Prevailing Prayer — Gerhard Du Toit

James 5 and the Call to Prevailing Prayer

I was so blessed by what our brother shared in working amongst the Amish and the Mennonite people, Harold, that I would be willing to give him a session tomorrow afternoon to talk about the home situation.

Anyway, we pray about that, but it was just a tremendous blessing to my own heart. James chapter 5, if you will. I wonder if I'm not, am I too loud for you? Am I okay? It just sounds loud up here. Okay.

James chapter 5, and we're going to read from verse number 12. You know, I phoned my wife this afternoon, and she said, how's it going? I said, these men are worse than the Africans. So I will phone her tonight and say they're worse than the Pentecostals.

So you should see the song leader. Okay. James chapter 5, if you will. And let's read just for the sake of our time. Let's read from verse number 10. Take my brethren, the prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an example of suffering and affliction of patience.

Behold, we count in happy which endure. You have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful and tender mercy. But about all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath, but let your yea be yea and your nay, nay, lest ye fall into condemnation.

If any among you afflicted, let him pray. If any merry, let him sing psalms. If any sick among you, let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

And the prayer of faith shall save the sick. And the Lord shall raise him up, and if he hath committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another and pray one for another, so that ye may be healed.

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are. And he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.

And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him, let him know that he which converted the sinner from the error of his way shall save his soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins.

James as a Practical Epistle and Servant of Christ

You know, it's quite significant if you study this little epistle of James. There is a sense in which I believe you'll discover that it is probably one of the most practical little epistles in the New Testament.

I kind of feel, because of the fact that James, in one sense, was a half-brother of the Lord Jesus, sometimes as I look at this epistle and I look at this sermon and amount, are there sometimes some tremendous corresponding principles, as it were, that can be a tremendous blessing.

You see, James is speaking to us about the perfect law of liberty, and Christ is saying to us in the sermon and amount that unless our righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, that in no way that we shall be part of the kingdom of God.

But one of the most significant things about James is simply this, that he did not refer to himself necessarily as being related to the Lord Jesus, but he called himself a servant of Christ. And the word servant is a very, very significant word.

It is the Greek word doulos that really has its meaning within the Old Testament. And in the 21st chapter of the book of Exodus, well you discover that the Bible is speaking to us about the bond slave or the love slave, the Jewish slave who has worked for his master for something like six years, and then the word of God is saying to us that that slave was under the obligation of the law after six years to allow that, rather the master was under the obligation of the law after six years to allow that slave to go out free.

But then the Bible is saying to us that that slave would come to this place where he would say to himself, I love my master and I do not want to go out free, and I want to stay with my master for the rest of my life, and he would go to his master and make that confession, and then his master in the presence of two witnesses will take him to the door and make a hole through his ear with an oar, and from that day he would be called a bond slave or a love slave.

In other words, he came to the place where he said, I love my master and I do not want to go out free, and I want to stay with my master for the rest of my life. Now incidentally if you read or study the epistles of the apostle Paul, quite often you come across this very same word, where Paul came to the place where he said, I love my master and I do not want to go out free.

Intercessory Prayer as the Message of James

One of the great things about the epistle of James is simply the fact that although it's called to us by some the first message to the church, well you discover that there are some tremendous lessons and principles that you and I can learn about the life and the ministry of intercessory prayer.

In fact there are some traditions that are saying to us that James' nickname was Camel Knee, and they are saying to us that when James died that they find those amazing marks as it were on his knees and somehow came to the conclusion that here was a man of tremendous intercessory prayer.

I would like to say to you this evening that if you study what we would consider as the biblical interpretation, well you discover that quite often that God speaks to us in principles and in propositions.

And you will also realize that when God speaks to us, for instance in a principle or a proposition, that quite often it's a biblical truth to discover that He gives unto us an illustration. Now let me tell you why I'm saying that you will discover in the fifth chapter of James that the Bible is saying unto us that the prayer of the righteous man availeth much.

And here comes the illustration. He's saying unto us Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are, and Elijah prayed and as a result of the prayer of Elijah was for a moment that God closed the heavens above for a period of three years and six months.

