Standing in the Gap for a Lost World by K P Yohannan — K.P. Yohannan

What a tremendous privilege and opportunity for us to gather like this. So as we go into this time of prayer, you know, for next six hours or something like that, I'd like to share just a few thoughts, hoping this will be an encouragement for our time of prayer, basically as a reason for it.

Standing in the Gap Before God

This scripture was from the Old Testament, in the book of Ezekiel, chapter 22, verse 30, one of my favorite Bible words, it goes like this. I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none.

So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fury anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the sovereign Lord. There are some scripture portions that confuses me and I'm sure it confuses you.

If God, who simply spoke words and all that is seen and unseen, millions of stars and galaxies, all seen and unseen, came to existence and is almighty, what on earth is going on when we read words like this and then says, I say to the wicked that he will die in his sins or in her sins and you being my representative, you don't do nothing about it and they'll die and they perish, their blood will be on your hand.

And prayer often is seen as a necessary evil, you know, like statements here, well, finally, you know, we had to pray about it, you know, kind of thing, like we have done everything else and now we have to come to the place what to do and we just pray, you know, it kind of, that's not what normally we think about as our primary thinking about follower of Christ or doing God's will.

An old English bishop said this statement, when I pray, things happen. When I don't pray, they don't. I'm glad I don't know his name, he's a bishop. We as followers of Christ, for the sake of time, I will try to be more concise without explaining a lot of things.

Prayer and the Church’s Spiritual Authority

We as followers of Christ hold the balance of power in the world. We might seem to be minority and helpless and weak, but with God, we can and we must influence the destiny of multiplied millions and nations.

God has chosen, this is a mystery, that his people will become co-laborers with him in order to execute his plan and purposes here on earth. And I think Paul Bilheimer, more than anybody else in his book, Destined for the Throne, in his thesis explains that.

That is, the entire reason for the creation, all that you can imagine or comprehend, had a one single purpose, to find a bride for his son. And so we see in the scripture, the lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world.

For God, time and space has no meaning as it is to us. So ultimately, the goal, the 13 and books of the Old Testament talks about one thing, the Messiah who is to come. And the four Gospels talks about how it happened.

And Book of Acts talks about the beginning of the incredible plan of God unfolding. And then we ask the question, well, what will happen to the saints of Old Testament, Abraham and Isaac and all Job and all these people?

Well, we are told they looked forward to the lamb. That would be sacrifice. And we look backward. But the focal point, everything, is the cross. And the bride of Christ must reign with the Lord. And we are called to be reigning with him.

And if that be the case, he says, Paul Wilhimer, on earth while we are living here, he has chosen, he bound himself, limited himself with the delegated authority given to the church, given to his body, put all things under his feet, which actually his church.

To reign with him, to bring about his plan and purposes. In the Old Testament, we see the same thing, New Testament, the same thing. So it's a mystery to me that God says, this is my plan, this is my purpose, but I want you to exercise the authority that is given to you.

And the means to do that is prayer. You know, I often get confused when I do the radio broadcast. Here I am sitting in the studio and taping the program. And of course, you know, and that will be aired maybe 60 days from the time I'm taping it.

Prayer’s Miraculous Reach Through Radio Ministry

And I'm praying, continue, Lord, give me your sense what I'm supposed to talk about this. And sometimes I say most weird things, weird, not in a bad sense. Like, my friend, you are on the way to commit suicide and you got drugs in your pocket.

And this is the last day and you are saying goodbye to your friends and on the way to kill yourself. But let me tell you, the answer is not suicide for your problems. Jesus is your answer. Would you do this?

And then I quote Bible verses. Then I say, if you will, would you pray with me this prayer? Then I lead, you know, a few sentences of prayer. And I have no clue about anything else other than I'm just talking.

And I'm not a mystic, nor I'm, you know, a weird person looking for flashing lights. And I mean, I'm just, you know, hamburger and french fries, normal human being. But then the letter would come saying.

I was in the tea shop getting my morning cup of tea. But I was on the way to kill myself and I had poison in my pocket. And this was the last day of my life. But while sitting in the tea shop, I heard you say this thing.

It's like you are talking to me. And I fell on my knees right in the tea shop on the floor, crying out to Jesus. And I gave my life to Christ. And then he writes this letter. And of course, you know, that particular story, by the way, I got the letter and read it.

