(South West Baptist Church 2008) Ingredients for a Personal Prayer Life — Gerhard Du Toit

I'd like you to turn around and find your seat again. And then what I want you to do just to take your Bible and I want you to turn with me into the New Testament. And just for the sake of our time, let's just ponder or read two passages in the New Testament.

Now, we've been sitting for quite some time, and I think I'm going to ask you to stand for the reading of God's Word that will just help us to be able to change our positions. And let's just read Matthew 6.

Jesus' Teaching on Secret Prayer

These are well-known passages. And Luke 11, if you will. And probably this morning, because our time has gone so fast, and this evening, and I would suspect maybe tomorrow night we're just going to focus on the New Testament if that's possible for us to do that.

Matthew 6. Verse 6. The Lord Jesus said, but thou when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou shalt thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret. And thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

But when you pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do for, they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not thee therefore like unto them for your Father knoweth what things you have need of before you ask Him.

I wish we had time just to dwell on that one statement because people say to me, why do I have to ask God things if you know that I need them? And they don't understand the depth of the dealings of God.

But, verse 9. After this manner, therefore, pray He. Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Luke 11, verse 1. The Bible says,. And it came to pass that as Jesus was praying in a certain place, when He sees that one of His disciples said to Him, Lord, teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples.

Verse 5. And He said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend and shall go unto him at midnight and say unto him, Friend, lend me freeloads for a friend of mine in his journey has come to me and I have nothing to set before him.

And he from within will answer and say, Trouble me not, the door is now closed and my children are with me in bed. I cannot rise and give it to thee. I say unto you, though he will not rise and give it to him, because he is his friend and because of his importunity, he will rise and give him as many as he need.

And I say unto you, Ask and it shall be given unto you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asks receiveth. And to him that seeks, findeth. And to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.

If a son shall ask bread, if any of you that is a father, will he give unto him a stone? Or if he shall ask a fish, will he for a fish give unto him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer to him a scorpion?

If you then who are evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give a Holy Spirit to those that ask Him? You may be seated. We said yesterday morning when we came to our last session together that we would like to spend this day in our times together in prayer as it relates to the New Testament.

Prayer as Spiritual Saturation

Do you know the medical profession is giving unto us a wonderful scenario and a great illustration? And they would say to us that when a child or a baby is born in a house, that they would say to us that during the first six months of the life of that child, is it true to say that that child finds itself being exposed to the possibility of millions of voices and noises that is going to be taking place in the average household?

And they would say to us that after the first six months of the life of that child, is there a process that is taking place in the life of this baby being exposed to all those different sounds and voices and noises that there is a process that is taking place in the life of this child?

And then after six months, is it possible for that child to be able to begin to say mommy or daddy? So, what is taking place in the life of the child? The child found itself being saturated with those different voices and noises in the average family.

The voices of the mother and the father, which of course becomes predominant. Brothers and sisters. The voices of the radio or animals in that house. And that's what's taking place in the life of this baby.

In fact, you know, if a baby would have been born in a house and you and I would have been able to say that during the first six months of the life of that child, there is not going to be any sound that is taking place in that average household, then you and I would anticipate that after that period of time, this baby would have been able to respond and say mommy or daddy.

My brother and my sister, that is simply just not going to happen. So, why do I use this illustration or this scenario? The reason why I am doing this is simply because of the fact that when you and I speak, and I love the definition that the medical profession is using, as it were, when it comes to that, because they refer to a process that is taking place in the life of the child.

And this is what they say to us, that the process that is taking place is the process of saturation. And so, why are we saying this? My brother and my sister, when we begin to speak about prayer, when you and I begin to consider this understanding of cultivating a personal life of prayer, when we begin to look at the possibility of learning what I would refer to as the language of prayer, and when we consider that prayer can become part of our relationships with God, I need to say to you this morning, that the only way that that can happen is when that which God is saying to us in His Word about prayer, when that becomes part of my relationship with God.

For a number of reasons. We are born with a personality. God is in the process of building up Christian character. We cannot take people further spiritually than what we are ourselves. You cannot go from experience to the exposition of Scripture, but you need to interpret your relationship with God in the lightness and in the fullness of what Scripture is all about.

