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Prayers of St Paul-William H. Griffith Thomas · Israel: A Prince with God

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  Speaker 1: Chapter one of the Prayers of Saint Paul. This is
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  Speaker 1: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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  Speaker 1: Recording by Mary Anne Spiegel. The Prayers of Saint Paul
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  Speaker 1: by Reverend W. H. Griffith Thomas, Chapter one. Grace and Holiness. Now,
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  Speaker 1: God Himself and our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ
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  Speaker 1: direct our way unto you, and the Lord make you
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  Speaker 1: to increase and abound in love, one toward another and
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  Speaker 1: toward all men, even as we do toward you. To
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  Speaker 1: the end, he may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness
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  Speaker 1: before God, even our Father, at the coming of our
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  Speaker 1: Lord Jesus Christ, with all his saints. First Thessalonians, Chapter three,
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  Speaker 1: Verses eleven, two thirteen. There are few more precious subjects
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  Speaker 1: for meditation and imitation than the prayers and intercessions of
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  Speaker 1: the Great Apostle. He was a man of action because
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  Speaker 1: he was first and foremost a man of prayer. To him,
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  Speaker 1: both aspects of the well known motto were true. To
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  Speaker 1: pray is to labor, and to labor is to pray.
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  Speaker 1: There is no argument for or justification of prayer, not
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  Speaker 1: even an explanation. It is assumed to be the natural
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  Speaker 1: and inevitable expression of spiritual life. Most of the apostles
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  Speaker 1: prayers of which we have a record are concerned with
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  Speaker 1: other people rather than with himself, and they thus reveal
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  Speaker 1: to us indirectly but very really, what Saint Paul felt
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  Speaker 1: to be the predominant needs of the spiritual life. In
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  Speaker 1: this series of studies, we propose to look at some
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  Speaker 1: of these prayers and to consider their direct bearing upon
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  Speaker 1: our own lives. Taking the epistles in what is generally
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  Speaker 1: regarded to be their chronological order, we naturally commence with
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  Speaker 1: the prayer found in First Thessalonians, Chapter three, Verses eleven,
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  Speaker 1: two thirteen. In this passage we have what is not
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  Speaker 1: often found, a prayer for himself associated with prayer for others,
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  Speaker 1: one his prayer for himself verse eleven. Let us notice
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  Speaker 1: who it is to whom he prays, God himself and
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  Speaker 1: our Father and our Lord, Jesus Christ. The association of
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  Speaker 1: Christ with God as one to whom prayer is addressed
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  Speaker 1: is of course very familiar to us. But it ought
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  Speaker 1: never to be forgotten that when the Apostle penned these words.
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  Speaker 1: The association was both striking and significant. For consider, these
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  Speaker 1: words were written within twenty five years of our Lord's
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  Speaker 1: earthly life and ascension, and yet here is this quiet
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  Speaker 1: but clear association of him with the Father, thus testifying
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  Speaker 1: in a very remarkable and convincing way to his Godhead
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  Speaker 1: as the hearer of prayer. And this fact is still
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  Speaker 1: more noticeable in the original. For Saint Paul in this
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  Speaker 1: verse breaks one of the familiar rules of grammar, whether
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  Speaker 1: of Greek or English. It is well known that whenever
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  Speaker 1: there are two nouns to a verb, the verb must
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  Speaker 1: be in the plural. And yet here the Greek word
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  Speaker 1: direct is in the singular, notwithstanding the fact that there
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  Speaker 1: are two subjects, the Father and Christ. The same feature
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  Speaker 1: is to be found in Second Thessalonians, Chapter two, verse seventeen.
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  Speaker 1: It is evident from this what Saint Paul thought of
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  Speaker 1: our Lord Jesus Christ. And it is in such simple
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  Speaker 1: indirect testimonies that we find the strongest and most convincing
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  Speaker 1: proofs that the early Church believed in the deity of
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  Speaker 1: our Lord. Let us consider what it is for which
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  Speaker 1: he prays direct our way. He asks for guidance. There
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  Speaker 1: had been certain difficulties in the way of his return
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  Speaker 1: to Theasalonaika. He had been hindered, and now asks that
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  Speaker 1: God would open the way for him to go back
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  Speaker 1: to his beloved friends. Nothing was outside the apostle's relationship
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  Speaker 1: to God, and nothing was too small about which to
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  Speaker 1: pray to God. As it has been well said, nothing
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  Speaker 1: is so small that we do not honor God by
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  Speaker 1: asking his guidance of it, or insult him by taking
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  Speaker 1: it out of his hands. The need of guidance is
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  Speaker 1: a very real one in every Christian life, and the
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  Speaker 1: certainty of guidance is just as real. The steps of
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  Speaker 1: a good man are ordered by the Lord Psalm thirty seven,
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  Speaker 1: verse twenty three. And this is as true now as ever.
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  Speaker 1: I will guide thee with mine eye Psalm thirty two,
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  Speaker 1: verse eight. Is a promise for all time, and we
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  Speaker 1: may confidently seek guidance in prayer whenever it is needed.
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  Speaker 1: The answer to our prayer will come in a threefold way.
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  Speaker 1: God guides us by his Holy Spirit, reigning supreme within
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  Speaker 1: our hearts. He also guides us by the counsels and
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  Speaker 1: principles of His word. These two agree in one for
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  Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit never guides contrary to the Word. And
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  Speaker 1: then in the third place, he guides us by His providence,
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  Speaker 1: so that when the Word, the Spirit, and Providence in
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  Speaker 1: daily circumstances agree, we may be sure that the guidance
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  Speaker 1: has been given. Two his prayer for others, Verses twelve
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  Speaker 1: and thirteen. Consider the immediate request he makes, the Lord,
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  Speaker 1: make you to increase and abound in love, one toward another,
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  Speaker 1: and toward all men. He asks for love on their behalf,
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  Speaker 1: that God would grant them this greatest of all gifts,
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  Speaker 1: the very bond of peace and of all virtues, without
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  Speaker 1: which whosoever liveth is dead before him. Love in the
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  Speaker 1: New Testament is no mere sentiment, for it involves self sacrifice.
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  Speaker 1: It is not limited to emotion. It expresses itself in energy.
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  Speaker 1: It does not evaporate in feeling. It expresses itself in fact.
