in prayer declaring His majesty, "Hallowed be thy name," you'd be surprised at what God does on the behalf of those that love Him and seek Him. We don't need to go and ask God for all of these things to be added unto us. He said He would add them to us if we would seek first the Kingdom of God, if we'd seek His face first and His glory first, if we would seek His image first, the change of our hearts. God will change your circumstances if you'll let Him change your heart.

He says in the twelfth verse then, "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from [the evil one] evil...." How much time we need to spend, beloved, and keep us away from the things that will hurt us. The flesh wanting to run here and do that, and I think this will be okay; and maybe I can walk over here and walk along the fence, the proverbial fence of Christian jargon. You know, "that's guy's on the fence." I want to tell you something. If you're on the fence, you're out of the grace of God. You're on your own on the fence, man. There is nothing in the Scripture that allows us to run as far from God as possible and still be as the sons of God, heirs and joint-heirs, blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. If you want to live that kind of a life to where you're protected, and the angels have set up the fence around you, praise God, and you're not dashing your foot against a stone, if you want to see the heavens opened and blessings poured out that you can't contain, if you want to see the manna and the water from the rock, if you want to walk in a life that doesn't have the cruse of oil failing, then it's going to be to those who are pursuing God and seeking Him with all of their hearts, the Scripture says. That's when you find Him. People want to be able to have God answer prayer and live out here seeking their own. Ah, beloved, it doesn't work that way. "Lead us not into temptation." Don't let me follow my own fleshly inclinations. Protect me from myself. Deliver me from the evil one.

Not only are all of us as humans moving toward self-destruction because of the appetites of our flesh. The flesh will continually speak and say, "Serve me; serve self; pursue this." The Holy Spirit is continually warring against that, as the flesh wars against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. These two are contrary, one to the other, so that you could not do the things that you would do. In prayer we recognize that warfare, and we cry out, "Make me deaf to the cry of the flesh, and lead me not into temptation! Deliver me from the evil one! Oh, God, there's so many things that look so good to the natural eye. Let me seek first your Kingdom and your righteousness, and then all of these other things are going to be added to us."

What is prayer? It's the privilege of accessing the presence of God. What is prayer? It's practicing the presence of God. The Scripture then tells us that we're to pursue Him with diligence. Turn over to Hebrews for just a second, and let's look at Hebrews chapter 4. I think this is where we left off in our Wednesday study. We talked about the necessities of the Word of God. It's alive. It's powerful. It's sharper than any two-edged sword. We need to continually feed ourselves with the living Word if we're going to pray successfully because God only responds to His Word in prayer. I don't mean you have to quote Scripture. I'm talking about He responds to the principles, truth, and the root of the Word.

In Hebrews Chapter 4, as we're studying, we realize that there's a rest to the people of God, and that is the obedience to the Word. He goes on and says in verse 15, "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." Lead us not into temptation, but in the midst of temptation, when God allows us to be tempted for His name's sake and for our good. James says, "Count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing" (James 1:2). Prayer is what gives us the sustenance through temptation. We're here in the midst of it. We pray and we ask God for wisdom, "Why am I here? Why is this thing upon me? What are You trying to teach me in the midst of this? Let me be purified." Prayer isn't, "God, get me out of it! Make it go away!" True Biblical prayer in the midst of temptation says, "God, make me more like You. Teach me." Prayer doesn't say, "Get me out of this mess!" It says, "Make me more like You, Lord! Prune me; purge me, that I might bring forth more fruit. It hurts, and if it's possible, let it pass; but, nevertheless, not my will, Thy will be done. If this is what's necessitated for Your glory, for my growth, then I'm asking You for the grace because You've been here in all ways tempted, and You never sinned. You never went into Your own agenda. You never tried to manipulate the circumstances. You prayed, "Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." Beloved, this is the heart attitude that we have to have if we're going to be successful. Our great high priest is touched with your infirmities. He's been there. Whatever the need is in your life here this morning; Jesus has been there. Whatever you're experiencing this morning, He's been there--the rejection, the hatred, the prejudices, the loneliness, the physical affliction, and the hunger. Whatever it is that you're experiencing, He's been there, tempted in all ways as we are and yet without sin. He ever lives to make intercession for you.