And so what needs to happen is that which God is saying to us in His Word needs to become part of our relationship with God. And I know this morning in the brutality of the limitation of our time, that there is no possible way that we would be able to cover this subject even if we would have had eight hours a day for the next 20 days together.

So what I am trying to do is just to give you some possible things and we've got the material available in your own time, that you would be able to go and study those things and just say, God, I really want those things to become part of my life so that I will not live a Christian life where I know so much about the Word of God, brother and sister, and the Word of God virtually know nothing about me.

That I will not live a Christian life where I would necessarily spend time with God, but that I will discover the transformation that something is taking place in my relationship with God where it's not the times that I would spend with God, but it's going to become the times that God is going to spend with me.

Mapping Prayer Across the New Testament

And then the consequences of that is that sometimes hours will become like minutes in His presence. Now let me just give you an introduction as it relates to the New Testament. We said, I think last night it was, that in the New Testament we are confronted with 7 ,957 wonderful verses.

If you have a great interest in the New Testament and maybe that doesn't mean anything to you, but you are dealing with 180 ,000 glorious words 180 ,552 wonderful words, and every one of those words, you know, are inspired by God.

Now let me explain to you something. If you and I would begin to study prayer in the New Testament, there are two things that I just want you to try to remember. There is a New Testament tabernacle as it relates to prayer.

And my brother and sister, that New Testament tabernacle consists of six pillars. And if we would have had the time to explore it, I would have been able to take you to six words in the Greek language that are the most predominant words and that become the six pillars in understanding what prayer is all about.

Now those six pillars in this New Testament tabernacle has a roof. And that roof consists of 12 other possible words in the Greek language that are not so often used and that are not the predominant words that speaks to us about prayer.

And they are connected and interrelated to those six words, but they become the roof of this New Testament tabernacle. And if you and I would be able to put this tabernacle and we say, so, Gerard, we've got a roof and we've got the pillars.

But what else is left in this New Testament tabernacle? I need to say to you this morning that there are six ropes. Now those six ropes become the words in the Greek language that you will discover are used the least in the New Testament.

And yet they are predominant words. They are important within their structure and their context. And in their place of New Testament Scripture. And so if we would have had the time to walk underneath this tabernacle this morning to say, what will we discover as we bring it together?

My brethren and sisters, I would have been able to take you to approximately 248 possible passages of Scripture. As we would look, and you know if I may say this to you, when I studied the New Testament as it relates to any doctrine or any subject, I have a way of doing that because I studied the Gospel of Matthew that 1 ,071 verses with the 108 verses of the little epistle to James.

Because James becomes the commentary on the Sermon on the Mount when he spoke about the law being made perfect in liberty. I studied the Gospel of Mark with 1 and 2 Peter and the first 12 chapters of Acts.

You say, why would you do that? You will discover theologically speaking that it seems to us that the Apostle Peter had an influence on the emphasis of Mark's Gospel and the first 12 chapters of Acts was dominated by the Apostle Peter.

I studied the Gospel of Luke and I studied the book of Acts and I studied the epistle to the Hebrews together. And then you go to the Gospel of John, 879 verses, 404 verses out of the book of Revelation, 1, 2, and 3 John, and you bring these New Testament books as it were together.

Then you begin to explore the greatness of prayer. You say, oh, you've missed one little New Testament book. It's a little book in the New Testament called Jude. It's a kind of a little fellow that is standing on his own and he doesn't really fit into any of the other possible New Testament books, if I may say that.

But listen, when you study that, you know what you will discover? The possibility for us to spend time looking at 248 possible passages. And my brother and sister, if you would say now, that's immense for us to consider.

Is there a way that we can zero this thing down? I would love to do that. And this is what I would have done with you. I would have had the privilege of putting 12 aspects of New Testament prayer on a screen.

And I would say to you, let's look at the basis understanding there is one New Testament passage that really gives us a foundation of discovering this aspect of New Testament prayer. And then let's go to the rest of the Scriptures and explore it and allow it to become part of our lives.

