We're going to look at our last study on this semester on prayer, the Word of God in prayer, meditation in prayer, and applications to meditation. And this will be application-oriented. So let's pray, shall we? O Lord God, this is your holy word. We are your servants. Give us understanding that we might know your testimonies. You have prayed, O Lord, sanctify them in truth. Thy word is truth. Use your holy, eternal, inerrant written word to set us apart to your service and to your glory. Show us now great and mighty things which we do not know. The sower sows the wort. Let not your word go out and return empty. Accomplish that purpose for which you have drawn us together and for which you are sending it out. Protect us from Satan, Lord, who will snatch your word. Protect us from the world's cares and the delight of wealth and the passion of other interests which enter in and choke your word. Protect us from a wrong reaction to difficulties and discouragements and persecutions which make our hearts hard and unresponsive to your word. Rather give us good soil, O Lord, Plow out now the hard ground of our hearts, that your sown word would send roots downward and then bear fruit upwards. Unsheathe now the sword of your spirit, O Lord. Cut to dividing point of bone and marrow, soul and spirit. Judge now the thoughts and intentions of each heart gathered here. Spread your word before us as a banquet table, O Lord. Grant grace that we might eat of the rich meat and drink of the sweet milk of the great doctrines of your word. Give us the heart of the prophet who cried to you. Thy words were found and I did eat them. And thy words became to me a joy. and the delight of my heart from call by thy name, O Lord God of hosts. O Lord, we live in a dark and a wicked age. Broad is the way, and many are on it, which leads to destruction. Make your word a lamp to our feet. Make your word a light to our path. Show us that narrow way that you would have us run. And Lord, as we run in the paths of your commandments, enlarge our hearts that in loving you we might be more obedient to your written word. Drop your word against our lives as a plumb line, O Lord. Grant grace that we might see how we deviate from its high and holy purposes. Make your word to us a mirror, O Lord. Grant grace that we might not be as those who look and go away and forget, but make us active doers, not forgetful listeners of your written word. O Lord, because of our fealty to you, Because of our undying love and devotion to your Son, our Resurrected Savior, we pledge to you this day our total submission to your holy, eternal, and inerrant written word. And we pledge to you our unquestioning obedience to all of its commands. In the name of our Lord and Resurrected Savior, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. Okay, Dr. Arnold, you are going to be the designated reader. So, one of the first things that we talk about when we talk about the Word of God and prayer, and we'll look at my opening prayer when I lead my Bible studies. And I pray this prayer not out of ritual, but because I'm praying over Bible verses that I believe, and I'm trusting that God's word is God's will, and therefore, He will be at work in those who hear His word. So, let's look at some passages. Dr. Arnold, we'll start with John 15 verse 7. Would you read that please? If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want, and it will be done for you. So our confidence in asking God for things, in presenting our requests before God, has to do with God's will. And God's will is synonymous with God's Word. That's why He says, if you remain in Me, in other words, if you are walking in Christ, if you are doing the will of Christ, and God's Word remains in you, then you can ask what you will, and it shall be done for you. 1 John 5.14, this is the confidence which we have before Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. and God's word is God's will. Matthew 6 verse 10, would you read that? Dr. Arnold, Matthew 6 verse 10. Matthew 6 verse 10, it reads, Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. Now Jesus is praying, Thy kingdom come, thy will be done." Now, when we pray, that's what we want, is God's will to be done. Now, Jesus was teaching the disciples to pray this. He knew the will of God. You just didn't have to ask God. Many times in Holy Scriptures, whether it's the Lord's Prayer, or John 17, or Luke 22, 42, or other passages of Scripture, Jesus said over and over again, I don't say these things for my sake, but for those who are listening. And Jesus taught us to pray, God's will be done. Thy kingdom come, so that my will may be done. Is that what it says? Thy kingdom come, so that by faith you will do my will. Thy kingdom come, so that my will becomes God's will." None of those things are true. We want to promote God's kingdom and we want His will to be done on earth. That means there are two wills, man's will and God's will. we want God's will. If we want God, if we want to do God's will, that's our choice. Matthew 6.33, seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. But that presupposes we're seeking the kingdom of God and the righteousness of God and the will of God. Luke 22, 42, not my will but thy will be done. And