Preface
A prayer program should have a place in the Church as well as the Sunday School.
In fact no Sunday school can function properly that isn't backed by prayer.
A prayerless ministry is a powerless ministry
Church history proves that the ministry of prayer makes the ministry of the Word a powerful thing.
We have thought that psychology could take the place of prayer, but it cannot; that education and culture could take the place of prayer, but our present church proves that we are wrong.
A prayerless church is a useless church.
It isn't functioning; it isn't meeting the needs of the congregation.
It is nothing better than a religious club.
Few people ever leave a deeply spiritual, prayer-ruled church to join in the philosophical religious cults of the day.
A prayerless church is a cold church, a sense-ruled church.
A prayerless pulpit where you hear nothing but empty words has no spiritual value, and does not minister to the needs of the spirit of man.
It should be prayer, preaching, and teaching.
But we have changed it.
We have dropped prayer, and teaching of the Word, out of the program.
We have put preaching first, and we have classes in psychology and philosophy instead of teaching men how to pray.
There should be a department of prayer in every church. That should be the heating plant of the spiritual life, the very sinews of the church.
Chapter 9
PRAYER AND THE CHURCH
Every church should have a Prayer Program. There should be a prayer organization, as well as the young people's or the Sunday School organization. The prayer life of the church should be so interwoven with every feature of it that God could be seen in every department.
The finances are called the strength of the church, but this is not true.
Prayer forms the real power of the church.
You remember that the prayer life brings those who pray into vital contact with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, as well as continually in touch with the Word.
It isn't just saying prayers, but meeting Him for a while, getting His mind for the day, His strength, His quietness, and His love.
This vital contact has certain spiritual reactions that are of inestimable value to the life of the church.
We all know what it will mean when a great number of the people in the church enlist in a Prayer Program and come in vital contact with the Lord daily.
Every man and woman in connection with our church who is not spending time in prayer will be a neutralizing force in the church.
They may be in the choir; they may be in the Sunday School; they may have charge of the finances; they may act as deacons or elders; but whatever their place, they carry a certain coldness, they are an inert body.
They have a tendency to lower the spiritual temperature of everyone in close contact with them.
So it is vitally important that the largest possible number of the membership should be led into the Prayer Program of the church.
This isn't any place for theory.
This is the place for positive facts.
A church can't be built up spiritually without prayer.
I’ll say that again… A church can't be built up spiritually without prayer.
Numbers can be drawn through personal work or by eloquence, but to build up a real spiritual body, is only possible through prayer.
This will need much wise teaching on the part of the Pastor, and the teachers of adult classes.
Give prayer a large place in your church program. Don't only teach about prayer, but practice it.
Have prayer services with a real program. Give subjects for definite intercession.
While one intercedes, train the rest to make that prayer theirs; not by shouting loud "Amen’s," but silently making that intercession their very own.
The whole group will be crowding into the Throne Room, making that request as their own.
You can educate the people so that their prayers will prevail.
Make them Prayer Masters, mighty in Intercession.
THE PRAYER PROBLEM
The Prayer Problem is a problem of Faith; and Faith is a problem of the integrity of the Word, of the ability of God to stand back of His promises or the statements of fact in the Word.
There is another side of the problem: It is the ability of the believer to stand in the Father's presence without the sense of guilt, condemnation or inferiority.
The real question then, is after we know that the Word cannot be broken and that God keeps it to the very letter, "Have I a right to stand in the Father's presence and make my petitions known to Him without condemnation?"
Here are a few things that every believer should know.
First, that we are actually New Creations, created in Christ Jesus. 2 Corinthians 5:17: "Wherefore, if any man is in Christ there is a new creation, the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new. But all these things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ."
Notice these facts, that "if any man is in Christ." One is in Christ once for all. He doesn't enter Christ and then leave Him. If he leaves Him, it is final.
The second fact: He is a New Creation, a new species.
He has received into his spirit the life and nature of God.
The old things are passed away.
These old things are Spiritual Death, his union with Satan, and his old sins—the sins committed while he was spiritually in union with the Adversary. These are remitted.
A new self is given to him.
The old self, or the old man stops being; for the old self, or the old man as it is called, cannot live in Christ.
Notice again: "If any man is in Christ he is a new creature, a new creation, and the old things are passed away."
That New Creation is the product of God.
It is created in Christ Jesus.
It is born from above.
It is born of the Holy Spirit, through the Word.