Now, are you still with me? If not, then just grab the CD and then in the days to come, you can try, listen and feel what it is. Let me explain to you just those 12. And I just want to mention most of them.

The Bible is speaking to us about routine praying in the New Testament. The Bible is speaking to us about fellowship praying in the New Testament. The Bible is speaking to us about task-oriented praying, possibly tomorrow night we're going to focus on that great aspect of what this is all about.

The Bible is speaking to us about praying within the realm of the Holy Spirit of God. The Bible is speaking to us about the place of faith as it relates to the understanding of what prayer is about. The New Testament is speaking to us about praying in the name of the Lord Jesus.

The New Testament is speaking to us about what does it mean to pray through. One of the greatest aspects of New Testament prayer is when we come to grips with the high priestly ministry of Christ as it relates to prayer.

The New Testament is speaking to us about the reality of what does it mean to pray in the will of God. How do I know when I pray in the will of God? The New Testament is speaking to us about the place of the Scriptures as it relates to them.

I just mentioned to you ten of those concepts. There are twelve glorious ones. And you say, Gerard, if you ever come back to Australia and we look at it again, will we be able to look at the twelve? You know, I probably will discover another twelve.

Christ's Prayer Life and the Principles of Persistent Prayer

Because of the greatness of the riches of what the New Testament is all about. Now, brethren and sisters, let me mention that to you. Except of looking at those twelve, we discover two other great concepts in the New Testament.

The first is what you discover coming to us from the teachings of Christ as it relates to that which New Testament prayer is all about. And when you study the teachings of Christ, may I say to you, you will not be able to come to grips with the teachings of Christ and prayer unless you've come to grips with His prayer life.

And when you understand His prayer life, you will discover the immensity of His teachings. But when you discover His teachings as it relates to prayer, you will discover a wonderful thing in New Testament Scripture because there will be eight principles that is coming to the surface.

There will be the opportunity in prayer of what we would call persistence. Shameless persistence as it relates to prayer. You will discover the conviction in prayer. And we refer to that as tenacity in the place of prayer.

We will discover humility as it comes to prayer. Simplicity, intensity, expectancy, unity in prayer. And the last principle is charity as it relates to prayer. And let me explain to you something. Those eight principles that came from the lips of Christ as it relates to prayer, brother and sister, you know what you'll discover.

They are based upon eight words in the Hebrew language that is speaking to us about waiting upon God. So you say, what is it that you want to share with me? I want to share with you something totally different.

You say, what is it? It's the ingredients in developing a personal, private prayer life. Oh, you say, where do you find those? You know where I found those, brother and sister? I found them in what we would consider as the Lord's Prayer within New Testament Scripture.

The Lord's Prayer as a Pattern for Personal Prayer

Now let me make a clarification if you would allow me to do that. When we speak about what you and I would say is the Lord's Prayer, you know what I've discovered? I'm not sure if it's the Lord's Prayer.

You say, why do you say that? I think it's the prayer that Christ taught His disciples. And you know what I've discovered, my brother and my sister? When you and I would study that prayer, I've also discovered that it seems to us that in that prayer, I'm not sure if Christ has given it so that we would just repeat it as a repetition, as we would discover that some people do.

And when they would come, they would just pray simply the Lord's Prayer. I was brought up in a country in Southern Africa where sometimes on a Sunday, most of the Sundays in those days, we would recite the Ten Commandments and the Old Testament.

And often we would pray the Lord's Prayer. And when I began to study New Testament theology, as it relates to prayer, I thought, I don't know if that's really right. You say, why do you say that? You know why I'm saying that to you?

Because the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6 is not the same as the Lord's Prayer in Luke 11. And if Christ simply gave it to us simply to repeat, my brother and my sister, why would He give us those two different concepts of what the Lord's Prayer is about?

You say, what do we discover in it? You know what we discover? The ingredients in developing a personal and a private prayer life. And Christ made a wonderful statement when He said that. This is what He said.

When He made that statement, He said, when you pray, you know what the Greek language says? He said, pray along these lines. A wonderful little statement in the Greek text. He said, houtas ouam. He said, these are the indications of how you can develop a personal prayer life.