Now, since Jesus is already praying for us, we're going to find out that one of the things that God desires for us in prayer is that He desires for us to cause our hearts to be raised up and become in communion with Jesus' intercession and prayer, and we begin to be made one with Him. We begin to say what He says. You can't improve on it. You just come to God and say what He said. Amen. When we realize that, and we're allowing the Holy Spirit to pray through us because what is the Holy Spirit's ministry? You read it; it's very clear in John. You can't mistake it. The Holy Spirit has a ministry, and that's to do what? Bring to remembrance all things that Jesus said. It's one of His primary ministries. He brings them to remembrance in us that are Spirit-filled believers, those of us that are born-again, that have the life of God in us. The Holy Spirit will continually remind us of the things that Jesus said. We get in agreement with that. You know what that's called? It's called the prayer of faith. If you ask anything according to His will, His Word, what does the Scripture say? He will do it. Jesus is already praying. Jesus is already praying.

What has to happen? Somebody else needs to pray. You need to pray. You need to get into agreement with what He's saying. You need to say what He's saying. Then it begins to effect itself in your life. I'll show you the practical part to that as we go on in the study, but that's the basic principle and philosophy. We know that He's praying. We know that He's touched with the feelings of our infirmities, which means there's nothing that's trivial to Him. He's not going to say, "Pffft, don't bother me with that." Oh, beloved, let me share something with you. He's been there. He knows how it hurts. He knows that dilemma, the confusion, the loneliness. All of those things that so many times cause us to move contrary to the will of God, but in every temptation in Jesus' life, He responded with, "It is written." If you and I are going to be effective in prayer, we're going to have to know what's written. We're going to have to know what the will of God is. Since we have to pray the will of God, we're going to have to know what the will of God is; so that we don't ask amiss desiring to consume this on our own lust.

As the Holy Spirit speaks here, we see in verse 16 that He says, since we have this high priest; since He knows our frailties, that our frame is but dust; since He knows the battle that's going on within us, the flesh lusting against the Spirit, the Spirit against the flesh, so that we're having to pray, "Lead us not into temptation;" since He knows all of those things, "come boldly." What's this saying? He knows you're already messed up, so come to Him truthfully. Just come into His presence and say, "Lord, I'm a mess!" He's not going to go, "Oh, man, you know, what do we..." He already knows, but His blood's made provision. We're seen through the blood of Jesus. God looks on us and loves us because we love His son. The Father loves us, the Scripture says, just like He loves Jesus. "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." You don't come because you have rights. You don't go into the throne room of God demanding rights. You come to obtain mercy. Amen? "I've got rights!" Yeah, you've got the right to go to Hell. "I want justice!" Do you? Do you want what's coming to you? Do you want to be rewarded for every thought, intention, motive, and desire? Do you want it recompensed back to you in the measure that you've met it forth? Ah, beloved, we come in prayer not demanding justice, but mercy. I don't want what I've got coming to me. I want what Jesus has purchased for me. We find in this great revelation of Hebrews, where we talk about the more sure things, the better things than the old covenant; we see that there's a throne that we approach that gives grace to help in the time of need.

Now, the Holy Spirit goes on in Hebrews chapter 11 and gives us a little more insight into this in the very familiar and famous verse 6 of the eleventh chapter, that tells us that if we're going to access the throne of God and obtain mercy to help in the time of need; if we're going to truly approach God with a new-found boldness because of the confidence of a faithful high priest that's ever living to make intercession for us because He's bid us come, because He has overcome. He will grant us who are overcomers to be raised up and seated with Him. None of it's accessible without faith, verse 6 says. "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." We understand now that there has to be faith as part of this formula. Now, we know where faith comes from. "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17). As we've taught you in the past, we know that, that word hearing is not just audio perception. You don't get faith by hearing somebody read the Bible. You don't get faith by reading the Bible, but faith comes by hearing the Word of God. Faith comes when you--that word hearing means you have an audience with God. There's an encounter with God. There's a decree made by God to your heart. You're reading this thing, and you're reading it, and you're reading it, and all of a sudden, there's an audience. God speaks. The Word begins to be birthed in your heart. It becomes alive in you. That's faith, beloved, and then you begin to say the same thing God says. He's making intercession. You now are saying with Him what He's saying. You're speaking this revelation knowledge that He's given to you, and you're decreeing these things with hope, favorable expectation, because now that promise has been personalized. It's been made a reality to you.