And that new thing stands uncondemned and reconciled before the Father.
2 Corinthians 5:21 states it clearly: "Him who knew no sin he (God) made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in him.
The moment that we become New Creations, we become the righteousness of God.
The righteousness of God means the ability to stand in the Father's presence without the sense of guilt, condemnation or inferiority.
We are that moment Sons and Daughters of God.
It would be an abnormal thing if He should recreate us, impart to us His own nature, and leave us under the blighting curse of condemnation, unable to stand in His presence without the sense of guilt and inferiority.
Then we know we have the ability to stand in God's presence free from all sense of unworthiness.
We know the second fact that we have a legal right in the Father's presence because we are legally born into His Family, and He has legally adopted us and accepted us as Sons and Daughters. "The Holy Spirit Himself has born witness with our spirits that we are the children of God."
We know another fact, that we have a legal right to the use of Jesus' Name and whatsoever we ask of the Father in that name He'll grant us.
This has cleared up every issue in regard to our ability to stand before Him in the throne room without condemnation.
Sin has been preached to us so long and we have been told so often that we are unworthy and unfit, that it has kept us with a sense of inferiority which has been destructive to a faith life.
No man can walk with God as long as he is under condemnation.
You can see now that prayer is based on legal grounds; not based on promises only but on statements of fact.
It isn't a problem then of faith with the believer, for all things belong to him. Ephesians 1:3: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ."
You cannot grasp this too clearly that it is not a problem of faith with us as sons and daughters of God.
It is merely a problem of our taking our place, enjoying our rights.
"He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing."
Then everything that was worked in the finished work of Christ belongs to us. It is our own property this moment.
All our struggling to get faith has been the result of ignorance of what belonged to us.
Now we must simply take our place, use our rights.
But someone says, "What about the struggle with the Adversary?"
Yes, we have war with a defeated enemy.
Satan was defeated before Jesus arose from the dead.
My study on "Identification" will prove to you that we were crucified with Christ, died with Christ, buried with Christ, suffered with Christ, justified with Christ, made alive with Christ, conquered the Adversary with Christ, and then were raised together with Him, and now we are seated together with Him.
That shows us our utter oneness and union with Christ.
It shows what our combat with the Adversary was when we conquered Satan with Christ before He arose from the dead.
Everything that Jesus did is accredited to us.
The entire substitutionary work of Christ was for us.
He didn't conquer Satan for Himself.
He didn't put sin away for Himself.
He didn't suffer the judgment that would have fallen upon the sinner for Himself.
But He suffered it on our behalf, and we have entered into His victory; it is accredited to us. So Satan now is a defeated enemy.
We war not with flesh and blood, not with humans, but with demons who know that we are, in Jesus' Name, their Masters.
Every demon knows that you, the recreated one, are his master.
They rule us by subterfuge, by bluff, by deception.
They put diseases upon us and hold us in bondage through our ignorance of what we are in Christ and what belongs to us.
HAVE YOUR OWN FAITH
One should never trust the great issues of his life to another's faith. He should have faith of his own, faith that can meet any crisis that may come.
Your case is vital to you. It may not be vital to this other party to whose faith you look. He may have troubles that are unsolved, inward struggles that have never been settled. His faith may be at a low ebb when you appeal to him for aid.
It is vitally important to you that you have your own faith to fall back on in these hard places.
Everyone should build his own faith life.
I find that the majority of people float on carelessly until they come to a dangerous place. They are sick, or some loved one is sick, some financial or heart problem confronts them that may affect their entire future. Then they frantically hunt for someone who can cry and sob and quote scriptures in what they call their 'prayer' and it is of no avail because there is no faith back of it.
If there was faith there, there would be no crying and no sobbing. There would be a rejoicing because they would know that whatever they ask of the Father in Jesus' Name, He will do it.
Here are some facts that will help you to begin to build your own faith life.
The Word is yours. It is as though there was no other person in the world but you, and this Revelation had been given especially to you; you can say, "It is mine. No one has a better right to it than I have. Every promise is mine. Every statement of fact is mine."
When He said, "Whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you," you can say, "He was talking to me.
"He is my Father; I am His child. This is His message to me to help me in my earth walk. John 15:7 was given by the Master from the Father to me for He said, 'The words that I speak are not mine, but the Father is speaking through me.'
"Consequently it is the Father who said, "If you abide in Christ, and His words abide in you, ask whatsoever you will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein am I glorified, that you bear much fruit.' This is prayer fruit. It is going to be borne by one of the branches, and I am that branch."