And so, I want us to look at just a few of those. You say, what do we discover? We discover the purpose of prayer when Jesus said, you're going to pray to our Father in Heaven. We discover the paternity of God in prayer.

He said, you're going to call Him our Father. We discover the priority of God in prayer when He said, Hallowed be Thy Name. We discover the program of God in prayer when He said, Thy Kingdom come. We discover the plan of God when He said, Thy will be done.

We discover the provision when He said, Give us our daily bread. We discover the pardon when He said, Forgive us our debts. We discover the protection when He said, Lead us not into temptation. But you know one of the most wonderful things that we discover?

We discover the penetration of time. Listen to what Jesus said. He said, when you pray, brother and sister, He didn't say if you're going to pray. He didn't say if you're going to spend time with someone else.

He's speaking to us personally. And He's speaking about this personal cultivation of a life of intercessory prayer. And He said, when you're going to pray. And then you know He spoke about the place. I love this concept of this place, you know.

Because you remember what Jesus said. When He spoke about the place, He made a statement and He said, when you pray, He said, I want you to go into your closet. I love this word, closet. Because in the Greek language, you will discover that there are four words that is speaking to us about the word closet.

And my brother and my sister, when you study those words, you know it's speaking to us this Saturday morning about two possible things. You say, Gerard, what is it saying to us? It is speaking to us about a secret den.

And the meaning of the other word, the other meaning of this word, it's not just speaking to us about a secret den, but it is speaking to us about a storehouse. Let me share with you something. The Gospel of Matthew was predominantly to a degree focused upon Jewish believers.

Matthew's focus was focused upon that. The Gospel of Mark was focused upon Gentiles to a degree. And the Gospel of Luke and of course, the Gospel of John which is subject. But when you and I come to the Gospel of Matthew, He is focusing upon Jews.

Now, brother and sister, when Jesus turned to those early disciples, because this took place in the Sermon on the Mount, when He called His disciples unto Him, and He went and He sat down, and He called them unto Him.

He saw the multitudes of people. He called them and He began to teach them. And in the Beatitudes, He was speaking about imputed righteousness. And now in chapter 6 of Matthew's Gospel, He was speaking about imputed, imparted righteousness.

And He introduced to them. And those Jewish disciples that sat at the feet of Christ, you know what happened? The moment when they heard Jesus spoke about the classic. Dr. A .T. Pearson in one of his classics on the subject of prayer made this observation.

He said, all that those disciples could think about possibly, was the holiest of all in the Old Testament. You say, why was that? You see, brother and sister, the holiest of all in the Old Testament was the place where the high priest was allowed to enter in once a year.

Now listen to what the Scripture says. When the high priest would enter in once a year, the Bible says, and not without blood. And on the great day of the atonement, you remember in the Old Testament, when the high priest who was a man who was physically blameless, he was morally blameless, spiritually speaking, with the understanding of Old Testament justification, he was blameless before God.

And once a year on the great day of the atonement, what did the high priest do? The Bible says, he would go into the holiest of all. And what would he do? He would make reconciliation for the sins of the people of God.

And he would sprinkle the blood. And you remember the high priest in the Old Testament? As he would go into the tabernacle, there was a rope around his waist. Why was that there? It was because if something would happen to him in the holiest of all, as he would sprinkle the blood upon the Ark of the Covenant, as he would sprinkle the blood upon the Mercy Seat, if something would happen to him, they would have been able to drag him out of the holiest of all.

Because of the sacredness of that place. Ah, you sit here this morning, and you say, how does that relate to me? How does that relate to the New Testament? How does this relate to the high priestly prayer of Christ and the holiest of all?

And John 17, when he prayed and he said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify the Son, that the Son may also glorify me. And when he said, Father, I have manifested Your name. How does that relate? Ah, brother and sister, do you remember what happened when He died on the cross?

An amazing thing took place. The Bible says there was an earthquake. The Bible says there was darkness. The Bible says that the grace opened. And then the Bible makes this amazing statement. You say, what is it?

