So this will be our last lecture on prayer. And we're looking at applications on all that we've learned. So let's go to the Lord in prayer, shall we? O Lord God, this is your holy word. We are your servants. Give us understanding that we might know your testimonies. You have prayed, O Lord, sanctify them in truth. Thy word is truth. Use your holy, eternal, inerrant written word to set us apart to your service and to your glory. Show us now great and mighty things which we do not know. The sower sows the word. Let not your word go out and return empty, but accomplish that purpose for which you are sending it out and for which you have gathered us together. Protect us from Satan who will snatch your word. Protect us from a wrong reaction to difficulties and discouragements and persecutions, which make our hearts hard and unresponsive to your word. Protect us from the world's cares, and the delight of wealth, and the passion of other interests, which enter in and choke the Word, making it fruitless. Rather, plow out now the hard ground of our hearts, O Lord. Give us good soil, that Your sown Word would send roots downward, and then bear fruit upwards. Unsheathe now the sword of your spirit, O Lord. Cut to dividing point of soul and spirit, bone and marrow. Judge now the thoughts and intentions of each heart gathered here. Spread your word before us as a banquet table, O Lord. Grant grace that we might eat of the rich meat and drink of the sweet milk of the great doctrines of your word. Give us the heart of the prophet who cried to you. Thy words were found and I did eat them. And thy words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart from call by thy name, O Lord God of hosts. Oh Lord, we live in a dark and a wicked age. Broad is the way and many are on it, which leads to destruction. Make your word a lamp to our feet. Make your word a light to our path. Show us that narrow way that you would have us run, and Lord, as we run in the paths of your commandments, enlarge our hearts, that in loving you, we might be more obedient to your written word. Drop your word against our lives as a plumb line, O Lord. Grant grace that we might see how we deviate from its high and holy purposes. Make Your Word to us a mirror, O Lord. Grant grace that we might not be as those who look and go away and forget, but make us active doers, not forgetful listeners of Your Holy Word. O Lord, because of our fealty to You, Because of our undying love and devotion to your Son, our resurrected Savior, we pledge to you this day our total submission to your holy, eternal, inerrant written word. And we pledge to you our unquestioning obedience to all of its commands. In the name of our Lord and Resurrected Savior, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. Okay, let's look now at some applications. The first application we're going to look at is the Word of God in prayer. how the Word of God shapes our prayers. So, Brother Bashan, if you will look at John 15, 7. Sister Diana, if you will take 1 John 5, 14. Brother Bami, if you will look at Matthew 6, 10. I'll take Luke 22, 42. Let's take a look at these Yes God's Word Equals God's will. We don't have to worry about that, do we? So, if we allow our prayers to be shaped by the Word of God, we know those prayers will be answered. Now, the other prayers we don't know. Like, one of the things Eleanor and I have been doing is been praying for peace between Russia and the Ukraine. The Russian Protestant Christians have worked very hard at being patriots and good citizens once Russia became a democracy. because the Russian Orthodox Church said they were cults and anti-Russia. So they have worked very hard at being good citizens. Now, Russia has a universal draft or universal conscription. When you turn 18, you're supposed to serve for two years. So, rather than being draft dodgers, the Russian Protestants, especially the Presbyterians and the Baptists, all have their sons join the military as a testimony. Well, these children now find themselves in this war. Well, the Ukraine is the same way. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church says Baptists and Presbyterians and Methodists are cults. So they have worked very hard at being good citizens. So the Christian children find themselves in this war. So we are praying for peace. But what do we know about the end days? What does it say? Matthew 24 6. You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. Nation will rise against nation. So that's prophesied. So there's nothing we can do about that, can we? We learned in our study of spiritual warfare this morning that faith will not thwart, blunt, or turn aside the onward progression of prophecy. So spiritual warfare is not getting God to undo what he has prophesied will happen. So, we pray for peace, but we know that wars are part of the prophetic end of this world before Christ comes. But I can pray also that while these Christian children are in the military, that God would use them as witnesses and lead other soldiers to Christ. so god's word equals god's will doesn't it if we abide in god christ and his word abides in us then ask first john five fourteen and this is the confidence that we have toward him that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us And if, keep reading Deanna, I'm sorry, and if we know that he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have requests that we have asked of him. Yeah, and God's word is God's will. So let's say praying for the sick. Do we know if it's God's will to heal that sick person? No. Hebrews 9.27 says, is appointed for men to die once and after that comes judgment. We all have an appointment. All Christians have an appointment with