And the Bible says Elijah prayed again and there was a moment that God opened the heavens above and God sent rain. I would like to speak to you tonight, if I may so, on what I would consider as a life and a ministry of intercessory prayer.

And what I would like us to do, I want us to look at the attitude of prevailing in intercessory prayer. I want us to consider the agony of a life of prevailing in prayer. And thirdly, if time would allow us, I want us to look at what we would consider as the victory of a life of prevailing in prayer.

Ordinary People and the Attitude of Prevailing Prayer

You see my brother, let me say to you this evening. I think one of our greatest problems as men, or one of the reasons why you and I are not accountable in the presence of God, when it comes to our responsibility in prayer, is simply because of the attitude that we have when it comes to a life and a ministry of prevailing in prayer.

And the first thing that I would like to mention to you is simply this. That if you study the Word of God, and if you study the history of a church, you will discover that when God is speaking to us about a ministry of prevailing in prayer, that God is referring to all the people.

God is speaking to you and me about people like just us ourselves. I think, for instance, in that amazing passage in the first chapter of the book of Samuel, when we read about Hannah, that very interesting woman in the Old Testament, somehow it seems to me that the Bible is saying very little about the life of Hannah.

There are maybe one or two or three chapters where God is referring to the life of this woman. And in the eyes of this world, she was absolutely inadequate and she was absolutely insignificant. And yet, my brethren, you will discover that here was a woman who knew the secret of what it means to get through to God within a place of prayer.

Can I ask you a question tonight? Have you ever asked yourself that when she came into the presence of God to pray, why was it that she asked God for a man child? Somehow it seems to me that this woman, year after year, as she went into the temple of God, she saw the condition of the people of God.

She saw the sin within the temple of God. She saw the adultery that was going on. And somehow year after year, with the tremendous spiritual perception that she had, was there a moment that she somehow got in her face before God.

And she said, God, if you will give her to me a man child. She said, I want to give a child to you. And that child became Samuel and he became one of the great prophets of Israel. I think, for instance, of that amazing woman again in the first chapter of the gospel of Luke.

Her name was Hannah the prophetess. And you remember, Hannah the prophetess was a woman. And God is saying to us that she served God with prayers and with fasting. And maybe you sit here tonight, my brethren, and you say, when God is speaking to me about the ministry of intercessory prayer, somehow I can't see that this can be a plan of God for my life.

Maybe you sit here tonight and you say, well, there are certain people that are a George Fuller. Or there is maybe a John Hyde of India. Or there is maybe a George Fitfield. But somehow as I look upon my life, it seems to me that this is not God's lifestyle for me.

Revival Through Patient Evangelism and the Word of God

I was involved in South Africa a number of years. And I remember I was asked to do a conference or a weekend retreat at a place about 65 miles outside of the city of Cape Town. And it was to what was called the District of Clan William.

And the first night the people came in trailers. These were conservative Dutch Reformed Christians. And they stayed in these trailers and tents and the services as it was an attempt. And I discovered that night when I began to preach, that it just happened so that I found out that there were about 50 people who were at that weekend conference of exactly the same name.

In fact, I said to those people that night in my opening remarks, I said to them, folks, let me say to you tonight when we turn the generator off, and in the darkness of this night, if you bump into someone, just say, I'm sorry, Mr. Watson, because there were so many of those people.

And I began to ask myself, how did those people come to Christ? And my friends, you know what I discovered? I discovered about 23 years earlier on, two of our faith mission evangelists went into the District of Clan William to do a series of evangelistic meetings for something like three weeks or so.

And those men said, as we came into the town, we discovered that there was an awesome sense of the presence of God. They said when we gathered for the services in the town on the very first night, the place was loaded with people.

They said somehow there was such an awareness of God that they were too afraid to open their hymn books. They were almost too afraid to open their Bibles because of the awesome awareness of God. Somehow those men began to preach God's Word.

Something like three weeks or so, 400 people were swept into the kingdom of God. And every night in those services, there was an elderly man in his early 80's who sat there with his gray hair and his head bowed.