that is a prayer that Christ gives us. It is to be our example of faith. The subjugation of our will to God's will and then believing that the Sovereign God is reigning supreme. See, because when we want to ask something in faith, we are presupposing that asking something in faith means that we want to obey God. Look at Romans 1.5. Most people in the Pentecostal Charismatic among evangelical mystics put their faith in their ability to believe. And if they can just believe hard enough, God will give them what they want irrespective of his will without even referencing the will of God. Now, they are very quick to claim verses in the Bible which they say are promises for prosperity and peace and affluence. Well, read Romans 1.5 for us, please. Through him we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith. Yeah, to bring about what does faith bring about? The obedience of faith. That's right. Not the blessing of faith, not the miracles of faith, not the power of faith, the obedience of faith. When did prayer change from giving God to do our will to giving us the power to do His will? Look at Romans 16, verse 26, Dr. Arnold. The great book of faith, the book of Romans, begins with Now I want you to understand we're going to learn about faith and salvation and faith and the Christian life and faith and walking with God and the goal is obedience and then for 16 chapters we study these things and then God the Holy Spirit says but remember it is the obedience of faith not the power not the prosperity the obedience of faith Look at Acts 6 verse 7 please. So the word of God spread, the disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly in number, and a large group of priests became obedient to the faith. Of the large group of faith, priests became empowered by faith. A large group of priests began to lead prosperity crusades by faith. A large group of priests began to have the ministry of deliverance by faith. A large group of priests began to have Holy Spirit power crusades by faith. Does it say that? No. What did they become? They became obedient to the faith. They became obedient and that is the manifestation of faith in the Christian life according to the apostles. It's to obey and we obey the word of God. The written word of God. So that's very important for us to remember. That is why we subject our prayers to the holy, eternal, inerrant, written word of God. Now, an example of that that I have tried to model is in my opening prayer whenever we do Bible studies. Notice James 3.1, Not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur the stricter judgment. And it is because of this that I want to the greatest degree as possible my witness and my prayers to be aligned and my teaching to be aligned with the word of God. Now, Dr. Arnold, turn to James 3.1 in your Bible and read that for me, please. James 3.1. James 3.1. Not many should become teachers, my brothers, because you know that you will receive a stricter judgment. Now, do you see that phrase, stricter judgment? If you write in your Bibles, circle that phrase, stricter judgment, and right next to it, 2 Corinthians 4.1. Because if it was not for 2 Corinthians 4.1, I would be fearful of teaching the Word of God. The Proverbs says that where there are many words, there is always transgression. And my meat and potatoes of my ministry is many words. My words and the Word of God. teaching the Word of God, praying the Word of God, witnessing with the Word of God. It's talking, talking, talking. And if it were not for 2 Corinthians 4.1, I would be fearful to do this. Read 2 Corinthians 4.1, please. Therefore, since we have this ministry because we were shown mercy, we will not give up. The opposite of judgment is mercy. The opposite of strict judgment is mercy. And if it were not for 2 Corinthians 4.1, the reassurance from God the Holy Spirit that my ministry is given in mercy, I would be afraid to teach because of all the errors in which I would speak on any given day. So I claim the mercy of God. That's why you'll notice in my emails and my personal correspondence, I always sign off, by his mercy, 2nd Corinthians 4.1. John. Because I look to and rely upon the mercy of God. Mercy is not receiving what I deserve. And so, but the other thing, knowing that teachers have the stricter judgment I want the Bible to be supreme I'm always asking God let them forget my words and remember your words when I'm witnessing let them forget my words and remember your words and is it no surprise that one of the things Satan wants people to do is witness without quoting the Bible The Word of God is eternal. It is sharper than any two-edged sword. It is the seed which ripens into salvation. Our words, 1 Timothy 1.23, we are saved by the Word of God. 24 and 25, the Word of God is eternal, while ours is like the flower of grass which blows away. It is a great coup of Satan. if he can get Bible teachers and witnesses to neglect the Word of God. It is a great coup of Satan if he can get those who pray to neglect the will of God. We're hoping that what we pray is God's will but we don't know it. Well, we are not limited to what we hope because God has revealed his word to us. We know his will and we can pray over it. And when we pray over the word of