Ron Dunn Podcast - Praying for Others

Episode Date: October 23, 2024

A message from I Timothy 2:1-4. The church is to do more tha simply pray, it is to pray for others.

1 Timothy chapter 2, verses 1 through 4, and the message tonight is praying for others, how to intercede for others. Several weeks ago we dealt with the idea of how to pray for the lost. I hope you're doing that. We have our own revival beginning the last Sunday morning of this month. And I hope that you by now have, as God has placed upon your heart, people that you are interceding and that you're praying for. But tonight we're discussing this idea of how to pray and intercede for others beside those who are lost.

1 Timothy, the second chapter, beginning with verse 1, we'll read through the fourth verse. I exhort, therefore, that first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings, and for all that are in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. Now this little letter of Timothy to Timothy

is Paul's pastoral course. And he is instructing this young minister by the name of Timothy how to conduct church services. And he says the first thing that you ought to do when your church comes together to worship, the first order of business, the primary purpose, the most important thing as you come together is to pray. And that's what he means when he says, first of all, the exhortation.

Is Timothy as the pastor of that church when your people come together, when that congregation comes together, the first order of business is prayer? First of all, before anything else, before anything else, which leads me to believe, according to this passage, the primary function of a church as we meet together like this, on a service like this on an evening like this is not only to come together to learn the word of God

to hear the word of God and to fellowship together but we come together to pray first of all that supplications and prayers and intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men

notice what the apostle is saying the church is to do more than simply pray. It is to pray for others. That is intercession. I exhort that first of all, supplications and prayers and intercessions, and notice that giving of thanks, who would ever have thought that I'm supposed to give thanks for other men, and that as I pray for other men I am to thank God for what He is going to do in their lives and for what He has done in their lives. Now we have a number of people in our church who are praying.

We have a number of prayer groups in our church that meet every week, and I thank God for it. I believe it is one of the greatest blessings that God has given to our church. But we need a word of warning. You know, it's possible for us to meet all the time and all we ever pray about is ourselves and for ourselves and that God would help us and that God would do something for us. I think there's a real danger. I don't really think.

I know there's a real danger. I don't really think. I know there's a real danger. And as I began to pray and more earnestly to learn to pray, I realized under the guidance of God that so much of my praying was for myself. Now, it takes a lot of praying to get me where God wants me to be. Now, I realize that, and I need a lot of praying. But balanced over with praying for myself and praying for others, there was a great imbalance. And as I read through the New Testament, all of these passages that have to do with prayer, I discover that primarily prayer is to be made in the behalf of other people for other people. So let me speak to those of you tonight that are involved in prayer groups

and join together with people who pray. Analyze, assess your own praying for just a moment. Is most of your praying like the farmer who knelt beside his bed that night and said, Dear Lord, bless me and my wife, my son and his wife, us four no more. Now we won't say it exactly in those same words. Let me make this suggestion. When you come together to pray, perhaps you should have already taken care of your own personal needs before you come together, and you come together to pray for other people.

Did you know that it is a sin against God for us not to pray for each other? Samuel the prophet said, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you. I have listened on tape to the testimony of Dawson Trotman, that tremendous Christian, who was the founder of the Navigators and who was instrumental not only in winning countless thousands to Jesus, but also bringing them to maturity and to the fullness in Christ. And in his testimony, he tells how he came upon this idea of nurturing and maturing and helping these converts to grow. One day he led a man to Jesus, and he rejoiced over this man's salvation, and he left him. A year later he came back to that man's town, and he again met this man. Now Dawson Trotman says he has a terrible memory, and he did not recognize this man. And he began to witness to this man again because this man by his life, by his behavior, by his language gave no evidence of being saved. And as he began

to witness to him, this man said, listen, I've already been saved. When were you saved? I was saved a year ago when you were here. You led me to Jesus. Well, it completely devastated Dawson Trotman. He was so disillusioned. He said, what's going to happen here? I led a man to Jesus, and a year later, it's as though he's never been saved. And he went to a preacher, and he read to him Philippians 1.6. He said, I want to know, is this verse of scripture true paul is writing to people he has won to jesus he says being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it that means bring it to completion until the day of jesus christ dawson trotman said, Paul reveals in that verse

