Dennis Gillett - Class 1: Privilege and Possibility

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   This first address in the series The Pathway of Prayer is entitled Privilege and Possibility. Now I would like to express a word or two by way of introduction first of all. Brethren and sisters, in coming to speak to you this week on the subject of prayer, I should not like you to think that I am posing as an expert.

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   There are some things, of course, about which you can be expert. By a great deal of study and earnest reading, you can become expert in certain subjects. I mean, Biblical prophecy would be such a subject. By a great deal of Biblical study and reading, you can, with contrast and comparison, become very competent in the interpretation of Bible prophecy.

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   But you see, prayer is not in that category. There is no way to learn to pray except by praying. You discover how to pray by use. You learn by practice.

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   I knew an old man in Christ. I use the past tense because he has fallen asleep now. I knew an old man in Christ who, measured by human arithmetic, was very poor in this world. And he was also un-puted because he had to be taught to read before he could study the Word of God.

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   But he knew more about prayer than any man I have ever met. Although he was ill-informed, as we should say, from the learning point of view, he was a mighty man in the ministry of prayer. So, please understand, I have not come as an expert. I challenge nobody's opinion. I question nobody's methods about prayer.

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   I have come simply to say that I want to put it to you as it appears to me. And I hope that the things that have helped me may thereby help you. And if, per chance, I should fall into dogmatic language in the course of these addresses, it will be by accident. And I wouldn't like you to think that what I am saying, I believe to be the last word about prayer.

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   No, I do not pose as an expert. Simply want to put it to you as it appears to me. I know and you know there are problems and there are difficulties about praying. And let us hope that this week, together with our consideration, we may find some instruction, some help and some consolation.

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   So, that's the introduction. Well now, let's begin dogmatically with a good sound Bible principle. It's in Proverbs 23 verse 7. You'll remember it well, you'll remember it well. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. Now that tells us that what a man thinks determines what he does. It tells us that a man's belief conditions his actions.

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   My consciousness of anything determines my conduct towards that thing. I mean, my consciousness of a child conditions my conduct towards that child. My consciousness of a young woman, it conditions my conduct towards that woman. If my consciousness is low, my conduct will be low. If, on the other hand, my consciousness is high, then my conduct will be higher.

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    Now, it's an old principle, as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. In the city of Corinth, the New Testament times, there were some people living there who were sceptics. They didn't believe in any other life than this life. They didn't see evidence from any other world than this world. They were sceptics.

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    And so, they lived their lives purely on the plane of the material. Their lives were lived purely on the level of the sensual and the transient. Indeed, as you know, they had a proverb, Let us eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die. And their lives, the way of life, arose directly out of their philosophy.

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    As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. So, I only mention this to say to you, What you believe inevitably determines how you behave. And this is essentially true about prayer. What you think in your minds about prayer will decide whether you pray, how you pray, and what happens as a result of your prayer.

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    So, our business in this address is, first of all, to consider what is the right teaching about prayer according to the Bible. Think about its privileges and its possibilities. Because this is the pathway we ought to tread, I think, if we are to come to a condition of prevailing prayer with God. Now, I don't know whether you want a definition of prayer at this stage or not.

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    I can only say that when I was a young boy, before I came into the truth, my religious mentors taught me that prayer was the raising of the heart and mind to God. And I've never felt the need to quarrel with that definition. The raising of the heart and mind to God. In short, prayer is communication with God.

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    A cry uttered or unexpressed which reaches heaven and the majesty on the high. Now, in the first chapter of the Roman letter, it's at verse 20, the Apostle Paul says that men have evidence of the existence of God. You remember this. He says they have evidence of the existence of God in the things which are created.

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    There is evidence of power and intelligence in the things of nature. The divinity of God is marked on every tree, on every blade of grass. nature proclaims the existence of eternal energy and transcendent wisdom. But I do not think you will be constrained to pray to eternal energy. Even when you see it marshalling stars and controlling seasons and presiding over the secret forces of the universe.