God to go to heaven, don't we? And we want to keep that appointment, don't we? Job 14 verse 5. Deanna, could I get you to read that please? Job 14 verse 5. So we don't know when we pray for the sick if God will heal them. If God heals all diseases, who's in heaven, Bommie? If by faith God heals diseases, and the people without faith, God doesn't heal them because they don't have enough faith, who's in heaven? The people without faith. The people without faith. Yeah, that's upside down Christianity. By faith we go to heaven, don't we? We all stay out of heaven by faith. By faith we go to heaven. So, Sister Diana, John 14, 15. Since his days are determined and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his limits, that he cannot pass, walk away from him, and leave him alone, that he may enjoy, like a hard hand, his day." Yeah, so that's going to happen. Our number of days will come up, won't they? And we can't go any further. So we can pray for healing, but we don't know if God will heal. My mother had pancreatic cancer, and people would say, well, Jaska, we are praying for your healing. She says, oh, pray for me. And I've heard her say this, I will get well, or I will get better. What did she mean by that? If she gets well, God will heal her. If she gets better, what does she mean? What's better than well? Going to heaven. That's right. That's it, you know, are we Christians? Yeah, isn't it better to go to heaven? We're all sitting around in the doctor's office waiting for our number to be called, aren't we? We're all sitting around in the airport on standby waiting for our name to be called so we can get on the plane and go home, aren't we? So, well, we don't know if it's God's will to heal them but Bishan, read Romans 10.1 and then Deanna, I'm really making you work today, aren't I? Deanna, if you would read 1st Timothy chapter 2 verse 3 and 4 Bishan, Romans 10.1 Brothers my heart desire a prayer to God for them is that they may be saved now that That we can't I don't know if God's gonna heal them or not But if they don't know the Lord I can pray that God will save them Before they go to be with the Lord healed or not Deanna if you would read your passage This is good, and it is pleasing in the Spirit of God our Savior who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." So, I'm going to pray for their salvation and share Christ with them. Now, that I have confidence in. But whether or not God will heal them, I have to leave with God. Bami, we finally come back to you. I believe you had Matthew 6.10, didn't you? Yes. Your kingdom come, your will be done. Now what's that from? A citizen in heaven. What's that phrase? What prayer is that phrase from? Your kingdom come, thy will be done. That's the Lord's prayer, isn't it? The Lord's prayer. Yeah. So that's how Jesus says, pray for God's will to be done. It doesn't say, thy kingdom come, man's will be done. Thy kingdom come, man's faith be done. Thy kingdom come, and whatever you command God to do in the name of Jesus, that be done. Doesn't say that, does it? So, in the church on Sunday morning, in these Pentecostal and Charismatics and Mystical churches, they all say the Lloyd's Prayer, Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, and then they stand up and command God to do things. Luke 22, 42, Not my will, but thy will be done. That's the example Christ gives us in prayer. And if you write in your Bibles, you can cross-reference that. If you write in your Bibles, next to Luke 22, 42, write Matthew 6, 10. Next to Matthew 6, 10, write Luke 22, 42. And then when somebody says, why did Jesus pray that? Well, we know from the Lord's Prayer, we know from John 17, that Jesus prayed as examples for us. I mean, he was God. He didn't have to pray for anything, did he? He just raised the dead. If you search out the prayers of Jesus, you'll see many times he says, I do not say this for my sake, but for their sakes, for the sakes of those who are listening. Well, Where does faith come in when we pray? Well, Brother Bishan, if you will look at Romans 1.5, Sister Deanna, Romans 16.26, and Brother Bami, Acts 6.7. Romans 1.5. Through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations. What does faith of the apostles bring about? Obedience. Yeah. We bring about the obedience of God to faith. Is that what it says? God will obey us if we have faith? We, by faith, obey God. See, that's upside down Christianity. Pentecostals, Charismatics, Evangelical Mystics, by faith you stay out of Heaven. By faith God obeys you. No! By faith we obey God. By faith we go to Heaven. So, Romans 16.26 but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations according to the command of the eternal God to bring about the obedience of faith. Bookend verses, aren't they? The great theological work by God the Holy Spirit on faith and salvation. It begins with Let's keep this straight. I'm going to teach you all about faith so you can obey. It ends with, now remember, I've just taught you all about faith so you can obey. Not so we can get God to obey. Bami, Acts 6, verse 7, please. Acts 6, verse 7. And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem. and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith. The priests became what? Obedient to the faith. Obedient! And a great many of the priests became miracle workers by faith. Is that what it says? No. A great many of the priests began having healing crusades by faith. A great many of the priests began having Holy Spirit miracle crusades by faith. A great many of the priests began having deliverance crusades by faith. Now what did the priests become by faith? They became obedient to the faith. That's right. And so the word of God shapes