that when God begins a good work in a person, he's going to complete it. He said, I find that verse isn't true. And he told about this man he had led to Jesus, and a year later, no evidence whatsoever he had ever been saved. And the pastor said, would you notice that verse 4 comes before verse 6? And Mr. Trotman read verse 4, Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy. And the wise pastor said Paul was confident in verse 6

because he was prayerful in verse 4. Always, always praying for you. That's why he was confident. And as you read through the letters of the Apostle Paul, you'll find over and over again that same emphasis recurring, always day and night with tears, praying for you, praying for you. That's why, that's why God says it is a sin if I cease to pray for you. Now, I want you to be real honest with yourself tonight. Can you think of some people that aren't here tonight, that were here a year ago or six months ago with the fire of the Lord in their souls, with the joy of the Lord on their face, and they've fallen by the wayside.

You know what you and I do? We sit back and say, well, I guess they just didn't have it. Somehow I really never thought they would make it. And sometimes when a fellow comes and makes his profession of faith, we sit back and let's be honest now, we just sit back and we say, we're going to see if you can make it. But let me ask you tonight, Christian friend, that person that you're thinking of right now and that person that you're being just a little critical of

because he's no longer with us tonight and he's out in the world, did you pray for him? Did you hold him up in prayer? Did you inter pray for him did you hold him up in prayer did you intercede for him did you bear him to the throne of grace did you stand in the gap for him did you resist the devil in his stead did you pray for him paul says i am confident that god is going to work in your life because I without ceasing pray for you always, making requests with joy. He said, that's the joy of my life. And before long, we're going to begin asking for those of you who are willing to give an hour a week or maybe two hours a week or three hours a week, and you'll come up here to the church and you'll have your particular time to join in the ministry of intercession and we've already asked god to give us enough people that

we can have people praying every hour on the hour around the clock 24 hours a day seven days a week i i just can't fathom what god is able to do not only in winning lost people, but also in our growth and our maturity and meeting our needs and overcoming our problems if we have people praying for us. I can't tell you how much it means in my own life. I think one of the first experiences I had of this was a number of years ago when I was in a revival meeting in Little Rock, Arkansas. All the meeting wasn't going very good. I'd been in those kind of meetings a lot. And to be honest with you, I was just a little bit down in the dumps then. I didn't

know a lot of things I know now. And I was under the circumstances instead of above them. And I wasn't too excited about the prospects of that evening service. But when I pulled up in front of the church, I noticed there was a little Nash Rambler station wagon out in front of the church and there were four elderly women sitting in that station wagon. I thought it was unusual they should be there that early. And so as I walked up to the church, they motioned for me to come over to them. And I went over there and they rolled down the window. The lady who was behind the wheel, she said, Preacher, we just wanted you to know that we were out here holding you up in prayer. I want you to know that did something for me. That did something for

me. All of a sudden I was encouraged. I was encouraged. And I'll tell you what encourages me even more is to realize that over in John chapter 16, Jesus is praying for me, interceding for me. And this is the ministry that Jesus is involved in right now. Hebrews 7.25, Seeing He is able to save them to the uttermost because He ever liveth to make intercession for us. He's interceding for me right now. And Jesus says,

As the Father has sent me, so send I you into the world. And the Word of God teaches that the ministry that the church is to be involved in tonight is this ministry of intercession, praying for each other. Now here's what we're going to do. You know when the Lord came to Mary and revealed to her what He was going to do in her life,

you know what Mary's response was? Be it unto me according to thy word. I think that ought to be the response of every Christian. Lord, be it unto me according to thy word. I think that ought to be the response of every Christian. Lord, be it unto me according to thy word. I want you to work out in my life according to thy word. And so what I'm going to do tonight is take passages of scripture and we're going to learn to pray for each other according to the word of God. In learning how should I pray for this Christian, or how should I pray for my pastor, or how should I pray for my government, we're going to look into the word of God and see how the Bible instructs us to pray. Now you'll notice in our text, 1 Timothy chapter 2,

he says that giving of thanks and supplications and prayers and intercessions are to be made for all men. A-L-L, the universal scope of our intercession. We are to embrace all men in our praying. Do you know who the first person is on God's prayer list? For kings and for all that are in authority. The first name on Paul's prayer list is those in authority, those national leaders. That's the first thing we ought to pray for. Now, if arrangement, if chronology means anything at all,

Paul is saying to Timothy, when you come together as a congregation, the most important thing you can do is to pray for other people. And first of all, you pray for the leaders of your country. You know who the king was? The king was that fellow who was trying to put them out of business. He was their enemy. He was persecuting them and slaughtering them by the hundreds and thousands. And yet Paul says, you are to pray for kings and everybody that is in a place of authority, national leaders. Now, I've got to make a confession to you. I had to make it to the Lord.