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  Speaker 1: Love is of God, for God is Love, and the Apostle,
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  Speaker 1: in praying this prayer asks for the supreme gift of
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  Speaker 1: their lives. The measure of the gift is noticeable, increase
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  Speaker 1: and abound in love. The increase has to do with
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  Speaker 1: the inner life. Their hearts be more and more enlarged
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  Speaker 1: in capacity to possess this love. The abounding has to
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  Speaker 1: do with their outward life and points to the overflow
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  Speaker 1: of that love towards others. Consider too, the objects of
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  Speaker 1: this love toward one another and toward all men. There
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  Speaker 1: was first of all the special love to be shown
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  Speaker 1: toward Christians, acording to the New Commandment. John chapter thirteen,
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  Speaker 1: verse thirty four. In the New Testament, the emphasis is
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  Speaker 1: laid again and again upon brother love or love of
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  Speaker 1: the brethren and the brotherhood. This was something entirely new
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  Speaker 1: in the world's history, a new tie or bond, the
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  Speaker 1: union of hearts in Christ Jesus. To see how these
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  Speaker 1: Christians loved one another was proof of this new affection
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  Speaker 1: based upon the New Commandment. But further, their love was
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  Speaker 1: to extend beyond their fellow Christians, even to all men,
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  Speaker 1: just as we have in Saint Peter's epistle in that
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  Speaker 1: long chain of graces, first love of the brethren, and
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  Speaker 1: then love towards all tewod Peter, chapter one, verse seven.
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  Speaker 1: And yet it may perhaps be asked, how is it
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  Speaker 1: possible for us to love everybody? What about those who
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  Speaker 1: are not lovely and lovable? How can we love these,
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  Speaker 1: it may help us to remember that there is a
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  Speaker 1: clear distinction between loving and liking. While it is impossible
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  Speaker 1: to like everybody, it is assuredly possible to love everybody.
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  Speaker 1: A mother loves her wayward son, but she cannot like him,
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  Speaker 1: for there is practically nothing alike between them. In the
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  Speaker 1: same way, we may love with the love of compassion,
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  Speaker 1: if we cannot love with the love of complacency, and
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  Speaker 1: thus fulfill our Lord's command and realize the answer to
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  Speaker 1: the apostles prayers. This we may be perfectly certain is
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  Speaker 1: the supreme thing, and our Christianity will count for nothing
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  Speaker 1: in the eyes of men if it is not permeated
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  Speaker 1: and energized through and through with active, wholehearted christ like love.
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  Speaker 1: Consider the ultimate purpose he expresses to the end he
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  Speaker 1: may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness. The love for
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  Speaker 1: which he prays is to be expressed in holiness. The
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  Speaker 1: meaning of holiness throughout the Old and New Testaments is separateness.
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  Speaker 1: The idea is that of a life separated unto God,
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  Speaker 1: dedicated consecrated to His service. Wherever the words holiness, sanctification,
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  Speaker 1: and their associated and cognate expressions are found, the root
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  Speaker 1: idea is always that of separation rather than of purification.
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  Speaker 1: It involves the whole hearted and entire dedication to the
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  Speaker 1: life of God. The cognate word saint does not strictly
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  Speaker 1: mean one who is pure, but one who belongs to God.
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  Speaker 1: The sphere of this holiness is to be in your hearts.
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  Speaker 1: It is always to be noticed that in scripture the
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  Speaker 1: heart includes the intellect, the emotions, and the will. In
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  Speaker 1: a word, it is the center of our moral and
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  Speaker 1: spiritual being. And when this is understood we can see
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  Speaker 1: at once the point and importance of the heart being holy.
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  Speaker 1: For it is only another way of saying that our
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  Speaker 1: entire being is to be separated from all else in
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  Speaker 1: order to be possessed by and consecrated to God. The
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  Speaker 1: standard of holiness is also brought before us in this prayer.
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  Speaker 1: Establish your hearts unblameable in holiness, the apostle praise, that
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  Speaker 1: they may be steadfast, not weak and vacillating. The great
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  Speaker 1: need was for solidity and steadfastness as in the present day,
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  Speaker 1: For tis only when the heart is established by grace
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  Speaker 1: and in holiness that it can in any true sense
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  Speaker 1: serve God. This emphasis on a fixed or established heart
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  Speaker 1: is brought before us several times in Holy scripture c. F.
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  Speaker 1: Psalm fifty seven, verse seven, Psalma hundred and eight, verse one,
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  Speaker 1: Psalma hundred and twelve, verse seven, Hebrews Chapter thirteen, verse nine,
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  Speaker 1: and steadfast hearts will be unblameable hearts hearts that are
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  Speaker 1: not blameworthy. A clear distinction is to be drawn between
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  Speaker 1: unblameable hearts and unblemished hearts. A little child may perform
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  Speaker 1: a task which, in the result is full of blemishes,
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  Speaker 1: though the child, having done his best, is entirely without blame.
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  Speaker 1: In like manner, though the believer is not free from blemish,
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  Speaker 1: it is nevertheless possible for him to live free from blame.
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  Speaker 1: This is the meaning of the Apostle and the reason
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  Speaker 1: of his prayer. In all this we can see the
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  Speaker 1: close connection between love and holiness. When our hearts are
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  Speaker 1: filled to overflowing with the love of God to us
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  Speaker 1: and of our love to Him, the inevitable result is holiness,
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  Speaker 1: a heart separated unto God, strengthened with all might and
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  Speaker 1: ready unto every good work. Consider the great incentive he
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  Speaker 1: urges before God, even our Father. At the coming of
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  Speaker 1: our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. The Apostle
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  Speaker 1: puts before his readers the great future to which they
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  Speaker 1: were to look, and he urges upon them this love
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  Speaker 1: and this holiness in the light of the coming of
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  Speaker 1: our Lord Jesus Christ, and all that it will mean
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  Speaker 1: to the people of God. Saint Paul draws a wonderful
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  Speaker 1: picture of that day. In a very few words, he speaks,
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  Speaker 1: first of all, of God's presence there before God, even
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  Speaker 1: our Father. Then he reminds us of the presence of
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  Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus Christ, and last of all, he tells
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  Speaker 1: us that the saints will be there also, thus surrounded
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  Speaker 1: by our fellow Christians, and in the presence of our
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  Speaker 1: God and Savior, we shall see as we are seen,
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  Speaker 1: and know as we are known, with hearts unblameable in holiness. This, then,
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  Speaker 1: is what the Apostle prays for his beloved friends in Thessalonika.
