(South West Baptist Church 2008) Disecting the Burden of Prayer — Gerhard Du Toit

I want to thank you for coming back this evening. I think what happened last night is that we chased most of the people away. I trusted God the first night for 50 people, and so there were about 48 of us, which meant that there were two people running out here in the hills of the Adelaide Valleys and the boonies of Boggaboggaland amongst the sticks, and we never saw them.

I guess they didn't sleep too well that night, but that's what we were trusting God. Now, if there were 52 people, you say, what does that mean? It would have meant that there were two people that shouldn't have been here.

No, we don't mean that. But we are delighted to have you with us this evening. We only have tomorrow morning and tomorrow night, and then this very brief weekend is over. And I want to remind you, you know, I'm a great believer in that 75 of our growth as Christians will always be determined by what you and I read as a Christian.

Personal Growth Through Scripture and Faithfulness Under Pressure

And you know, God can't bless lazy lives. I was brought up in Africa in a country that had a terrible system called apartheid, and while I was in that country, I had to do national service. And then eventually I became a chaplain.

But I remember we had an instructor. He was a brutal man, and he used to give us a minute and a half for breakfast in the morning. And his famous saying to us was, swallow now and chew later. Never be able not to remember that.

This man, I witnessed to him about Christ, and a few years later someone was being unfaithful to him and his wife, to him I should say. And he got so upset one night that he took a revolver and just went and shot this man, killed him instantly.

And then he landed up in prison. I've been praying for him through the years. I will never be able not to remember those days, because I was in a battalion where there was hardly any Christian. And I knew Christ, and I knew that I had to take a stand for God.

And I took a stand for God that I was a Christian, and that I knew Christ as my personal Savior. And we had a lieutenant. He was a German fellow. Big, big man. You know, if you are in a national service, in my country those days, the commander of the battalion or your company would shout it out.

And he shouted out to us, and he said, run to this point, and then I want you to shout this word, which was a terrible cursing word. And before, because I knew Christ, I felt, you know, he was not allowed to do that.

And I ran over to this lieutenant, and I said to him, you know, you're not supposed to do this. But if you know anything about army life in those days in my country, if you just came out and you were a soldier, you were nothing.

I mean, you were just a simple number. And he'd just look at me as if I was a piece of dirt. And then he said, you'd better get and run there. I said, yes, sir, I will, but you're not supposed to teach these young fellows to curse and swear.

And I said, I'm going to need to report you if you do that. Well, of course, you know, I was nothing. I was just absolutely nothing. And he said, you'd better just get there. And I ran, and he did that.

And when these young soldiers in basic training shouted out this word, I went and I reported him. And believe it or not, but from that day, he absolutely hated me. He couldn't stand me. We were playing rugby together, you know.

And I was in his team. But, you know, he so absolutely hated me that if someone tackled me and he was close by, I mean, he was my buddy, but he was ready, you know, just to let it into me. And he just couldn't take me.

But, you know, I prayed for this man. You wouldn't believe it. It was about, I don't know how many years later, because you do your national service in that country, and then they called you up. If you are in the medical field, every two years they call you up for three months.

If you were a chaplain, the same kind of thing would happen. And I was called up to do three months of chaplain's duty on the borders of my country. And I would never forget, you know, we were in a war zone situation.

And I never could have been in this base camp. And while I was in this base camp, one day I came out of my office. And when I was coming out of my office, I saw this Land Rover that stopped at the gate.

And the soldier at the gate opened it. And this Land Rover drove in. And as it was coming in, I was coming out of my office walking. And I saw this fellow. And I would never forget this, you know. His name was Luther.

And he was a major by that time. So, I was coming out walking. And he came walking across. And I came right close to him. And he looked at me. And he recognized me. And he stopped. And he said to me, your last name is Detroit, isn't it?

I said, yes. And your last name is Luther, isn't it? He said, I need to talk to you. And I said, about what? And I will never forget this. Brother and sister, you know, our testimony is a powerful tool in the hands of God.

And he turned to me and he said to me, let me tell you something. He said, I've faced death a number of times on the borders of the country. Times when the bullets were flying over my head. And he said, every time when that happened, he said, I saw you standing in front of me and said, Lieutenant, you're not supposed to do this.