One morning one of those evangelists turned to the other and said, we have never in our lives experienced this before. He said, somehow it seems to me that this is like a breath of revival. It seems God is working in a most amazing way.

Why don't we go and ask the old man, why is it that God is working like that? They went to his little cabin up in what was called the Cedar Mountains. And as they knocked on the door of that cabin, this old gentleman rushed to the door.

And he invited them into this little cabin. And as they stepped into that cabin, they recognized that they were standing in holy ground. One of them turned to this old man and said, Sir, can you tell us why God is working in such a way?

The old man became very, very quiet. And he said, Sir, have you prayed for this town? He said, well, God is simply answering prayer. He said, will you tell us what has been happening? The old man turned to them and he said, do you see this town?

He said, this town is divided by a kind of a hill. And he said, every day for six days of the week, he said, I climb over the hill to the other side of the town. And he said, there is a place where I kneel.

And I look over this part of the town. And he said, the burden of God would come upon me. And he said, I would pray and supplicate and intercede. And he said, sometimes for hours. He said, I would supplicate in the presence of God.

Then he said, there is a moment where I cross the hill. And I look over that part of the town. And he said, there is a rock where I kneel. And he said, something of the burden of God would come upon me.

And I would find myself sometimes for hours, and sometimes supplicate and sob and intercede and agonize for the souls of the people. One of those two workers turned to him and said, sir, would you allow me to ask you, how long have you been doing that?

And the old man dropped his head and broke down. And through the tears, the little words began to trickle through. He said, if I remember correctly, he said, I've been doing this for six days of the week for the last 25 years.

Gentlemen, I want to say to you tonight there is a verse in the Bible, and every time it breaks my heart when I look at it. Because the prophet is saying unto us, when Zion prevailed, she brought forth her young.

God is saying unto us that they wanted to bring forth, and there was not the power to bring them forth. I wonder tonight if you would allow me, those of us who are pastors in this church, and I pastor my own church, I know a little bit of what you are talking about.

But my brethren, may I ask you this evening, are there times in your congregation and in your life when you know something other than prevailing for the souls of men? It's for ordinary people you see.

And we are living in a time today in the history of the church of the Lord Jesus where everything is instantaneous. Can I assure you tonight that in the years of my experience of evangelism in Africa and in the highlands of Scotland and some of those evangelistic crusades last for up to eight weeks?

That there was very seldom that we made any kind of an invitation before there were maybe 17 or 19 days that has passed so that people can be exposed to the conviction of the Word of God? It's for ordinary people you see.

And I think one of the most wonderful things that can happen these days as you and I and myself expose ourselves to the communication of God's Word, as the Holy Spirit of God will come who does witness to nothing else than the Word and the precious blood.

As we expose ourselves, my friends, that the Spirit of God will come and fertilize the seed of God's Word in our lives so that it can bring forth the manifestation of the life of the world. It's for ordinary people.

It's for you and it's for me. I can't help but think again and again of that amazing man by the name of Robert Murray M 'Chayne for the simple reason that I preach in Dundee in Scotland. I had the joy of standing at the place where Robert Murray M 'Chayne preached and discover that here was a young man who died at the age of 27.

But those people, as they sat and read ministry on a Sunday morning and they listened, you know what they said? They said, as he looked upon us as a congregation, it somehow seemed that he knew exactly what we were doing or what we were thinking about this last week.

Robert Murray M 'Chayne died and the minister went to the church of M 'Chayne and he got hold of the old custodian or the caretaker. He said, will you tell me the secret of the life of this man? And he took him into the little place where M 'Chayne prayed.

And there was an old kind of a little carpet and there was a chair. They speak of it as a stool in Scotland. And there on that carpet were two holes. And he said to this man, he said, I want you to put your two knees in those two holes.

And he did so. And he said, now I want you to cover your face. And he did so. He said, now I want you to pray. And he said, as the burden of God comes. He said, I want you to break in the presence of God.