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  Speaker 1: Abounding love and perfect holiness. This is Christianity and the
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  Speaker 1: normal Christian life. How simple it all is, summed up
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  Speaker 1: in the words love and holiness, and yet how searching
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  Speaker 1: it is. The simplest things are often the most difficult,
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  Speaker 1: And while it is possible for the believer to do
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  Speaker 1: great things and to shine in great crises. It is
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  Speaker 1: not always so easy to go on loving day by
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  Speaker 1: day and to continue growing in grace and holiness until
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  Speaker 1: the heart becomes so established in grace that our Christianity
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  Speaker 1: becomes the permanent character of our life. Yet this is
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  Speaker 1: God's purpose for each one of us, and the fact
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  Speaker 1: that the Apostle prayed for this is a clear proof
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  Speaker 1: that an answer was expected and that the purpose can
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  Speaker 1: be realized. End of chapter one, Chapter two of the
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  Speaker 1: Prayers of Saint Paul by W. H. Griffith Thomas. This
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Marianne.
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  Speaker 1: Chapter two Consecration and preservation and the very God of Peace,
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  Speaker 1: sanctify you Holy, And I pray God, your whole spirit
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  Speaker 1: and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming
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  Speaker 1: of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you,
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  Speaker 1: who also will do it first? Thessalonians Chapter five, verses
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  Speaker 1: twenty three twenty four. As we consider these prayers of
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  Speaker 1: the Apostle, we become increasingly aware of what he felt
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  Speaker 1: to be the most important elements in the Christian life.
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  Speaker 1: The prayers all have reference to Christian living, and whether
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  Speaker 1: we think of the character of the life portrayed or
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  Speaker 1: the standard held up in them, we can readily see
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  Speaker 1: their intense practical value for daily living. We we may
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  Speaker 1: be pretty sure that those things for which he preyed
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  Speaker 1: on behalf of his converts were the things he regarded
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  Speaker 1: as most essential in Christian character and conduct. The prayer
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  Speaker 1: that now calls for consideration is that found in First Thessalonians,
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  Speaker 1: chapter five, verses twenty three to twenty four one. The
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  Speaker 1: petition he prays for their sanctification, sanctify you holy. As
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  Speaker 1: already noted, the root idea of sanctification and of its
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  Speaker 1: cognate expressions holiness, holy and the like is separation. We
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  Speaker 1: see this very clearly in connection with buildings or other
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  Speaker 1: things which are said to be wholly or sanctified. It
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  Speaker 1: is obvious that no thought of purification is applicable to
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  Speaker 1: buildings and inanimate objects. We must therefore understand sanctification in
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  Speaker 1: this case as equivalent to consecration. This is also the
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  Speaker 1: root meaning of the word sanctify in relation to persons,
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  Speaker 1: and it may be questioned whether the word as used
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  Speaker 1: in the original ever really includes in it the idea
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  Speaker 1: of purification. The latter thought has another set of words altogether.
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  Speaker 1: The apostle therefore prays that they may be consecrated, set
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  Speaker 1: apart from all else, for the possession and service of God.
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  Speaker 1: This meaning may be aptly illustrated from our Lord's words
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  Speaker 1: about himself. For their sakes, I consecrate myself so that
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  Speaker 1: they also may be consecrated through the truth. John chapter seventeen,
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  Speaker 1: verse nineteen. The extent of this consecration is very noteworthy.
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  Speaker 1: Sanctify you wholly spelled w h l l Y. The
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  Speaker 1: word rendered wholly is used in connection with the Old
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  Speaker 1: Testament sacrifices in the Septuagant and implies the entire and
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  Speaker 1: complete separation of the offering. For the purpose intended, the
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  Speaker 1: Christian life must be wholly, entirely and unreservedly consecrated to God,
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  Speaker 1: no part being reserved or held back, but everything handed
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  Speaker 1: over and regarded as permanently and completely belonging to Him.
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  Speaker 1: He prays for their preservation, preserved blameless. The consecration is
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  Speaker 1: to be maintained in continual preservation in and for God.
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  Speaker 1: The consecration as an act is to be deepened into
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  Speaker 1: that attitude, so that day by day and hour by hour,
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  Speaker 1: the separated life may be maintained and preserved in readiness
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  Speaker 1: for every call that God may make. The extent of
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  Speaker 1: this preservation is also observable your whole spirit and soul
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  Speaker 1: and body. The spirit is that inmost part of our
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  Speaker 1: life which is related to God. The soul is the
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  Speaker 1: inner life, regarded in itself as the seat and sphere
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  Speaker 1: of intellect, heart, and will. The body is the outward
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  Speaker 1: vehicle and expression of the soul and spirit through which
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  Speaker 1: we are enabled to serve God. The order of these
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  Speaker 1: three should be observed. It is not, as we often
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  Speaker 1: say and sing in certain hymns, body, soul and spirit,
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  Speaker 1: but the very reverse spirit, soul and body. The apostle
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  Speaker 1: starts from within and works outward, thereby reminding us that
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  Speaker 1: if the spirit, or deepest part of our nature is
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  Speaker 1: wholly surrendered to God, this fact will express itself in
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  Speaker 1: every part of our nature, and we shall be consecrated wholly.
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  Speaker 1: What a searching requirement this is, and what a solemnity
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  Speaker 1: and responsibility it gives to life, whether in relation to
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  Speaker 1: God or in relation to man, whether for worship or work,
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  Speaker 1: character or conduct prayer, or practice. We are to be
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  Speaker 1: wholly consecrated and continually kept for the Master's use, that
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  Speaker 1: all My powers, with all their might in Thy soul
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  Speaker 1: glory may unite two. The prerequisite the God of Peace himself.
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  Speaker 1: The divine title associated with this prayer, as its definite
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  Speaker 1: presupposition and prerequisite, is very significant, as indeed is every
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  Speaker 1: title of God. There is always some special point of
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  Speaker 1: direct connection between the way in which God is addressed
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  Speaker 1: and the prayer that follows. In the present instance, the
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  Speaker 1: prayer for consecration and preservation is addressed to the God
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  Speaker 1: of Peace himself. The apostle lays special stress upon the
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  Speaker 1: fact that it is God himself who consecrates and keeps us.
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  Speaker 1: As with salvation, so with consecration it is and must
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  Speaker 1: be divine. The work is entirely beyond any mere human power.