I do not pray for my government as I ought. Do you? If I were to ask you tonight how many of you have prayed for our president this week, how many of us could honestly say we've done that? We criticize them. Oh, are we critical? And this is election year, and it's open season on politicians. And maybe a lot of them do need to be criticized.

But the Word of God says that we're to pray for them. We're to pray for the leaders of our government. We're to pray that God will work in government. Now notice what a definition of good government is. He says, for kings and for all that are in authority, in order that we might lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. You know what good government is? It's a government that creates an atmosphere where you and I can live in all godliness and honesty. You know what good government is? It's a government that creates an atmosphere where you and I can live in all quiet and peaceableness and godliness and honesty. We can live and lead a quiet and peaceable life. Can we do that in the United States today? There was a time when people in America could lead a quiet and peaceable life.

When a woman could walk down the main street during daylight or even at night without worrying. When you didn't have to worry about your child walking home from school just three blocks wondering if they were going to make it. There was a time in our country when we did lead a quiet and peaceable life in all honesty and godliness. It's not so today. It is not so today. Why does God say that we're to pray for kings and those that are in authority

in order that we might lead this kind of life? I want to submit to you tonight the reason our country is in the mess that it's in is because you and I have not obeyed this admonition to intercede. I believe it with all of my heart that if God's people had been you and I have not obeyed this admonition to intercede. I believe it with all of my heart that if God's people had been praying and interceding half as much as they have been criticizing, our country would be in better shape than it is tonight. I remember what God says in 2 Chronicles 7, verse 14, if my people, oh, who's to blame for the sorry state of the country? My people.

If my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and seek my face and pray and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and forgive their sin and do what? Heal their land. I cannot escape the emphasis there that God says the reason our land is not healed is because my people have not humbled themselves, they have not sought my face, they have not turned from their wicked ways, and they have not prayed. You know what the conviction of my heart is tonight? That if all over this country, if God's people would stop criticizing,

and I'm not saying now that we ought not to see the things that are wrong and try to make the wrongs right. You understand what I'm talking about by this. All we do is criticize. If God's people all across the country would tonight to begin interceding and seeking the face of the Lord, humbling themselves, turning from their wicked way, I believe God would send gracious revival all over our country. I believe our government would be different.

I do not believe the Supreme Court would have made some of the decisions it's made in the past years if people had been praying as they ought. I do not believe God would have let certain people be appointed in public places and elected to certain places if we'd been praying as we ought. You read the Old Testament and you'll discover that prayer intervenes in national life. And you and I just might as well face up to it tonight. We're sinning against God if we do not pray for our leaders. If we do not pray for our governmental leaders, we're sinning against God. Now, why do you suppose God wants us to pray for our government. If we do not pray for our governmental leaders, we're sinning against God. Now, why do you suppose God wants us to pray for our government? Why do you suppose God wants us

to lead a quiet and peaceable life? Let's read on. Verse 3, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God. Did you know that good government is God's will? It is not God's will that our government not be the kind that it ought to be. It is God's will. Now, I couple that over with 1 John 5, 14, where it says, If I ask for anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us,

then we have the petitions that we've desired of Him. So, good government is God's will. Why is it God's will? Verse 4, Who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth? Let's back it up. What is God's will?

First of all, that all men should be saved. God's desire to save is as wide as God's desire to create. And every person that God has created, He desires that man be saved. Now, it's easier to preach the gospel in a country where there's good government and where you can lead a quiet and peaceable life in all honest and godliness.

