Episode Transcript
How to Use the Weapons of Our Warfare
Richmond, Virginia; July, 1993
It's a joy for me to be able to be with you in a more local way, the family here. I know there are others from other parts still around, but it is a joy to be able to share a little bit more with you all in this matter of prayer warfare. I'd like to turn you to the first letter of the apostle of Paul to Timothy. I want to read from verse 18. Chapter one verse 18. I Timothy chapter one from verse 18:
This charge I commit unto thee, my child Timothy, according to the prophecies which led the way to thee, that by them thou mayest war the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience, which some, having thrust from them, made shipwreck concerning the faith, of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I delivered unto Satan, that they might be taught not to blaspheme.
I exhort therefore, first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings and all that are in high place, that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and gravity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our saviour, who would have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.
And then in the Old Testament, if you will turn to the 18th psalm, verse 34.
He teacheth my hands to war, he teacheth my hands to war, so that mine arms do bend a bow of brass. And then Psalm 144 and verse one, Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who teacheth my hands to war and my fingers to fight.
Shall we just bow in a further word of prayer? Lord, we've already asked that you will be with us in this, and we just want by faith to stand into that anointing which you have provided. Will you make what is said clear to every one of us? and by your Spirit, in some way deposit something in our hearts of yourself that will express itself in real prayer and intercession in the days to come. We ask it in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
I thought the most helpful way we could take this little opportunity to say something more about spiritual warfare is to take up one of the points that I made in the course of the conference just completed when I talked about how to use the weapons of our warfare. I didn't feel that we had enough time. And in many ways, in a large gathering, it's not always so easy to deal specifically with the way to use weapons in our warfare. It's very interesting to me that the apostle Paul writing to Timothy, who was by nature somewhat timid and gentle, that he said to him, there were prophecies that led the way to you. We don't know what those prophecies were, but there must have been something about, I suggest, something about Timothy being a good soldier of the Lord Jesus, and something about being in the front of the fight and leading God's people into the fight.
In our army, we have a tradition which goes back to Joshua, that all those are officers should lead their men. We do not have officers that remain behind the battlefront directing things from a great distance. We have officers who lead the men into the war. And the famous cry of the army is, Follow me.
That is in Hebrew. It is the famous cry of the army. Every fellow who has done anything service in the army knows this word of his officer, Follow me. Whereas the British army always said forward, and it meant they went forward while the officer stayed back.
But in our tradition, it is the officer who must lead the way. Now, this is a very interesting thing to me because the apostle Paul said to Timothy, these prophecies that led the way to you, by these, war the good warfare. In other words, there must have been something the Lord said concerning Timothy, concerning his ministry, concerning his contribution, concerning his leadership. And the apostle Paul reminds him, Remember what was said by the Spirit of God through the lips of certain brethren and war the good warfare, he says, holding faith and a good conscience.
And then he goes on, I exhort therefore, first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings and all that are in high place, and so on. What an interesting word this is, that the apostle saw this whole matter of prayer, of intercession, of being priests in the presence of God in terms of warring, the good warfare.
Now that immediately brings me to this, that the psalmist says in psalm 18 and psalm 104 [144], Teach my hands to war and my fingers to fight. There has to be training and there has to be experience. In other words, we need the Holy Spirit to teach us how to war the good warfare. I have said a whole lot of things, and some people could try to slavishly follow certain of those things. It will lead nowhere.
In the end, it has to be the Holy Spirit who teaches our hands to war and our fingers to fight. We have to make ourselves available. We have to see that we are called to this warfare. We have to remember that we are to fight the good fight of faith, and we are to lay hold on life eternal to which we have been called.
All these things are a background to really, what I want to say this evening. Our problem in prayer is that most believers are afraid to really, by faith, trust the Lord and go forward. And that's where we need good leadership.
We need brothers who are prepared, under the direction of the Holy Spirit under the captaincy of the Lord of hosts to go into these battles and thus help the rest of us who are a little more nervous to follow. You understand, prayer can never be taught. It has to be caught.
I know for myself, I would never have learned anything about prayer warfare but that I saw brothers and sisters engaged in it and they were engaged in something that wasn't some fantasy or some sort of fanciful idea that they had but they were actually using the word of God in the heavenlies. And there were results. That created in me, as a young believer a hunger to know the Lord in that way.