our prayers. The word of God is God's will. And when we pray for God's will, what we're praying is areas of obedience for us. Remember, I was sharing with you from the prayer notebook when you're praying for supplication. We pray for it, we think through on what are the areas of character, spiritual disciplines, ministry to which God has called us. And then we claim verses on that. Second thing we talked about was meditation and the word of God in prayer. Let's look at Joshua 1.8. So, Bishan, we'll go back to you. Joshua 1.8. In fact, let's all turn to Joshua 1.8. Now, if you were, if this was a conference or you were in my Sunday school class, I would give you a book for answering this correctly. But, you know, what can I do? I can't get that through. It's like my grandchildren, when they were real young, I would FaceTime them from Russia or from Africa, and they would get real close to the screen and say, Baba, come out! Come out, Baba! And they would put out their arms, come out! Why may I stay on the other side of that mirror, that box? Just come on out. So I can't do that for you. I'll just praise you. Are you at Joshua 1A? Yes, sir. I wait for Bami. You there? Okay. This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you will meditate upon it day and night. Then you will make your way prosperous. Then you will have good success. Does it say that? No. No. What did I leave out? so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. I left out obedience. Yes, obedience. So we have to remember that when we are praying and meditating upon God's word, there is a new movement in the church and in Christianity called listening prayer. And that's where you empty your mind of everything and let God the Holy Spirit speak to your mind. But this is the problem. What are the tonal differences between God the Holy Spirit and Satan, Deanna? How do they sound differently in terms of recognizing their voices? It would be difficult for a sinner like me to know the difference. Yeah, we don't know. That's exactly right. That's like somebody said, well, so and so saw Jesus. Well, I said, well, tell me the five facial characteristics between Jesus and Satan. You don't know, do you? A Roman Catholic said, Mary appeared at this shrine. And I said, tell me the five facial characteristics that distinguish Mary from the demon goddess Aphrodite that they worshipped in Corinth. They don't know, do they? But can you tell me the difference if I present on a table the demonic writings of the Koran, the demonic writings of the Book of Mormon, the demonic writings of the Hindu Book of the Dead, the demonic writings of a Jehovah's Witness Watchtower magazine, and the Holy Scripture. Can you tell the difference between those things? Do you know which is which? Yeah, you do! we can tell which is from God only the Holy Scripture and so that's why it's very important when we talk about meditating and doing God's will that we're talking about Bible verses not about voices in our heads Bible verses that's where our confidence comes from so I'd like to share with you a few things now It's interesting, I was speaking on spiritual warfare to the Word of God study, my mouse stopped working, my glasses broke, and my handouts wouldn't open. I thought, well, I know what Satan doesn't want me teaching God. So I said, well, do your worst. I just kept on teaching. So, okay. Now, so what we are going to look at first is some meditation sheets. Now, I sent these to you, so you've got these as a handout. Now, we have actual filled out meditation sheets on different subjects on our website. and they are fillable you can fill them out on the website or you can print them out and use them in your bible study they're all free but when we talk about meditation you can do this where it says theme you can put a bible verse or you can put a topic like witnessing and then there will be a passage What does something God wants me to know? What is something God wants me to be? What is something God wants me to do? Know, be, do. Very simple, isn't it? And the reason I like to teach that quiet time method is if you use that and teach it to your disciples, to have a daily quiet time, they don't need a book or printouts or anything. Those are nice, All they need is a piece of paper and a pencil and to remember three words, Know, K-N-O-W, Be, Do. So that's a handy little meditation discipline that you can teach the people in your ministries. Here's another one. It's called the ABC method. What is adoration? A. B. What is something God wants me to be? C. Confess. What is something God wants me to confess? D. Do. E. Express. What is something God wants me to tell other people? And then look, we have who, what, when, where, how, and why. Now that's a nice little quiet time series, but it's a little more complicated than the other one, isn't it? Well, what about the book of John? Read a chapter in the book of John and answer these six questions. What does the author say about Jesus? What do the disciples say about Jesus? What do others say about Jesus? What does Jesus say about himself? What did Jesus do that others would not or could not do? And how does this apply to me? Now all of these could be Bible studies, couldn't they? They'd be good Bible study format. You could break down if you're studying a chapter or a topic. You can break it down and have them do a little preparation every day and then come together and lead them in Bible study on the chapter or on the topic. This could also be a good Bible study. The book of Philippians, read the chapter and answer the following questions. What does the chapter say about Jesus? What does the chapter say about the Word of God? What does the chapter