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    Even then. I do not think you will pray to such a force in the way we think of praying. It's difficult to believe that any word of yours or any word of mine could reach or affect such a stupendous intelligence. Standing by itself, you know, the idea becomes unthinkable. We may feel broken and bruised and we may feel the need to pray but somehow we cannot pray to an inscrutable force which is in nature.

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    No, don't think I'm diminishing the importance or the truth of Romans 1 verse 20. Not one which. Of course it's absolutely true that the created things demand our wonder and our reverence and they are testimony that God exists and he is a powerful God. But it's not the whole story. That's all I'm saying.

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    The whole story is that out of this immutable and stupendous intelligence has come a revelation which has charged the whole situation with a new dimension. And this is it. And it's summarised for us in a verse in John's Gospel, first chapter verse 18. No man has seen God at any time but the only Vyotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father he has declared him.

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    It means that out of the infinite spaces of eternity and from the mysterious and inscrutable intelligence of the invisible force has come a great love song. Behind the power and the position of the great God of the universe there is abundant and abounding grace. That's what this man is telling us. Notice the phrase the bosom of the Father.

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    It means the Father heart of God. And out of that Father heart of God his only begotten Son has spoken to us. We know now as with Hosh Firit we ponder this word of revelation that the one who has spoken out of the bosom of the Father is the one with wounded hands through the mystery of pain upon his life with the death of sacrifice enwrapping him as a garment.

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    So that we may be able to come near to the great God of the universe and find pardon and peace and protection. So thereby we may enter into the presence of this great God and come to a proper place of prayer. In Psalm 103 you remember this sentence like as a father pity of his children so hath the Lord compassion on them that fear him.

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    And all of us when we think about these things we know that in the in the very fibre of their being somehow we we are undone. We are under the pollution and the penalty of sin. We are lost and straying. We are broken and bereft. And then we discover that underneath the eyes of fire there is the voice of God.

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    Jesus said and we sang tonight I am the good shepherd. And the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. And it tells that the shepherd work of God will never cease will never cease until all the straying ones are brought home. There is pardon for sin. There is cleansing for air pollution.

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    There is power for our paralysis. So standing in the son's revelation of the father heart of God a man or a woman in their weakness and their utter need they are constrained to draw near in reverent and filial fear to utter their hearts and express their minds raising their hearts and minds to God they are constrained by the realisation of what God is really like.

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    It means you see therefore in the realisation of what God is like that he is a great shepherd. We may come with all our bruises and our wounds and our impoverishment and we may find grace to help in time of need. That's what I mean by privilege. The revelation of God and what he is like creates in us a desire to pray.

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    And if you believe and if you feel this to be true of course it will have an effect upon your pain because as a man thinketh in his heart so is he. But there is more to be said about the privilege of prayer and that brings me to my first proper reference Luke chapter 18 which we read.

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    Have a look at that please. Luke 18 Now Just let me read verse 1 to start And Jesus spake a parable unto them to this end that men ought always to pray and not to faint. Now on a point of exposition in the revised version of the New Testament instead of the word men men ought always to pray it says they ought always to pray.

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    Now you may think the distinction is hardly worth noticing but I propose it's important. The change is important for this reason. It reveals more clearly to whom the king was speaking. You see if you go back to the 22nd verse of chapter 17 if you've got your Bibles open please if you look back to the 22nd verse of chapter 17 you will read this And Jesus said unto his disciples and then he goes on to speak of the stress and strain and the conflict of the life of discipleship and you will see then that the word he's speaking to his disciples and the word men tends to detach the words from the immediate context whereas the word they includes it even more closely.

