Spirit Filled, Word Centered Praying — Bill McLeod

Peter and John Face Threats and Pray for Boldness

Here was Peter and John being threatened by the high priests. They'd brought a great miracle rather God brought a great miracle to them and they were being threatened and so we read in verse 21 acts 4.

So when they had further threatened them they let them go finding nothing how they might punish them because of the people. For all men glorified God for that which was done. For the man was above 40 years old on whom this miracle of healing was shown.

And being let go they went to their own company and reported all of the chief priests and elders had said unto them. And when they heard that they lifted up their voice to God with one accord and said Lord thou art God which has made heaven and earth and the sea and all that in them is who by the mouth of your servant David has said why did the heathen rage and the people imagine vain things.

The kings of the earth stood up and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus whom thou hast anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together for to do whatever your hand and your counsel determined before to be done and now Lord behold their threatenings and grant unto your servants that with all boldness they may speak thy word by stretching forth your hand to heal.

And the signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus. And when they had prayed the place was shaken where they were assembled together they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they spoke the word of God with boldness.

And the multitude of them that believe were of one heart and one soul. Neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own but they had all things common and with great power.

The Apostles gave witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace was upon them all. I'm very happy to be here for these few days to share from the Word of God with you. My wife will be arriving a little later today and staying until next week so we're very happy.

This was a little unexpected and I know she's going to enjoy it and we'll enjoy having her here as well. Glad to have my son Tim here working with Emmanuel Mission International living near Markham and a daughter of mine Lois Churchill.

She married Winston Churchill from Winnipeg. They're serving the Lord in the Philippines with the Wycliffe Bible translators but their home on furlough. And they happen to be here. So some of our family and it's good to meet people we've met before and known and loved and prayed for perhaps even for years.

Word-Centered and Spirit-Controlled Praying

I want to speak on the subject of word centered and spirit-controlled pray. Word centered and spirit-controlled pray. And perhaps before I get into that should I could I just say this. Be sure that you pray for everyone who's ministering each day whether they're ministering in song and word testimonies or whatever.

As the brochure outlines the program make sure you spend time take time every day because we don't have any power apart from God and the Spirit of God is supplied through the prayer of God's children.

So the Bible tells me and we depend entirely on you and so let's do it together. You pray. We'll pray and God will certainly bless. Word centered praying what is that. There are approximately 400 prayers in the Bible and there are 1500 references including the 400 references to prayer all together.

It's interesting in view of the fact there are 400 prayers that the word faith and the word trust occur about 400 times. It's as if God is saying to us when you pray then you must believe. Now faith is believing the promises of God and there are 7 ,487 promises in the Bible now they don't all of course apply to us but thousands of them do and we need to know them.

Because faith is believing the promises of God and prayer is pleading the promises of God back to God. And it's important that we understand this. And as believers in Jesus Christ we ought to know hundreds all the promises of God.

There are promises in the word of God that will cover any emergency trial tribulation you'll ever be called on to face or undergo. God has an answer for his people in his word. Word centered praying what is it.

David and Solomon Plead God's Promises

Let's try and illustrate it from some places in the word of God David Nathan the prophet was sent to David because David had decided to build a temple and God did not want him to build a temple. And so God sent Nathan to talk to David to explain to him he was not to build a temple.

His son would do that. But God gave David to the prophet Nathan a total of 10 different promises things God said I'm going to do for you. How to David handle it. When Nathan was through David got up walked into the temple of God sat down before the Lord it says.

And he said many things. But he said this he said do as thou hast said do what you said. These promises you gave me now God I expect you to do them. He's praying and he's pleading the promises back to God.

His son Solomon years later prayed at the dedication of the temple. And if you've ever studied his prayer you'll be aware of the fact that more than once he reminded God of the promises that he had made to David his son that is Solomon's father.

He reminded God of that in his prayer. So both David and Solomon were pleading their promises back to God. They were reminding God of what he said. If I were to take a text I suppose it would be those words of David.