say about prayer, witnessing, and fellowship? The Navigator Wheel illustration is in every chapter of the Book of Philippians. So that's a great quiet time series or devotional series or a Bible study series. So you can do all of these. Those are for you. You can pick one and it will help you not need to buy anything. Does that make sense? That's the objective. You don't even need to buy ink. You can just open the email and write those things out on a piece of paper. But one of the things I learned early in the ministry is the KISS principle. Keep it spiritually simple. Boil it down to the most simple things so that anybody can do it. And one of the big roadblocks to spiritual growth in America is how much it costs. to buy books, to buy Bibles, to buy devotional materials. And in our ministry we've tried to solve that problem by offering everything for free. and developing things where you don't even need us. I mean, you can go to our website and get that, but boy, if I can give you some skills where you don't even need me or Grace Community International or any of our staff, all you have to remember is no be do, A, B, C, D, E. That's all you have to remember. The wheel illustration, six questions about the book. That's great, isn't it? That's total independence. So, another tool that you have. We talked last week about how to spend a day in prayer. Well, this is a Bible study. on spending a day in prayer and uh... you can take your ministry uh... through this uh... spend two weeks on a chapter or one week on a chapter and really get them grounded and then after you've done that at the very end it has some very practical how to's on spending a day in prayer. And it's very simple. How to spend a day with God? Praise, confession, thanksgiving, waiting upon God, that would be meditation on his word, reflection on his word, intercession, supplication, meditation on his word or reflection on his word. Wait upon God to lay something on your heart. Supplication, you can crystallize your conclusion. Let's improve that from his word. And some praise time. There's your day with God. Now if your whole ministry wanted to do this, then you would just break them up, twos, threes, large groups, one hour, individual, small groups, twos, you know, any way you want to. So, that's also yours for free if you want to use that. Now let me give you an example of this. You may have noticed When I open in prayer, I pray certain things the same way. The reason I do this is not because it's a ritual. It's because all of the things I pray before I lead Bible study are from Bible verses. James 3.1 says, Let not many of you become teachers, my dear brethren, knowing we shall incur the stricter judgment. That's why, if you write in your Bibles, turn with me to James 3.1 please. James, chapter 3, verse 1. Now, Bishan, read James 3.1 in your Bible. Oh, I lost Bishan. He's probably taking care of... Oh, there he is. He came back. Read James 3.1 in your Bible, Bishan. Bami, read James 3.1 in your Bible, too, please. First, Bishan. What translation are you using, Bishan? DSV. Okay. Deanna, what translation are you using? ESV also. Yeah, didn't I send that to you? Didn't I send you an ESV study Bible? You did, yes. Okay. Bobby, what translation are you using? It's ESV. Ah, well good. Well, usually I have three people read it, because who knows what some of these translations say. So now I don't have to. We'll just start with Bishan. Bishan, read James 3 verse 1. not many of you should become teachers my brothers for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness ah now where it says that word judge I circled that word and in the margin wrote 2nd Corinthians 4.1 Bami read 2nd Corinthians 4.1 please what is the opposite of judgment What would you say is the opposite of judgment? Acceptance. Acceptance, good. That's good, excellent. What else? Justice. Oh, justice is judgment. We don't want that. That's right. That's a synonym. Yeah, an antonym would be acceptance. Bami, read 2 Corinthians 4.1. Therefore, Having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose hearts. Yeah, if James 3.1 was a stand-alone verse, I would lose heart. Because Proverbs says, where there are many words, there is always error. But, because God's mercy, so the blood of Christ will cover my sins. That way I can continue teaching. So you can put that, you know, if you read James 3.1 and say, well, I just better keep my mouth shut. Well, then just remember it is because of God's mercy that he forgives all of the wrong things we teach. But still, I want to ask God to bless the teaching and to be his teaching and not my, the force of my personality. So, does this sound familiar? Oh, Lord God, this is your holy, eternal, inerrant written word. Well, here are the Bible verses. We are your servants. Give us understanding that we can know your testimonies. Well, that's quoting Psalm 119, 125. The first verse I ever had in my prayer notebook. Instruct us from your holy, eternal, inerrant written word. speak to us great and mighty things which we do not know. That's Jeremiah 33. So right now, everything I've prayed is God's will, isn't it? You have prayed, O Lord, sanctify them in truth. Thy word is truth. John 17, 17. Set us apart for your service and glory. John 17, 17. Let not your word fall upon barren ground. Mark 4, 13 through 19. Plow up the hard ground of our hearts. Protect us from Satan. Protect us from those things which choke your word. You know, I don't say it by rote. Accomplish that for which you have gathered us together. The word of God would be the sword of the spirit. We live in a dark and evil day. There are ways which seem right that end in death. Make your word a lamp to our feet