When your heart can speak like this, then you know that when you approach the throne of Grace there is a willing ear, listening to you, that whatever you ask (because the Word is living in you) you will receive.
Do you understand what that means? A lover has written you a letter. It is not written to anyone else. It is too sacred for any other eyes to see. That is your letter. That is your lover writing to you.
God is love and He has written to you the book called the Bible. Jesus came to unveil love, and the revelation of love is given to us in the Word.
Jesus now has spoken a love message to you. He says, "If you abide in me." If you are a New Creation, you certainly do abide in Him. His words abide in you just as that lover's words would abide in your heart.
You go over that lover's words again and again. He has asked you to become his companion for life. How sacred is that letter. It is love's own message to your heart. Love has spoken to you.
Love says, "If you abide in me, and my words have found their place in you, you can ask what you will, and I will see that you get it."
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS YOURS
The Holy Spirit belongs to you.
Luke 11:13: "How much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?" Only sons and daughters will ever ask Him.
You are His child. You have received His very nature. You are as really His child as was Jesus when He walked in Galilee.
Then you have a right to the Spirit. You can ask Him to come in and make His home in your body; as surely as you ask Him, so surely will He come in, because "No Word from God is void of an answer." The Word of God is very sacred to Him.
Jeremiah 1:12: "I watch over my Word to perform it."
This is His message to you. It is the lover again speaking to His beloved and saying, "Do you wish the Holy Spirit to make His home in your body? If you do, just invite Him in, for He is standing at the door awaiting your invitation. If you ask Him in, He will enter, then guide you into all the reality of the finished work completed by Jesus."
More than that, you can confidently say, "His Righteousness is mine for He was made unto me Righteousness. I have become, through the New Birth, the very Righteousness of God in Christ.
My Righteousness is just as good as Jesus' Righteousness because it is Jesus' Righteousness. It is just as good as Paul, or Peter, or John had. No one has a better Righteousness than I." When I realize that, faith is no longer a problem.
The Word is mine. The Holy Spirit is mine. Jesus is mine. God is my own Father. Their Righteousness is my Righteousness. I stand complete in their completeness.
"I am a New Creation, created in Christ Jesus. All the rights and privileges of a child are mine. I did not have to ask for them. They were conferred upon me. When I became His child, these things were a part of the New Creation so I enter into my rights.
SATANS DEFEAT
"One of the greatest blessings, one of the most wonderful facts is that Satan was defeated for me.
"Jesus' victory over him is my victory.
"When I was Redeemed in Christ, that Redemption was out of the hand of the enemy.
"I have been translated out of the kingdom of Satan, into the kingdom of the Son of the Father's love; in whom I have my Redemption, complete and perfect.
"Then I do not have to war to conquer Satan, because Satan is already conquered.
"He was conquered for me. He knows that he was conquered for me, so I take my deliverance from him and my victory over him in Jesus' Name, with thankfulness.
"I know that Satan is the author of disease and confusion and heart suffering. I know that Jesus said, 'In my name you shall cast out demons.' When Jesus said that, He was saying it to me. He was talking to me personally.
"He said, 'In my name you shall cast out demons. Do you understand what that means to you?'
"I said for Him to tell me. He said, 'It means that you, personally, rule Satan, and his works—that demons are subject to you. Just as demons are subject to me, and disease and physical needs, and financial needs are all subject to me, they are to you.
" 'Remember how I paid Peter's poll tax? Remember how I fed the multitudes? Do you remember how I walked upon the sea? Do you remember how I turned water into wine? Now I am turning over to you this authority over the adversary.
" 'Not only that, but I am turning over to you the ability to use this authority, for ability has been given unto me in heaven and on earth. Now I want you to use this ability. I am turning it over to you. That ability will teach you how to use this authority that has been delegated to you to use my name. In this ability is my wisdom, my ability.
" 'The Holy Spirit is to bring that ability into you through my Word. You go now and use this delegated authority with my own ability, for I am your sufficiency to meet every need and every crisis of your life.'"
It is just as though Jesus stood in the room and said this to you. Not only this (and it seems as though this were enough), but He has given you a legal right to the use of His Name, the Name of Jesus.
You can say, "I have the power of attorney to use the Name of Jesus. Jesus declared that all authority in heaven and on earth were His. That authority then is enwrapped in the Name. It is a part of the Name, and He has given me a legal right to use it— the power of attorney.