Do as thou has said. It's as simple as that it's impossible to exercise faith. Perhaps I should qualify that a little bit but it's almost impossible to exercise faith if I'm not aware of some promise that God has given covering directly or indirectly the thing for which I am asking God do as thou has said.

And of course God did. Daniel prayed a great prayer in the ninth chapter of his book. And you know what sparked that prayer of his. He was reading the book of Jeremiah. And as he was reading the book of Jeremiah he saw that the 70 years of captivity that Jeremiah had spoken about had just about run out and it got in his face before God and he began to pray it to in my opinion was word centered praying because it came it was the result of his studying the book of Jeremiah.

And I know for myself many times after studying the Word of God sometimes in the middle of a chapter I have to stop and begin to pray. Perhaps begin to praise God perhaps begin to intercede for others.

But the Word of God moves me constantly to pray. To pray to supplicate God. And so then prayer that comes this way out of the Word of God is certainly word centered praying. The church in Acts chapter 4 analyzed their prayer.

Their prayer is largely a quotation of the second Psalm there reminding God of what he said in the second Psalm it was word centered praying. And I think when we talk to God we don't have to always be quoting Bible verses.

But I think it's an excellent way to talk to God just to remind him of what he said. Not that God ever forgets but he seems to love to hear his people pray. And he loves to hear us remind him of what he has said the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 6 in what we call the Lord's Prayer he was quoting in part from 1st Chronicles 29 and verse 11 thine is the kingdom that's from 1st Chronicles 29 11.

And the glory and the power that's in 1st Chronicles 29 11 Jesus the Apostle Paul in 1st Timothy chapter 2 I exhort therefore that first of all supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men for kings and for all that are in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life and all godliness and honesty.

For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. I want you to notice the word therefore I exhort therefore which puts you back into chapter 1 because his appeal for God's children to pray is based on something he's already said in chapter 1.

And what do we find in chapter 1 we find him talking about the law the Old Testament and the gospel the New Testament. And he says the law is good if a man use it lawfully knowing that the law is not made for a lawless person for a lawless man but for the law.

For a lawful man but for a righteous man but for the lawless and disobedient. So the law is good in that it performs a certain function. It makes me aware of the fact I am a sinner and it tells me that because of my sin I am lost.

So in that sense it's good. But he says the gospel is glorious. Did you notice that the glorious gospel of the blessed God. Because by that gospel I'm saved. So when Paul says therefore he's referring back to the fact men are lost therefore pray men may be saved.

Therefore pray supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thanks he says make them for all men for kings all those in authority. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

Praying for Self-Examination and Holiness

Word centered pray. Have you ever prayed that prayer. In Psalm 139. He must be a dull clod of a Christian who has not prayed that prayer. I suppose for myself I prayed in many many times a hundred times maybe more than that.

Search me. Oh God. I know my heart. Try me. I know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the eternal search me. Oh God. Or the Apostle Paul of the earth part me. David. In the Psalms he said judge me examine me prove me try me.

On the short compass of a couple of verses. Ever prayed that prayer. I pray to God. Judge me examine me prove me try me. Search me. And God after all is the the only one that knows the hearts of the children of men and all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

He's a master psychiatrist the wonderful counselor and he knows how to communicate with us. You know sometimes Christians don't really believe that they'll tell me I prayed for three years. God hasn't shown me anything.

I don't believe it. Either they're lying or God is. And it can't be God because the scripture says God cannot lie. Here's an interesting fact from Job 36. It says God never takes his eyes off the righteous.

But with kings are they on the throne. It says yes. He establishes them forever and they are exalted. And then comes in it if they be bound in fetters and held in cords of affliction. Then listen carefully.

He shows them their work and their transgressions that they have exceeded and he opens your ear to discipline and he commands that they return from iniquity. Oh yes. God can communicate. God does communicate.