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  Speaker 1: And while there is a truth in our frequent reference
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  Speaker 1: to consecration as something that we ourselves have to affect,
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  Speaker 1: it is far more scriptural and therefore much more helpful
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  Speaker 1: to endeavor to limit the idea of consecration to the
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  Speaker 1: divine side, and to think of it as an act
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  Speaker 1: of God to which the corresponding human act and attitude
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  Speaker 1: is that of dedication. It is God himself who separates us,
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  Speaker 1: marks us off as his own, and designates us for
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  Speaker 1: his use and service. It is God himself and no
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  Speaker 1: one else, for we are here brought into personal and
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  Speaker 1: blessed association with the divine power and grace. Further, God
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  Speaker 1: is described as the God of Peace, and we naturally
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  Speaker 1: ask what it means and why. Peace is thus associated
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  Speaker 1: with consecration and preservation. This title the God of Peace
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  Speaker 1: is found very frequently in the writings of Saint Paul,
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  Speaker 1: and it deserves care consideration. In each passage. There is
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  Speaker 1: a twofold piece in scripture, sometimes described as peace with
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  Speaker 1: God Romans chapter five, verse one, at others as the
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  Speaker 1: Peace of God Philippians chapter four, verse seven. They both
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  Speaker 1: have their source in the God of Peace Philippians Chapter four,
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  Speaker 1: verse nine. Peace is the result of reconciliation with God,
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  Speaker 1: our Lord made peace by the blood of his cross
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  Speaker 1: Colossians chapter one, verse twenty, and the acceptance of his
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  Speaker 1: atoning sacrifice through faith brings peace to the soul. This
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  Speaker 1: consciousness of reconciliation, in turn, causes a blessed sense of
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  Speaker 1: restfulness and peace to spring up in the heart, and
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  Speaker 1: thus we have the peace of God within us. That
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  Speaker 1: connection between peace and holiness is close and essential. It
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  Speaker 1: is impossible for anyone to understand consecration until they have
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  Speaker 1: experienced reconciliation. Holiness must be based on righteousness, and righteousness
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  Speaker 1: is only possible to those who have accepted the Lord
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  Speaker 1: Jesus as God's righteousness through faith. So long as there
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  Speaker 1: is any enmity in the heart, or even any uncertainty
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  Speaker 1: as to our acceptance in Christ Jesus, holiness is an impossibility.
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  Speaker 1: May not the forgetfulness of this fact be the cause
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  Speaker 1: of surprise and disappointment at Christian conventions from time to time?
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  Speaker 1: May it not be that many go to such gatherings
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  Speaker 1: longing to be made holy, who have not settled this
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  Speaker 1: question of their standing before God and their peace as
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  Speaker 1: the result of acceptance of Christ's atonement. To understand and
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: experience what holiness means before enjoying peace with God is
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: like trying to take a second step before attempting the first.
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: Only through peace can holiness come. And only as we
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: have blessed personal experience of God as the God of
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: peace can a prayer like this be answered. Three The
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: prospect unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Once again,
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: the Apostle prays with special reference to that glorious day
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: to which he was always looking and pointing his readers
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: as he looks forward to that day. He uses again
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: a favorite word, blameless, and suggests to us the great
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: and wonderful possibility of being so consecrated and preserved that
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: we may lead a blameless life day by day until
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: the coming of our Lord. Holiness is thus associated once
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: again with the great future. The Apostle finds in the
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: coming of the Lord one of the most potent reasons
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: why Christians should be consecrated and preserved. This close and
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: intimate connection between holiness and what we term the Second
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: Advent needs much stronger emphasis in daily living and in
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: church teaching than it often has in the present day.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: There is, in its way, nothing more power powerful as
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: a reason for holiness than the thought of the certainty
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: and imminence of the Lord's coming. Four. The promise faithful
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: is he that calleth you who also will do it?
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: Lest we should be tempted to think that so wonderful
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: a prayer could not be fulfilled in daily experience, the
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: Apostle adds this blessed assurance that God, who puts this
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: ideal before us, will enable us to realize it. The
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: promise is undoubted. Who also will do it what he
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: has promised? He is also able to perform if only
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: our hearts are right with him and are willing to say, yea,
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: let him take all. God will indeed consecrate and preserve
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: us blameless unto the end. The guarantee of this lies
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: in His divine faithfulness. Faithful is He that calleth you.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: We are touching the bedrock of divine revelation when we
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: conqu pemplate the faithfulness of God. This phrase is often
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: found in the New Testament. God is faithful, The Lord
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: is faithful. Faithful is he? This is a faithful saying.
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: If our hearts will only rest upon this, we shall
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: find in it not only the most exquisite joy and
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: assured peace, but also the ground of our perfect confidence
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: that He will accomplish his purposes in us and glorify
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: himself in our lives. It is well and necessary from
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: time to time to look at holiness from the human
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: point of view, and to see our duty and responsibility.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: But it is equally essential and important that we should
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: also dwell upon holiness, as in the passage before us,
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: from the divine standpoint, and keep well in view the
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: glorious realities of God's faithfulness, God's power, God's grace. To
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: be occupied unduly with self in the matter of holiness
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: is to become self centered, morbid, fearful, and weak. To
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: be occupied with God is to be RESTful, quiet, strong, confident,
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: and ever growing in grace. End of chapter two, Chapter
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: three of the Prayers of Saint Paul by W. H.
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: Griffith Thomas. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: recording by Marianne Chapter three, Approbation and Blessing. Wherefore also
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: we pray always for you that Our God would count
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: you worthy of this calling and fulfill all the good
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power,
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: glorified in you and ye in Him, according to the
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Second Thessalonians,
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: Chapter one, Verses eleven and twelve. Two words sum up
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: the Christian life, grace and glory, and both are associated
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: with the two comings of the Lord Jesus Christ, grace,
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: particularly with the first coming, and glory especially with the second.
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: This twofold aspect of Christianity comes before us in the
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: prayer of the Apostle, which we now have to consider
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: one the reason of the prayer. This thought is brought
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: before us very clearly in the revised version, to which
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: end we also pray in the authorized version. It is
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: wherefore also we pray following the original. The revised version
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: refers definitely to what has preceded. The whole context is
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: a reason for the prayer which now follows. The triumphant
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: future is part of the reason of his prayer, when
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: he shall come to be glorified in his saints and
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: to be marveled at in all them that believe. In
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: that day, the Apostle looks forward to the crowning day
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: that is coming, and bases upon this glorious hope. The
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: prayer that follows the testing present is another part of
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: the reason for this prayer. The Church of Thessalonaika was
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: suffering persecutions and afflictions and was passing through the fire
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: of testing Verses four to seven. And it was this
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: fact and their then existing severe experiences that prompted the
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: apostle to pray for them, as well as to express
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: the hope concerning their deliverance from the furnace of affliction. Thus,
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: present and future are blended in his thought and form
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: the ground or reason of his intercession. Two the nature
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: of the prayer. Two elements sum up this beautiful prayer.