"Now I can destroy the works of the adversary. I can set men free. Now I can break the power and dominion of disease and demons over the bodies, hearts and minds of men.
"Now I can actually take Jesus’ place and do His works. I can understand what He meant now when He said, ‘Greater works than these shall you do because I go unto the Father.” I have His own Word for it.
“I have the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead within me.
“I have the same Righteousness that Jesus had, because He is that Righteousness.
“I rejoice in the fact of Satan’s defeat on my behalf.
“I have the Name of Jesus. God is my own Father. What more could I ask? But that is not all. I am His own child. I do not have to try to be His child. I am. I am born of His Spirit. I am a partaker of His nature, Eternal Life.
“His Word has given me absolute assurance of my relationship with Him; so fearlessly I make my confession to the world. I am a child of God. I am a New Creation. I am an heir of God, and a joint-heir with Jesus Christ.
“He loves me even as He loved Jesus. His home is my home. When I finish my work here, if Jesus tarries, I will go to my Father’s home for it is my home.
“These great soul-thrilling facts have given birth to a real faith in my own heart.
“I have my own faith now. I have confidence in my faith. I know that whatever I ask of the Father in Jesus' Name He will give it to me. I know I have authority over all the authority of the enemy in Jesus’ Name.”
Questions
1. A prayerless church is a?
2. To build up a real spiritual body of believers it is only possible through prayer. In a local church, where the people are not spending time in prayer they become what?
3. The prayer problem is a problem of Faith. The real question then, is after we know that the Word cannot be broken and that God keeps it to the very letter, "Have I a right to stand in the Father's presence and make my petitions known to Him without condemnation?" What are 4 facts every believer should know?
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
4. Many Christians float on carelessly until they come to a dangerous place in their lives. They are sick, or some loved one is sick, some financial or heart problem confronts them that may affect their entire future. Then they frantically hunt for someone who can cry and sob and quote scriptures in what they call their 'prayer'. Why is it of no avail?
5. Jesus said, 'In my name you shall cast out demons. What does that mean to you?
6. Jesus has given you a legal right to the use of His Name, the Name of Jesus. What can you now legally say?
A prayer program should have a place in the Church as well as the Sunday School.
In fact no Sunday school can function properly that isn't backed by prayer.
A prayerless ministry is a powerless ministry
Church history proves that the ministry of prayer makes the ministry of the Word a powerful thing.
We have thought that psychology could take the place of prayer, but it cannot; that education and culture could take the place of prayer, but our present church proves that we are wrong.
A prayerless church is a useless church.
It isn't functioning; it isn't meeting the needs of the congregation.
It is nothing better than a religious club.
Few people ever leave a deeply spiritual, prayer-ruled church to join in the philosophical religious cults of the day.
A prayerless church is a cold church, a sense-ruled church.
A prayerless pulpit where you hear nothing but empty words has no spiritual value, and does not minister to the needs of the spirit of man.
It should be prayer, preaching, and teaching.
But we have changed it.
We have dropped prayer, and teaching of the Word, out of the program.
We have put preaching first, and we have classes in psychology and philosophy instead of teaching men how to pray.
There should be a department of prayer in every church. That should be the heating plant of the spiritual life, the very sinews of the church.
Chapter 9
PRAYER AND THE CHURCH
Every church should have a Prayer Program. There should be a prayer organization, as well as the young people's or the Sunday School organization. The prayer life of the church should be so interwoven with every feature of it that God could be seen in every department.
The finances are called the strength of the church, but this is not true.
Prayer forms the real power of the church.
You remember that the prayer life brings those who pray into vital contact with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, as well as continually in touch with the Word.
It isn't just saying prayers, but meeting Him for a while, getting His mind for the day, His strength, His quietness, and His love.
This vital contact has certain spiritual reactions that are of inestimable value to the life of the church.
We all know what it will mean when a great number of the people in the church enlist in a Prayer Program and come in vital contact with the Lord daily.
Every man and woman in connection with our church who is not spending time in prayer will be a neutralizing force in the church.
They may be in the choir; they may be in the Sunday School; they may have charge of the finances; they may act as deacons or elders; but whatever their place, they carry a certain coldness, they are an inert body.
They have a tendency to lower the spiritual temperature of everyone in close contact with them.
So it is vitally important that the largest possible number of the membership should be led into the Prayer Program of the church.