But in so much of the time I'm not listening. I don't really want him to tell me what the problems really are. Search me. Oh God when you pray a prayer like that you have to give God the key to every room in your heart.

You can't say God. You can go back three years but you can't go back six years because six years back there's a skeleton hanging in the closet never been dealt with. You can't tell God that he won't search at all unless he can search it all.

Then what is my response after God has searched my heart and show me my sins my failures and so on here again we can do it in the language of Scripture. Hosea chapter 14 says take with you words and turn to the Lord.

Say unto him take away all iniquity and receive us graciously. So will we render the calves of our lips. We're not going out for animals and altars for our sin but the fruit of our lips confessing to his name.

So take words and turn to the Lord and ask God to take away all iniquity and receive you graciously and he'll do that in grace. God is rich in mercy for his great law wherewith he loved us. Word centered praying.

Praying for Guidance and Protection from Evil

Do you ever pray this prayer. Order my steps in thy word and do not allow any iniquity to have dominion over me. I pray that every morning when I awaken I give the day to God and I ask God to order my steps in his word for this one day and to not allow any iniquity to have dominion over me.

It's a tremendous prayer and I'm sure if we pray it from our hearts and mean it with all our being God will take care of it. Oh send out thy light and thy truth. Let them lead me because Satan is there to deceive me and lead me astray and I want God to lead me as the Bible says here again another prayer lead me in a plain path because of my enemies cause me to know the way when I should walk for I lift up my soul unto thee.

Beautiful prayers reaching right into my heart so I pray for God to search me. I confess my sin that I pray for God to keep me from sin keep me from evil that it may not grieve me. 1st Chronicles 4 verse 10.

Jabez all that thou wouldest bless me indeed and enlarge my coast that your hand might be with me and that you would keep me from evil that it may not grieve me and God granted him that which he requested.

And surely dear people if God did that for Jabez before Jesus Christ was born or the Bible was written before Pentecost before the Spirit come surely surely he'll do it for us today if we pray the same prayer why not the same prayer all that thou wouldest bless me indeed and enlarge my coast that your hand might be with me that you keep me from evil that it may not grieve me and God granted him that which he requested.

Can you improve on a prayer like that. I can't. I can't bless the Lord oh my soul and all that is within me bless his holy name. I can't find better words than that I thought for a thousand years can you.

I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. I don't know how to improve on that either abounding therein with thanksgiving. Paul said I went to learn how to do that.

And the Bible gives the world's. It's all there just waiting for us. Word centered praying. Dear people we need to read our Bibles. I once went through the Bible and I did my own cross references. I was kind of a chain reference right through the Bible on the subject of the Holy Spirit.

And then I decided to do the same thing regarding prayer. I didn't know what I was getting myself into. There's about 350 references to the Holy Spirit but there's 1 ,500 references to prayer. And I had an enormous task but I stayed with it.

I stayed with it and I learned so much about prayer. And these beautiful prayers God has given us from other people's lips perhaps but now inspired of God in his word. And he loves to hear us as I said before take his word and bring it back to him.

The Spirit Helps Us Pray in Our Weakness

Now we've had some examples from the Bible the Lord Jesus Christ himself the Church of Jerusalem the Apostle Paul basing an appeal to prayer on the law and the gospel. I would like to take a few moments now and talk about spirit-controlled praying.

Because that's just as important as the other is and perhaps even more important in some respects spirit-controlled praying. And here's where we begin. We begin with a statement in the Bible we are but of yesterday and know nothing.

Do you agree with that. Or do you find it hard to agree with that. It says we know nothing. It also says in the New Testament if a man thinks he knows something he knows nothing yet as he ought to know.

Knowledge puffs up but love builds up. Which do we have now. There's a thought it's a prayer really in the book of Job and it says teach us what we shall say unto him. For we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness.

Our minds are dark our hearts are dark. Thank God for the light God has put there. But we haven't reached perfection yet. We cannot order our speech unto him by reason of darkness. I wonder did Paul have that in mind when he wrote what he wrote in Romans chapter 8.