You see, you can't go through the Scriptures and just grab any kind of a promise. You can't go to the Scriptures and just take any--and I told you we're going to talk about the miraculous and how to move in the power of God as we go into this study further and talk about prayer. Prayer is the means of obtaining that power. If you don't understand prayer, you're not going to be able to walk in the miraculous. You need to understand prayer before you can walk in the miraculous and understand the presence and the power of God. As we look at this particular aspect, so many people seem to think that faith comes by hearing. In other words, if you could find a verse, and it says, "And they raised the dead" that you can run out and raise the dead. You can't raise the dead--unless God tells you to. When God speaks to you and you understand, "Hey, this is in the Scriptures. This is in the Word of God. It's been done." You can't go out and choose to walk down the street and watch where your shadow's fallen and expect everybody to rise up as Peter did. But if God speaks to you and says, "I want to tell you something. I'm going to confirm my Word with signs following. You're going to see the miraculous. You're going to lay hands on the sick. They're going to recover. The dead in Christ are going to rise and not just in the resurrection." I know that he'll rise again. "No, no, no, no, not just in the resurrection. I'm going to show you that power right now," Jesus said. He speaks to your heart, and you begin to have that expectation. He births it.

You see, what happens a lot of times, people think, "Well, you know, it's in the Bible, so therefore, it's something that I can do whenever I feel like it--not so. I'll prove it to you in so many different ways. You can look. We see in the Scriptures one of the miraculous, right? Peter, "Lord, if it be you, bid me to come." The Lord says, "Come." And he steps out onto the water and begins to walk. Go try it. The law of physics will not allow it to be done without the law of faith.

We realize then that so many Christians, they're always getting themselves, "Oh, the Lord just doesn't answer prayer. I jumped out of the boat and sunk." Well, stupid, you should have stayed in the boat until the Lord says get out. "If it be thou, bid me come unto thee..." (Matthew 14:28). Now, that's where you better know His voice, and you better know the Word and the heart of God because there's a lot of people and they're hearing these voices. "Oh, the Lord's bidding me to come." That's not the Lord. "I believe it was the Lord." Then why are you on the bottom of the lake? It's by their bubbles that you shall know them, the Scriptures say--or by their fruit. Faith works. God's Word does not return void. Amen? So when God speaks to us, if we're going to pray effectively and know the power of God, we're going to have to know the heart of God, the presence of God, the purpose of God; and God's purpose is not to make life easier for you. It's to bring glory to Him. Now, in the process, life may be easier for us; or life may even get tougher, but you're going to see that what we have to do is look for not our will, but His will to be done. He says, "Without faith it is impossible to please him." Now, faith and prayer are married together in this verse. Aren't they? Without faith it's impossible to please God, and those that come to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder--prayer must believe that God rewards--of those that what? Diligently seek Him.

Now, this is what I want to talk about this morning--the diligent pursuit of God and how we can reconcile that with the sovereignty of God. Now, if God already knows what we have need of before we ask, and it's already His good pleasure to give us the Kingdom; it's His good pleasure to give the Holy Ghost to those that ask; if you being carnal know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those that ask? The Holy Spirit, in that context, being the agent of prayer, the agent of power, the ability to be witnesses unto Him. I don't want to get off course right now, but I'll tell you, beloved, look in the Scriptures; and you'll see that one of the greatest, again, one of the greatest emphases of prayer--we talked about forgiveness and repentance--the other one is to pray for doors of utterance to be opened that we might be a witness unto the Lord.

How much time are you spending praying of open doors of utterance? Praying for Ron and Tony in Africa and praying for all of the other satellite churches and for ourselves here, to see doors of utterance open that we could walk through and proclaim the resurrection of Jesus. But what happens is that so many people get caught up wanting to pray about all this temporal, material stuff. You want to spend time, "Ah, we just need--I'm having trouble with my young person, and I'm wanting to...." You want to know how to really help some with one of your young people? Just get them and show them how important souls are. Begin to bring them with you and pray for doors of utterance. Take them with you into the streets or to the job or wherever else and let them see you openly sharing Jesus. I'll tell you what. Your kids won't be as attracted by the world when they see what the treasure of your heart is. The world will have a lot less draw on our youth when they become men and women of prayer and pursuit of the Kingdom first and His righteousness. All of that naiveté to think that you can start out just like mom and dad and have everything they do when you start out goes away when you understand clearly how mom and dad got what they have, and that you have to dig your own wells.