This isn't any place for theory.
This is the place for positive facts.
A church can't be built up spiritually without prayer.
I’ll say that again… A church can't be built up spiritually without prayer.
Numbers can be drawn through personal work or by eloquence, but to build up a real spiritual body, is only possible through prayer.
This will need much wise teaching on the part of the Pastor, and the teachers of adult classes.
Give prayer a large place in your church program. Don't only teach about prayer, but practice it.
Have prayer services with a real program. Give subjects for definite intercession.
While one intercedes, train the rest to make that prayer theirs; not by shouting loud "Amen’s," but silently making that intercession their very own.
The whole group will be crowding into the Throne Room, making that request as their own.
You can educate the people so that their prayers will prevail.
Make them Prayer Masters, mighty in Intercession.
THE PRAYER PROBLEM
The Prayer Problem is a problem of Faith; and Faith is a problem of the integrity of the Word, of the ability of God to stand back of His promises or the statements of fact in the Word.
There is another side of the problem: It is the ability of the believer to stand in the Father's presence without the sense of guilt, condemnation or inferiority.
The real question then, is after we know that the Word cannot be broken and that God keeps it to the very letter, "Have I a right to stand in the Father's presence and make my petitions known to Him without condemnation?"
Here are a few things that every believer should know.
First, that we are actually New Creations, created in Christ Jesus. 2 Corinthians 5:17: "Wherefore, if any man is in Christ there is a new creation, the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new. But all these things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ."
Notice these facts, that "if any man is in Christ." One is in Christ once for all. He doesn't enter Christ and then leave Him. If he leaves Him, it is final.
The second fact: He is a New Creation, a new species.
He has received into his spirit the life and nature of God.
The old things are passed away.
These old things are Spiritual Death, his union with Satan, and his old sins—the sins committed while he was spiritually in union with the Adversary. These are remitted.
A new self is given to him.
The old self, or the old man stops being; for the old self, or the old man as it is called, cannot live in Christ.
Notice again: "If any man is in Christ he is a new creature, a new creation, and the old things are passed away."
That New Creation is the product of God.
It is created in Christ Jesus.
It is born from above.
It is born of the Holy Spirit, through the Word.
And that new thing stands uncondemned and reconciled before the Father.
2 Corinthians 5:21 states it clearly: "Him who knew no sin he (God) made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in him.
The moment that we become New Creations, we become the righteousness of God.
The righteousness of God means the ability to stand in the Father's presence without the sense of guilt, condemnation or inferiority.
We are that moment Sons and Daughters of God.
It would be an abnormal thing if He should recreate us, impart to us His own nature, and leave us under the blighting curse of condemnation, unable to stand in His presence without the sense of guilt and inferiority.
Then we know we have the ability to stand in God's presence free from all sense of unworthiness.
We know the second fact that we have a legal right in the Father's presence because we are legally born into His Family, and He has legally adopted us and accepted us as Sons and Daughters. "The Holy Spirit Himself has born witness with our spirits that we are the children of God."
We know another fact, that we have a legal right to the use of Jesus' Name and whatsoever we ask of the Father in that name He'll grant us.
This has cleared up every issue in regard to our ability to stand before Him in the throne room without condemnation.
Sin has been preached to us so long and we have been told so often that we are unworthy and unfit, that it has kept us with a sense of inferiority which has been destructive to a faith life.
No man can walk with God as long as he is under condemnation.
You can see now that prayer is based on legal grounds; not based on promises only but on statements of fact.
It isn't a problem then of faith with the believer, for all things belong to him. Ephesians 1:3: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ."
You cannot grasp this too clearly that it is not a problem of faith with us as sons and daughters of God.
It is merely a problem of our taking our place, enjoying our rights.
"He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing."
Then everything that was worked in the finished work of Christ belongs to us. It is our own property this moment.
All our struggling to get faith has been the result of ignorance of what belonged to us.
Now we must simply take our place, use our rights.
But someone says, "What about the struggle with the Adversary?"
Yes, we have war with a defeated enemy.
Satan was defeated before Jesus arose from the dead.
My study on "Identification" will prove to you that we were crucified with Christ, died with Christ, buried with Christ, suffered with Christ, justified with Christ, made alive with Christ, conquered the Adversary with Christ, and then were raised together with Him, and now we are seated together with Him.
That shows us our utter oneness and union with Christ.