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: He asks for the divine approval on their life, that
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: God may count you worthy of your calling. God's calling
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: is his summons into his kingdom. The kingdom may be
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: regarded both as present and future. In the Gospels, it
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: would seem as though the calling were limited to his
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: invitation or appeal, while in the epistles it appears to
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: include the believer's response to the call. For this reason,
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: it is sometimes spoken of as God's calling, and at
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: others as in this case your calling. The thought of
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: a divine calling responded to by the believer is prominent
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: in the teachings of Saint Paul and should be carefully studied.
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: Even in these epistles. To the Thessalonians, the idea is
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: frequently found first Thessalonians, Chapter two, verse twelve, Chapter four,
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: verse seven, Chapter five, verse twenty four. Second Thessalonians Chapter two,
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: Verse fourteen, count qu you worthy is a notable phrase
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: repeated from verse five, counted worthy of the Kingdom of
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: God seven times. This verb is used by Saint Paul.
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: As we ponder it, we catch something of the wondrous
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: glory of our life as contemplated by the King of kings. Surely,
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: it must be said, the believer can never be worthy,
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: and this is true if he is considered in himself.
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: But just as it is with justification, which means accounted,
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: just so with sanctification, by the unspeakable grace of God,
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: we are actually counted worthy. Hooker's well known words about
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: justification may be quoted in this connection as illustrating the
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: thought of worthiness in sanctification. God doth justify the believing man,
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: yet not for the worthiness of his belief, but for
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: his worthiness who is believed. So we may say, God
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: doth count the believing man worthy, yet not for any
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: personal worthiness, but for the worthiness which is wrought by grace.
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: We must, however, not fail to notice that the believer
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: is responsible for his use of grace, and that the
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: very thought of God counting us worthy has included in
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: it the thought of scrutiny, with a view to decision.
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: He seeks the divine blessing on their life and fulfill
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: every desire of goodness and every work of faith with power. This,
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: which is the rendering of the revised version, seems on
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: the whole the more intelligible and appropriate. It means all
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: that goodness can desire and all that faith can affect.
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: It blends together the two ideas of aspiration and activity,
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: the aspiration of goodness and the activity of trust. And
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: it prays that God would fulfill with power or powerfully
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: every aspiration that comes from goodness and every activity that
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: springs from faith. Just as in the familiar words of
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: the collect for Easter Day, God first puts into our
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: mind's good desires, and then, by his continual help, we
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: are enabled to bring the same to good effect. By
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: his holy inspiration, we think those things that are good,
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: and by his merciful guiding we perform the same. Three
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: the consequences of the prayer. Notice the twofold consequence here stated.
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: He expects that God will be glorified in us glory
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: in the New Testament, And indeed the whole Bible is
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: the outshining of splendor, and the apostle seeks, in answer
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: to prayer, that Christ may reveal in our lives the
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: glory of His grace. This includes both our present and
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: future lives. Christ is to be manifested by and glorified
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: in us here, and He will be manifested by and
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: glorified in us hereafter Verse ten. What an unspeakable privilege
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: and what a profound responsibility lie in this simple fact
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: that Christ is to shine forth from our lives, and
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: that men around us are to see something of Christ
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: as they associate with us. One of the most beautiful
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: testimonies ever given to a Christian was that of a poor, dying,
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: outcast girl to a lady who had befriended her. I
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: have not found it hard to think about God since
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: I knew you. He also expects that we shall be
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: glorified in Christ. This is in a way more wonderful. Still,
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: there is to be a reciprocal glory, and actually marvelous
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: though it seems, we are to have our share of
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: glory in Christ. This again has its application to the
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: present as well as to the future, For every life
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: that is loyal to Christ is glorified in union and
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: communion with Him, and in the great future it will
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: be seen and known on every hand. Who have been
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: faithful to the Lord their Master. Then shall the righteous
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: shine forth as stars in the kingdom of their Father. Four.
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: The guarantee of the prayer. The Apostle scarcely ever prayed
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: without reminding himself and his readers of the secret, whereby
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: prayer is answered accordingly. He closes this prayer with a
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: reminder that the guarantee of its fulfillment is the grace
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: of God, according to the grace of our God and
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus Christ, God is the source of all grace.
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: How Lovingly, the Apostle speaks of our God and our
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: Lord Jesus in this verse. Elsewhere in his epistles we
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: also find this appropriating phrase our God, First Thessalonians, Chapter two,
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: verse two, Chapter three, verse nine, First Corinthians, Chapter five,
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: verse eleven. As in the still more personal phrase my God,
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: which we find about seven times in his writing, Saint
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: Paul expresses his consciousness of personal possession and the blessed
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: reality of fellowship with God. This God is our God,
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: as a Psalmist says, Christ is the channel of grace,
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus Christ being associated with God in this
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: connection is a reminder that it is the grace of
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: our Lord Jesus Christ as much as the grace of
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: our God. He meditates grace to us, and through faith
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: in Christ, we are linked to God as the God
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: of all grace. What a cheer and inspiration it is
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: to have the assurance and guarantee that even a prayer
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: like this, with its high standard and far reaching possibilities,
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: can and will be answered. Christianity provides not only an appeal,
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: but a dynamic. He who bids enables, he who calls provides.
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: The Gospel of Jesus Christ is at once a precept,
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: a promise, a provision, and a power. The religions of
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: the world often tell us to be good, but it
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: is left for Christianity to proclaim that He died to
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: make us good. As a result, the Christian can say,
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: with Augustine, give what thou commandest, and then command what
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: thou wilt. That is, only give me the spiritual power,
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: and then I can do anything that thou requirest of me.
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: As the Psalmist cried, I will run in the path
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: of thy commandments when thou hast set my heart at liberty.
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: Thus the Christian life is at once a life of
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: grace and a life of glory. First grace, then glory.
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: No grace, No glory, more grace, more glory. If grace,
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: then glory. Grace tis a charming sound, harmonious to the ear.
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: Heaven with the echoes shall resound, and all the earth
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: shall hear. End of chapter three, Chapter four of the
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: Prayers of Saint Paul by W. H. Griffith Thomas. This
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by Marianne.
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: Chapter four, Love and Peace. The Lord direct your hearts
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: into the love of God and into the patience of Christ.