It's very important to understand this particular privilege. He says there must be a diligent seeking of His presence. "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" the Scripture tells us (James 5:16). We can't pray just, "Now I lay me down to sleep." There's to be effectual fervent praying--white hot! Beloved, I want to tell you something. Prayer is work many times. I'm not talking about you have to necessarily work up a sweat and be screaming and hanging onto the horns of the altar, but the Scripture does say concerning Jesus that He prayed more earnestly. As He prayed more earnestly, there--as it were drops of blood as He sweat, as He was touched with the magnitude of this.

I want to tell you, beloved. There's times when we in prayer wrestle with our flesh and with the principalities and the powers of the air, that we take hold of these things--and like Jacob wrestling with the messenger of God, we take hold--and we wrestle; and it causes in us a brokenness, and we come away from it halt, and we come away from it sweating drops of blood. Prayer is a conflict many times with principalities. It's a conflict with the flesh of death, and it is a process of dying to self-will.

Psalm 145, as we talk about the bold access and the diligence of this pursuit of God's will in our lives, because prayer is the pursuit of God's will in our life. Prayer is the effecting of God's will in the earth. Thy will be done in earth. Let me say it again. Prayer is the desire to effect the will of God in the earth, to see His will manifest. Your will be done. Your glory be seen. We're going to go over to Kings in just a moment and look at Elijah, his great prayer on Mount Carmel, and see what it was all about. Ah, beloved, I hope you're hearing clearly what the Spirit's saying to us this morning. We've got to redirect prayer from ourselves to the glory of God. From our own self-gain and ease to the will of God being manifested on the earth. Now, in that will being manifested, you and I begin to be beneficiaries of that. We benefit from that because God wants us blessed. It'll be to His sovereign purpose, but God wants us to be blessed. He wants us to boast in His daily provision, to where we're not caught up seeking all of these temporal things but the Kingdom first, and God adds them to us. In Psalm 145, verse 15 says, "The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand, and satisfieth the desire of every living thing." What beautiful revelation here by the Psalmist. "Give us this day our daily bread." The eyes of all wait upon thee, and you give them their meat. Your Father knows before you ask that you have need of these things. We're dependent upon you. You open your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.

Can I ask you something this morning? Are you satisfied? Are you lusting for more? Are you discontent? Or do you believe this morning that the judge of all of the earth does right? "Now, it doesn't seem right, man, that guy's got more stuff than me. That doesn't seem right." I want to tell you something very clearly. God's not a communist. There is nothing in the Scripture that says everybody's going to have equal. The Bible teaches as clear as anything in the Scriptures, the opposite of that. Everyone does not get the same thing. All of our gifts differ, our calls differ, the purposes for our being here differs--not the whole duty of man but how he effects it. Man, in his own pride, so often is hindered in prayer because of the unspoken judgment of God of His injustice. I want you to understand something very clearly, beloved, verse 16, "He opens his hand and satisfies the desire of every living thing." For "the Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works." Do you believe that? "The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth." The Word. He's near. Draw near with a full heart of assurance, the Scripture says. He's near to those that call upon Him in truth, the Word, according to His will. You draw nigh unto God; He draws nigh unto you. Look at verse 19, "He will fulfill the desire of them that [reverence Him] fear him...." Don't think for a moment that you fear God when you can't pray give us this day our daily bread. There's no fear of God if there's not momentary dependence upon Him. There's no fear for God if you're trusting in your own strength, if you're trusting in the world system, the world's economy. I want to tell you something, beloved, those that fear Him; He will hear their cry and will save them. Can you say praise God for that? He'll hear your cry, and He will save you. It doesn't matter what's going on around you. It doesn't matter what happens in this world system. The economy can collapse, the plagues that just cause to pale the plagues of Egypt. It doesn't matter if it's Aids or Ebola or anything else, to those that fear Him, that call upon Him in truth, He will hear their cry and save them. The ears of the Lord are open to the cry of the righteous. Amen?

Here we are. We come to God, and we say, "Lord, I'm here for one reason. I'm dependent upon you. I'm recognizing you as my source. You open your hand and satisfy every living thing." We see the need to diligently begin to move into the presence of God. To come to Him, the Scripture says, and call upon Him in truth or His Word. We need to know what God is promising at a given moment and in a given circumstance. We need to pray about it and not just assume that because the Word says it, that that's what's going to happen.