And he said, I have had no idea how to be able to find you. But he said, I found you today. And he said, I want to ask you, I mean, if you know the Army, it's a rough life. We used to preach to soldiers in a chaplain's period on a Thursday morning.

And next week they were gone because they were killed in an ambush as they were on patrol. But he just turned to me and he said to me, I need to ask you to forgive me. And I said, listen, Major, let me tell you something.

I have forgiven you. I said, the big question is, has God forgiven you? And have you made peace with God and your relationship with Him? And brother and sister, you know, we have no idea the impact that your life and my life are able to make upon the lives of people.

And quite often, you know what happens to us? God used us when we are not aware of it. If you come to the province of British Columbia out in western Canada, it's a huge province on your way to the Yukon and Alaska.

And once a year, I take Janice and Monica and we go into a very remote area which is called the Last Frontier. And you drive for about nine hours into the Caribou. And you come towards the Rocky Mountains and then you turn west.

And you go into what is referred to as the Chukwulkin. You climb for about five miles until you are in a mountain range for about 450 kilometers of mountains and lakes and just absolute wild country. Lots of grizzly bears and cougars.

And if you know, if you see a grizzly bear, the Canadians told me that the best thing for you to do is to fall on your knees and pray. And they said, then when you stop praying, the bear will sit in front of you and he will say to you, what have you been doing?

And you will say, well, I've been praying. And he will say, well, I've just said grace. If you know anything about those animals, you don't mess around. But you know what happened? I take Janice and Monica into those remote areas and we are friends.

There are tons of lakes. I don't know if you know this. There are three million lakes in Canada. I just read this in Time magazine some time ago on a plane. And there are only about 2 .8 million fishermen.

So there are more lakes than people fishing. And on this lake, I fly fish. And I just love being out there. And Janice and Monica is with me. But you know what happened? We were out there a number of years ago.

And the house that we were in, we were not able to have it the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. And there is a very remote community at the coast called Balakula. And it was about 250 kilometers away. And I turned to Janice and Monica and said, listen, we can't have the cabin for the weekend.

Why don't we drive to Balakula? And so we took the docks with two retrievers and all our stuff. And we took off to Balakula. And we were in a park called Tweetsmere Park. And it was getting late at night when we had a blowout in the back tire of this SUV that we were driving because of the snow in the mountains in Canada.

And it was in the summer. And so by the time I was able to replace the back tire, it was almost dark. And I said to Janice and Monica, I think we should turn back. Didn't have a spare. You're out there in the bush.

And I said, why don't we go back and find a cabin for the night and then we can take off tomorrow. Well, we came to a place called Anam Lake. Very remote. People fly in with float planes to do fly fishing.

And we stopped there. There was no, you know, you're out there in the bush of British Columbia. And I stopped and there was this cabin. And I got out of the vehicle. And as I came out of the vehicle, went into the office.

And as I walk into the office, a man was sitting behind the desk. And so I said to him, he hardly looked up to me. I said, sir, I just wonder if you have a spare cabin for the night. And the moment when I said that, he just looked at me kind of like this.

And he said, I recognize your voice and I recognize your face. I said, what do you mean? He said, my wife and myself were on the point of splitting up. Our marriage was falling apart. We came to a place or we went to a place with the name of Whistler.

We rented a hotel and we were going to begin to work out the details of divorcing. And he said, we saw a pamphlet of special services in Pemberton Gospel Chapel. And I said to my wife, why don't we just go to one of these gatherings and we come back this evening.

We had no idea. This man and his wife walk into this meeting where I had the privilege of speaking that night. And they walk out before the end of the service back to their hotel room. You know what? They got gloriously saved.

And he opened his drawer and he said, since then I got all the messages. And he said, I've made notes of that. And he said, I remember every message that you preach. And he turned to me and he said to me, now there is a little issue here.

He said, you're not going to go to Balakula. We're going to give you the best cabin for the weekend. And he said, you're going to be our guest, but Sunday morning you're going to preach. You know, these terrible Canadians.