And he said, as you pray. He said, I want you to weep as the Master wept. And I'm told that that minister was very embarrassed and almost wanted to walk out and the old custodian got him by the hand and he dragged him into the pulpit where M 'Chayne preached.

And as he brought him into the pulpit, he said, I want you to open a family Bible. And he did so. And there was hardly a page in that Bible that was not rippled by the brokenness of M 'Chayne. And he said, I want you to put your elbows on it.

And I want you to cover your face. And he said, now I want the burden of God to come. And he said, when the burden of God comes, he said, I want you to break. He said, that's how the Master wept when he prayed.

The same Robert Murray M 'Chayne who said, whatever a man is on his knees before God, that is what that man will be in the pulpit and in the public. My brethren, may I say to you tonight, this is a prayer at once.

Accountability, Family Prayer, and Obedience

And I think it's one of the most wonderful things that can happen these days. If God the Holy Spirit would come to a number of us and we become accountable. I said in a church about two days ago or so that there are men that are holding me accountable.

They are not interested in my ministry. They are not interested in the times that I preach. These are older men in the ministry. They are interested in what God is doing in my prayer life. They are concerned about my relationship with God.

If God can give some of us this great spirit of prayer, I would like to see what will happen in the next number of months when we seek the face of God in prayer. It's for all the new people you see. One of the most wonderful things that I have discovered is simply the fact that it's not only for all the new people, but I've discovered that it is also for obedient people.

Do you know what the Bible is saying to us tonight? God is saying to us, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear. Can I give you a 94 translation? God is saying, if I regard iniquity in my heart, you're wasting your time.

I wonder tonight, my brethren, if I may ask you, is there any unconfessed sin in your life? I wonder tonight if I may ask you, because these are one of the great hindrances to prayer, if there is something between you and your wife, or something between you and your children, and somehow you are sitting here tonight, and you say amen, and you enjoy it, but yet in your heart, somehow you recognize that I'm not getting through to God.

We've got a system in our own family, and I'm really looking forward to speak to my brother, but we've got a system in our own family where every morning, Janice and myself spend about half an hour with our little girl Monica.

We've got a system of accountability. And I discover, and we're going to deal with this stuff, I mean, it's just a fact. I'm not going to ask you tonight, but we're going to look at it at some point and find out how many of you are praying with your wives.

I mean, I'm not asking you praying at the table, a little short prayer, but how many of you are spending quality time with your wives? I spend about 90 of my time out in Western Canada with pastors.

My heart is broken for these men. They know that they can trust me, and we spend some time together, and I pray for them. But can I tell you something tonight, my friends? Listen. Some of the most loneliest women I've met have been the wives of pastors.

We were in a church some time ago, and by the way, it was a Baptist church. When I listened to these pastors tonight, I thought, there's no one else here but Baptists. Anyway, we were in this church on a Sunday morning.

It was a Sunday to Sunday crusade out in Saskatchewan, and the pastor was gone. He's a great fellow. He's sound in biblical exposition. He's got a great ministry in counseling. He's gone to the church, and I ran up to the kitchen just to get a glass of water.

Just as I came into the kitchen, his wife was there, and she's a beautiful little girl. Just a precious soul. She turned to me and she said, Gerard, can I see you for a moment? And I thought, uh-huh, this is it again.

We sat down at the table, and I said, what is it Tina? She said, you see my husband? He's a wonderful man. She said, but my husband refused to pray with me. My brethren, may I say to you something tonight.

You're not going to take your congregation further than you would be able to take your family. And I want to be honest with you this evening. One of the most difficult areas of my life has simply been this discipline myself to spend quality time with my family.

You know why? Because I'm a morning person. And my best times of God is between 5 and 8 in the mornings. And my wife is not a morning person. In fact, if I would try to wake Janice up at 7 in the morning, and say, come and watch the sunrise with me, she will turn to me and say to me, listen daddy, if God wanted me to watch the sunrise at 7, He would have scheduled it much later.

But I've got a responsibility, you see. Can I tell you something tonight, my friends? Listen. There was a day when my wife walked into my study, my office. She said, Gerard, I need to talk to you. And we sat there, and I thought everything was fine.