And we forward that to a missionary on the field to contact him. And then this man ended up in our Bible school, got trained, and he's still working with us. Really is true. But here's the thing. What was the magic, if you call it magic?

It was not whatever I did. It was simple, a three or four sentence prayer. That he would pray. And the words, how do you explain something like that? And we know prayer, as we look to the scripture, divided the sea and water from the rock and, you know, you know, the sun and moon and stars would stop.

And we know that that raised and all the unbelievable things that is spooky things. But it all happened as an answer to prayer. And Elijah, it says he was a weak human being like us. When you talk about Elijah, the explanation there in the text is basically was, you know, just a normal human being getting discouraged and say, I want to die and I don't want to live.

I'm not spiritual enough. You know what I'm supposed to. I mean, basically, it says he was just like us. But a simple prayer. Change the course of the nation. It was not Elijah, but the God that heard his prayer.

Prayer as a Privilege and a Burden for the Nations

So as the body of Christ, when we think about our call, we need to understand prayer is not a burden. It is not a necessary evil. It is not. Oh, my goodness. What a what a headache. No, it is our awesome privilege to change.

Our world and the world through us, the best God approved prayer comes from a strong inward necessity, a burden. It is not casual. It is not. Yeah, I don't know, but it's an engaging it is, I mean, I have this, you know, bug, no, I mean, car, my 1962 Volkswagen bug, and it's not automatic, it only automatic when I put the gear in, but there's a neutral zone and I can I can, you know, put my, you know, pedal down and it roars if you don't believe me, come out.

After prime meeting, I'll show you. But unless I put the clutch down and put it in first gear or second gear, third gear, fourth gear, it just stays a roars and roars and roars. But when you engage the gear, all of a sudden, boom, it goes 120 miles per hour.

No, I wouldn't try that. But here's the thing. We are called to engage our mind, our thinking, love God with your mind, all your mind, all your heart. When we pray, we must understand it is like turning a switch on.

You know, I make this illustration, Bombay City, I mean, India, 17, 18 million people live in the city and somewhere there is a guy who can turn the switch on and off. And when you turn the switch on, the entire city lights up, so it is Dallas, Los Angeles or anywhere.

The thing is that one little switch, whatever that is, you turn it on, all of a sudden, 17, 18 million people, homes and factories and business, streetlights and airports, everybody got light. Prayer is like that.

It is not a small matter. When we pray, amazing things happens. One of our leaders' meetings, they began to give a report about some 35, 36 churches planted on some islands. And first time I was hearing that.

And I was so curious about how that was all about. So I asked the leader in Calcutta, this is all new to me. Oh, he said, oh, we've been praying for the Lord to guide us about starting the work on these islands where there's no church at all exists.

And after one year of prayer, they had a clear direction and a sense from God they should send workers to these islands. And within a year, they had all these islands reached and churches planted. And some of you sitting here, you had the privilege to go and visit some of these islands.

And still I'm waiting for the chance to do that. But when you look at that, I mean, humanly speaking, you cannot explain how something like that could happen. It's not money, it's not schemes and plans and blueprints.

No, it had to do with the simple fact that the exercise, this one mighty weapon God gave to change the world, that is prayer. And the sad thing about prayer meetings, whether church or wherever it is, usually it is we just pray because there's a prayer meeting.

And we live in the neutral zone. And sometimes we don't realize this. I mean, I say this often. Have you noticed this when you're praying with someone and that person praying on and on? All of a sudden, your mind travels to, you know, a refrigerator or, you know, some place you're dreaming about going for dinner or the catalog that you've been looking at.

And your mind, and then you've been agonizing over all kinds of things about decisions. All of a sudden, your mind is fully alert. You are processing information like, you know, a computer. And you are fully engaged.

And just as your partner ends the prayer, he says, in the name of Jesus, I pray. All of a sudden, your mind comes back. Have you ever noticed that? If you're asking me the question, more often than you want to know.

Jesus’ All-Night Prayer and the Calling of the Disciples

I ask the question, what happened? When the weakest saint kneels and pray, Lucifer and the demons tremble. If God, the creator of the universe, now come into earth for him to accomplish his purposes on earth, having committed himself to do the will of his father, sinless, perfect son of God.

