Ron Dunn Podcast - Prayer - Part 1 - Bellevue

Episode Date: April 24, 2024

A message on Prayer with a foundation set in John 14.

Well, it's good to see you this morning. I wanted to open your Bibles to the gospel of John chapter 14, the gospel of John chapter 14, and I want to begin reading with verse 6. And we're going to read a few verses in John chapter 14, and I want to use this as a foundation for what I want to share this morning. And then we're going to three passages of Scripture, and we'll use these three passages of Scripture as the points in the message that I want to share with you. The Gospel of John chapter 14, as Jesus makes His way with His disciples from the upper room to the Garden of Gethsemane,

as He is trying to give them instructions that will encourage them and stabilize them for what is about to come, He says in verse 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes unto the Father but by me. If you had known me, you should have known my Father also, and from henceforth you know him and have seen him. Philip said unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and that will be sufficient. Now, you have to stop and give Philip credit for that much. He knew that whatever was to come, and these disciples

were men who at that moment were very tense and were filled with a great deal of anxiety because the week preceding this, Jesus has been saying and doing so many strange things. And then they've just left that upper room where there was the strange exchange between Jesus and Judas. And then suddenly Judas bolting out into the night. The Lord's prediction that somebody sitting at the table would betray Him. And so these disciples, I think they're thinking in their minds, we have made such a mess of things while we've had Him with us. What's going to happen to us when He's gone? And so Philip said something that indicates he had some spiritual sensitivity. He said, Lord, show us the Father,

and whatever happens, whatever comes, that will be sufficient if we can just somehow see the Father. Give us a vision of the Father, and that will carry us through. That was fine as far as it went, but Jesus said unto him, and you can almost hear the disappointment in the voice of our Lord, have I been so long time with you, and yet you have not known me, Philip. He who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say then, show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not from myself, but the Father that dwells in me, he does the works. Believe me that I'm in the Father and the Father in me,

or else believe me for the very works' sake. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believes on me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto my Father. The works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do." A Christian never has to say, there is nothing I can do.

A Christian never has to turn away with a shrug of resignation, turning away from some impossible crisis or situation and shake his head in defeat and say, well, there's nothing I can do. The Christian can always do something. He can do something great. He can do something greater than Jesus. Now that would be a blasphemous statement if Jesus Himself hadn't said it first. For in that twelfth verse He makes one of the most unbelievable promises in all of Scripture. He says, Verily, verily, I say unto you,

He who believes on me, and that includes all of us, He's not limiting this to the immediate disciples, but whoever it is that goes on believing on me, the works that I do shall he do also. That'd be enough to satisfy me, wouldn't it? I mean, if I could just go out of here saying, doing the works of Jesus, that ought to be enough.

But Jesus goes beyond that and says, not only this, but greater works than these shall you do, because I go unto my Father. Now, the Lord here in this passage of Scripture is revealing to us a tremendous truth concerning His life and his ministry. Actually, what Jesus is giving to us here is the secret of the life that he lived and the ministry that he exercised. He says to these disciples, henceforth you have known the Father because you've known me. And Philip said, Lord, I tell you the truth, boy, if you'd just show us the Father, that would be enough. And Jesus says, Philip, oh, Philip, I've been all this time with you, and still you don't understand. Don't you understand, Philip, don't you understand, Philip, that if you've seen me, you've seen the Father, as we heard last night? The works that I have done, they've not been my works, but they've been my Father's works. The words that I've spoken, they have not been my words, but they've been my Father's words.

Everything that I've done, it hasn't come from me. It's come from my Father. And he has said other places in John, the Son can do nothing of Himself. The Son can do nothing of Himself. He can only do what He sees the Father doing. He can only say what He sees the Father saying. Philip, don't you remember when you saw me raising Lazarus from the dead? That wasn't me raising Lazarus. That was my Father who dwells in me. When I cleansed the ten lepers, I know it looked like me, but it really wasn't me. It was my Father dwelling in me. The words that I spoke that other

men marveled at, they were not my words. They were the words of my Father dwelling in me. You see, what Jesus was saying to Philip and his disciples, listen, I have not been the source of my own sufficiency. The source of my sufficiency has not come from myself, but it has come from my Father who dwells in me. Now, he says, you see, the secret of the magnificent life and work that I've done has not been my physical presence. The secret has been my Father's spiritual presence within me. Now, if the secret of my life and if the secret of my ministry has not been my physical presence, By the way, will you agree with me on that? Good. It always helps if the preacher gets agreement, you know. But you will agree with me on that.