It shows what our combat with the Adversary was when we conquered Satan with Christ before He arose from the dead.
Everything that Jesus did is accredited to us.
The entire substitutionary work of Christ was for us.
He didn't conquer Satan for Himself.
He didn't put sin away for Himself.
He didn't suffer the judgment that would have fallen upon the sinner for Himself.
But He suffered it on our behalf, and we have entered into His victory; it is accredited to us. So Satan now is a defeated enemy.
We war not with flesh and blood, not with humans, but with demons who know that we are, in Jesus' Name, their Masters.
Every demon knows that you, the recreated one, are his master.
They rule us by subterfuge, by bluff, by deception.
They put diseases upon us and hold us in bondage through our ignorance of what we are in Christ and what belongs to us.
HAVE YOUR OWN FAITH
One should never trust the great issues of his life to another's faith. He should have faith of his own, faith that can meet any crisis that may come.
Your case is vital to you. It may not be vital to this other party to whose faith you look. He may have troubles that are unsolved, inward struggles that have never been settled. His faith may be at a low ebb when you appeal to him for aid.
It is vitally important to you that you have your own faith to fall back on in these hard places.
Everyone should build his own faith life.
I find that the majority of people float on carelessly until they come to a dangerous place. They are sick, or some loved one is sick, some financial or heart problem confronts them that may affect their entire future. Then they frantically hunt for someone who can cry and sob and quote scriptures in what they call their 'prayer' and it is of no avail because there is no faith back of it.
If there was faith there, there would be no crying and no sobbing. There would be a rejoicing because they would know that whatever they ask of the Father in Jesus' Name, He will do it.
Here are some facts that will help you to begin to build your own faith life.
The Word is yours. It is as though there was no other person in the world but you, and this Revelation had been given especially to you; you can say, "It is mine. No one has a better right to it than I have. Every promise is mine. Every statement of fact is mine."
When He said, "Whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you," you can say, "He was talking to me.
"He is my Father; I am His child. This is His message to me to help me in my earth walk. John 15:7 was given by the Master from the Father to me for He said, 'The words that I speak are not mine, but the Father is speaking through me.'
"Consequently it is the Father who said, "If you abide in Christ, and His words abide in you, ask whatsoever you will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein am I glorified, that you bear much fruit.' This is prayer fruit. It is going to be borne by one of the branches, and I am that branch."
When your heart can speak like this, then you know that when you approach the throne of Grace there is a willing ear, listening to you, that whatever you ask (because the Word is living in you) you will receive.
Do you understand what that means? A lover has written you a letter. It is not written to anyone else. It is too sacred for any other eyes to see. That is your letter. That is your lover writing to you.
God is love and He has written to you the book called the Bible. Jesus came to unveil love, and the revelation of love is given to us in the Word.
Jesus now has spoken a love message to you. He says, "If you abide in me." If you are a New Creation, you certainly do abide in Him. His words abide in you just as that lover's words would abide in your heart.
You go over that lover's words again and again. He has asked you to become his companion for life. How sacred is that letter. It is love's own message to your heart. Love has spoken to you.
Love says, "If you abide in me, and my words have found their place in you, you can ask what you will, and I will see that you get it."
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS YOURS
The Holy Spirit belongs to you.
Luke 11:13: "How much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?" Only sons and daughters will ever ask Him.
You are His child. You have received His very nature. You are as really His child as was Jesus when He walked in Galilee.
Then you have a right to the Spirit. You can ask Him to come in and make His home in your body; as surely as you ask Him, so surely will He come in, because "No Word from God is void of an answer." The Word of God is very sacred to Him.
Jeremiah 1:12: "I watch over my Word to perform it."
This is His message to you. It is the lover again speaking to His beloved and saying, "Do you wish the Holy Spirit to make His home in your body? If you do, just invite Him in, for He is standing at the door awaiting your invitation. If you ask Him in, He will enter, then guide you into all the reality of the finished work completed by Jesus."
More than that, you can confidently say, "His Righteousness is mine for He was made unto me Righteousness. I have become, through the New Birth, the very Righteousness of God in Christ.
My Righteousness is just as good as Jesus' Righteousness because it is Jesus' Righteousness. It is just as good as Paul, or Peter, or John had. No one has a better Righteousness than I." When I realize that, faith is no longer a problem.
The Word is mine. The Holy Spirit is mine. Jesus is mine. God is my own Father. Their Righteousness is my Righteousness. I stand complete in their completeness.