It's easier in that kind of a land and that kind of government to preach the gospel so people can be saved. So God says, I want people everywhere to be saved, therefore I want you to pray for good government that we might lead a quiet and peaceable life so it will be easy to spread the gospel. The greatest illustration of that is the doors closing to foreign missions in Red China. What happened? Bad government, godless government, has shut the doors to

gospel witness over there. I can remember when you could go into a high school and preach the gospel. Can't do it today. Why? You and I didn't intercede for our government. It's getting harder and harder and harder to preach the gospel in certain places today, and harder and harder to reach men for Jesus today. Why? Because we haven't been interceding for the government. All right, first of all, when we come together to pray, our intercession, the object of our intercession, we're to pray for those in authority. Pray for our national leaders. Secondly, we're to pray for our spiritual leaders.

I'm putting in a little plug here for yours truly. We're to pray for our spiritual leaders. This includes not only your pastor, but anybody who is in a place of leadership as far as spiritual things are concerned. All right, now we are going to look at some passages. Ephesians chapter 6. We are going to learn tonight how to pray according to the Word. Be it unto me according to thy word ephesians chapter 6 verse 18 praying always

with all prayer and supplication in the spirit watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints there's intercession verse 19 and for me pa says, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds, that I therein may speak utterance would be given to him. That when he has the opportunity to speak, that God would open my mouth boldly, that I might make it manifest as I ought. Did you know it's hard to go into some churches and make all of this clear? And you ought to pray that God would do a work so that it would be clear. Listen in Colossians chapter 4, verses 2 and 3. Paul says, continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving, with all praying also for us. He's talking about he and Timothy now.

That God would open unto us a door of utterance. A door of utterance. He says, I want you to pray for me that God would open up opportunities for me to preach and to speak. To speak the mystery of Christ for which I am also in bonds. That I may make it manifest as I ought to speak. And I know that many of you prayed like this and I appreciate it so much. Pray for your spiritual leaders. Pray for your staff and pray for your pastor that God would give unto us doors

of utterance. And when those doors are open, that we'd know what to say. And that when we spoke, it would be clear and obvious and manifest. All right, let's read another one. Second Thessalonians chapter three. And this is so important. We're talking right now about praying for your spiritual leaders. Verses 1 and 2, 2 Thessalonians chapter 3. If you don't have time to turn to it, just jot them down and you can look them up later. Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord may have free course. That means that the word of the Lord may spread. The word of the Lord may run and be glorified.

That means spread and prove its glorious power. Pray for us that the word of God in Irving will just spread everywhere. But now I want you to notice verse 2, and this is what I want to emphasize for just a moment. Pray for us that we may be delivered from unreasonable, that means unprincipled, and wicked men, for all men have not faith. Let's just camp here for a moment. You ought to pray for your pastor, that God would deliver him from unprincipled men and wicked men. Did you know that a preacher is the most vulnerable man?

A preacher and a school teacher is the most vulnerable man in all the world. I'm thinking now of an evangelist whom God has mightily used, but some unprincipled men came to him and they said, we're going to help you, we're going to support you, and we're going to back you and do all of this.

And all they were interested in was not really what he was interested in. And they shackled him, they put chains about him, and now his ministry is hindered and shackled because he fell into the hands of unprincipled men. And did you know that I've known pastors whose entire ministries were destroyed by just a word of criticism, a word of accusation, and it doesn't have to be founded, it doesn't

have to be proven, just the word of accusations. It would be so easy for the devil if you do not pray for me. It would be so easy for the devil to destroy the ministry of MacArthur Boulevard Baptist Church just by raising up somebody to accuse me and to attack me, do you pray for me? I'm not asking for sympathy. I wouldn't change places with the President of the United States. It's so exciting. Man! But I want you to know that I realize that I'm in a dangerous position.

And I want you to pray for me. This is what Paul is saying. Pray for us that we may be delivered from people with no principles and wicked people who will try to destroy the effectiveness and the influence. You need to build a wall of protection of intercession around your spiritual leaders. So we ought to pray for our spiritual leaders. We ought to pray for the leaders of our denomination. Here again, I have been guilty of being more critical of our denominational leaders,

and I have been of interceding for them. And again, I make the statement that if Southern Baptists and preachers and pastors in particular had spent half as much time in interceding for their denomination and praying for their leaders as we have at throwing stones and criticizing them, our denomination would be much more spiritual than it is today. You pray for your denominational leaders or you just make jokes about them and criticize them. I'm the first one to confess I make a lot of mistakes and I'm discovering I make more mistakes than I've ever made every day.