That the secret of the life that he lived and the works that he did, it was not his physical presence. If that is true then, his physical absence won't make any difference. Oh, these men are worried about the absence of Jesus. Lord, you can't go away. Every time Jesus would bring up the cross, the disciples would try to change the subject. They couldn't bear the thought of Him going away. Lord, you can't do this. You can't do this. What's going to happen to us? Jesus said, well, listen, let me just tell you. The secret of my life and works hasn't been my physical presence,

and therefore my physical absence won't make a bit of difference. And I tell you what, if you just go on trusting in me, the work won't skip a beat. I mean, we'll just keep riding on without skipping a beat. You'll continue to do the works that I'm doing, and as a matter of fact, you'll even go beyond what I've been doing. Why? Because just as my Father has dwelt in me and has done these things through me, so I and my Father will dwell in you through the power of the Holy Spirit, and we will do these greater works through you. The physical presence of Jesus was not the secret of His life and ministry. Therefore, His physical absence

won't make any difference. That's the principle by which Jesus Christ lived. That's the principle by which you and I are to live. We are not the source of our own sufficiency. I used to play tennis quite a bit. I don't play much anymore. No great loss to the world of tennis. The only distinction I have as far as a tennis player is I never won a match. One day a new man joined our staff. I said, have you ever played tennis? He said, no, I never have. I said, let's go. And he beat me.

I was watching the tennis matches on television and they came on with a commercial advertising the Wilson T2000 steel racket. They had Jimmy Conner there making a bunch of fancy shots. They said, the Wilson T2000 is the only steel racket to ever win both Wimbledon and Forest Hills. I thought to myself, that's my problem. I've been playing with an old Dunlop Max Ply wooden racket. What I need is a Wilson T-2000. If Wilson T-2000 can win both Wimbledon and Forest Hills, it can

take care of my little game. So that summer I got a Wilson T-2000. Guess what? False advertising. I came to the conclusion that the Wilson T-2000 never won anything. It was Jimmy Connors who did the winning. I bet when those people walked away from the match at Wimbledon, they didn't walk away saying, Man, did you see the racket that guy had? No, they went away talking about, Did you see that man play ball? That's what they talked about.

Now, I'll bet you this, that when they made the check out for the prize money, they didn't make it out to Wilson T-2000. They made it out to Jimmy Connors. You and I know it wasn't the Wilson T-2000 that won that match, it was Jimmy Connors. But I've got news for you, even Jimmy Connors couldn't win a match without a tennis racket. Tennis racket is absolutely essential, but nobody gives the credit to the racket.

And in the same way, God has limited Himself by using us. We are absolutely essential to what God wants to do in the world. But anybody that has any sense knows that we're just a racket, and the real player, the real power, is the champion in whose hand we are placed,

you see. real player, the real power is the champion in whose hand we are placed, he said. And that's what Jesus is saying. Jesus is saying, everything that I've said, everything that I've done, I knew from the casual observer, it looks as though I'm the one that's doing it. But it's really been my Father in heaven doing it through me. And just as He's done it through me, He will also do it through you. Well, that's wonderful, preacher. It's been 2,000 years. I don't know many of us that stand up this morning and say that we're equaling or exceeding the works of Jesus. Do you? Why is that? Well, I think we stop reading too soon. You'll notice verse 13 starts with the word and. It's that way in my English translations.

It's that way in the Greek text, and it's very important. Now, when you're reading and you come to a sentence that begins with the word and, what does that tell you? Well, that tells you that what you're about to read is either a continuation of or a completion of a thought begun in a preceding sentence. I mean, it's connected. There's the old maxim that says, you never take as a complete text any verse that begins with the word and.

Why? Because it's not complete. You need to back up and find out what goes beyond before it. Now, what does that verse 13 say? And whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do that the Father may be glorified in the Son. And in verse 14, I love the way the Williams translation reads, Yes, I repeat it. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it.

I believe the greater works of verse 12 are to be accomplished by the believing prayer of verse 13. So I say to you this morning that a Christian never has to say there is nothing I can do. You can always do something. You can do something great. You can do something great as Jesus. You can do something great as Jesus. You can do something greater than Jesus. What is that, preacher?

You can pray. That's sort of a letdown, isn't it? Oh, boy. I came all the way across the country to hear you talk about prayer. I was trying to get my book on prayer published. Boy, it's hard. You know what they kept telling me? They said prayer is a poor sell in America.