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    It is they he's concerned with not men it is they they the disciples faced with the allied forces of opposition and ungodliness they in this condition faced with these forces they ought always to pray and not to pray it's right there in the context if you substitute they for men now notice in that those first few verses in that parable notice what the king is doing he is putting these two things in opposition he detairs that this is the alternative before the disciple to pray or to faint and there is no hint of a middle course in this teaching men are simply in two groups those who pray and those who faint and according to our understanding of the king's teaching if men pray rightly they will not faint and if they do faint it will be because they have ceased to pray rightly and so in a way you can find your interpretation of prayer by the process of opposition I mean put simply prayer is the opposite of fainting now we know what fainting is fainting is the sudden sense of weakness it's helplessness it's weirdiness it's to feel the force of life ebbing away so by contrast you can define the effect of praying it is to mount up with wings of eagles it is to roam and not be weary it is to walk and not faint though the way may be rough and the way may be rugged perhaps walking amongst precipices it is safety and it's assurance so this is the king's great philosophy of life if you pray he is saying there is no hour so dark there is no

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    temptation so subtle there is no conflict so fierce but if a man or a woman shall pray then they will overcome that's what he is saying men will not faint they I mean if you have an argument about it it is not an argument with me this is not my philosophy it is the teaching of your king if you pray he says you will not faint now here is an interesting thing I want to impress on you notice that although praying is a great privilege right in the heart of the privilege there is necessity because he said men they ought they ought to pray and not to faint it is a privilege indeed and yet in a sense it is a solemn duty they ought it must mean that in God there is resource equal to every demand that can come upon those who trust him men ought not to faint because they ought to pray now this is the privilege of prayer the inward impelling force is the realisation of our own need and the revelation of God's abundant provision and solution for his love's sake the father heart of God making provision for every need of his children this is the impelling force which drives his children to pray God making provision for their every need the realisation of what he is like drives us to draw near and pray and then of course the necessity not only are we impelled by the realisation of what God is like but our own needs our own needs enforce upon us the necessity let me give you an example if a man is suffering from

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    a deadly disease shall we say and there is a certain remedy but he refuses the remedy and consequently he dies you could say of course that he died of the disease disease but it wouldn't be the whole truth would it the real answer is he died because he refused the remedy now this is our situation standing by ourselves our Lord tells us we are bound to fail we are bound to feel the vigour of life passing we are bound to feel beaten and broken down and disintegrating and descending and finally doomed and it makes provision for no middle cause men they ought always to pray and not to fail and this is our privilege and this is our necessity and if we understand it rightly and if we feel it to be true in our deepest heart then I think as Jesus is teaching us it will control whether we pray and how we pray so now that's what all I wanted to say about privilege remember the subject was privilege and possibility so let's come to possibility now that is to say let's consider the purpose and the achievement of prayer now I want to come to the point straight away and say I know there are those who affirm quite sincerely that the sole purpose of prayer is subjective that is to say the object of prayer is solely to change those who pray to produce upon the character of those who pray something noble and uplifting and nothing more than that subjective prayer affects the person but it never affects anything outside the person that's what's meant by subjective prayer now whilst I

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    have the deepest respect for those who sincerely hold this view I am compelled to say that I think it to be wrong and in some sense I think it's a theory which is self-destructive you see when we were thinking just now about privilege we brought to mind a simple but profound statement in John's gospel now I want to do the same again while we are thinking about possibility a simple and profound statement from the words of our Lord himself I bring you to Matthew chapter 7 please Matthew chapter have a look at verse 7 of Matthew 7 ask and it shall be given you seek and you shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you for everyone that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh find it and to him that knocketh it shall be opened or what man is there of you whom if his son asks bread will he give him a stone or if he asks a fish will he give him a serpent if ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more shall your father which is in heaven give good gifts or good things to them that ask him therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you do ye even so to them for this is the law and the prophets now you see if when I ask I never have when I seek I cannot find and when I knock no door is ever opened then I am obliged to say with the deepest reverence that somehow I feel I have been deceived I mean in that passage