It just seems like there's so much going on, and this church is getting so large, and I forget so many things, and I fail to make this appointment, and I just don't have time to take care of this thing. And I'll tell you, more and more, I need to be prayed for. And I know you do. We ought to pray for spiritual leaders. All right, now let's get down to this matter of praying for other believers. Praying for other believers. Now, we're going to

just look at the Word of God. I think the best person in all to instruct us as to how to pray for other Christians is the Prince of Prayers himself, the Apostle Paul. Don't you? His letters are filled with prayers for other people. Now, I want you to write these references down, and I want you to read through these enough over and over again until you get the gist of them and maybe memorize them and learn them. And when you begin to pray for other members of this church and pray for each other, this is what you're to pray for. Now, listen, some of you come and say, well,

how do I know such and such is according to the will of God? Anything I find in this book, that's according to the will of God. And so whatever Paul prays for, that's according to the will of God. And I can take that and make that my prayer and I can intercede for you on that behalf. Let's read just two or three of these. First of all, in Ephesians chapter one, Paul says in verse 16, I cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. Now what's he praying for? That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of glory may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may know.

And then he goes on to mention the three things that he wants them to know. The hope of his calling, the riches of his glory, and the power that's in them. Can you imagine what would take place in the lives of some of those Mr. and Mrs. Average Baptists that belong to our church them can you imagine what would take place in the lives of some of those mr and mrs average baptist that belong to our church if this church would begin to pray by name for this person and this person and this person and just say lord father in jesus name would you give to them a spirit of revelation would you open their eyes so they could they could know what is the hope of your calling the joy of being a christ, and to know what is the inheritance

and to know that the power that's working in them. When one of your brothers is going through a time of trial and difficulty and the devil is oppressing him, you need to pray that God would open his eyes so that he might know the exceeding power that worketh in him. That's praying for others. All right, in Ephesians chapter 3 verse 14 for this cause i bow my knees under the father of our lord jesus christ of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named

that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man that's one thing you can pray for. You pray for your Sunday school teacher. You pray for your brothers and sisters in Christ. You pray, Lord, I just pray that You would strengthen them with might by the Spirit in the inner man. That Christ may be at home in your hearts. That you may be able to comprehend the love of Christ. Oh, what a prayer.

Can you imagine what would happen to this church if we began to pray like that? And if people all over the congregation would begin to comprehend the love of Christ. That's biblical prayer. Now let's just move over to Philippians chapter 1. Paul says in verse 9, And this I pray,

that your love may abound. Do you know a member of this church that's not very lovely? They're a little bit cantankerous and touchy and irritable. And you've kind of shared that with your wife. You know, so and so.

And you get on the phone and you all meet in the hall and you talk and you say, well, what's the matter with so-and-so? Listen, why don't you pray that their love may abound? That would be the best thing. Yet more and more. Have you ever noticed how Paul is never satisfied? Now these folks have already been saved, but he's not at all content with that.

He says, I'm praying that your love may abound more and more. He's praying, I want you to know the more of it all. That you may approve things that are excellent. Listen, sometimes we criticize our young people because we think they don't exercise good judgment and good sense. Don't you? What did Paul say? I pray that you may approve, that word means to test, to try things that are excellent, things that differ.

He says, I'm praying that you'll be able to understand that not all that glitters is gold. And Lord, give them the ability to test things. Do you pray that? I believe God will answer that prayer. And God would give wisdom. That you may be sincere and without offense to the day of Christ.

Do you know somebody in our church that's got a little bit of pretense in them and they play the part of a hypocrite? Have you prayed that God might make them honest? They might be sincere? Being filled with the fruits of righteousness. Well, let's look at one more. Over in Colossians chapter 1, verse 9,

Paul says, For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you. And notice that. Since the day we heard of your faith. Now, Paul never pastored this church. Now, I like this. Paul did not found this church. He never pastored this church. He never won anybody to the Lord in this church. Now, I like this. Paul did not found this church.