We know not what we should pray for as we are to me. That's the starting point of all prayer that I don't know how to pray. I don't know for what to pray. I don't even know when to pray. I don't know how long to pray.

But the Spirit he says helps our infirmities our weakness in this area. The Spirit of God comes and he helps us. He makes intercession for us with inarticulate groanings. One translation says with groanings that cannot be uttered.

The Spirit comes. He knows what the needs are. The field is the world. He knows what what how to lead us in prayer. He knows how to communicate with us in our inner heart and shows how to pray. That's where it starts.

I mentioned before there's 400 prayers in the Bible. There's over a hundred places in the Bible where God refused to answer prayer. Now I didn't know that till I made that particular study I mentioned a few moments ago.

I knew there were some places I had no idea there were so many. But in every case the fault was on man's side not on God's side. Sometimes we pray just because we feel we should pray. There's no heart in it no intelligence behind it and no answer from heaven.

But surely think of this. If the prayers I pray I get from the Holy Spirit. Since those prayers began in heaven they are positively sure to end there. And you can know that God will answer the prayers.

He has inspired his people to pray. That's why it says wait on the Lord be silent all flesh before the Lord but all the earth keep silence before him. Because God wants to speak. And God wants to speak to my heart.

And God wants to show me how to pray. I'm weakened almost every night 2 o 'clock 3 o 'clock 4 o 'clock just to pray. I don't always get out of bed. Sometimes I sit on the bed. Sometimes I sit in a chair I might kneel.

And the first thing I do is wait for God to show me what he has in mind. I'm reminded here of Amy Carmichael a famous missionary to India. She was bedridden for 20 years after falling into a pit that workmen had left unguarded.

And she was too lying in her bed. She smooth the blankets towards the foot of her bed and she said now Lord come and sit here. I want to talk to you for a while. The Lord was that real to her. We don't want to be guilty of yawning our way through our prayers.

Our prayer time should be the most significant time of all our experience in our walk with God. Speak Lord your servants listening. And he'll speak. And I speak and I praise him. I tell him I love him.

And the time flies by. It's beautiful to let the spirit take care of my infirmities my darkness my weakness. If you're honest you'll have to admit there's many times when you just don't feel like praying at all.

I feel the same. Sometimes I don't feel like praying at all. Sometimes I don't even feel like preaching. But I have to do it. And I trust God to be with me whether preaching or praying or whatever he's in and he knows what he's doing even if I don't spirit-controlled praying.

The Upright Prayer as God's Delight

Now my prayers may be according to the book of Proverbs an abomination or delight. And here's what it says. The prayer of the upright is his delight. I was thinking about that some weeks ago. I was thinking to myself.

How could the prayer of a mere mortal like myself be delight to God. I mean how can that be when you think of the immensity of God. How God be delighted when I rattle off my prayers. The prayer of the upright is his delight.

Now keep that in mind because in Psalm 143 verses 8 and 10 there's a prayer we need to pray. It says cause me to know the way where and I should walk. For I lift up my soul unto thee. And then it says teach me to do thy will for thou art my God thy spirit is good.

Lead me into the land of uprightness uprightness. Ask God by the Holy Spirit to lead you into the land of uprightness where you become an upright person living for the glory of God not living hypocritically not trying to deceive people or God but living uprightly.

And the prayer of the upright is his delight. And then it says he that turns away his ear from hearing the law that is the Word of God. Even his prayer should be abomination if I am guilty of turning my back on the will of God the Word of God.

When I get down to pray God says my prayer to him is an abomination because I have no real concern to live for the glory of God. I'm doing my thing. I'm praying. Christians are supposed to pray after all.

But I'm not praying in the spirit as I'm structed to pray in the Word of God. I'm not doing that. I'm just saying my prayers. I heard of something utterly ridiculous that actually happened in a church.