God, we are not praying over promises of God for prosperity and health. We're praying over those verses which will help us to fulfill the obedience of faith. Big difference. That's why I taught you in your prayer notebook when it comes under supplication. Have verses on the word, prayer, witnessing, fellowship, obedience, lordship, and then character issues, purity. Most people are claiming verses that they have no confidence that those promises are meant for them. People talk about praying over the Word of God, they talk about praying over the promises of God. When I talk about praying over the Word of God, I talk about praying over the commands of God. Make me obedient to these commands. Here, I'll give you a promise. Hebrews 9.27, it's appointed for men to die once and after that comes judgment. 2 Timothy 3.12, all who desire to live devotedly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Those are the promises of God also. But I am not praying for persecution, but I have verses I pray over on being steadfast. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the works of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain, that I would be steadfast, 1 Corinthians 15.58. 1 Corinthians 9.27 I discipline my body and make it serve me that while preaching to others I myself will not be disqualified 1 Corinthians 9.27 that in the midst of these things I would be found faithful. So let's look at my opening prayer. O Lord God, this is your holy, eternal, inerrant written word. 2 Peter 2.21 Psalm 19.7-9 We are your servants. Give us understanding that we might know thy testimony. Psalm 119.1.25 It was the first verse I ever placed in my supplication section of my prayer notebook. That God would instruct us from his written word Romans 15.4, that he would teach us great and mighty things, Jeremiah 33.3, not great and mystical things, but mighty things from what? His written word. You have prayed, O Lord, sanctify them as in truth thy word is truth. Set us apart to your service in your glory. John 17, 17. It's a prayer of Jesus. That God would guide and protect the one who speaks and the one who listens. James 3, 1. that He would draw us to Jesus by the Word of God. John 5.39, 1 Peter 1.22-25, that God's Word would not fall on barren ground. The explanation of the parable of the sower, Mark 4.13-19, that God would plow up the hard ground of our hearts so that we could hear it, that the Word of God would fall on good soil. because the sower sows the word. I hear people all the time saying, well, you know, one person sows, another reaps, and I guess I'm just out there sowing. Well, you're out there sowing if you are sharing the word of God. Jesus Christ has already defined sowing for us. So we oppose Satan. The parable of the sower says he will snatch the word. we will protect us from worldliness that chokes the word that we would persevere in persecutions that make us hurt rather there would be good fertile ground therefore Isaiah 55 11 when the word of God is sown in my teaching that it would not go out in return for it it would fall on good soil yielding fruit that the Word of God would be a sword of the Spirit, and Ephesians 6.17, that it would judge the thoughts and intentions of the hearts of those who hear, Hebrews 4.12, Psalm 105.19. We live in a dark and evil day, 2 Peter 1.19, and there are ways which seem right to men, But these are the ways of death. Proverbs 14, 12. Wide is the way that leads to destruction. Matthew 7, 13. So God, as I teach your word, make your word a lamp to our feet and light to our path. Psalm 119, 105. That he would lead us in the narrow way that we would walk. Matthew 7 14 that he would enlarge our hearts as we run in the paths of your commandments Psalm 119 32 because as we love God more we will obey God more John 14 15 that he would drop his word against our lives as a plumb line Amos 7 7 & 8 so that we could see how we deviate from it. That as we gaze into the mirror of his word, we would see clearly who and what we are and make the changes that we wouldn't delude ourselves. James 1.22-25 1 Thessalonians 4.8,2.13, John 14.15 Because of our fealty that we are God's servants, because of our love and devotion we submit ourselves to his word in unquestioning obedience to the holy inerrant written word. So, every aspect of that prayer can be cross referenced by the word of God. I have confidence in praying that, but now what must I do to experience the answer to those prayers? I have to be teaching the Word of God. You say, you know, Father, would you give me money so that i can go to college so your father gives you your tuition well there's the expectation that you will use that money to pay for tuition not buy yourself a motorbike or something else so when we pray these prayers there's the expectation of god that he we are asking him to bless the word and protect it from the interference of the world, the flesh, and the devil. But that presupposes that we will preach the word. Dr. Arnold, read 2 Timothy 4, 1 and 2. It says, I am solely in charge of the Bible and Christ Jesus. Who is going to judge the living and the dead? and because of His appearing and His Kingdom. Preach the word, be ready in season and out of season. Repeat, correct and encourage with