That's why I believe that prayer is, in the end, something that it's an infection you have to catch. You see someone who prays fervently. You see someone who prays effectively. You see someone who prays using the word of God. You see somebody praying with clarity and it infects you with a desire to be able to work together with the Lord in the same way.
Do you not think it is interesting that the Lord allows so many situations to develop amongst us which all the teaching in the world doesn't touch? And all the energy in the world and all the goodwill in the world doesn't touch? And even all the fellowship in the world doesn't touch?
The only way some of these situations will ever be touched is in the secret place and powers have to be dislodged. Phantoms have to be blown away. Darkness has to yield before light. It's an area in which you and I have to act because there is no neutrality in this war.
Now, I understand from our brother, my brothers here, that dear Fred Flack, that extraordinary servant of God. I've known Fred for so many years. He must be near 80 or more and Meg, his wife. If anyone ever asked me could I give an example of overcomers I would say it's Fred and Meg Flack.
They are unbelievable examples to me of overcomers and I've known them ever since 1953. What is that? It's 40 years. Makes me feel old to even think about it. I have known them for 40 years.
I've seen the way that they've moved with God, the disappointments they've had, the battles they've had. Now, I mustn't get into that or time will go. What I just wanted to say was, I understand that Fred said, You need to use the word of God in prayer. Am I right? He did say that. He said, You need to use the word of God in prayer. Coming to a prayer meeting without your Bible is like going into battle without a gun.
I mean, you need your Bible. And furthermore, don't leave it closed. That's like saying, We're in a battle. I know we're in a battle. I've been called into a battle. We're in a warfare, and you have your gun, and it's neither loaded nor used. This time you've got the gun with you, which is a step forward than not even bringing it with you, but you don't use it.
So we need to learn how to use the word of God. And there's no way we can be taught this. We have to learn it, each one for ourselves. There's a certain way in which we can learn from others. Some people use the word of God, unfortunately, in such a flowery and artificial way that it destroys the prayer meeting.
You know, as I've often said, the prayer meeting is a venue of frustrated preachers. Everyone gets into it, and they believe somehow or other they’ve got to use the word of God, and you sometimes feel like saying So-and-So, the Lord wrote that. I mean, he doesn’t have to have the whole thing rehearsed, explained to him. It's an altogether different thing to learn how to take hold of some promise or some statement of God's word and stand on it, especially when others witness to it and come with you and stand on it together. That's the word of God. So we need to learn how to use the word of God, not to be afraid of it. It is the most blessed thing in a time of prayer, when you hear the rustling of scripture, not someone so bored that they are actually having a little private Bible study somewhere in the meeting, but they're actually, the Lord is turning them to something. I’ve found it again and again in battle, in warfare. Suddenly something comes into my heart, and I think, Now, where is that? Where is that? It's either in Isaiah or it's in psalm so-and-so, I think to myself, so I have to turn it up to find it.
When I’ve found it and I’ve read it, if the Holy Spirit still witnesses to me, that's it. I'm going to use that. That is the sword of the spirit in this situation.
So we need to learn how to use the word of God. Actually, it is very interesting that in the Ephesian letter, there is no other weapon. There is actually no other weapon that is mentioned other than this sword of the spirit, which is the word of God with all prayer, praying at all seasons in the spirit and watching there unto with all perseverance.
So now it seems to me that you and I need to learn how to use the word of God in situations.
And the word of God can be used in many ways. We may be praying for a particular situation concerning the church of God. I’ll just give you a few example. I won't go into any personal examples. I’ll just try to illustrate this.
Supposing we have a real onslaught on the whole testimony of the church. Let's say it's division, let's say it's faction. Let's say some gross immorality has come or something like that. And we're conscious that the name of the Lord is going to be mud in this area. We don't know what to do.
Has our Lord not said in the word that he came for the church that he might present her spotless without blemish? There is a statement of God's word in an awful situation. The situation looks so unlike what the Lord has come to do. But we can take that word and stand on it and appeal to the Head of the church by the Spirit of God, to come into this situation and turn it to good.