And it is. Prayer is what the women do and the children do, while those of us who get the job done are out getting the job done. I was in Honolulu a few years ago. The Home Mission Board every year has a conference for all the evangelism directors and staff and those that teach evangelism in seminaries and colleges, and they invited me to come and speak, and I felt led to go that year in Honolulu. And they wanted me to speak on intercessory prayer,

and they asked me if I would talk to them about setting up intercessory prayer ministry in the churches. We have programs for everything else, but we don't have intercessory prayer programs. So that's what I was doing. One day after one of the sessions, one of the evangelism directors from one of our southern states was walking with me down the hall, and he said, you know, he said, you know, Ron, I really have been enjoying the stuff you're doing on prayer. I said, well, thank you. He said, but you know, there's one thing that bothers me.

I said, what is that? Well, he said, I'm afraid our people might get so busy praying they won't do anything. Now, he did not say they won't do anything else. That wouldn't have been so bad if he'd said that. He said they won't do anything, period. I said, well, brother, I've never come to a church yet where I've had to say, hey, y'all gonna have to

slack up on this praying. And I'll just cross that bridge when I get to it. And I've never crossed that bridge yet. Let me just say this to you. I believe with all of my heart, the greatest thing you can do is to pray. The greatest thing you can do for

another person is to pray for them. I believe that Jesus intended, and we won't take the time, we won't take the time this morning, we'll talk more about this this afternoon, but we'll not take the time this morning, but if you examine the life of Jesus, and if you examine the life of the New Testament church in the book of Acts, you will find that that church moved forward on its knees, and that there was a certain rhythm to the life of Jesus, an obvious rhythm to the life of Jesus. He would withdraw to meditate, and then He would go out to minister. I tell you, if the only thing you can say is what you hear the Father saying, and if the only thing you can do is what you see the Father saying, and if the only thing you can do is what you see the Father doing,

you're going to have to spend a good bit of time listening to the Father and watching the Father in prayer. And so Jesus is saying, making this tremendous promise, Whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Now, I want to go to three passages of Scripture this morning that I believe illustrate this. The first one is in Ephesians chapter 6.

Ephesians chapter 6, I want to begin reading with verse 10. And this, of course, is that very familiar warfare passage. Ephesians chapter 6, verse 10. Paul says, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Now that is a tremendous revelation. Paul says we are in a wrestling match. We wrestle not with flesh and blood. The word wrestle indicates hand-to-hand combat. Six times he uses that word against. It's the word pros, it means face-to-face. In other words, Paul is emphasizing that this is a very personal encounter and it's a very intense encounter. We are not spectators. We are involved in a spiritual warfare. We are involved in a spiritual warfare, he says. We wrestle not with flesh and blood.

Oh, I thought that's what my fight was with. How about that? I thought I was wrestling with the flesh and blood of that contiguous deacon. No, we don't wrestle with flesh and blood. That's not our fight. Our fight's not with flesh and blood. That may be the reason you've been losing so much is because you've been over there fighting in the wrong theater. Your fight is not with flesh and blood.

What is it? Our fight is against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Take the time and read Ephesians, read Colossians, and read in various places in the New Testament where Paul gathers together words like these powers, principalities, dominions, thrones, authorities. He'll use those over and over again.

And normally the context will determine whether those are good powers or evil powers. But most of the time in Paul's writing they indicate evil powers, spiritual powers, the powers of darkness. They are the invisible forces that you and I do not see, but those are our enemies. He says we're not wrestling with flesh and blood. Our fight, our battle is not against flesh and blood. It's not against things that are seen. It's against things that are unseen, against powers, against principalities, against thrones, against dominions. There are spiritual powers, Alchondra, the powers of the enemy, the powers of Satan, the powers of demons, whatever and however you want to describe them, they're far more than I think

you and I can understand. But he says, you and I are wrestling not with things that are visible, not with things that are tangible. When Paul would use a metaphor like this, the Ephesians and those in the surrounding areas would understand exactly what he was talking about because there was a great deal of wrestling around those cities, and that was one of the great sports. There was a legend told, a legend told about one wrestler who was just absolutely undefeatable. I mean, he met and defeated every foe he encountered until they discovered something, that he was wearing around his ankle what are called the Ephesian gramada,

the Ephesian words. Now these were little sayings, amulets, like a rabbit's foot. And a lot of people believed if you had these things strapped to your body you were invincible and so he had these strapped to his ankle and the legend says that he would defeat everybody that it came to and then they discovered that he was wearing those things they took them off and immediately