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: Second Thessalonians, Chapter three, verse five, revised version. The Lord
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: of Peace himself give you peace always by all means.
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: Second Thessalonians, Chapter three, verse sixteen. It is striking to
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: note the number of prayers in these two short epistles
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: to Thessalonika. They are probably the earliest of the Apostles writings,
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: and the frequency of his prayers is a significant testimony
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: to his thought for his converts and their needs. Hardly
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: less striking is the variety of the prayers of which
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: we have already had several proofs. There are still two
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: prayers to be considered in the Second Epistle very terse petitions,
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: yet full of suggestiveness and importance. It will be convenient
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: to consider these two together, not only because of their brevity,
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: but also because of the spiritual connection between them one
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: the goal. The context of the prayer is noteworthy. The
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: apostle has been asking for their prayers, more particularly for
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: deliverance from evil men. Then comes the strong assurance that God,
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: in his faithfulness, will keep them from evil, together with
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: the expression of his own personal confidence concerning them that
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: they would be faithful to his counsel and commands. And
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: then follows the prayer of our text, in which he
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: asks that their hearts may be directed to that divine goal,
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: which is and ever must be the true home of
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: the soul your hearts. Once again does the apostle stress
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: on this central reality of their spiritual and moral being.
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: The heart is the citadel of the life, and the
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: usage of the term in the Word of God must
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: ever be kept clearly before us. It includes, as we
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: have already seen, intellectual, emotional, and volitional elements. There is
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: no such contrast in the New Testament between the head
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: and the heart as we are now often accustomed to
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: make for intellect, feelings, and will are all comprised in
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: the biblical meaning, If therefore the heart is right, all
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: else will be right. It was for this reason that
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: Solomon gave the council to keep the heart above all keeping,
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: since out of it are the issues of life. Into
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: the Love of God. The phrase seems to suggest the
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: direction of the heart towards a goal into the love.
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: This must mean first and foremost the love of God
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: to us, for this is the true goal and home
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: of the soul. Home is at once a protection, a fellowship,
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: and a joy. There is no place like home, and
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: there is no place like the Love of God as
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: a home for the soul. In that love we find
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: constant protection, for all the refuge and safety of a
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: true home are experienced there. In that love we find
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: the fullest, truest fellowship. For truly our fellowship is with
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: the Father and with his son Jesus Christ. And we
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: know also the fellowship of the Holy Ghost. Not least
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: of all, in this home of the soul is perfect
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: and permitan satisfaction, just as when the door closes upon us,
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: and we know that we are within the privacy, comfort, cheer,
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: and fellowship of home we find blessed, restfulness and satisfaction.
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: So when the soul enters the home of God's love,
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: it soon realizes the fullness of satisfaction, for it is
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: satisfied with favor, full with the blessings of the Lord.
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: Love that is deep, unfathomable, constant, pure, unchanging, divine is
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: our everlasting home. It is recorded that Spurgeon once saw
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: a weathercock with the words on it, God is Love.
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: On remarking to the owner that it was very inappropriate,
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: since God's love did not change like a weathercock, he
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: received the reply that the real meaning was God is
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: Love whichever way the wind blows. This is the experience
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: of the believer, whatever comes, wherever he is, that God
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: is love. It is possible, perhaps probable, that this phrase
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: the love of God, may also include our love to
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: God at any rate. In several passages, it is almost
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: impossible to make a rigid distinction between the two ideas.
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: Se f Romans, Chapter five, verse five. The one is
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: the source of the other, and we love him because
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: He first loved us. Love from God begets love to God.
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: And when once the soul has entered into God's love
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: as its goal and home. Love at once begins to
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: be the spring, the strength, the sustenance, and the satisfaction
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: of its life into the presence of Christ. The authorized
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: version has somewhat misread this verse by translating it into
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: the patient waiting for Christ, which would need another expression.
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: In the Greek. It really refers to active, persistent, steady endurance,
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: rather than to patient waiting. It refers to present patience,
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: not to a future prospect. The patience of Christ must
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: mean the active endurance which is like his, the endurance
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: of which he is the pattern. How marvelously he endured
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: the contradiction of sinners against himself. How striking is the
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: statement that he set his face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem,
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: whether in suffering or in service our Lord endured as
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: seeing him who is invisible, and having endured to the end,
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: he became our savior. But the patience of Christ is
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: also the endurance which comes from him. He is not
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: only our pattern, but also our power, since he enables
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: us to endure with a like endurance to his own.
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: As the Apostle says elsewhere, I have power for all
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: things in Him, who is empowering me to have a
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: pattern without the power to realize it. To have our
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: Lord's example, without his efficacy and energy, would be of
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: little practical use, except to discourage and to mock us.
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: But he who sets the standard supplies the strength, and
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: our hearts are thus enabled to enter into and abide
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: in the endurance of Christ. The need of patient endurance
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: is obvious. Those early Christians of Thessalonika were soon put
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: to the test a few days, and their newborn experiences
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: were severely proved. Persecution, ostracism, suffering, and it may be
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: death put a real strain upon their Christian profession. Yet
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: they endured, and the Apostle's prayer was answered, for we
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: know with what joy he received tidings of their endurance
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: and continuance Chapter one, verse four. The same endurance is
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: needed today, though the circumstances are very different. Sin is
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: still powerful, and trials, suffering, sorrow, and death are found
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: on every hand. Many things would tempt us from our
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: allegiance and continuance. Like the Psalmist, we see the wicked prospering,
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: and we are ready to burst out with a faithless cry.
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: I have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: hands in innocency, Or we have been toiling in the
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: vineyard for long without seeing any fruit, And like the prophet,
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: we are tempted to cry, I have labored in vain,
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: I have sprent my strength for naught. Then we hear
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: the voice of the apostle, reminding us of the love
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: of God and the patience of Christ. The secret of
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: patience is love. If only we live in the love
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: of God, we shall thereby find the grace of patience.
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: The union of love and patience was exemplified in our
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: Lord's earthly life. He kept his father's commandments and abode
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: in his love. And if only we will continue in
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: his love, we shall thereby be enabled to keep his
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: commandments and endure as he endured. Two. The guide the
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: Lord direct your hearts. We need direction. Sin has blinded
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: us and kept us from knowing the way home into
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: the love of God and into the endurance of Christ.