An airplane crashed in the area. A lot of people were killed. So Sunday morning the pastor in this church remind the congregation what had happened and said I think we should have prayer for the bereaved families and the survivors and so on without warning.

He called in a man in the congregation to lead in prayer and he caught the fellow off guard and the fellow got to his feet and his prayer went like this dear God. You know that plane crash. You know that plane crash over in county in county in county.

Hey God didn't you read the newspaper. He actually prayed that way. But you know sometimes we wouldn't pray that in that ridiculous away. But you know sometimes at least anytime that I'm not waiting for the spirit to agitate my heart.

I'm sort of praying the same as he prayed. The prayer of the upright is God's delight. You know I like what I read or referred to before. But David going in and sitting it says before the Lord isn't that beautiful.

He sat before the Lord. You can sit down anywhere know that the Lord is there. In him we live and move and have our being. There was a time but it was many many years ago when I used to say all the Lord is a thousand miles away.

Tonight I know a lot better now because in him we live and move and have our being. Like Paul said to a bunch of heathen at Mars Hill. God is not far from every one of us. Day or night when I awake I'm still with thee.

You're lying in your bed in the presence of God. You sitting on a chair in the presence of God. You're driving your car in the presence of God. So you can talk to God any time of the day or the night and know that God is listening.

But he wants us to learn the lesson of spirit controlled praying. So the starting point I don't know what to pray for as I all but the spirit knows how I should be. So then I wait on God to burn in my heart.

Spirit-Led Intercession for the Nations

Sometimes this purchase leads me to praise God not to ask for anything at all. Other times I have a tremendous burden for countries like Turkey. 50 million people less than a hundred believers crushes my spirit that pray for Turkey or Saudi Arabia.

There are really no known believers in Saudi Arabia. There are some expatriates who've come into work from outside who are believers. I pray for Saudi Arabia. South Yemen North Yemen. Maldives. 500 ,000 people in Maldives little island group off the coast of India.

Not one believer in the whole country not even one. And I find myself praying for places like this. I've waken sometimes in the middle of the night and pray two hours for China and wept before God for China a billion people.

And I just read a beautiful book called the church in China. Get a hold of it if you can and read it. The writer spent 17 years gathering information from mainland China and he says the most conservative estimate is that there are now 30 million believers in China.

And the most liberal estimate says a hundred million. There's a city in China with 700 ,000 people and 400 ,000 profess to be say there are counties in China where everyone in the county is a Christian.

You know why that book blessed my soul so much. Because of the hours I spent praying for China. I had a tiny part in it and never even knew what was going on behind the bamboo curtain the spider takes hold with her hands and is in king's palaces.

That speaks to me of prayer. You can't keep the spiders out even out of a king's palace. And the king can't stop your prayers from entering his bedchamber. Even the communists can stop people from getting in or out.

But they can't stop your prayers from getting in. They can't do that. And the Spirit of God he knows what the needs are where the church is suffering where prayer needs to be offered for whom and when.

And he knows how to waken us. If we'll make ourselves available to God we can do it in the daytime as well as in the night. Of course. And God will show us he'll lead us. You remember in Ephesians chapter 6 he talks about the Christian arm and I don't want to talk about that now.

But he talks about the Christian armor. And then he tells us the Christian's power his strength. He says praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching their unto with all perseverance and supplication for all things.

And then Paul adds. And for me somebody called that all prayer praying all the time always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching their unto. You know much of prayer is watching watching with God waiting in the presence of God saying nothing.

Just watching. And God will quicken our memory. Perhaps respecting some things we have read and forgotten. He will communicate to us in those times of waiting and watching with all prayer and supplication for all saints.

The Bible does say we should pray for sinners. But the Bible says far more about Christians praying for saints than it says about Christians praying for sinners. Because when you have a healthy church then sinners are converted.

Revival Through United Prayer in Argentina

Let me give you just a little illustration from Argentina. There are six Baptist groups in Argentina and they don't have a group and they get together once a year for fellowship a weekend inspirational conference.