I cannot figure this out. Why he must pray all night long before going and recruiting 12 people or 10 people to do the work. He simply could go to the best biblical seminary and find the smartest, the most able people to do the work.

I mean, the simple logic, two plus two is four. I imagine, right? But he prays all night long and he goes and look for some of these disciples. Where? In the wrong place. He didn't go to the seminary.

He goes to the seashore to find a bunch of people who just don't make sense about anything. Including Peter, who would use every other word he used would be a curse word. But the mystery unfolds in John 17 when Jesus says in his prayer, Father, these that you have given me, I didn't do it.

And the result of him seeking his father's face told him to do something that was quite illogical and kind of don't make sense. But then Thomas, one of those people that he picked, came to India in 1852 and preached the gospel.

2 ,000 years ago and I'm here to tell you he did it and I'm here because of him. And that all began with one thing. Jesus simply saying, Father, what is it you want me to do? And tonight, as we spend this time in prayer, I just somehow want to ask you to think about this.

Prayer as the Shortest Route to God’s Purposes

I can ride my bicycle. I do have one to New York. I don't know how long it takes. Yeah. Or I can go to the airport and catch one of those jets. Two hours or so. Two and a half hours, I land in New York.

Or, you know, I can walk to New York. It takes a little longer. Or I can catch a flight. Please listen. The shortest route to get things done, it is talking to God. It is not by might, not by power, but by His Spirit, says the Lord.

Last few days have been one of those brief seasons in my personal life that I've been agonizing over a lot of things. Not because of any personal sin or crisis I'm going through in my personal life, but talking about the work of God.

What's going on in different places, and decisions have to be made, and all those things. Yesterday was an interesting day in my life, and this morning. I was up quite early, not because four o 'clock in the morning I woke up for prayer.

No, jet lag. I just came back, so it wakes me up, by the way. I didn't want you to think that, oh my goodness, this guy wakes up at three in the morning to pray. It's not that way. So I said, Lord, my brain's fused.

I don't know what to do. There's so many things going on. I just somehow want to hear from you. And I started praying over the things that I've been dealing with. I've been working on these problems and difficulties, telephone calls, this and that, all those things, and agonizing over it.

And I decided, you know, this is really dumb. After 44 years of serving God, I'm still having to learn this lesson. So I looked at my sheet and started talking about all these things to God in prayer.

And I said, okay, now I need to figure out what is He saying. And I sat there on the floor like normally. I didn't know, you know, here people who sit on the floor are more spiritual, I imagine. You know, the amazing thing, all of a sudden, there was a sense of absolute peace.

And a sense, two things, the Lord kind of said, you know, why did you have to waste all this time? Getting discouraged and bothered and burning your brains out, trying to figure out all the calls He makes and all these things.

The fact that I can't do anything unless you make some decisions and you engage with me. And the way to do that is just what you did. It may not make sense to you what I'm saying because I can't tell all the stories behind it.

But what happened is that as a result of that particular journey of mine in the last two days, there was absolutely a release of confidence and a sense God is doing. And you know what happened? I make the same telephone calls to the same kind of people and all of a sudden everything changed.

And I said, how did that happen? And I say, you are dumb. Don't you understand? Prayer is the mightiest weapon to change situations and believe God. And I talk about it all the time, but I must learn.

Asking God in Faith and Praying with Joy

Let me quickly run through this and say this before our time runs out. Prayer moves God to do things that He would not otherwise. You do not have because you do not ask. James chapter 4 verse 2, chapter 5 verse 16.

Let us embrace this truth. We can pray and ask God for things that we know that are explicitly His will. Ask for the nations. I will give them to you. Talk about this 50 million people that need to know God, need to know the Lord.

You talk to me about it and they'll be yours. And the resources, whatever is happening. And believe me. And He says, I will do it. Prayer should be joy for us. Philippians chapter 1 verse 4. Making requests for all with joy.

You know, there are people that you don't want to talk to. Their demeanor, their spirit, their behavior, their attitude is melancholy, down and angry. And you try to avoid those kind of people. But then you gravitate toward people who smile and there's a sense of peace.

It is like fragrance. Even though you have nothing to do with them, you try to wander into their office. And you take this extra walk just to make sure at least you can see them. Have you experienced things like that?