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    the words of the king are quite explicit and there is another quotation in the gospel which is equally remarkable it's in John 15 verse 7 I'll read it to you if he abide in me and my words abide in you said Jesus ask whatsoever you will and it shall be done to you now in that passage there is the condition and the achievement the condition is if he abide in me and my words abide in you and that condition demands a situation where the desires of the praying one harmonise with the purposes of God and that harmony is brought about by living a life which is honed in God and in a spiritual sense a life where God can dwell and be at home and where he may move by the authority of love and where there is nothing to make his presence impossible and given that condition then prayer becomes a method of cooperation with the great God of heaven and therefore a situation is established where God will answer the cry and the petition of the one who prays bearing in mind and understanding that he will never grant anything which hurts or harms those on whom his love is said and so if prayer has no objective value that is if prayer never affects anything outside of us but only ourselves then those words deceive me into thinking it does and the alternative that these are words of one who was sincere but somehow one who was mistaken now we cannot possibly believe that that this man this man of Nazareth who taught us these things was mistaken the bible says that

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    heaven and earth may pass away but his words will never pass away it appears to me that if you deny the possibility of objective prayer then without willing it perhaps you have denied the word of the king himself and then you could think about it along the line of reason I am the first to recognize that there is a very real subjective value of prayer I know very well that praying does affect people who actually pray it affects the inward condition of those who pray of course it does it does change us as we practice prayer of course it does those who speak with God cannot escape bearing the mark of it like Moses in the mountain but here is the argument you see that the subjective value and effect of prayer arises out of a conviction that when men speak to God he hears and answers their petitions that's really why it affects us if a man prays for something it is because he has faith in God to whom he prays it seems to me that the subjective value of prayer arises out of its objective value and if you can demonstrate the subjective value it follows therefore that you have presumptive evidence that prayer has an objective purpose again most people who pray objectively that is believing that God will answer their prayers and he will grant their petitions he will change things outside themselves people who pray objectively believing that and that these external things can be changed by prayer I say people who pray like that are affected in themselves they are changed often they are uplifted often they are ennoble

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    by the belief that God will do these things now if there is no such possibility that God answers prayer in that way then it means that belief in that which is false has been able to produce a character which is true and which is noble now such a proposition is really untenable and then there is another fact which cannot be denied it often happens that people who believe only in the subjective value of prayer and people who deny its objective value I tell you something very often at last they give up praying altogether I know of three cases of this of people who believed only in the subjective value of prayer that is it would alter them only and nothing else eventually they lost faith and they gave up praying altogether so that's what I meant when I said I felt that the subject the theory was in itself destructive so pardon me for that digression but it's important to establish that at this stage that we can go back now to Luke 18 and think of the unjust judge in the parable now the parable brethren and sisters is an exposition of the meaning of prayer by the use of contrast have you noticed that all through it's contrast in other words all that the unjust judge was God is not the judge was unjust he was careless he was indifferent he was concerned only with his own peace and his own security now by contrast God God is being susceptible and righteous and just and not the word of Jesus long suffering over them he will avenge it says and the use of

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    the word avenge does not mean he will take revenge in this case but means he will do justice to and the king adds the word speedily by contrast it reveals that God is one who answers the heart uplifted in prayer and God would not reluctantly like the judge but ready to hear an answer the weakest feeblest faintest cry so we form our understanding of the possibility of prayer first by our doctrine of the nature of God as we thought about it under privilege then by the gracious words of the king himself tenderly spoken and substantiated by his own life and death and resurrection and then finally I am going to propose finally by the history and the experience of men and women of God who have asked and received who have sought and found or not and have the door opened you know brothers and sisters today in the scientific world experience is the universal test of truth and reality that is the measurement that science imposes experiment and experience and if that be true we are more than right to include in our testimony the experience of the people of God who have prayed and who send answers and our next step is to think of some examples of that now my first example brothers and sisters is I want you to think of Hannah the wife of Elkanah it's in 1 Samuel chapter 1 why not you know it of course I understand you know it inside out of course Elkanah was a kind considerate man and he loved his wives and he loved Hannah especially that's what it says in his day