great patience. How are we going to preach the word if we're not using Bible verses? If we're just talking about the Bible, we're talking around it, talking about our story, talking about our experiences, using lots of life illustrations. Well, there's nothing wrong with those as long as they are the exception to the rule of teaching the Bible. Okay, now read verse 3 and 4. now we're a bible teachers but people don't want to hear the bible so Verse 5 though, frees us if we find ourselves in that situation we don't have to worry God won't have us keep using the Bible since they don't believe it. Read verse 5. So no, God doesn't let us off the hook. People say, well I'm not going to quote the Bible. People don't believe it. They not only don't believe it, it's prophesied they don't believe it, but we still have to do it. Our commitment to the Word of God and praying that God would empower our teaching the Word of God is not based on culture. Our commitment to that is based on the holy, eternal, inerrant, written Word of God. Let's look at Joshua 1.8. So that when we are asking God to bless us, when we are seeking God's will, that will always be centered upon the Word of God. And knowing this, we have to protect ourselves from the error of listening prayer. Read Joshua 1.8, please. This book of instruction must not depart from your mouth. You ought to make a thing of it day and night, so that you may carefully observe everything within it. Today you will prosper and succeed in the work of God. Does this say, this book of the law you may lay aside? but empty your mind and allow God to speak so that you will prosper and succeed. Does it say that? No. We don't empty our minds and wait for God to speak. We fill our minds with God's word for what purpose? This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth. You shall meditate upon it day and night that we might be careful to do what? Obey it. So we reject the false teaching of listening prayer and we embrace God's command in Joshua 1.8. Look at Psalm 77.6 for me please. At night I remember my music I meditate in my heart and my spirit focus. Yeah, Psalm 119, 15, please. I will meditate on your triceps and think about your wings. What do we meditate upon? The precepts, the Word. Yeah, the Word. How about verse 119, verse 27? Help me understand the meaning of your precepts so that I can meditate on your wonders. Ah, so we want to understand them, like in verse 125. Read that please, Psalm 119, 125. I am a servant, give me a study, so that I may know many things. How about Psalm 119, 48? I will lift up my hands to your commands, which I love, How about Psalm 119, 147 and 148? So, that's very clear to us, isn't it? What we meditate upon is God's word, not thoughts that pop into our heads. So when we talk about praying, we talk about shaping our prayers and conforming our prayers to the will and the word of God. We don't just get to ask God for anything we want. Some things are sin. Look at James chapter 4. He'll say, oh no, no, whatever you want, just take it to God. God is a good God, doesn't matter. There's even a popular song that says, it doesn't matter what you say, it doesn't matter what you pray as long as you say Jesus. That's not true. God's word teaches us clearly how to pray. Man has never been allowed to say anything he wants to God. Ask God anything he wants and pray in any way he wants. God has always given instructions from the law to the prophets to the gospels to the epistles on prayer. Read James 4, 1-4 please. What is the source of wars and fights among you? Now, people love that verse, don't they? Asking you will receive. You don't have because you don't ask. But what else does God the Holy Spirit say in verse 3? You ask and don't receive because you act with wrong motives so that you may spend it on your pleasure. When's the last time you heard, Lord, open the storehouses of heaven, pour it out upon us so we can distribute every penny you give us, every blessing you give us from the storehouse to the poor members of the church, to missionaries, and to reaching the lost. Is that what they pray for? No, they want to spend it on their pleasures, don't they? verse 4, you are God's people don't you know that friendship with the world is hostility towards God so whoever wants to be a friend of the world becomes the enemy of God yeah we can't pray that God will make us worldly we can't pray that we can have so other people don't get People don't think through on that. Where is that money? Does God have a counterfeit CFA press somewhere where he can produce money? No, if you pray for money, it has to come from somewhere. What brother or sister in Christ do you want God to take money away from so that you can have money that you didn't work for? So I don't pray for that. I pray God that God would bless my labors. The laborer is worthy of his hire. I pray that God would bless my labors. So we have to remember that our meditations and our prayers must conform to the Word of God. As we talk about meditations, one of the things that I ask God, or I try to teach people, is one of the things that I try to teach when I'm teaching on meditation is the KISS principle. Keep it spiritually simple. If we make it so they have to go to the