he was defeated now I don't know whether Paul had that in mind or not at all when he was writing. The Ephesians were certainly familiar with things like that. But Paul uses that understanding and said, Now, our wrestling is not with flesh and blood. Our wrestling against is just like that legend. They were not wrestling that man. They were wrestling those powers, as the legend says, the myth. They were wrestling those powers of darkness that he had strapped to his leg. He said, in the same way, you

and I, our fight is not with flesh and blood. You see, the task for you and me today is to somehow realize that there is a power behind the problem, and that the problem is not the problem. The problem is the power behind the problem. For instance, in Matthew chapter 16, Jesus says, Who do men say that I am? And they begin to give various interpretations. Jesus said, Yes, but who do you say that I am? And Peter said, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus rejoiced that Peter had finally said something good. And he said, blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this unto you, but my Father which is in heaven. Isn't that wonderful? What a wonderful step forward that

Peter made. And yet, like so many of us, you have one great spiritual experience, and suddenly you think that makes you an expert on all things redemptive. And a few verses later, Simon Peter is giving advice to Jesus on the best way to redeem the world. And you remember what Jesus said? Get thee behind me, Simon. No, that's not what he said. He said, get thee behind me, Satan.

You see, what Peter was saying there was very attractive. Oh, Lord, you don't have to die. But Jesus realized that that was not just Peter saying it, that there was a power behind Peter and that what he had to deal with was not Peter's misunderstanding of the whole situation. He had to go beyond the problem and deal with the power behind the problem, which was Satan. He said, get thee behind me Satan, you don't understand the things of God. You remember in Acts chapter 16 when Paul and Silas were in that town and there's a little fortune-telling girl

following them around for several days. And after a while, Paul just can't take it anymore. So he turns to that little girl and he says, young lady, do you know the evils of fortune-telling? Sit down and let me talk to you about the dangers of getting involved in the occult that's not what he said the bible says he turned and spoke to the spirit within her in other words jesus paul recognized that the problem was not this girl but there was a power

behind that girl and he went behind the problem and dealt with the power behind it. Now Paul is saying, listen, we think our problem is flesh and blood, the visible, the material, but that's, no, that's not what we're wrestling against. What we're wrestling against

are with powers and principalities, those invisible forces that you and I cannot see. And unless we learn to deal with those, we're not going to make any headway in our battle. Now, listen to me very carefully. I don't want anybody to misunderstand. I'm not saying that we ought not to legislate.

I'm not saying that we ought not try to get our man in the White House. I'm not saying that we ought not to protest some of these things. But what I'm saying to you, friends, is this, that if that's all in the world we ever do, we're never going to get the job done. It's not enough to get the Supreme Court to rule that abortion is wrong. You and I are going to have to deal with the spiritual power behind the abortion because it'll pop up somewhere else just as sure as life. It's not enough. It's not enough to legislate pornography out of your neighborhood. What you have to deal with is the spiritual power of darkness that is behind pornography, you see.

You can cut it off its head here, but like Hydra, it'll just spread another head somewhere else. It's not enough for us to protest. It's not enough for us to legislate. Folks, the problem that we have is not what we see on the surface, not just the abortion and the homosexuality and the pornography, but there is a spiritual darkness. There is a spiritual power and authority enthroned behind all these things, and it's not enough for us to deal with the surface. We must be able to deal with those things beyond that. And how do you do that? How do you do that? Well, I'm glad you asked, because Paul is telling us. So we'll continue reading. He says in verse 13, Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day.

And having done all to stand, stand therefore. Now, the next word, participle, having your lawns girt about. And the rest of those verses, 14b through verses 17, are sort of a parenthetical statement. Verse 18, you come back to the main thought, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit. Now, I want to show you something. Let's read verse 14a, stand therefore, and then drop out the parenthetical statement and join it up with the main statement that he picks up again in verse 18, and here's what you have. Stand therefore praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit. In other words, the way that you stand, the way that you withstand, the way you wrestle with the powers of darkness is by praying always in all supplication in the Spirit.