"I am a New Creation, created in Christ Jesus. All the rights and privileges of a child are mine. I did not have to ask for them. They were conferred upon me. When I became His child, these things were a part of the New Creation so I enter into my rights.
SATANS DEFEAT
"One of the greatest blessings, one of the most wonderful facts is that Satan was defeated for me.
"Jesus' victory over him is my victory.
"When I was Redeemed in Christ, that Redemption was out of the hand of the enemy.
"I have been translated out of the kingdom of Satan, into the kingdom of the Son of the Father's love; in whom I have my Redemption, complete and perfect.
"Then I do not have to war to conquer Satan, because Satan is already conquered.
"He was conquered for me. He knows that he was conquered for me, so I take my deliverance from him and my victory over him in Jesus' Name, with thankfulness.
"I know that Satan is the author of disease and confusion and heart suffering. I know that Jesus said, 'In my name you shall cast out demons.' When Jesus said that, He was saying it to me. He was talking to me personally.
"He said, 'In my name you shall cast out demons. Do you understand what that means to you?'
"I said for Him to tell me. He said, 'It means that you, personally, rule Satan, and his works—that demons are subject to you. Just as demons are subject to me, and disease and physical needs, and financial needs are all subject to me, they are to you.
" 'Remember how I paid Peter's poll tax? Remember how I fed the multitudes? Do you remember how I walked upon the sea? Do you remember how I turned water into wine? Now I am turning over to you this authority over the adversary.
" 'Not only that, but I am turning over to you the ability to use this authority, for ability has been given unto me in heaven and on earth. Now I want you to use this ability. I am turning it over to you. That ability will teach you how to use this authority that has been delegated to you to use my name. In this ability is my wisdom, my ability.
" 'The Holy Spirit is to bring that ability into you through my Word. You go now and use this delegated authority with my own ability, for I am your sufficiency to meet every need and every crisis of your life.'"
It is just as though Jesus stood in the room and said this to you. Not only this (and it seems as though this were enough), but He has given you a legal right to the use of His Name, the Name of Jesus.
You can say, "I have the power of attorney to use the Name of Jesus. Jesus declared that all authority in heaven and on earth were His. That authority then is enwrapped in the Name. It is a part of the Name, and He has given me a legal right to use it— the power of attorney.
"Now I can destroy the works of the adversary. I can set men free. Now I can break the power and dominion of disease and demons over the bodies, hearts and minds of men.
"Now I can actually take Jesus’ place and do His works. I can understand what He meant now when He said, ‘Greater works than these shall you do because I go unto the Father.” I have His own Word for it.
“I have the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead within me.
“I have the same Righteousness that Jesus had, because He is that Righteousness.
“I rejoice in the fact of Satan’s defeat on my behalf.
“I have the Name of Jesus. God is my own Father. What more could I ask? But that is not all. I am His own child. I do not have to try to be His child. I am. I am born of His Spirit. I am a partaker of His nature, Eternal Life.
“His Word has given me absolute assurance of my relationship with Him; so fearlessly I make my confession to the world. I am a child of God. I am a New Creation. I am an heir of God, and a joint-heir with Jesus Christ.
“He loves me even as He loved Jesus. His home is my home. When I finish my work here, if Jesus tarries, I will go to my Father’s home for it is my home.
“These great soul-thrilling facts have given birth to a real faith in my own heart.
“I have my own faith now. I have confidence in my faith. I know that whatever I ask of the Father in Jesus' Name He will give it to me. I know I have authority over all the authority of the enemy in Jesus’ Name.”
Questions
1. A prayerless church is a?
2. To build up a real spiritual body of believers it is only possible through prayer. In a local church, where the people are not spending time in prayer they become what?
3. The prayer problem is a problem of Faith. The real question then, is after we know that the Word cannot be broken and that God keeps it to the very letter, "Have I a right to stand in the Father's presence and make my petitions known to Him without condemnation?" What are 4 facts every believer should know?
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
4. Many Christians float on carelessly until they come to a dangerous place in their lives. They are sick, or some loved one is sick, some financial or heart problem confronts them that may affect their entire future. Then they frantically hunt for someone who can cry and sob and quote scriptures in what they call their 'prayer'. Why is it of no avail?
5. Jesus said, 'In my name you shall cast out demons. What does that mean to you?
6. Jesus has given you a legal right to the use of His Name, the Name of Jesus. What can you now legally say?