And I went back into the vehicle and I told Janice and Monica, I mean my daughter, you know. You know, we tell her that God answers prayer. And her eyes was just, you know, like, what is going on here?

And Monday morning when we got into the vehicle and drove away, I said, let's pray together. We prayed together. And after I prayed, I turned to Janice and Monica. And I said, I have a question for the two of you.

And Monica said, what is it, Daddy? I said, when do you want the next flat tire? We've never had a, brother and sister, we've never had a flat tire ever since that day. So, you know, God answers prayer in wonderful ways.

Receiving and Sharing Spiritual Resources

I want to make sure that you get all this material that we have available for you. If you were not with us this morning, we just touched on the first aspect of the ingredients in developing a personal prayer life.

And there are nine of those ingredients as you systematically look at what we would refer to as the Lord's Prayer. And then we've got tons of other material. People have asked me about those seven principles.

Sorry, the eight principles that you discover in the teachings of Christ and prayer. And we would love to be able to put that in your hands. And then all kinds of other things that we really would like to give to you that we don't want you this evening to leave without.

I mentioned the first night about the questions of personal accountability. And we would like you to get those questions. Something else that I want you to take with you. I love these kind of things because it holds me accountable.

I refer to this as my spiritual checklist. And it has to do with my relationship to the world. My relationship to my house. My relationship to my occupation. My relationship to my choir time. My relationship to my church attendance.

My relationship to my choir time. What we spoke on this morning. What role does my choir time play in my life? Do I make time for prayer and intercession? Do I read God's Word on a consistent basis? Has there been clear growth in my relationship with God in the past year?

How much of my choir time deals with myself? Or how much is devoted to praising God? My relationship to my house. Do I live my Christian life as an example? Do those who know me the best believe in me the most?

Do I honor and respect those who serve me on a daily basis? Do I criticize the church in the presence of other people? Or do I criticize the church in the presence of my children? Do I regard my possessions, my house, as mine?

Or do I regard them as God's? My relationship to my church. Do I like going to my church? Do I prepare my heart and mind for the sermon? Do I criticize? Do I go to listen to what the pastor says? Or do I go to listen to the pastor?

Do I pray for my pastor so that God will give him a message? My relationship to my own rights. Have I learned the secret of abandoning my right to defend myself? My right to be understood. My right to possess things.

My right to be treated with respect. My right to be recognized for what I have done. Have I abandoned the right to feel offended and to be hurt? Have I abandoned the right to become angry? Have I abandoned the right to choose and exercise my own choices?

My right to pleasure. My right to my finances. My ambitions. And my plan for the future. So if you would like to receive one of these, we would like to give this to you and put it in your hands. You know our time is running out, but I've got such great material, brother and sister, that I desperately would like to put in your hands.

Discerning and Dissecting the Burden of God

And some of this you will not find in books anymore because they are out of print. But if I can put this in your hands, you know this morning one of the things that we discussed, or I think last night, was this understanding of the burden of God.

And in the understanding of the burden of God, we did not only discover those steps as it relates to the burden of God in Scripture, but one of the things that we need to learn is how to dissect the burden of God.

And I say this morning in our time together that when you and I study the New Testament in prayer, and we come to the understanding of the possibility of those 248 passages as they relate to prayer, then we will discover that those passages is taking us to the possibility of looking at 12 aspects of New Testament prayer.

And one of those aspects has to do with what you and I would refer to routine praying. You say, what is that Gerard? That's when you and I have learned the secret to pray for the same things every day.

Now maybe you sit here and you say, don't you get tired to pray for those things? My brother and my sister, there is a way for us to discover the secret in not getting tired when we pray for the same things.

You see, sometimes people would come to me and they would say, you know, I sometimes don't understand this, because when I pray for someone, I run out of words. I would say the same things to God every day.

And they say, isn't that repetitive? Isn't that repetition? And I say, let me explain to you a secret. And you say, where did you find that secret? My brother and my sister, I found that secret in a man with a life of George Muller of Bristol.

Muller of Bristol was the man that had 85 ,000 answers to prayer. George Muller of Bristol was the man of whom there were two books written about his prayer life. They were both out of print, but there were two books written about his prayer life.