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    polygamy was legal perfectly legal I said Elkanah was kind inconsiderate whether he was wise is another matter two wives in the same kitchen one barren the other fruitful and the fruitful one cocky with it you'll notice what it says verse 6 poor Hannah Hannah's adversary also provoked her sore for to make her threat because the Lord had shut up her womb now you don't have to be a genius to know Hannah's feelings I mean she knew this woman knew what she needed she needed a man child it was no good explaining to Hannah that the laws of nature cannot be changed or that the laws of probability cannot be manipulated no good explaining that to Hannah somehow she had the fixation that the force that closes the womb is able to open the womb the power which makes barren is able to make truth that was Hannah's philosophy she was as you know in bitterness of soul and went to the temple you know in the presence of Eli and prayed and wept sore so that he thought she was drunken at first she was praying so earnestly then after her prayer she went back to Shiloh her countenance it says was no more sad she cast her burden on the Lord and you know well it was not in vain this prayer was not in vain Hannah never ceased to give thanks in the person of Samuel her child who served God it's the first splendid example of the experience of those who pray now my next example is something quite different I am thinking of King Asa do you remember King Asa he was a good

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    man but he had bad feet and it's true the record is in 2 Chronicles 14 8 not about discreet but about something else you see when you read when you read the 14th chapter when you read the 14th chapter of the second book of Chronicles you will discover that everything was going well and splendidly with Asa and his reign everything was first class and then suddenly out of the blue came the Ethiopians against him with a great army and humanly speaking defeat was certain now I want just to detain you for a moment on the question of the armies involved in this situation the record tells us that the Ethiopians had a million men poor Asa had only half a million now I don't know what you think about these numbers if anybody has something to help me with these I should be letting you talk to me afterwards I just ask you to notice it the authorised version says the Ethiopians had one million men and Asa had half a million as I say you know you can see that humanly speaking he was in a bad case but Asa was a man of faith he sought a link with God his prayer that he prayed to God is one of the most daring in the whole of the Bible I want you to notice it verse 11 of 2 Chronicles 14 I'm going to wait for you to find it everybody there verse 11 then Lord it is nothing with thee to help whether with many or with them that have no help O Lord our God for we rest on thee and in

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    thy name we go against this multitude O Lord thou art our God let not man prevail against thee now notice what he's saying what he's saying is we are inadequate Lord but we are weak we are at thy disposal and if we fail it will be thy failure that's what he's saying it's the boldest most daring prayer I've ever read in the Bible this man says to God we've come we're inadequate we're incompetent we've got nothing against these men if we fail it'll be your failure because we place ourselves at your disposal it was a very bold thing I'll tell you something it was answered with a great victory over Zira and the Ethiopian hosts of course the battle was not Asa's as he said it was God's battle and it was God's triumph but you see it needed Asa's faith a very interesting faith I think what do you think my next example is Joshua have a look at Joshua 7 you'll remember of course how under Joshua the people of God had great victories at Rephidim and Jericho they were greatly exhilarated by those splendid victories and then they came to Ai I believe that's how you say it they came to Ai and you see it was a small thing it seemed to them like child's play by comparison with the other battles and in verse 3 if you have a look at verse 3 of Joshua 7 you'll see that the intelligence core said that only a few men would be needed and really there was no need to trouble the almighty they were only wasn't it 3000 doesn't it say 3000

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    they only needed 3000 for this they needed trouble the almighty well you know the story they went out as though they were going to a Sunday school party and they came back halter skelter licking their wounds and Joshua was dumbfounded but he took his trouble he took his defeat to God now I know what you're thinking I can read your minds you're wanting to tell me that it was this business of Achan the sin of Achan which was at the bottom of the trouble and that's true but perhaps if Joshua had taken the matter to God first of all before they went out and discovered the hidden danger before the battle it would have been better instead of discovering it after the battle and their defeat just a point to ponder I move to the New Testament now and I'm thinking of the Apostle Paul in the ninth chapter of Acts in the ninth chapter of Acts in verse 11 of Acts 9 the Lord is speaking to Ananias you'll remember and he says to Ananias in verse 11 of Acts 9 arise and go into the street which is called Strait and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus for behold he prayeth now that's a very interesting little phrase as though God is meaning mark this wonder Ananias Saul of Tarsus is praying he is being converted he has discovered his need and God told Ananias that this sign of praying was proof that the arch persecutor had become a true disciple now don't doubt this Saul of Tarsus had prayed before many a time prayed as a