and a light to our paths. See all the Bible verses that go with each of these statements? Lead us on the narrow way. Enlarge our hearts as we run in the paths of your commandments. All these are Bible verses, aren't they? I've got the cross reference. Feed us from your word. Grant us the heart of the prophet. Drop your word against our lives as a plumb line. make your word a mirror, and there it is. So, you wonder, why do I pray this prayer the way I do? Well, every verse, every request is the word of God. If we pray God's word is God's will. So I know it will answer that prayer. And most people are hoping that people will remember what they say. I want people to forget what I say and remember the Bible verses. That's why people say you quote so many verses when you witness. That's exactly right. When they go away, I want them to forget everything about my testimony and remember everything about the testimony of Jesus Christ. So that's why I share those Bible verses. And so that's what we want when we pray. What we want is for our prayers to conform with the word of God. So we have no, be, do, A, B, C, these different simple devotional themes which we can teach our disciples and they can do that for the rest of their lives, can't they? We remember how to pray. Acts, adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication. intercession, spiritual work, very simple access, A-C-T-S-I-S, very simple acronyms and very simple words and phrases that can shape our prayer. So, you know, how to have a prayer notebook? Well, you have to spend $50 for this DVD and workbook set. And then at the end of every workbook, you have to buy another workbook. And if there's no Christian bookstore, you've got to spend an hour on Amazon and different Christian websites finding it, and you've got to order it, and you have to have a credit card to do that, or you have to go to a Christian bookstore. And no, you don't have to put your disciples under that burden. Now, if they're wealthy and it doesn't bother them to do that, that's fine. But for a lot of people, it is very, it's not possible for them to do all those things. And so we give them, we keep it spiritually simple. Kiss. Keep it spiritually. We boil it down. If they have a pencil and paper and a Bible, they can walk with God for the rest of their lives. Just have a daily quiet time. Well, I hope this was helpful to you, and I hope the material I send you is helpful, and I hope it's a blessing. So, now as I said, the next two weeks, I'll be gone, one to my grandson's high school graduation, the other to my 47th anniversary. Be back June 7th, and we are going to be starting a series on Heart for God, Heart for People. That's taken from, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul. This is the first and great commandment. The second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. So how do we manifest that heart for God, heart for people? And what we're going to look at is when Mark 4.14 says, the sower sows the word. When that plant takes root. The good soil within which it will grow is first, the first layer is called heart for God. The second layer is called heart for people. The third layer we are going to call a heart for vision. of a ministry. And then the last layer is hard for a individual in the ministry. And we're going to look at that. And what we want to do is be a tree planted in Psalms 1 by streams of water. But not everybody lives in a fruitful land. And so, but if we send our roots downward further enough, far enough, we'll find aquifer water, won't we? And then we won't be dependent upon the changing weather systems. So we want a disciples that will be fruitful in season and out of season second timothy four one two then well how do you love god if you don't love god but you want to love god well that will be part of it too so all sorts of good stuff and each lesson will be stand alone because i know during the summer months we go on vacation we go to church conferences we go to church camps So that's no problem. So if you miss one and you come in for the next one, you will be right on the same level as everybody else. So that's what we'll do starting in June. June, July, August. Diana, tell the ladies in your Bible study that if they want to keep coming to Bible study, come on over to your house. I'll tell you how to hook up your laptop to your TV and y'all can sit in your living room together. That's a good idea. Yeah, you can have Bible study and then after Bible study have tea and fellowship. Well, they could just join from there. The kitchen like I do. Yeah, they could do that. That's exactly right. That would save you coffee and biscuit money. Yeah, then I won't have to clean the kitchen. That's right. Okay. You young men, here's another word of wisdom for an older sister. The Bible says they can't teach and exercise authority over us, but we can learn from everybody. So you're going to learn a little word of wisdom from Deanna. Yeah, Proverbs says where the stable is empty, there's no work. Much work comes from many oxen. But if you spread your oxen out, let other people clean them up. Well, God bless y'all. I've had a great time in Bible study with you. And I pray these lessons on prayer have been helpful. Primarily that they've helped you learn how to pray and protect you from error. So God bless you. Sure. We'll see you June 7th, by God's grace. Fill your car up with gas today, John, because the price will go up tomorrow. Okay. I'll remember that. I will greet Auntie Eleanor for you. Bishan, it means a lot. I always tell her, Bishan and Deanna, they always say they're praying for her. So yeah, she's doing better every week. All right. God bless you. Bye-bye.