Now do you understand how we're using the word of God? Here is a statement. I've only used one. There are dozens of others we can use. I mean, all here within the word. Concerning the church, concerning its function. Are we concerned that somehow other, the church is not growing? There are scriptures about this whole matter.
We are told that the church should build up itself in love. Is there somewhere just only a few people functioning and the rest are not functioning? Why don't we stand on something the Lord might give us, say in Ephesians 2, 4, rather about the whole body fitly growing together, as it were. I mean, you've got a statement of God's word, something to stand upon. Do you understand? That's the sword of the spirit. That statement of God's word is worth 10,000 of yours.
I mean it. No matter what some charismatics say, it's worth 10,000 of yours. If once you have the word of God and it's given to you by the Lord and you can contribute that word and stand on it, and others witness to it and others take it up and stand on it, that is worth a whole sermon or two.
There is nothing the enemy can do once people start to use the sword of the spirit in the place of prayer. A thousand situations will yield.
I could go on to many other things. You see, half our problems in fellowship with one another are phantom.
A problem with those of Anglo-Saxon background is they're far too reserved and the enemy knows it and he uses the reserve. I include the Chinese in this Anglo-Saxon background. They are so reserved that the enemy can breathe all kinds of things into the air.
And we are so stupid, we believe it. There's actually no foundation for it. It's all phantom, it's all satanic propaganda and it's beaming out the whole time, which we would expect if we were in a warfare.
We would expect that one of the biggest things Satan will do is propaganda. Do you understand? Just somehow or other to create phantoms. And these phantoms take root within us and we actually believe that it is so.
And sometimes all we need to do is establish the truth. Sometimes when you take hold of a word that God can give you in this matter, for instance, let me say it this way. I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
Now we have a statement of our Lord that could have been given by the Holy Spirit in a situation. And we can take this light and we can announce together the Lord Jesus in our midst is the light of the world. Darkness has no fellowship with this light. Darkness has no place in this light. We will drive it out in the name of the Lord. And we're going to look to the Lord that he will give life in us all and deliver us from vain imaginings.
Sometimes the enemy blockades something. It's very interesting, this blockading of the Lord. You can have a tremendous amount of outreach or real evangelistic concern. Some groups don't have any, but there are those that have some real concern. But it doesn't matter what they do or how much they're engaged in, nothing ever happens. It's almost as if the enemy laughs and says, I’ve blockaded this whole thing. It doesn't matter what they do. They're not going to get through. I have laid siege to it. It will not get through. Sometimes it can be other needs, needs of people to help in various aspects, the children or youth or something else. No one comes forward, no one offers. It's almost as if the enemy has said, there's a blockade on this. I have placed a blockade on this.
And we all just, oh, why is everything so hard? Then people say, this is a very strange company. They're well taught, but nobody offers, nobody offers themselves. Then the enemy says, yes, of course, because they're all hypocrites. And so we go, yes, that's probably right. Half of us are hypocrites.
We don't want to offer ourselves, you see. But it's actually a blockade. It's a spiritual blockade. Sometimes the enemy blockades financial provision in a work of the Lord or somewhere where there's great need to go forward in some way. Then the enemy blockades, then we can fall back on all kinds of things, appeals and manipulation and hints and a 1001 other things, instead of taking hold of the Lord, that he will somehow open up. Now, there can be no blockade of the Lord. That's how I've always seen it. If the Lord Jesus is here, how can the enemy blockade him? I've been in many times in past years where we have announced together there's no way the enemy can blockade us. We break this siege in the name of the Lord. He cannot lay siege to the Lord Jesus. He cannot put any limitation on the Spirit of the Lord. And once we take a firm stand and begin to really, as it were, stand together on that matter, the blockade disappears almost overnight.
And then everybody wonders, how could it be so easy? We put up with that for a whole year, two years, and then suddenly, when we all stood up together and stood on this word the Lord gave us, the whole thing disappeared overnight. It's very hard sometimes for us to really believe that we have an actual enemy who is up to intelligent tactics.
But that's precisely what it is. Now that's why you and I need to learn how to use the word of God. If we see some believers that are not growing, do you not think there's something that the Holy Spirit could give us from his word?