God is not angry and upset and hateful waiting to destroy us. He's a loving Father who says, all the thoughts I have toward you, it is all for good. Even when He allows some bad things happen because of our choices, still, He has angels to watch over us so that we'll be protected until we go through the mess and come back and say, Father, I'm back home.

And we must believe strong in our hearts that it's a joyful thing. We can walk into the presence of God and talk to Him. He's not angry. It should be a joy. And prayer, you know, in the booklet I wrote, basically it's a conversation.

Prayer as Conversation Rather Than Human Effort

You know, my best prayer time is usually in the shower, bathroom, and driving my bug. I say things like, Lord, I don't know what to tell you. This is really a dumb situation. And I wish you'd do something about it.

And then I stop. And He says, you're off the wall. Prayer makes it easier for us to live through the difficulties and struggles and problems. And it's been, as I said, over four decades in my journey of serving God.

And if I have regrets in my life, there are a few. And those are regrets that I use my logic and my brain, my abilities, and my understanding to do things for God. And I got things done. But the result was not very good.

And Abraham, God promised a son. Our children. But he had to figure this out, how to do it. Then in the end, consulting with his wife, he got a son. Named him Ishmael. And then he come back to God and said, God, I have a request.

Would you please bless my son? And God responds in my simple language, Abraham. He can stand there and pray for another thousand years. I couldn't do anything about it. The reason is, this is the product of your flesh.

And then you'll find an old man, 100 years old. God says, be circumcised. Not a cool thing to do. And then he get the son of promise, Isaac. In the book of Philippians chapter 3, we read Paul says, we are the true circumcision that do not place any confidence in the flesh.

So what is prayer? Prayer is simply saying, God, this is beyond our ability to imagine, think or handle. We just don't know how. But would you please do about it? Something about it. Over the years of our life, like what Gospel of Asia, our ministry, what we have seen God do.

I really don't have any explanation. And I shouldn't have an explanation. It's simply being one journey of faith by talking to God. Regrets, a few. At times I made my decisions based on logic and reason.

Faith, Prayer, and Dependence on God

But prayer is simply stepping away from trying to figure things out. And saying, God, this is what we are dealing with. We prayed for Bhutan. Praying for Albania. I remember certain people groups in different places.

There's no way to try to figure this out, how to do it. But then to see God answer prayer. It made much easier. So tonight as we go to the Lord in prayer, a couple of things. One, if you are dealing with something in your personal life, your family, your children, whatever.

I would say, have a conversation, talk to God. Don't stop, keep talking, keep on talking about it. And you'll be surprised how God will answer prayer in his own way. And it will be a major surprise. Then, as the body of Christ tonight, as we engage in prayer tonight, I want you to know.

God will answer. And we are talking about some mission fields with a possibility of 10, 15 million people coming into the kingdom. Maybe in the next 3, 4 years. And we think about how it's going to happen.

And I'm telling you, I'm in a place somehow now beginning to realize that I do not know how, but I know who can do it. And I will keep talking to him. And he will do it. And this is going to be the only way.

Standing in the Gap Through Corporate Prayer

So tonight, welcome to this exciting evening. And remember my Volkswagen bug. Don't stay in the neutral zone. Don't let demons rob your mind to travel all over the world trying to figure out your problems.

Don't. Come back and engage. Think about what you are praying and believe God. And as we pray together, I can assure you something unbelievable will happen as you have seen over these years. Let's pray.

And Lord, we want to thank you for this evening. And I want to thank you especially for my brothers and sisters that are here in this prayer meeting. But then Lord, those who are with us from many, many nations and all over this nation.

And pray Lord, somehow you will draw us close to you tonight and help us to recognize that, Lord, this is an awesome privilege you gave us to stand in the gap on the behalf of people, nations, needs. And Lord, we know we cannot make anything happen.

But oh God, you invite us to cooperate with you. To be yours for you to do your work through our feeble lives. We can't figure all these things out, Lord, but we know that as we pray, impossible things will happen.

And we don't want to figure this out, Lord. You are God. And thank you for the privilege tonight that you gave us to walk into your presence and then talk to you about all these matters. And I pray that you will encourage our hearts and strengthen us and give us faith to believe.

And thank you. And I pray that our lives be blessed and strengthened by your grace. In the name of Jesus our Lord we pray. Amen.