And the first one had the title 35 ,000 answers to prayer in 24 hours. The second book had the title 50 ,000 answers to prayer in more than 24 hours. Do you know the longest that Muller prayed for someone?

63 years. Do you know when that person became a Christian? Three weeks after George Muller died. And someone went to him one day and said to him, Mr. Muller, do you ever stop praying for people? And Muller made a statement, and he said, as long as God keeps the burden on my heart, he said, I never cease to pray for people.

Because he said, as long as the burden is prevailing upon my heart for that person, then what happens is that God helps me on a consistent basis to pray for that person. And when you study the prayer life of Muller, and you know, I get so many people who would come to me and say, Gerard, the secret of Muller's prayer life was the times that he spent in prayer.

It was the answers that he had to prayer. And I often say to them, no, no, no, that was not the secret. And they say, what was the secret of his life? And I say, the secret of his life was the understanding and the perception and the concept that he had of the nature of God in prayer, and brother and sister, the righteousness of God in prayer.

Let me explain to you two things about Muller. First of all, as it relates to the burden of God. Someone asked me today, and they said, how do you speak about dissecting the burden of God? If God has given you a burden, let me say to you tonight, my friends, if God gives you a burden for a country or for a place, we have this simple habit, Janice and myself, that if we go into a country, we try the first number of days in that country just to spend time in prayer and in fasting and being alone with God.

I love to get a place where I can be on my own and just really take time to sense the burden of God for this country. But if God has given you a burden, you need to learn how to dissect the burden of God.

And there are ways for us to be able to come to grips with it. Let me give you a little bit of my own personal insight. And it's quite possible that there are many other aspects of what we would refer to as dissecting the burden of God.

But when I sense the burden, the first thing that I ask God is that He would take me, because you see in this burden, there are different phases of understanding the need of this burden. And my brother and my sister, what needs to happen is that you and I need to ask God to give us a sense of insight into the area that is the most desperately needed as it relates to this burden.

And this is what I do in my own inadequate understanding of prayer. I ask God and say, show to me the most difficult aspect of what it's going to take to pray this thing through. What it's going to take to sense the witness of the Spirit of God that I prayed through.

And we don't have time, but there are numerous examples in Scripture of men and women that prayed through. Now the essence of praying through is to discover the will of God. And so you say, what happened?

When you discover the will of God as it relates to the burden of God, and I want you to try and stay with me in what I'm saying. When you discover the will of God as it relates to the burden of God, and you pray, you know that you are praying in the will of God.

So then you say, what do you do? You focus and concentrate on the area that is the most difficult. And do you know what I learned from Muller of Bristol? When Muller of Bristol, and he doesn't use these terms, you know, but when you read his journals, I have in my library two journals of about 400 to 450 pages each of all the journals and the life of Muller of Bristol.

And you will discover that when you read his journals, that when you refer to a burden, brother and sister, you will discover, although he doesn't use the word dissect the burden of God, you will discover that he would take it apart and then he would ask God and say, God, I want You to give me promises for this burden.

And then, brother and sister, step by step by step in the life of Muller of Bristol, you will discover that God has given him these promises. And he will be able to stand upon these promises. And then Muller of Bristol, and I really want you to understand this, because people came to him and they would say to him, Mr. Muller, that when you pray, when you pray for these things that you are praying for, would you claim the promises of God?

Would you stand upon the promises of God? And then you would pray those things. And Muller of Bristol, he was a German, you know, and Muller of Bristol would say, no, I don't do that. And so people would say to him, what happens?

And do you know what he would say? No, I don't claim the promises of God. But he said, what is happening is that the promises of God claims me. You say, what do you mean? Let me explain to you. Muller would say, I would take the Scriptures.

And when those promises that God has given to me, he said, I won't go to the burden, because when I go to the burden, I become discouraged. Because, my friends, sometimes when you pray about the issue, my brother and sister, often it gets worse before it gets better.

You see, the tide goes out. And there is a moment when the tide turns. And Muller would say, I would go to the Scriptures. And I would let the Scriptures become part of my life. And as the Scriptures become part of my life, Muller of Bristol would say, when they have become part of my life, he said, I pray through the Scriptures.