I quoted in the last time I spoke from Philippians. I mean, just as an example, this Philippians chapter one and verse six, being confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. Now, if the Lord says he will perform it, don't you think we could stand on that for a life? How do you think the apostle Paul prayed for the Galatians when he said, my little children, of whom I am again in travail, that Christ be fully formed in you? Do you think he might have stood on such a thought, such a word as this? Of course, he wrote this himself, but I mean, if he had been in our day, surely he would have stood on such a thing. Do you understand what I'm saying?
Sometimes some of us older brothers, some of us older sisters, who have a burden for younger ones in the fellowship, if we could only get behind the scenes and stand on this kind of scripture and really not just ask the Lord, but stand on it, cut a way through. Do you understand? Declare over this life or that life or this family or that family that this word is going to be fulfilled. What about a church situation which gets more and more impossible till in the end, we're tempted to throw in the glove? What about taking I Corinthians chapter one and verse nine, Faithful is he that calleth you. God is faithful through whom ye are called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Don't you think that's a marvellous word? especially when you think of the Corinthian situation.
I just throw these open as illustrating this fact of the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. There were some other things I mentioned in that message to do with the weapons of our warfare. I spoke of worship, I spoke of declaration, and I spoke of executive action.
May I take this word first? You all understand prayer, I take it. That's no problem with anyone. It just means pouring out. Alright? Don't be artificial in the way you pray. Just be yourself. Only remember, lift up your voice so we can hear. What's the point of you praying if I can't hear? You might as well go home. And I might as well go home. Here I am sitting somewhere in some corner. How can I say amen to it? It might as well be a tongue. I can't understand what you're saying. So when you are being normal and yourself, just remember, we do need to hear you. So lift up your voice.
Don't pray into your hands like this. There's some people who are extraordinary. They're so nervous that when they finally get through, they bury their head.
I can't hear. As we, some of us, get older, we get harder of hearing, and it's extremely irritating. And then the enemy tempts us to feel that we'd like to bash the person who’s…
Because we can't understand, we feel that, well, they're taking up. All this time, I can't even hear them. So remember, we need to hear you speak up, but be natural. Don't be artificial. Sometimes you can tell where some people come from by the way they play.
I used to hear people start off very slowly, and then suddenly they go. I always felt they were like a propeller aircraft on the end of a runway. Sort of you could hear the engines whirring up and then they were off! and up and up and up! And then suddenly! it's all over. It's the Pentecostal way of praying.
A certain Pentecostal way of praying. I'm not saying anything against them. I'm just saying that I can tell immediately, oh, So-and-So is from such and such a group amongst the Pentecostal. And then when I used to hear this kind of praying, We pray, o Lord, you will hear us. As one of my brothers said, you could write a letter between each word.
Now, our brother, Mr. Sparks, he prayed like that, but his was totally normal and natural to him. But a whole lot of people decided that was the natural way to pray.
So then you've got all these people hemming and hawing and very slow, when actually were very volatile people. So it became artificial. Do you understand what I'm trying to say? Don't copy anybody, only copy their faith, copy their following of the Lord Jesus. Be yourself, but speak up so that we can hear. Remember, prayer is pouring out. Now, this you can pour out your heart sometimes. It's in one sense, I may put it very badly, it's a hit-and-miss affair, prayer, because you're pouring out your heart.
And you should always remember what C.T. Studd said in this connection. Why ask the Lord for an egg if you can ask for an elephant? In other words, ask big. And if the Lord says no, you'll get something.
This was C. T. Studd's way of approaching prayer, just poured out your heart. Amy Carmichael said, the Lord has three ways of dealing with prayer, but he always deals with it in one of three ways. He either says, Yes or he says, No, or he says, Wait.
Now, this is prayer. This is pouring out. Let it be fervent. Don't be afraid of fervour. Don't get emotional. I don't know what it is about some folks. They feel as soon as they start to pray, they've got to start weeping. A weepy kind of like this kind of thing. I don't know what it is, but it seems kind of, as if somehow by getting all weepy, the Lord will say, ohh. But you know, the Lord's not taken in by that kind of thing. If you're going to weep, weep. Have a good weep, and the Lord will see your heart, and he'll take it as prayer.