Turn over to Jeremiah for just a second, and I'll show you the answer to that as clear as it in the Scriptures. There's nothing that will speak to it in a clearer way than what Jeremiah says. Though God has decreed a thing, it requires you and I to pray and to speak and to agree. In that proclamation, a people who are believing are discerned different from the heathen. A testimony is given. A remnant is seen. The specific answer is what brings glory to God.

The prophet's speaking, Jeremiah is speaking over here in Chapter 29 and, of course, Jeremiah, the great prophet of the justice of God and the decree of the captivity. This whole book is about the fact that if you don't repent, or actually, because you will not repent, God's going to take you into judgment and discipline; and you're going to be carried away into Babylon. Because of your own self-righteousness and your apathy, God is going to chasten you. Then also in Jeremiah, you see the great promise of deliverance and victory. God is going to chasten you, but He's not going to forsake you. God is going to prune you and out of you is going to come a remnant that is going to bring forth more fruit. In the midst of that, He speaks in verse 10 these words, "For thus saith the Lord [that's a done deal; you're going to be taken into captivity but], That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you...." Now watch. After seventy years, I will visit you, and God always visits us through a man. There are the personal encounters that individuals have had, but I'm talking about the community, the remnant. God sends His prophets. God does nothing but that He first reveals it to His prophets. Those that come and speak on His behalf, the apostles and the prophets being that great foundation that was laid in God's genius with, of course, Jesus as always the chief cornerstone. He said I'll visit you, and I like this next phrase. Don't you? "...And perform my good word toward you..." Get that in your notes. I will perform my good word toward you. These are sovereign declarations of God. This is going to happen. Nothing can thwart this. After seventy years of Babylonian captivity, "I will visit you and [I will] perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place." I've said I'll bring back a remnant, and I will--done deal. Well, praise God, done deal. Let's just wait. "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you." Ah, beloved, get this, this morning. Don't miss this. Let me tell you what God thinks about you this morning--thoughts of peace and not of evil. I so live my life on this next phrase--to give you an expected end. I've got an expected end in mind. I know what my life is going to be. I know the expected end, that God's for me; and if He is, nobody can be against me.

Do you know that this morning? Do you have that assurance in your heart? Do you believe what God's intentions and thoughts toward you are this morning? They're good and not evil. Ah, beloved, you talk about being able to access the presence of God. You talk about being able to pray when you come to Him knowing that His thoughts are good and not evil. He wants us blessed all the days of our life. Look at this, verse 12, you know the expected end. There will be a visitation, and you'll be made aware of it. Seventy years is up. God is on the move. Nothing can resist His power, and, yet, look at verse 12, at that time "you shall call upon me and ye shall [say it with me] go and pray [say it again] go and pray." It's already a decreed thing. It's going to happen. It's the will of God. It is the sovereign will of God. It cannot be thwarted, but you must do what? Say it again. Go and pray. What do you mean go and pray? It's already a done deal. You need to go and pray. "...And ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with [say it] all your heart." Okay, He's a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him.

Even though it's promised, you still have to seek Him diligently. There's still needs to be effectual fervent praying. There still needs to be a pursuit of His glory and of His presence and of His purpose. It's going to require on your part and on mine death to self and a seeking of the glory of God. Sometimes this prayer will put you in jeopardy of losing your life as it did Jeremiah, as it did Elijah. Many times God's going to call you to stand up publicly and make these proclamations, and the world system is going to hate you; and the religious system is going to hate you, but God says you need to pray. You need to speak openly what I've declared to you in secret in the prayer closet. Then when it comes to pass, God receives His glory.

Keep your finger here for just a second, and turn over to Daniel 9. After seventy years, I'll visit you. I'm going to perform my good word toward you, bring you back. You're going to know my thoughts toward you, thoughts of peace and the expected end. When you understand that this hour is upon you, you'll go and you'll pray and you'll seek me and find me when you search for me with all of your heart.

Daniel 9, verse 2 says, "...I Daniel understood by books [Jeremiah] the number of the years, whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations...." And when I realized, Daniel said, those seventy years were up, when I realized that the day was upon us, that God was visiting us to perform His good toward us; we understood now that He's thinking peace toward us and not evil. Then "I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes: And I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments. We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from [your Word] thy precepts and from thy judgments: Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name...." "O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee..." [verse 7]. Verse 9, "To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against him" Eleven. "Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us..." Nineteen. "O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not [here's the key to prayer, beloved:], for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name."