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: Still more, sin has biased our hearts and kept us
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: from going along the right way. Thus we need nothing
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: short of divine direction. If the Lord does not make
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: straight our way home, we shall never arrive there. How
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: does the Lord direct our hearts? First by constant and
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: ever increasing experience of His love. God is love, and
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: as it is of the essence of love to communicate itself,
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: God is ever revealing to our hearts and bestowing upon
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: them his own divine love. Along the straight pathway, he
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: guides the soul into deeper and fuller experience of His unchanging,
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: un air and unending love. He also guides by bestowing
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: upon us an ever fuller experience of the power of Christ.
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: Patient endurance is not learned all at once, and the
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: Lord leads us as we are able to bear his
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: disclosures and his discipline. Every lesson of testing brings with
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: it a fresh experience of grace, and every call to
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: endure carries with it the assurance of sufficient strength and power.
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: The means used for our direction, as we have already seen,
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: are three in number, but the truth is so important
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: that it needs renewed emphasis. The Lord directs us by
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: his word, its examples, its counsels, its promises, its warnings,
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: its anticipations, its incentives, all come with force and blessing
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: upon the heart, impelling it to go the right way home.
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: He also directs us by his Holy Spirit dwelling within us.
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: The Divine Spirit possesses and purifies our thoughts cleanses and
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: clarifies our motives, freshens and fertilizes our soul, sanctifies and
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: sensitizes our conscience, guides and guards our will. And thus
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: every virtue we possess, and every victory one and every
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: thought of holiness are the work of the Holy Spirit
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: of God in guiding and directing our hearts into the
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: love of God and into the patience of Christ. The
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: Lord also guides by his providence. He uses the circumstances
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: of our daily life to indicate his will. The discipline,
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: the thousand and one little events and episodes, the ordinary
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: experience of daily duty, the shadows and the sunshine are
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: all part of his providential guidance as he leads us
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: along the pathway home into the Love of God. All
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: things are continually working together for good to them that
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: love God. Now we pass to consider the second and
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: complimentary prayer three, The Gift. In this concluding prayer of
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: the Epistle, the Apostle sums up by speaking of that
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: which is, in some respects the greatest gift of God
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: in Christ, the gift of perfect and perpetual peace. Our
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: first need is peace of conscience, the burden of sin
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: weighs heavily upon the awakened soul, and the condemnation of
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: the law consciously weighs upon it. As we look back
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: over the past, we realize what it has been. We
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: long for rest in the removal of condemnation and the
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: bestowal of forgiveness. Our hearts cry out for peace with God.
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: The second need is peace of heart. The soul, set
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: free from the burden of condemnation and guilt, soon finds
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: the need of a new strength, new interests, new hopes.
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: The past has been obliterated by mercy, but the present
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: looms large with difficulty. Temptations to fear and discouragements arise,
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: and the soul longs for peace. Peace with God by
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: reconciliation must therefore be followed by the peace of God
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: through restfulness of heart, day by day. Our third need
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: is peace of fellowship. The true Christian life is never solitary,
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: but has lived in association with others. Our relationship to
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: Christ necessarily carries with it a relationship to those who
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: are in Christ with us, and as a consequence, the
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: peace which is ours in Christ is expressed in peace
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: and fellowship with our fellow believers. The context of This
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: prayer shows that the Apostle had this aspect of peace
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: in mind. And no true peace can be enjoyed with
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: God that is not shared with our fellow Christians. Our
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: Lord has broken down the wall of partition between us.
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: He has made us all one in himself, for he
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: is our peace. Four. The giver, the source of this
• 51:06
  Speaker 1: threefold peace, is the Lord of Peace himself. By his death.
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: He brings us peace of conscience by his resurrection life,
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: peace of heart, by his Holy spirit, peace of fellowship.
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: Peace I leave with you is the legacy of his death.
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: My peace I give unto you is the gift of
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: his spirit. On the resurrection evening he came with this
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: twofold peace. First he said, peace be unto you, and
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: showed them his hands and his side, thus assuring him
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: of peace of conscience through his death. Then he said
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: to them again, peace be unto you, and bestowed upon
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: them his Holy Spirit, thus guaranteeing to them peace of heart.
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: His own peace, which had been so marked a feature
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: of his own life and minister, was now to be theirs. He,
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: the possessor of peace, was now to be the provider
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: of peace to them. The title the Lord of peace
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: in this passage is very noteworthy. It is only found here,
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: though the title God of Peace occurs several times. What
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: are we to understand by it? Surely it is a
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: hint to us that only in His lordship, acknowledged and
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: experienced by us can we find peace. In very significant words,
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: we read in the prophet of His Government and peace.
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: First government and then peace, since peace is only possible
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: as a result of government. In like manner, we read
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: in the Psalm of Righteousness and peace. For it is
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: only as He is the Lord our righteousness that he
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: becomes the lord our peace. When the government is upon
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: his shoulder, and he is the Lord of our life,
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: the inevitable and blessed result is peace, perfect peace. The
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: continuity of this peace is very noteworthy. Give you peace always.
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: It is a constant peace. It is independent of circumstances
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: and does not change with changing experiences, since it is
• 53:18
  Speaker 1: independent of our variableness and depends entirely upon the Lord
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: of Peace and his divine gift. Peace is associated with
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: our permanent relationship to God in Christ, and a relationship
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: of this kind is unalterable by any experiences or circumstances.
• 53:35
  Speaker 1: The Lord gives peace always. The channels of this piece
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: are also significant. Peace always by all means, in every manner,
• 53:47
  Speaker 1: by all conceivable channels and methods, this peace comes. No
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: circumstance or condition of life can be ours which does
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: not give some opportunity for the bestow experience and enjoyment
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: of peace. Not only does peace come always, but all
• 54:03
  Speaker 1: ways Love, patience peace. How beautiful and suggestive the combination
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: and association. Patience is the fruit of love, and peace
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: is the fruit of patience. When the soul is dwelling
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: in the love of God, patience and peace flow naturally
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: into the life and are as naturally exemplified in it.
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: And so the heart rejoices in the love, reproduces the patience,
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: and reposes in the peace of the Lord of Peace,
• 54:35
  Speaker 1: because it is ever at rest in the presence and
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: grace of the God of Love and Peace. End of
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: chapter four, Chapter five of the Prayers of Saint Paul
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: by W. H. Griffith Thomas. This LibriVox recording is in
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: the public domain recording by many Chapter five, Knowledge and obedience.