Because the Lord has a bottle into which he puts all these tears. But don't think that you can get all emotional as if by so doing you're squeezing something out of some Victorian father who really doesn't want to yield to you. It really reveals insecurity in our relationship with the Lord. Be normal. Be fervent in prayer.
Now, what is declaration? Declaration is something more. If you look in the word in Psalm 145, the 145th psalm and verse four.
One generation shall laud thy works to another and shall declare thy mighty acts. Okay, verse six. And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts and I will declare thy greatness. Now just think for a moment.
You had this all the way through the psalms. That's only just one example. This word is everywhere through the psalms. It’s one of the favourite phrases of the psalmist. I will declare your mercy. I will declare your greatness. I will declare your mighty acts. What does it mean? What does it mean? It certainly doesn't mean, I will ask the Lord about your mighty acts. I will ask the Lord to reveal his greatness. What does it mean when you say you declare? It means you announce something, you proclaim something, you declare something. Do you understand? So when you make a declaration, you're not asking. It's not hit-and-miss. You're taking something which is absolutely established and true.
Now, let me explain. Supposing we have a time of prayer and we are facing a very terrible situation, and as we pray through, someone gets up, shall I say, I myself am burdened to so do, and I say, oh Lord, I want to declare here you are absolutely faithful. Even if we are faithless, you remain faithful. Here is a declaration.
The enemy cannot stand before such a declaration. Why? Because he knows its truth. He is the father of lies. And once truth is declared, he can do nothing about it. It's the sword of the spirit. You could say something like this, I declare, or we declare together your throne, O Lord, is forever and ever.
You understand? What you have now established in the unseen, in the unseen, all around us, what you've established is something that they already know. The throne of God is forever.
And in spite of the fact that they are using every weapon to try and frustrate that throne of God, the fact of the matter is most of those weapons are used against us to make us feel that, somehow or other, the throne of God is not ruling in this situation. Do you understand?
The mighty acts of the Lord. Think of the mighty acts of the Lord. I'll give you a few straight away. Here is one mighty act of the Lord, the finished work of the Lord Jesus. To declare the finished work of the Lord Jesus its completeness.
Here is another one. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus. That is a thing Satan cannot abide. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus from the dead. Here is another mighty act, the ascension of the Lord Jesus to the right hand of God.
All authority and power in heaven and on earth being placed in his hand. Here is the mighty acts of the Lord. I mean, I could go on and on. We could talk about other mighty acts that he's done in converting us, in saving us. It is a mighty act to save us. Don't you think so?
I don't know about you, but I can only say that to save me is an unbelievably mighty act in my eyes. Maybe not in yours, but in my eyes, that someone could have got hold of me and saved me, delivered me from the power of darkness and transferred me into the kingdom of God's dear Son, I call that a mighty act. Nobody else could do it. You can go to university and get two or three degrees, won't get you into the kingdom of God, even if they're theological.
I mean, you could do all kinds of things. You can walk around the whole earth prostrating yourself for every part of it and fingering the rosary at the same time, but it won't get you anywhere, won't get you into the kingdom of God. That's a mighty act, to declare a mighty act. It is tremendous.
So I think this question of declaration, how do we use the word of God as the sword of the spirit? First we have to have the word of God made real to us in a particular situation. But we also need to learn when is the right time to declare something.
We turn from prayer and request, we turn even from seeking to establish something, to declaration.
Actually, declaration is when you turn the key in the lock, either unlocking something or locking something up. That is the point at which it's done so often. Now, worship and praise is yet another way that, interestingly, we use the word of God as the sword of the spirit.
Why? Because when you worship the Lord, there are no maybes and perhaps about it. You cannot worship the Lord in this way and say, o Lord, we come into your presence. We want to thank you that maybe you have saved us. Maybe one day we shall be in the kingdom of God. Perhaps we shall know your grace. There’s no worship in it.
But when you come into the presence of God and you say, Lord, you have saved us. We who are unworthy sinners, hopeless, unable to save ourselves. By your grace, you have saved us and joined us to yourself and brought us into your kingdom and made us members of your body. Here is worship. It's pouring out. It's all facts. The enemy cannot bear it.