And he said, I allow the Scriptures to become part of my relationship with God. And he said, as I pray through the Scriptures and the Scriptures refresh me, and the Scriptures quicken my heart and spirit, and the Scriptures renew my strength in God, and then Muller of Bristol would say, the consequences of those promises are the things that I am praying for.

And he said, I never get tired praying for people. Do you understand what I am trying to say to you, brother and sister? I mean, this is so precious, you know. This is so wonderful. Because you see, when you allow God's Word to become...

Persistent Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer

If you were not with us this morning, I made the statement and said, if you want to learn the language of prayer, you need to learn what God's Word is saying to us about prayer. So what is it? There is routine praying.

You remember what the Lord Jesus said? He said, men ought always to pray and not to faint. You say, can you give me a foundation passage that lays the foundation in what we refer to as routine praying?

And look, chapter 18, we find this beautiful passage of this woman that came to the unrighteous judge. And she continually came to Him on a consistent basis. Eventually, He responded and He said, because of her continual coming to Me, He said, I will eventually do that which she wants Me to do.

He said, what is it? It's consistent praying. You know, I love Martin Luther, not because he was a German, but Martin Luther was an amazing man. Martin Luther, the Reformer, used to say, I've got so much work to do today, and as a result of that, I need to spend three hours alone with God.

But Martin Luther had a friend. And there were times that they were not friends, theologically speaking. But Martin Luther had this friend, and I'm trying to remember his name, it just slipped my mind.

But Martin Luther had this friend, I put it in the back burner, it will come back. But Martin Luther had this friend, and there were times that they became wonderful friends, and his friend took terribly ill.

And Martin Luther went to him in the Reformation, and he said to him, I don't want you to die. He was going to die because he was Melanthin. I got it. His name was Melanthin. And he went to Melanthin, and he said to Melanthin, he said, I don't want you to die.

And Melanthin said to Martin Luther, I want to die. I want to be with Christ. And Martin Luther turned to him and said, you can't die. I need you in the Reformation. You see, the Reformation was the revival of coming back to the Scriptures, being set free from Catholicism.

And you know what happened, brother and sister? Martin Luther began to pray for his friend. Now listen, you need to be a German to be able to do this. But this is what he prayed. He said, I ferociously...

This is it. I ferociously... And you should hear this word ferociously in the German language. He said, I ferociously attack God on the basis of His promises. That's why I said you need to be a German in order to be able to pray that.

Ah, you know what happened? God the Holy Spirit touched Melanthon and healed him. You know what happened to Melanthon? He lived longer than Martin Luther. I mean, that's the way to go, you know. You say, what is it?

Ah, it's routine praying. Can I mention to you about George Muller again? You know, George Muller was crossing the ocean on his way to Quebec to speak. And an intense fire came upon the ocean, brother and sister.

And when this fire came upon the ocean, Muller of Bristol went to the captain who incidentally was a believer, a Christian. And he went to the captain and he said to the captain, because for 16 hours, the captain was standing behind the wheel of a ship.

And Muller, because of the intensity of the fire. And so Muller of Bristol went to the captain and he said to him, Captain, I have an engagement, an appointment to speak in Quebec on Saturday afternoon and such and such a time.

And the captain of the ship turned to Muller of Bristol and said to him, Mr. Muller, we can't move forward. He said, I've been standing behind the wheel of a ship for 16 hours. He said, we can't move forward.

It's too dangerous. And Muller of Bristol turned to the captain and he said, I suggest that we go down into the cabin to pray. And you know, this is exactly what happened. They went down into the cabin to pray, my brother and sister, and George Muller began to pray.

And this is what he basically prayed. He said, God, he said, I believe that I'm in Your will. He said, I have an appointment to speak on Saturday afternoon. I think it was something like 2 o 'clock in Quebec.

And he said, God, I ask in Jesus' name that You will remove the fark in the next five minutes. And the captain began to pray. Do you know what happened? George Muller of Bristol put his hand upon the captain's shoulder and he said to him, I don't want you to pray.