He says, you put on all this armor, and then finally you take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. And when you've done that, what do you do? What do you do? Man, here I am, all dressed up, no place to go. I've got all my armor on. I've got the sword. Now tell me where to go fight. He says, make sure you've got all the armor on. I've got every stick of armor on me. You've got your sword on. I've got the sword. Now tell me where to go fight. He says, oh, you got to make sure you got all the armor. I got every stick of armor on me. You got your

sword there. Got the sword. It's freshly sharpened. Okay, what do I do? He said, pray. Say what? Pray. Well, yeah, but I mean, but what do I do? You pray. Well, I don't understand. He said, yes, you've got your two weapons, the Word of God and prayer. That's how you deal with the powers and principalities of darkness. And the disciples, the early apostles knew that in Acts chapter 6. They said, let's get somebody else to do all this other stuff so we can give ourselves continually to what? To prayer and the ministry of the Word. I think these buildings are absolutely tremendous. But the battle's not won in these buildings.

You remember in Exodus chapter 17, you have Moses leading the people, and they come to the valley of Rephidim, and there's old Amalek. And Amalek said, this is as far as you go, boys. You go any further, it'll be over my dead body. So Moses says to Joshua, Joshua, tell you what I want you to do. I'm going to go up here on the mountain and rest for a while. And I want you to get all the fighting in, go down in the valley and meet Amalek.

Now, if that had been me, I think I'd have said, Moses has got a better idea. Why don't I go up on the mountain and you go down there? But he didn't say that. And so Joshua went down in the valley of Rephidim and began to fight Amalek. Moses got up on the mountain and Moses did a strange thing. He held up his hand. And he noticed something, the strangest thing. Have you noticed that?

When I hold my hand up, Joshua prevails. And when I lower my hand, Amalek prevails. How about that? Just hold it up there, Joshua prevails. And he said, hey, we're on to something. But I can't hold my arm up here all day. I'm getting tired. Aaron and Hur come and sit on either side of him, and they hold his hand up, and they hold his hand up until the going down of the day. And then comes one of those beautiful understatements of the King James, and they discomforted Amalek. They blew him out of the valley is what they did. Now let me ask you a question.

Where was the battle won that day? It wasn't won in the valley, was it? Won on the mountain. And I'll tell you, the victory is won, folks, not in the valley where we meet the flesh and blood of Amalek. It's won on the mountain as we lift up the name of Jesus in prayer. That's the battleground. That's the battleground. That's the war.

That's where the warfare is. The buildings and the programs, you know what these are? These are sort of like the trucks that you use to drive out on the field of battle and pick up the spoils of war and bring them back. But the real battle is won in the place of prayer, in the place of intercession. The only way that you and I are ever going to be able to make a difference, we've got to get beyond the simple flesh and blood and go beyond the powers behind it. And you do that only by prayer. All right, there's a second passage, Daniel chapter

10. By the way, I ran across a great definition of prayer, and I want to read it to you. Prayer is spiritual defiance of what is in the name of what God has promised. Now, that's a great definition of prayer. It is spiritual defiance of what is in the name of what God has promised. All right, Daniel chapter 10. We all are familiar with this story. Daniel needs a message from God. He needs God to give him some understanding

about what's going to happen, and so he begins to pray. Verse 2 of chapter 10, In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all till three whole weeks were fulfilled. And then after three weeks, 21 days, somebody showed up. Daniel said, I alone saw the vision, for the men that were with

me saw not the vision, but a great quaking fell upon them so that they fled to hide themselves. Therefore I was left alone and saw this great vision. And look at verse 10, And behold, a hand touched me, which set me upon my knees, and upon the palms of my hand. And he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright, for unto thee am I now sent. And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling. Then he said unto me, Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. Daniel's been praying and fasting for three weeks for 21 days.

And finally, after 21 days, an angel arrives, and the angel says, Daniel, I want you to know something, son. From the very first day you started to pray, God heard, and I was sent with the answer. Well, where have you been for 21 days? I mean, God heard me and answered on the very first day. I mean, did you take the scenic route to get here with the answer or something? You know what he said? Oh, he said, I was on the way, but there was a lot of angel traffic up there. And he said, the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me. There was warfare in that invisible realm up there with the powers and principalities and thrones and dominions. And he said, I was there. And then Michael, who always is pictured as the guardian angel of God's people.

Michael came and helped me. And while Michael was fighting the prince of the king of Persia, I slipped away and I finally got here with your message. And when I leave, I'll face him again. He's going to still be there. Now, let me just mention three remarkable things here. Number one, God hears Daniel's prayer the very first day he prays it. I want to say to you that if you offer a prayer to God that is answerable, I mean it is an answerable prayer.