That's why a hymn sung in the right place or a scripture sung in the right place in a time of prayer can be a releasing. All of a sudden, you know you've got the victory in the moment. Why? Because it's not just a song. It is something that we are worshipping the Lord. Now, worship, as you all know, is much more than praise.
Praising the Lord is tremendous. Worship requires your whole being. But what a marvellous thing it is when we learn in prayer warfare to turn from request or turn from actual warfare, to praise and worship. And when that happens, again, it is the turn of the lock. Executive action is something which only the Lord can lead. And I believe it is a special, let me put it this way, it is the special prerogative of those the Lord has called to leadership that they should be able to learn how to take action.
What is executive action? It is actually taking some step by faith in a matter. I don't know how to explain. I mean, I always told you, and I told you in the conference about Fraser of Lisuland. He's the perfect example of this. I remember a dear sister in Senegal, which is one of the most difficult areas of West Africa. Muslim, 98 point something percent Muslim.
Unbelievably difficult area. I remember these two sisters. One had asthma every night. The other one had to pray for the other one that she would live to see the next day. These two called on their own in this place, stood for God. They had a clinic. They were medicals. They had a clinic. And all kinds of things began to happen in the clinic. And unbelievably, folks began to find the Lord.
Just a few, but they found the Lord. And then they wanted to have a meeting place. And they asked the government could they have a meeting place. They knew they would be turned down unless the Lord somehow worked a miracle. And they got on their knees and they got this word from the Lord that he would do this thing for them. And they stood on it together and prayed for it together. And they got permission from the government, and the government wanted to know the exact area.
Remember, there's a lot of ground in these things. It's open waste. The grass was up to here. And these two sisters felt, after prayer with these few Senegalese believers, that they should use the soles of their feet and go round and track a little piece. And this is what they did. Through the grass, it was up to here. And then the one with asthma got lost. At least that's what the other one, whose name was Ruth, she was a big matronly lady, as tall as me. Still, the grass was above her head.
And when she found the other one was no longer with her, she didn't know what to do, and she called out to her, where are you? She never heard any answer. But after a while, she saw a waving of the grass.
So she yelled at her, and the other one said, it’s alright, it’s alright. I just have a conviction we need to take a little more ground than we have.
So she said, I beetled off round this way and took this area. The government gave them precisely what the other one had walked on. Not only the ground, but the — it's just a little example of executive action. Of course, you could say, oh, those crazy women, they're nuts. Trust women to do something like that. I mean, there you are. They needed a few brothers there to sit on them.
They took this little bit of ground and this other sister wandered off round there just like that. So stupid. Whatever bit her? But it's interesting. She took something. It was executive action. She actually took something. Do you understand?
I remember on one occasion, the most extraordinary thing in Halford House. We had prayed many times for the market garden at the back of the house, a big old garden which used to belong to the house, but had been seeded away. And we had prayed, but then nothing happened and we all forgot about it. And then one day, the old brother called Dan Archer, upon which there was a whole great radio series in Britain for many, many years lumbered down. He was an old Derbyshire man. And he said to me, Lance, I want to have a word with you. So I went across to him, I said, What is it, Dan? He said, Well, he said, I'm getting too old now. He said, I want to sell this market garden, and I want you to have it for a ridiculous price. So I looked at him and I said, How much? And he said, 12,000 pounds. This is downtown. It's quite a few acres in there. Downtown Richmond. And I looked at him and I said, 12,000? I thought, Well, we haven't got a penny of that. I thought to myself, I didn't tell him.
So he said, Well, you need a few days to think about it, so you can go to the bank and raise a loan. Oh, no, I said, Dan, we don't raise loans.
We'll give it to you. Oh, he said, okay, well, how are you going to give it to me? I said, I’ll give it to you in cash. Cash, is it? So I said, I thought to myself, Oh, dear, what have I said? But I said, Well, you know what I mean, I said. But now, that night we had a prayer meeting at Halford house. Everybody was present and we owed already on the building of the big room. We were finishing the big room. It was near completion, and we knew that we owed something on this. So I thought to myself, said there’s no point raising this in the fellowship, because a whole lot of people said, this is wrong and we've got to settle the other. We haven't got any money.