And the captain said, why not? He said, first of all, you don't believe that God is going to answer your prayer. And he said, secondly, he said, look through the window. The fark is disappearing. You see, brother and sister, God answers prayer, you know.

Praying According to the Will of God

You say, what is it? It's routine praying. I wonder if I would be allowed to mention to you another aspect of what we refer to as prayer. You know what I discovered? It's what does it mean to pray in the will of God.

You see, there are 12 aspects of prayer that we are speaking about in the New Testament. You say, how do I discover what does it mean to pray in the will of God in New Testament Scripture? Brother and sister, you need to go to the life of Christ.

You say, why do I have to go to the life of Christ? Let me explain to you. Jesus was the only one that was ever able to say, Father, I thank You that You always listen to me. You say, what does that mean?

That means that there was not a moment when the Son of God spent time in the presence of His Father that His Father was not listening to Him. And you remember when He came to the grave of Lazarus and He made the statement and He said, Father, I thank You that You always listen to me.

Have you ever asked yourselves that when Jesus turned to the grave of Lazarus and He turned to the grave and He said, Lazarus, come out. Have you ever asked yourselves, why did He say, Lazarus, come out?

My wife asked me this question some time ago. She said, Daddy, why do you think Jesus said specifically, Lazarus, come out? You know what I said to my wife? If Christ wouldn't have said, Lazarus, come out, the whole graveyard would have turned up.

Brother and sister, this was the voice of the Son of God, you see. And so He was the only one that was able to say, Father, I thank You that You always listen to me. And brother and sister, if you want to discover the secret of what does it mean to pray in the will of God, you need to study the life of Christ.

You need to go to the Gospel of John. You need to discover the relationship that He had with His Father. And when you discover the intimacy of the relationship that He had with His Father, when He said, Me and the Father, we are one.

When He said, the Son can do nothing. This is the greatest statement of prayer in the Gospel of John. He said, the Son can do nothing unless He sees the Father do of it. That's why He was able to say to the woman at the well in the 4th chapter of the Gospel of John, He said, you've had five husbands.

And He said, the one that you now have is not your husband. You see, He was the Son of God. He knew exactly. The night when Nicodemus came to Him in the 3rd chapter of the Gospel of John, and when He came to Christ and He said to Him, we know that You are a Teacher who has come from God, because no one can do these things unless God be with Him.

Brethren and sisters, even in the midst of the night, I don't think Christ was asleep. No, no, He knew what was coming. And so He knew what it meant to be in the will of His Father. And do you know what I discover?

It's a marvelous statement for us to this understanding of praying in the will of God. Let me ask you a question tonight. Do you know the secret of living in the will of God, brethren and sisters? Do you know there is the possibility that you can live outside the will of God?

You say, how do I know when I'm outside of the will of God? If God is not in the process of sanctifying me as a Christian. You say, why do you say that? Because the Apostle Paul said in 1 Thessalonians, he said this is the will of God, even your sanctification.

You say, what do you mean, brethren and sisters, if I'm indwelled by the Holy Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit of God is a Holy Spirit. And so, this is the will of God, my sanctification. You say, what does that mean?

God needs to sanctify me. That's why we read in 1 Peter 1, that the Apostle Peter said, be ye holy as I am holy. That's why we read in Hebrews 12. He said, follow peace with all men and holiness wherewith no man shall see the Lord.

That's why the Apostle Paul said in 1 Thessalonians, when he prayed for those Thessalonian Christians at Thessalonica, and he said there is something that is lacking in your faith, brethren and sisters, and listen to this, in 1 Thessalonians 5, he brought the prayer and the burden of his heart to a moment of a climatic reality when he said to those believers at Thessalonica, he said, I pray that the very God of peace sanctify you.

And the King James Version of the Bible says, sanctify you holy. Let me explain to you something about the Greek New Testament. And in saying that, I'm not taking anything away from the text in the English language.

But let me explain to you the structure. He said, let the very God of peace sanctify you through and through. I love a German translation. You say, why? You say, what is it? It's a wonderful statement.

Listen, brethren and sisters, to the Greek language. These are two tremendous words that come to the surface. You say, which are those words? It's the word in the Greek language, halotilios. You say, Gerard, what does that mean?