I thought everything was great. I said, what is it Janice? She said, I'm becoming very, very lonely. Spiritually. I said, why? She said, you don't spend quality time with me. I spoke to a group of men some time ago, about 16, at the weekend retreat.

We dealt with some of this kind of stuff. Right in the middle of that session, a man jumped up, and I asked him, I said, how many of you are spending quality time with your wives? He jumped right up, and he said, I desperately need God.

25 others jumped up. That day they made a covenant with God. Are you spending time with your wife? I phoned my wife last night, and you know, we are unbelievably busy out in British Columbia. I mean, if God can't call you, I give you one to come and help me.

Because I'm directing my conference center, and sometimes I'm involved in 50 or 60 churches a year, and it's a tremendous responsibility. And I phoned my wife last night, and one of the first things she said, she said, Monica wants to talk to you.

I said, sure. And I never talk to my little girl. She wouldn't go to bed, unless I pray with her. So I talked to her about this and that, and I said, now, Monica, let's pray. I prayed with her on the phone.

And boy, this is fun. And after I prayed with her, she ran and jumped on the couch, and my wife was laughing. I said, what is it, Janet? She said, she's sitting on the couch. I said, oh. She said, she so much enjoyed it.

I've got a responsibility, you see. It's for obedient people. Can I ask you this, Monday night, are you living in the obedience of the presence of God? I came across some great statements when it comes to the concept of obedience, about what Martin Luther said.

He said, I rather obey than doing miracles for God. Someone said, revival is the beginning of a new obedience in the presence of God. Listen, my brethren, prayer is a relationship, and relationship means obedience.

And the Bible is saying to us very clear, you remember 1 Samuel chapter 15, this is what God is saying. And Samuel said, the Lord has great delight in burnt offerings and in sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord.

He said, behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of lambs. For Lord Jesus said in the Gospel of John, He said, he that willeth to do My will shall know of the doctrine that I am speaking of.

It's for obedient people. Are you walking in obedience this evening? Is there a sense of openness before God? Someone referred to Dr. Andrew Murray of South Africa, this man who was so mightily used of God.

One day he crossed the street in Cape Town, it was Adelaide Street in Cape Town, and he crossed it, and he stopped in the middle of the street. And someone saw him. This person walked up to him and said, Sir, why did you stop in the middle of the street?

Do you know what he said? He said, I saw I crossed that street. He said, I lost contact with God for one split second. And he said, I wanted that contact with God to be restored again. Sounds mystical, doesn't it?

It's obedient. And I wonder this evening, gentlemen, if I may ask you this Monday night, I wonder if Satan has got some foothold in your life. If Satan has got some stronghold in your life. If there is some area of your life, maybe some besetting sin.

Maybe some emotional struggle that you are going through. Maybe some theological struggle that you are going through. And somehow Satan is taking advance of your life. God said, I want obedience. I would never forget, I preached at a conference in Africa a number of years ago.

Spiritual Sensitivity and Readiness for God

And there was an elderly lady at those services, and I mean, she was in her seventies, and it was services like this. God was just about doing anything that you could think of. And we had about four or five services every day, and in my ignorance as a young fellow in the ministry, I walk up to her and I said, I said, you know, I don't think you should come to every service.

Why don't you take a break in the afternoon, and why don't you rest? And I would never forget that little woman swinging around and point her finger at me and said, young man, she said, I don't know when God is going to break through.

She said, I set myself in such a way that when the wind of the Spirit will come, she said, I want to sweat into His love. You know what's one of my greatest fears in these days together? And listen, by tomorrow night we're almost through.

But one of my greatest fears tonight is that brethren, that there could be some of us who are going to sit through service after service, we are going to be exposed to the Word of God, and we would say it's wonderful, it's right, it's God's work, and we come to the end like this, and we say the harvest is gone, the time has come, and yet we have not met with God.

You say, what are you saying? I'm saying to you, it's possible that you could miss it. I'm saying to you, it's possible that we could sit and gather inside this, and the Spirit of God can breathe upon us and bring us back to the preciousness of the Word of God, and yet not being affected by it.