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    proud Pharisee but now for the very first time he is praying in reality why he is praying because he is a broken repentant sinner behold he prayed even God is amazed if I may be as irreverent as to say that even the great God of heaven marvels behold he prayed you see with God that was conclusive and he wanted to convey that truth to Ananias you can trust him Ananias behold he prayed very well I'm going to bring you back to the Old Testament Daniel chapter 6 have a look at Daniel chapter 6 verse 10

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    Daniel chapter 6 verse 10 when you read it you discover that Daniel three times a day or he did know when Daniel knew that the writing was signed he went into his house and his windows being opened in his chamber toward Jerusalem he kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did a four time three times a day he prayed to the God of heaven at the open window now he did this when all was well with him but perhaps he did it because he knew that the crisis was going to come and when it came it would discover the hidden flaws and lay bare the source of his strength I think Daniel knew that the crisis was bound to come you see the crisis sometimes tries all things in one day a man may reap the harvest of a lifetime have you ever thought of that one awful crisis determines a man's destiny all through his life he travels and then one awful crisis determines his destiny that's how it is sometimes the faith of Daniel was not a flash in the pan his reliance on God was not born suddenly usually people who pray effectively in a storm have discovered their needs in fine weather desperation of course is better than despair but the best course is to have commerce with heaven when the storm before the storm envelops us I mean not when the storm has arrived of course it's good to pray when we are in the darkness but it's better to pray when we are in the light as well

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    in preparation for the day of darkness very often open victory is the fruit of secret prayer over a long time now Daniel's secret was the ministry of the open window and when the crisis came Daniel had nothing to alter did you notice that he did as he did before time there's nothing to change in his life he continued to do then what he'd always done he went to the open window he gave thanks it says as before time verse 10 he did not suddenly need to change his life now of course that wouldn't be true with everybody would it I mean I can think of a man I'm not prepared to tell you his name but I reckon if the crisis like that had come to him he would have shut the window drawn the blinds locked the door and made his will Daniel was ready for that day because he was ready every day he stole an advance march against the enemy by discovering his need early when he faced the king's wine do you remember early in his experience in Babylon he faced the king's wine he knew what to do when he was faced with that problem and so God delivered him when he had to face the king's lions that was the experience of Daniel a praying man at the open window and he is revealed as a man who was praying ready for the crisis now I mention all these examples brethren and sisters because I wanted to say this to you in the last minute or two there are some people of course who want to tell us that

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    these persons and many others like them were all no doubt sincere but somehow they were misguided and mistaken now if that's true that the testimony of saints and seers and prophets and priests and psalmists and martyrs if all this is to count for nothing then we ought to say if they were deluded then may God help us to share their delusion if they were because their delusion has been the cause of some of the noblest characters and the most effective dynamic and some of the best work that's ever been done on this planet in the name of God now you do not believe nor I believe that they were mistaken so let nobody rob you of your conviction that these great things which they did were done because of the power of prevailing prayer let nobody rob you of that conviction and let us remember again that the conviction that this is true is based firmly first of all on the doctrine of the nature of the fatherhood of God and then well we could go over our reasons again I think as we thought about them in privilege and possibility our conviction about prayer is based first of all on the realisation of the nature of the fatherhood of God and then on the declaration of our Lord Jesus Christ himself and then on the history of the experience of the saints so that as you think in your heart about prayer so you will pray your conception your conviction about prayer as it deepens as you understand it will affect how you pray and as you are conscious of the privilege and the

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    possibility so hopefully you will be able to come more surely to the next stage which is called preparation and practice that will be the title of the next address preparation and practice condition