God doesn't need time to think about it, mull it over, call for a consensus of opinion. He hears and answers immediately. But that answer does not always arrive immediately, does it? Here's a secondinder God's answer. You say, well that gives me problems with the sovereignty and omnipotence of God. So be it. I know God is sovereign I know God is omnipotent I have no problem with that but I do know that in his sovereignty he has ordained to limit himself

by working in certain ways and it's not for me to be able to unjumble all of these words and to understand it all all I know is all I know is as God reveals his word to me all I know is that brother there are is, as God reveals His Word to me, all I know is that, brother, there are powers out there,

the powers of darkness and evil, and they can hinder the will of God for a time, 21 days for Daniel, maybe 21 years for you. But the third thing, the prayer does finally arrive. The answer finally arrives. I believe it was Daniel's prayer and fasting, continued prayer and fasting that got that angel through, that got Michael out there and won the war in that heavenly realm. For three weeks he fasted and prayed. The answer was sent on the very first day, but there was a battle, there was a hindrance in heaven. And you and I need to understand that every time you and I pray, and we pray for the lost to be saved, we pray for God to save this nation, we pray for this to be brought about. We pray for revival. You need to understand that there is a warfare going on in the invisible realm

that you and I cannot see, and that the devil and all of his hosts are doing everything they can to keep that answer from getting through. And so therefore, you and I must be faithful and continue to pray and to pray and to pray until God arrives with the answer. And now there's one last passage, and that is in Revelation chapter 5. Actually, there are two passages here.

Revelation chapter 5. Amen. What a beautiful passage of Scripture this is. And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book and to loose the seals thereof? And no man in heaven nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.

And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. And one of the elders said unto me, Weep not. Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders,

stood a lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. Notice verse 8. And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of His saints.

Here you have the book of destiny, the book of human destiny. Who is worthy to open it? Who is worthy to control it? Who is worthy to look upon it? Jesus. But as he takes it in his hands, suddenly there are these 24 beasts who fall down before the Lamb, and every one of them are holding in their hands vials that contain what? The prayers of God's people. Now go to chapter 8, verse 1. And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. And I saw the seven seals which stood before God, and to them which were given seven trumpets. And another angel

came and stood at the altar having a golden censer. And there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense mingled with the prayers of the saints and ascended up before God out of the angel's hands. And the angel took the censer and filled it with fire of the altar and cast it into the earth.

And there were voices and thunderings and lightnings and an earthquake. And then all heaven breaks loose. Come to those seven seals, and suddenly there is silence. And before judgment and before cataclysmic judgment is poured out, what happens? God says, bring all the prayers of the saints. All the prayers of the saints through the centuries. All those cries out to God that have said, how long, O Lord? All of those who have prayed for justice. All of those who have prayed for justice, all of those who prayed for vindication,

all of those who've wept and prayed and cried out to God, God says bring all those prayers. Mingle them with the incense because before the final judgments can come, we must understand that this, in a sense, is an answer to the prayers of all the saints. History belongs to the intercessor. I believe, I believe that in some way, I believe that in some way,

every prayer for justice and righteousness and vindication, it will be answered. You say, I've been praying for 21 years but those prayers are held in a vial and God never forgets the prayers of His saints and He makes it very clear that the prayers of His saints have something important to do

with the judgment of a righteous God. The greatest thing you and I can do is to pray. Let me close by reading a statement from

Walter Wink. Walter Wink is a theologian in New York. I do not agree with everything he teaches. Listen to what he said. When Christians knelt in the Coliseum to pray as the lions bore down on them, something sullied the audience's thirst for revenge. Even in death, these Christians were not only challenging the ultimacy of the emperor and the spirit of the

empire, but also demonstrating the emperor's powerlessness to impose his will even by death, his will being there acknowledging His ultimacy. The final sanction had been publicly robbed of its power. Even as the lions lapped the blood of the saints, Caesar was stripped of his arms and led captive in Christ's triumphal procession. His authority was shown to be penultimate after all, and even those who wished most to deny such a thing were forced by the very punishment they chose to inflict

to behold its truth. It was a contest of all the brute force of Rome against a small sect that merely prayed. Who could have predicted that the tiny sect would win? Greatest thing you and I can do for one another, for our country, for history, is to pray. For history belongs to the intercessor. Father, thank you so much that you've given us a place,

a very important place. Somehow during these days, dear Lord, as we pray that the fire would fall, as we pray and long for revival, as our hearts hunger to see righteousness cover the earth like waters cover the sea, drive us to our knees, and that even today, foolish, silly, out-of-date Christians, laughed at by the world, but as they pray against all the brute force of this world. We know we will win, and we thank you for it in Jesus' name. Amen.