The Bible says that the veil of the temple was rent from the top to the bottom. You say, can you explain to us the dynamics of what was just... Ah, this is what happened, my friends. The veil of the temple.

You say, which veil was it? It was the veil that was between the holy place and the holiest. You say, what was that veil? You know, theologians are saying to us, that veil was about three inches thick.

In fact, they would say, if you would have put two sets of oxen on both sides of it, they would have not been able to tear it apart. But, ah, the moment when Christ cried out that wonderful word in the Greek language, and He said, Tetzalatzai.

Do you remember what happened? The veil was rent, not from the bottom to the top. No, but from the top to the bottom. And the way into the holiest was open. You say, can you explain that to me in a deeper sense?

You know, if you and I go to the epistle to the Hebrews, I don't know this morning if you realize that those three unwritten, three wonderful verses and the epistle to the Hebrews, do you know that those 37 quotations out of the Old Testament, every single one of them is not coming out of the Hebrew understanding of Old Testament Scripture.

My brother and sister, every single one of them is coming from what we would refer to as the Septuagint. That means that the Old Testament was translated into Greek by 70 Jews. And so we have the Greek Old Testament.

And the epistle to the Hebrews. All those quotations is coming out of the Greek translation of the Old Testament. But here the writer to the Hebrews comes to us. And do you know what he did? The first 10 chapters, he's just giving us doctrine.

And in chapter 10, verse 19, he is giving unto us a practical application. Listen to what he said. He said, He said, "...having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest...". How? "...by the blood of Jesus through a new interliving way, which He has consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, His flesh, and having an high priest over the house of God.".

He said, "...let us draw near.". How are we going to draw near? Listen to the writer to the Hebrews. He said, "...let us draw near with a true heart, full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience.".

And he said, "...our bodies washed with pure water.". And the writer to the Hebrews said, He said, "...let us draw near.". Can I ask you this Saturday morning? Have you got a place where you meet alone with God?

Brother and sister, it's sacred, you know. Very, very sacred. You say, What do you mean? Can I be personal on my own in adequate walk with God? It's the place where God comes to break my heart. It's the place where His Word becomes a reality.

It's the place where the Scriptures would come, and they advance upon my soul, and they grab me by the throat, and they would stand in front of me, and I don't have a choice but to walk with God. To allow the greatness of God's Word to become part of my life.

You see what he said? It's a secret den. It's God's Word, you see. It's God the Holy Spirit. It's God ministering to us. It's God revealing Himself to us. Brother and sister, have you got a place like that in your relationship with God?

You say, What is it? We are speaking about intimacy, you know. I mentioned the weekend at their camp about the late Dr. Andrew Murray, who was an amazing, amazing man, and I would encourage you to read his works, because just unbelievable insight and intimacy with God.

More so, I would say, practical theology to more in one sense. But Andrew Murray was in his late years of his life, and he was in the city of Cape Town in South Africa, and he crossed a street with the name of Adelaide Street many, many years ago.

And as he crossed the street, brother and sister, someone recognized him. And people often think, you know, Andrew Murray was just a small little man, and he wasn't much. Andrew Murray was just more than six feet.

He was a tall gentleman, and he had an amazing ministry in South Africa. In fact, they saw revival in an amazing way. And Andrew Murray, they said, he was in his eighties. And he crossed the street in Cape Town, in Adelaide Street with his walking stick, and as he was crossing the street, a gentleman saw him, and he recognized him.

He said, that's Andrew Murray. And as he looked at him, and he was a man that, you know, just demanded an explanation, just the way that he walked. You know, Enoch walked with God. It's the Hebrew word, halakha, in the Old Testament.

And as he crossed the street, he stopped in the middle of the street. Obviously, there was no traffic. He stopped in the middle of the street with his walking stick. And they said, he stood there for some time, and he was just standing.

And this gentleman who recognized that this was Andrew Murray, he watched him, and he looked at him, and he thought, why did he pause in the middle of the street? And he gently followed Andrew Murray.

And as they came to the other side of the street, there was a moment when he came close to Andrew Murray, and he put his hand upon his shoulder. And the saintly Andrew Murray turned around, and he looked at him, and he said, he said, can I help you?