They share statistics. And one year they shared statistics and they were horrified to discover that the six Baptist groups with about 600 churches between them had only let a thousand people to Jesus Christ in 12 months.

So you know what they did. They decided that the next year 12 months down the road they would have a conference geared for revival and they would not even ask a speaker to come. They would pray for God to send them a speaker to challenge them on the subject of revival.

And two weeks before the conference was to begin they still didn't have a speaker. But God sent me down to Argentina and I spoke a hundred and five times in nine weeks. I had one weekend open and I was asked to speak in a Southern Baptist seminary in Buenos Aires.

And afterwards one of the professors came up and said what are you doing. And he mentioned this weekend I looked at my little book well I'm free that weekend. Why? Oh praise the Lord he said you can speak to our conference and that's how the Lord put it together.

I'll tell you when I spoke at that conference I really felt as if I was walking on holy ground. When I found out what had been going on and how God had put this thing together I felt totally unequal to the task.

The church would see the thousand it was packed to the door twelve or fourteen hundred people. You couldn't give invitations. There was nowhere for the people to move. The pews were closer together people sitting in the aisles and all this kind of thing.

But in the last meeting I gave an invitation and I simply said if God's been speaking to your heart this was all through an interpreter. If God has been speaking to your heart and you need to be saved.

Or as a Christian believer perhaps a Christian worker even you need to be revived in your heart would you stay behind. And 700 people stayed and you know the interpreter got so excited. He was an older man he got jumping up and down he hugged me he kissed me he almost cracked my ribs and we had a great time.

One of the preachers told me afterwards he said boy God was really working in my heart. I had a bad relationship with another Christian worker and he said the Lord just bored in on me in that quiet time.

Afterwards I had to counsel that whole group through the interpreter you know and God was boring. And he said I finally bargained with God and said Lord if you'll bring that preacher and cause him to walk right past me now I'll do it.

And he opened his eyes and the guy was standing right in front of him and he had to do it. But one of those pastors experienced a touch from God and he went back to his church in Buenos Aires. This was in Rosario a city of a million and a half.

He went back to his church had about 500 people began preaching Galatians 220 and a revival broke and the whole church was swept clean. And by the way it was almost a must because the preacher found out afterwards in the sharing times that one of the men in the church was planning to shoot him you know revival or a dead preacher.

But then here's what happened. Listen carefully. After the church was clean the Spirit of God turned on the sinners and 200 sinners were converted in two weeks and there were no meetings being held for sinners.

The sinners just flocked into the church and the preacher was working day and night. So he called the previous pastor and he came down to Buenos Aires and they gathered in the harvest for two solid weeks.

My wife and I were in that church for meetings. About a month later they baptized 89 converts at that point and they were pursuing the wrath. But did you notice they got serious about revival and they put God back in the saddle.

God you do it and God did it. I just happened to be there. It had nothing to do with me. God is so great and so good praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit and thus becoming part of this worldwide thing that God is doing.

God will burden your heart to pray about countries you don't know anything about. But you better learn. Get one of those books in the table. We have a book there for world intercession. It'll give you information on every country in the world.

Every Christian ought to have that book. It'll bless your soul. God is working around the world today. It's a worldwide thing. In the Psalms 102 it says this. When the Lord shall build up Zion he shall appear in his glory.

What does that mean. It means God's going to come back at a time when he's building up his church because there is a New Testament Zion which has no connection with Israel in the flesh at all. In Hebrews chapter 12 you Christians you are come to Mount Zion unto the city of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem to an innumerable company of angels to the General Assembly in church of the firstborn who are written in heaven and to God the judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

When the Lord shall build up Zion he shall appear in his glory. And that tells me that the Lord Jesus Christ will return at a time when he's building up the church around the world and we need to be part of it now.

We need to be praying now in the spirit allowing the spirit to leave. I want to close with a reference to the book of June in verse 20 it says. But you beloved but takes you back in the context we've been talking about the world.