We must settle the other first. Can’t buy that piece of ground up there. 12,000 pounds! To my great amazement, everyone went to prayer. Everyone asked the Lord, show us what it meant. And when I finally said, What do you all feel? There was a unanimous feeling throughout. We take it.
So then I was so surprised that everybody felt — I said, you do realise we have no money, and then we've got to pay the other first. Yes, everybody chorused. And then one dear old sister said she regretted it so much afterwards but she couldn't help it. She put into words what many Christians feel. She said, Well, let's trust the Lord first, and if he doesn't provide, we'll raise a loan.
So I said to my dear sister, That's not the way we operate, and said, We either trust the Lord and he does provide or he doesn't.
And then we asked everybody, Please, will you all keep your mouth shut? If this gets out, this piece of ground is worth an enormous amount of money. Four, five, six times this sum. And I'm talking about ten years or more ago, 15 years ago. I said, please, you must all promise not to phone anybody, not to write to anybody, and not to tell anybody about this matter. It's only for prayer. Next morning, a dear sister phoned me from about 100 miles away, and she said, I want to talk with you about the market garden. So I said to her, How do you know about the market garden? So she said, Well, I know about the market garden. And she mentioned another sister. Well, I said that sister should be ashamed of herself. I said, we have all sworn ourselves to secrecy. None of us was going to speak about this matter. And I said, I'm very, very surprised that she has broken the promise that she has made along with the rest of us. No, said this sister, Just wait. She said, I had a dream in the night. I saw a house and a garden. And she said, I had a funny feeling because something blotted the house out that it was to do with the garden. Then she said, I woke up, and the Lord clearly said to me, don't buy the house, buy the garden. The market garden. She had been phoning all over the south of England to find somebody with a market garden. And when I phoned So-and-So she said, oh, Lance must have told you about it.
So she said, No, he hasn't said a word. Oh, said this, sister, then I can't say anything. You better phone him. The amazing thing is, we had 12,000 pounds in cash within 8 hours that day. By the end of that day, in our hands was 12,000 pounds in cash to pay for that market garden.
Extraordinary. It was executive action. In some strange way, after all that prayer warfare of years before, which we'd forgotten, had all died down, when I said to Dan Archer, Oh, yes, we'll pay for it and then I almost could hear myself. I must tell you one other thing, that after I'd said to him, we'll give it to you in cash, I went back into the study alone. I never told anybody. And I got on my knees because I was so dazed at what I'd said. And I thought, now we're in the soup.
Where in the world is this kind of money going to come? And I got on my knees and I said, Oh, lord, please deliver me from this thing if I'd made a foolish mistake and help me just to go and tell Dan. And quite, not in an audible voice, but in my spirit, the Lord said, You shall have it.
But still then we had the battle in the company to get over, and the Lord made them one. You see, there's something about executive action. When your lips express something, do you understand? Even though we're very frail and poor people, this is what we mean by turning the key in lock.
So now you have these ways in which the Lord leads us in prayer. In these matters. May the Lord help you, because I have a feeling the Lord is allowing all kinds of situations with his children. We're moving rapidly into the last phase of world history. How near we are to the Lord's coming, we don't know. But one thing is very clear, and that is that in the atmosphere there is an enormous increase of spiritual activity, demonic activity. Saints are more worn out now than they've ever been before. They feel a kind of antagonism in the very air.
And you and I, we are going to have to learn how to deal with things in prayer. There may come a day when we won't be able to preach outside of the walls. We may not be able to fulfil any form of outreach, even teaching. We may not be even able to publish. But prayer, they can't stop us.
If we learn how to pray, we have a weapon in our hands that will enable the saints of God to go right through to the coming of the Lord Jesus and to hear that well done good and faithful servant. May the Lord help us in this. That's my prayer and I hope that these few words will help you. It's never good to talk about prayer before we're going to pray because it tends to make us all feel a bit self conscious. But the fact of the matter is we have many situations developing and I believe the Lord's in it. He is actually allowing situations to develop that can only be touched by prayer.
And may the Lord teach us how to touch those things together with all our weakness, how to touch them for the sake of our Lord Jesus.