I was involved in a series of lectures in Edinburgh and Scotland, what we speak of as a holiday convention. People came to this theological school, and we had tremendous times, and the Spirit of God was breathing upon some of those gatherings, and you think there was a pregnancy in the atmosphere.

It just seems that God was going to do something. The Friday morning came, and I gave my lecture, and then the president of the school came, and he gave his lecture, and we had a prolonged time of prayer, and it was one of those prayer meetings, I mean, you were just waiting.

God was going to do something. And I had to go into the city of Edinburgh about 12, 15 minutes away, and I waited, and I waited, and I didn't want to miss it. And there was a moment that I said to myself, I can't wait any longer.

And I slipped into my little car, and I was driving down Princes Street in Edinburgh, and suddenly the Holy Spirit of God spoke to me, and said, I've just broken into the gathering. Sure. I swinged that little car around, and I went flying back to that school, and when I got back to the school, the meeting was dispersed, they sent people to their rooms, I mean, these people were all broken up, seeking God.

I remember I ran to the president's office, and as I came into his office, he sat behind the desk, and I looked at him, and he looked up, and the tears were streaming down his cheeks, and I knew. And I said, Colin, what happened?

He said, Gerard, he said, God broke through. I said, when? He said, five minutes after you left. I missed it. You see, gentlemen, there is a moment where God meets with us, but there are many subsequent infillings of the Holy Spirit.

And one of the reasons why we've met like this these days, is that God could come to our hearts again, and again, and again. Maybe you sit here and say, hey, that's a foreign language to me. I mean, I don't understand the terminology of that.

You just keep your heart open before God, and you see what happens. And those of us who are pastors tonight, my brethren, may I say that to you, I don't know how you can carry on in your ministry, if there are not these times, through the exposition of God's Word, and the commitment to God's Word, I can't see how there could not be times that God would move upon that congregation, somehow break into the hearts of people.

And He brings a new obedience. It's for an observant people. It's for ordinary people, just like you and me. I mean, it just about blew me out of the water today, when I knew the Holy Spirit of God was bringing me into the Word of God.

And God said, I've got a life of intercessory prayer for you. And I said, you know, my understanding was, Lord, this means maybe 10 or 15 hours today in prayer. No, it doesn't mean that. You look at the life story of Charles Arden Spurgeon.

They say to us that although George Muller of Bristol spent hours in prayer with Spurgeon, that he very seldom spent a half hour in prayer himself. There was something about his life. It's for observant people.

It's a great, wonderful verse. In the prophecy of Jeremiah, and do you know what he said? He said, my eyes has affected my heart. Gentlemen, may I say to you something tonight, and I mean, you need to know I would love you to death, but I need to say this to you.

If you don't have a burden for people, if you are not concerned about the lives of men who are lost this evening, simply because of the fact that God has never given you a broken heart for people. You see, observation affects intercession.

Gentlemen, the prophet said, my eyes has affected. Has God given you a heart that is broken? Broken for people? Have you read the life story of George Whitefield, that amazing man? Died at the age, if I remember correctly, 58.

A man who used to pray, God give me soul, so take my soul away. And do you know what they say to us about Whitefield? That the last three years of his life, that somehow Whitefield was so weak, that sometimes after he preached, that they thought this man was going to die, and they gave him a young man that was looking after him, and he was always living with Whitefield, and sometimes they say after he preached, that he was so drained, and he was so absolutely wiped out, that they had to lay him down on free chairs, and somehow pray over him, so that God would just touch him again, and maybe he can preach again.

The day when George Whitefield died, at his funeral that young man stood to his feet, and he said, folks, people, he said, whatever you heard of this man, he said, it's all true. He said, I watched him for three years.

He said, we would lay him down in his bed at night, and he said, somehow I just wonder if he would see the next morning. And he said, at around three or four in the morning, he said, I would hear something, and then I would see the great George Whitefield got on his knees before God, and those early hours of the morning, he was supplicating and interceding in the presence of God.