Prayer appropriates the promises of His sovereignty.  Is His will going to be done whether you pray or not?  Yes.  Our unbelief will not thwart the glory of God.  He will be glorified.  He’ll find somebody that will go for Him.  We pray, as we started the study, for these main purposes.  We pray, first of all, because we’ve been commanded to pray; amen?  Therefore, us praying doesn’t have anything to do with whether certain things will or will not come to pass.  God’s will will not be thwarted.  That’s why I love Romans 8:28 so much.  That’s a verse that was made very dear to me as a young believer.  It was how some people sign different things and, for years, I’ve always signed the books with Philippians 4:13.  This is what Hookie would sign all of her books, or whatever it was, and it was always with Romans 8:28.  “All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

God will order our steps in some of these specific areas.  This was not something I specifically prayed about, “Lord, confirm your voice to me that this has been You speaking to me.”  It was the fruit of abiding in Him, His words abiding in me, knowing as we began the study, that if we were off course, God would set this thing right.  I was getting off course responding to elders in the church conspiring against me.  I was responding in pride.  “I’m not going to have those guys lording and ruling.  It’s not their calling.  If they don’t want the gospel then we’ll shake the dust off and go preach it somewhere where they want it.”  But it wasn’t about a handful of people, it was about the flock.  That’s when Janet said to me, “Are you a hireling or a shepherd?”  The shepherd will lay his life down for the flock, put up with all the flack.  So, the choice is really, do you love the people or do you love yourself more?


We’d been praying and God used something such as that story to vindicate, “Here’s My voice.  Here’s where I’m leading you.  Here’s what I’m saying to you at this particular moment.”  Aren’t you glad that, sometimes, God will reveal Himself to us in tangible ways, so that we can say, “Okay, I see it now.  This is what you’re saying to me.”  Well, let’s say it’s Bible.  He opens doors that no man can open and closes doors; amen?  The steps of the good man are ordered by the Lord.  So, the Spirit prays according to the will of God.  If we ask anything according to His will, we know that He hears us and, if we know that He hears us, whatsoever we ask, then we know that we have the petitions that we’ve desired of Him, John 5 says.  Expectation, faith, is what we’re trying to unveil tonight.  “What things soever you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them” (Mark 11:24).

I wanted to stir us some, because I believe that some of us have been discouraged.  We’ve let things die; we’ve turned them loose.  We’ve stopped praying, we’ve stopped believing.  We’re onto other things but, beloved, there’s still a harvest waiting to be reached; amen?  Our loved ones, there’s still a harvest to be reached.  Souls that are lost; there’s still a harvest to be reached.  I will not be disturbed by circumstances when I’ve got promises to hold onto.  That’s what prayer is.  It’s immoveable.  Faith is invincible.  God said, “Whatever I ask according to His will, He hears me.”  So, pray in the Spirit and believe God.