internet, they have to spend money to buy a book, then we limit people in their ability to meditate and pray. And so one of the things, one of the disciplines I teach them is know, be, do. What is something God wants me to know, to be, to do? Now, you can print this sheet off from our website, which is free, but you don't have to. All you have to do is remember three words. Know, K-N-O-W, be, B-E, and do. And if they have a Bible, a pencil, and some paper. They can ask, God, what do you want me to know and be and do from this verse? That's a great way to start people spending time with God. Now, the ABC method is a little more advanced. A. Adoration, B. C. Confess, D. Do, E. Express. So you read the passage of scripture and you say, what is there from this passage? Is there something I can worship God? Is there something in this passage that tells me how I should be, my character? Is there something in this passage that causes me to need to confess something? Is there something in this passage that God wants me to do? Action. And what from this passage can I express to somebody else? Who, what, when, where, how, and why will I share this truth? Now, that's, you can start them out with no be do, and then move them on to the A, B, C, D, E method. Now these can be Bible studies also, can't they? And they don't need to buy a Bible study book. Just about any book of the New Testament, Proverbs, Psalms, would be very helpful with this. How about the book of John? Maybe it's a non-Christian that you want to be thinking about the Holy Scriptures. Dr. Arnold, please turn to John. If you would please turn to John chapter 20, verse 30 and 31, please. Yeah John is written so that people can come to Christ. Here are six questions. You can read a chapter and then discuss these six questions. What does the author say about Jesus? And you talk about that. What did the disciples say about Jesus? What do other people say about Jesus? What does Jesus say about himself? What does Jesus do that others would not or could not do? How does that apply to me? That could be daily devotional, read a chapter a day for 21 days. It can be a Bible study, a chapter a week for 21 weeks. It can be for non-Christians or new Christians. Even mature Christians would benefit from a refresher course on the gospel from the book of John. Or the book of Philippians. Navigators have a outstanding illustration on discipleship called The Wheel. What does the chapter say about Jesus? that would be Lordship and Obedience. What does the chapter say about the Word, Prayer, Witnessing, and Fellowship? The Book of Philippians is unique in that each chapter in the Book of Philippians says something on all five of these topics. It's a great study. So what we are doing is getting people to meditate upon the word of God, centering them upon the word of God in a simple, straightforward way so that they can be independent from us. Now, um, I, uh, sent you also a workbook on how to spend a day in prayer. But notice the simple schedule. Adoration, confession, thanksgiving, meditate on his word, intercession, supplication, meditate upon his word, supplication, more conclusions from his word, and praise. whenever in this workbook it says God speaking to you remember we're defining God speaking to you as speaking from his word not mystical statements alert whenever This workbook refers to God speaking to us, or us listening to the voice of God. We are assuming the reader understands that the voice the Word of God is equivalent to the holy, eternal, inerrant, written Scriptures. The Bible the Word of God." So I would hope that... You know, I did not used to have to say that. There was a time when people heard the phrase, the Word of God, they assumed, incorrectly, that I was referring to the Holy Scriptures. But now I'll be teaching on praying over the Word of God and somebody will raise his hand and say, it sounds like from what you were saying that you are equating the Word of God with the Bible. Yes, I am. It is most certainly equating the Word of God with the Bible. That is exactly what I am saying. So it would be my hope that as you study these passages and consider the studies that we have been looking at, that they will empower your prayers to be conformed to the written word of God and that it will protect you from mysticism and spiritism as found in the Pentecostal Charismatic and Evangelical Mystical Church. Now, on our website there are devotional sheets that would be found at www.gciweb.org all of the studies and devotional scripture material programs are all free but we don't but I want you at the same time if these are a blessing to you great but you don't need that If you know that no be do, if you know the ABC methods, then you can embark on a lifetime of meditation and obedience to God's word without spending a penny. If you know access, adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication, intercession, spiritual warfare, you can embark on a lifetime of praying and praying over a prayer notebook without spending a penny. And that would be my desire and hope is that the word of God would shape and empower your prayers and at the same time protect you from error. May God add his blessing to his holy word. In Christ's name we pray, amen.