He never pastored this church. He never won anybody to the Lord in this church. But he says, Epaphras, one of my fellow laborers, came back and he told me about what happened over there in your church. And he said, from the first day I heard about your conversion, from the very first day we heard it, we do not cease to pray for you and to desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of His will.

You pray that God's people will be filled with the knowledge of His will. Verse 10, that you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing. Pray that they might be fruitful in every good work. Pray that they might increase fruitful in every good work. Pray that they might increase in the knowledge of God. Pray that they might be strengthened with all might. You see? Man, the book's just full of it. I'll tell you what I wish you'd do. I just wish you'd take Paul's four prayers, two in Ephesians, one in Philippians, and one in Colossians. Get down on your knees and pray through that, and naming me it in every time. And then you take your Sunday school role and you begin to pray through that.

Then you take the others and the staff members and everybody. You know, praying could become a full-time job. The other day I was praying in the office and I was trying to, everybody that the Lord had brought into my mind, I would pray for the members of this church, some of them that I do not know very well, and I've never had the time to be in their home, but I'd just pray for them. And all of a sudden I thought,

well, what I ought to do is just get our Rolodex with every member of the church on it and just go through it. I just need to take off about three days and just pray through that thing. But I want you to know, it'd probably be the greatest and most profitable three days your pastor would ever spend just in her seating.. But I want you to know, it would probably be the greatest and most profitable three days your pastor would ever spend

just in her seating. That's what's going to happen when we get our prayer chapel going. Wouldn't you like to be prayed for every four hours around the clock? That's right. That's right. That's right.

I had a fellow tell me the other day, they've just started doing this, and we've been sharing some of these things, and they've just started doing this in their church, and he said, Ron, I want you to know that you're prayed for every four hours. They've just started doing this. We've been sharing some of these things. They've just started doing this in their church. And he said, Ron, I want you to know that you're prayed for every four hours, seven days a week. Well, I wondered why God's been blessing our church so much lately.

Did you know there are other churches praying for us? Did you know there's a great church in San Antonio praying for us every four hours, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And then you wonder why on the first Sunday in March, without any promotion, we nearly broke our Sunday school record. I wonder what program we are using. I wonder how great our organization is. Listen, brother. You can say it's a coincidence and be miserable if you want to. But it's the Lord.

It's God answering prayer. It's people interceding. And you know, back in January when our Sunday school attendance for seemingly no reason just began to... We've never had a January and a February like this. And I was just so amazed. And I checked back. I got a little black book. I keep some prayer requests in. And I remember last fall I had written down there and prayed for a long time about our Sunday school attendance.

And then I was surprised when God answered that prayer. Oh, listen. Well, let's move on. Matthew 9, 38. We won't take the time to read it, but Jesus says, Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth laborers.

We need to pray that God would raise up witnesses and soul winners in our church. And then one more. James 5, 16. Friends, we ought to pray for the healing of other people. James 5, 16. Confess your faults one to another and pray one for another that you may be healed. The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

You ought to pray for the healing of other people. You say, now preacher, you mean to tell me that it's God's will that every person be healed? I don't find that in the word of God. I do not believe that it's God's will that every person be healed. I read in the book of Galatians that Paul, when he went to those churches in Galatia, he preached while he was ill. And I do not believe that the Word of God teaches that all illness is not allowed of God.

But I tell you what I do believe, I believe a lot of it is not His will. I believe that more of it is of the devil than we are willing to admit. I do believe this, that we don't have to be as sick as we are. I do believe that there are many, many, many times when illness can be taken away by the prayer of faith. And I'll tell you what I'm going to do.

I'm just going to shoot down every hole, you know. And maybe the devil's down there. Maybe he's the cause of it. And I'm just going to rebuke him and I'm going to shoot down every hole I see. And if the devil hasn't caused it and it's the Lord's will, I haven't lost anything. But it just may be

if the devil's behind that illness. And I've prayed and you have prayed for the healing of others and they've been healed. I ought to pray for others. Did you know, my friend, that there is no limit to what God can do through your praying?

Prayer releases the ability of God. Prayer releases the ability of God. And we ought to pray for one another. We ought to pray for one another.