And the gentleman turned to him and said, are you Dr. Andrew Murray? And Murray said, yes. He said, I have a question. He said, as you crossed that street, why did you stop in the middle of the street?

Why did you pause there? And the saintly Andrew Murray turned around, and he looked at him, and he said to him, my brother, as I crossed that street, there was a moment when I lost contact with God. And he said, I stopped, because I want that contact with God to be restored again.

Sounds mystical, doesn't it? Not in those days, you know. People walk with God. Andrew Murray was speaking, he was in Wellington. I had the joy of speaking in some of those churches, you know. And in the will of God, this year in August, I will have the privilege to be in the church in Worcester, where Andrew Murray was.

He was speaking, you know, right in the midst of the revival, on a Sunday morning in the church where he was in, in Worcester that I'm talking about. And they were in the midst of revival. God was working in that country in those early days.

And do you know what happened? Andrew Murray, if you know anything about the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa, people on a Sunday morning, you know, the deacons and the elders, they would be all dressed in black and white shirts and white ties in those days.

Most of them didn't know Christ, if I may say that. But that's the way they were dressed, I mean. But you know what happened? Then the minister would come out on a Sunday morning, and then all the deacons and the elders would follow them in those churches.

And as they were following, the minister, the pulpits are quite high up, and the minister would come out, and he would take the first step as he would ascend into the pulpit. And as he would ascend into, he would have his Bible and his notebooks.

And then in that country, he would stop, he would pause as he gave the first step, and then he would pray. And that's what he would do. And then quite often the congregation would rise. But you know Andrew Murray, oh, he was such a godly man.

And one Sunday morning in the midst of the revival, he came out of the vestry, and as he was coming out of the vestry, and he gave that first step as they ascended into the pulpit, and he paused to pray just quietly.

You know what happened? They told us that there was a hush of the presence of God that fell upon the church. And people just became conscious of God. Because of this man, you know, that was so deeply intoxicated with the life of Christ.

And he stood there and he just prayed. And people were just standing. And when this hush was upon the scattering, and the presence of God was so real. Do you know what happened, brethren and sisters? I was told that there was a mother and a nine-year-old little girl that was standing to the right of this church booster.

And as she was standing there, and they were just taken up by the greatness of God. Not Murray, but the greatness of God in this man. And as they were standing there, this little girl was so affected by Andrew Murray and his life.

And her mother just stood there quietly. And as they were standing there, she began to pull on the dress of her mother. And she pulled, and she pulled, and she kept pulling. And her mother eventually didn't want to be disturbed.

And then she bent down and she just whispered and she said, What is that? What is it? What is it? And the little girl said to her mommy, Mommy, is that the Lord Jesus Christ? It wasn't. It wasn't. But you know what?

He walked with her. Do you know the secret place this morning? Your relationship with God. I want to be absolutely honest with you. And I want you to see into the depths of my life. Brother and sister, you never get to the place where you understand prayer.

I've been at this thing for 35 years. Can I be honest with you? I don't know a thing about it. But I want to be honest with you this morning. This place, it's not a God. But it's a place of God's revelation.

You say, why? Jesus had a place like this. You say, why do you say that? You go to the 50th chapter of the prophecy of Isaiah. And I wish I could read it to you in the Hebrew text. Because you know what it says?

He said, morning after morning, he was awakened. And the prophet Isaiah was speaking about the Messiah. And he said, morning after morning, he was awakened. Why was he awakened? He was awakened to listen.

Listen to the gospel of Mark. I love his statement. Early in the morning, deep in the night, what happened to Christ? He went into a secret place and there he prayed. You know what Dr. Campbell Morgan said?

He said, it can be translated. Many times early in the morning. Many times deep in the night. Many times he went into a secret place. And many times he prayed. Our time is gone. Let me close. You know, our little family out there in Western Canada, Janice and Monica and myself, I've got a few prayer cards left if you want to pray for us.

And we would love to give you one. And people say, oh, I put it in my fridge. And I say, okay, as long as you don't put it in the freezer. But if you pray for missionaries, we want you to pray for us.