We see here the need to come before God, and even though He's promised, we realize that most of the promises of God were made to us to assure that He would not cast us off forever; but not unconditional. They're conditional upon repentance, and they're conditional upon pursuit and diligent desire to obey. A people now willing to go and honor God and it was going to cost them something. It was going to cost hardship and the rebuilding of walls and warfare, but those who had forsaken Him to live to their own ease and purpose experienced His justice and His judgment. Now, repentance was made, and so much of prayer is repentance and saying, "God, I'm ready now to do it, Lord. Please forgive me one more time; and give me the grace to obey." God says, "Okay, my promises and my intentions will be fulfilled in you." Prayer now solicits the mercy and grace of God to make us successful this time in doing His will and not our own. Make it real, Father, in Jesus name.

As Gary comes, and we'll take a moment this morning in allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to us. We'll pick this up tonight and deal with some more aspects of the power of prayer and the call to pray with purpose, to pray with an end in mind, with faith that believes that what we ask, He's going to give us because we've ask according to His will. That heart attitude that we've been emphasizing this morning that brings us into the miraculous. You will never know the miraculous power of God when your agenda is still in place. You will not know the power of God when there's independence in your life. You're still looking to yourself. You're trusting in your husband. You're trusting in your job. You're trusting in your parents. You've got to trust in God. If you're trusting in God, He tells you how to relate to parents and spouses and jobs and what your role is and how they interact; but He must be the source. When you're relying on Him, He'll turn the heart of the king. He'll resist those that resist you, and you'll begin to walk in that supernatural provision that allows no man to be against you all the days of your life. Father, make it real to us. Help us to trust in you as we daily partake of your presence. Let us imbibe that presence that makes us evermore dependent, and for that we'll give you the glory in Jesus name. Amen.

Let's stand before the Lord this morning. I think this is one of those teachings that you might ought to get the transcripts and go over it and go over it some more. There are some key principles in here, beloved, that will cause you to stand if you can get a hold of them. It's for His glory. It's to fulfill His purposes that are eternal. Yet, He calls us to pray. Your prayer and your faith don't make it happen. It makes you to realize that God did it and not chance, that He's alive in your life today and present to help in time of need. God is the source, and without Him we can do nothing; but we have Him, and we can do all things through Christ which strengthens us. Because of that, we don't have any fear of what's going on in the world today. We don't fear the rise of secular humanism. Because of that, we so have to protect ourselves that we go into politics instead of the throne of God. We've somehow got to change things and protect ourselves. God's for you, and nobody can be against you. The economy--He's our source. The diseases that are running rampant in the world--He is the balm of Gilead, and by His stripes, we're healed.

We're not as the heathen. Our Father knows what we have need of. He wants you healed this morning. He wants you free from your bitterness and strife this morning that's holding you in bondage and keeping Him from prospering you. He wants you to obey your parents that He might do you good. He wants you to submit to your husbands that they might love you and honor you as the weaker vessel. He wants you to die to self that you could serve your family, your wife and your children, and not your own flesh. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh. It comes through prayer. It comes through the presence and then the awareness that it can be done. There's victory to be had in all of these areas. The flesh can be overcome and destroyed, but it's by prayer. It's by the death of self-agenda and independence.

As we sing this together, let the Spirit of God refresh you; and make it a prayer of your heart, that you might seek the Kingdom first. It's all added to you because the judge of all the earth does right. Let's sing it together and worship Him this morning. (Seek Ye First) Ah, thank you, Jesus. Ah, bless Him as you sing it again. Let your hearts ascend into His presence, He that has been touched with the feelings of your infirmities. Come to the one who knows before you ask what you have need of. Know His purpose toward you this morning. Ah, just thank Him for the access this morning. Just thank Him for the blood of Jesus. Thank Him for the prayer of faith. Thank Him for the name that's above every name, that whatever we ask in His name, Father will do it.

Oh, we thank you for the privilege of that name, Lord, that we've been associated with that name, that you've put that name in our lips, Lord; and we speak it in faith, and it's as though you spoke it, Lord. Father loves us as He loves you, and there's nothing impossible to us because we believe that He's a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him. We believe that we can come boldly and obtain grace to help in the time of need. For that, Father, we give you all the glory, in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Hallelujah! Father, don't let us abuse this privilege and take for granted the greatest gift--Your presence. In Jesus' name we ask it. Amen. Amen. Before you go, turn to somebody next to you and say, "Be diligent." Go in peace; God's love go with you.

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