• 55:08
  Speaker 1: For this cause we also, since the day we heard it,
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: do not cease to pray for you and to desire
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: that ye might be filled with the knowledge of His
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that ye might
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, be fruitful
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God,
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: strengthened with all might according to His glorious power, unto
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: all patience, and long suffering with joyfulness, giving thanks unto
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: the Father. Colaussians, Chapter one, verses nine, two twelve. The
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: epistles of the First Captivity of the Apostle Philippians Ephesians
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: Colossians by Lemen represent his maturest experiences. As a consequence,
• 55:59
  Speaker 1: the prayers found in them are particularly noteworthy, revealing some
• 56:03
  Speaker 1: of the deepest things of the writer's spiritual life. In
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: this respect, they are at once tests and models for us,
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: and it is perhaps not too much to say that
• 56:12
  Speaker 1: careful and prolonged prayerful meditation on the prayers found in
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: these epistles will prove one of the most valuable and
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: helpful methods of deepening the spiritual life. The first of
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: these we now consider one the reason of the prayer.
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: Colossee was one of the churches which Paul had neither
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: founded nor visited. Chapter two, Verse one Christianity was brought
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: there by Apaphrus one of his disciples chapter one, verse seven.
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: But the apostle was keenly interested in its spiritual welfare,
• 56:48
  Speaker 1: as if he had been instrumental in founding it. So
• 56:51
  Speaker 1: when he had heard of their faith and love chapter one,
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: verse four, and the fruitfulness of their life chapter one,
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: verse six, he thanked God on their behalf chapter one,
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: verse three, and prayed. This prayer deep interest in the
• 57:08
  Speaker 1: spiritual life of others was one of the prominent marks
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: of the Christian character of Saint Paul. His was no
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: self centered life, for he was ever keenly alert to
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: appreciate the marks of grace in others. This is a
• 57:22
  Speaker 1: test and at the same time a rebuke for us,
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: how unlike we are to a Christian of the type
• 57:29
  Speaker 1: of Barnabas of whom we read, who, when he came
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: and had seen the grace of God, was glad acts
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: Chapter eleven, verse twenty three. This is only possible by
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: having a heart at leisure from itself. And when we
• 57:47
  Speaker 1: are thus deeply interested in the marks and manifestations of
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: the Divine working in other people's lives, we shall not
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: only praise God on their behalf, but also, like the apostle,
• 57:58
  Speaker 1: pray for them, and thus the blessing will extend and
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: deepen two the nature of the prayer. The main point
• 58:09
  Speaker 1: of his prayer was that they might be filled with
• 58:12
  Speaker 1: the knowledge of his will. The will of God, known
• 58:17
  Speaker 1: and done, is the secret of all true living. It
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: was the keynote of our Lord's earthly life. He came
• 58:24
  Speaker 1: to do the will of the Father, and in one
• 58:26
  Speaker 1: of the deepest experiences of his life, he said, not
• 58:30
  Speaker 1: my will, but Thine be done. He told his disciples
• 58:36
  Speaker 1: that his meat was to do the will of Him
• 58:38
  Speaker 1: that sent him, and he taught them to pray Thy
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: will be done in earth as it is in heaven.
• 58:46
  Speaker 1: The will of God is the substance of revelation. For
• 58:49
  Speaker 1: what is the Bible from beginning to end but the
• 58:52
  Speaker 1: revelation of God's will for man. Perhaps the most all
• 58:56
  Speaker 1: embracing prayer is teach me to do Thy will. And
• 59:01
  Speaker 1: certainly the ideal life is summed up in the phrase
• 59:04
  Speaker 1: he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: well might the apostle pray for these Christians of Colossi
• 59:11
  Speaker 1: to be filled with the knowledge of God's will. The
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: word rendered knowledge means mature knowledge, and it is one
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: of the characteristic words of these four epistles. Written from Rome,
• 59:24
  Speaker 1: the Apostle evidently regarded mature knowledge or deep spiritual experience
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: as the pre eminent mark of a ripening Christian. In
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: this respect, Saint John bears the same testimony in his
• 59:36
  Speaker 1: reference to the three stages of the Christian life represented
• 59:40
  Speaker 1: by little children, young men, and fathers. The little children
• 59:45
  Speaker 1: have the young men are the fathers No First John,
• 59:51
  Speaker 1: Chapter two, verses twelve, two fourteen. This spiritual knowledge or
• 59:56
  Speaker 1: experience is the great safeguard against error, in that it
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 1: gives power to distinguish between good and evil, between truth
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 1: and falsehood. The measure of this knowledge is to be
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 1: carefully noted filled with the knowledge of His will. The
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 1: word also implies a fullness which is realized continually, not
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 1: a bare knowledge, but its completeness, Not an intermittent stream,
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 1: but a perpetual flow. When the soul experiences this, it
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 1: is provided not only with the greatest safeguard against danger,
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 1: but also with the secret of a strong, growing, powerful
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 1: Christian life. The characteristics of this knowledge should be observed
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Wisdom is a general
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 1: term which implies the capacity and faculty for adapting the
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 1: best means to bring about the best ends in things spiritual.
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 1: Spiritual understanding is the specific coming or putting together of
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 1: principles by means of which true action is taken. It
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: really means putting two and two together, comparing ideas and
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: principles for the purpose of adopting the best in any
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 1: given course of action. Of the importance and necessity of
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: wisdom and spiritual understanding, scarcely anything need be said. Christian wisdom,
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 1: Christian understanding, Christian perception in the thousand and one things
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: of life, This surely is one of our greatest necessities
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 1: and choicest blessings. How many errors would be avoided, how
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 1: many wanderings checked by means of this spiritual wisdom. Still more,
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 1: how much joy would be experienced, and how much genuine
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: service rendered if we were always saying and doing the
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 1: right thing at the right time, in the right way,
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 1: filled with the knowledge of His will In all wisdom
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 1: and spiritual understanding. This means, for its complete realization, distant
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 1: touch with that book which presents the clearly expressed will
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 1: of God. The will of God is in that word,
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: and when the word is illuminated by the spirit of God,
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 1: we come to know His will concerning us. No one
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 1: will ever have the full knowledge of that will. No
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 1: one can possibly be mature in experience if the Word
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 1: of God is not his daily, definite, direct study and meditation.
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 1: It purifies the perception of the faculties by its cleansing power.
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: It illuminates the moral faculties with its enlightening power. It
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 1: controls the emotional faculties with its protective power. It energizes
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 1: the folitional faculties with its stimulating power. And thus, in
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 1: the constant, continuous use of the Word of God in
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 1: personal practice, with meditation and prayer, we shall become filled
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 1: with the full knowledge of His will in all wisdom
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 1: and spiritual understanding. Three, the purpose of the prayer knowledge
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 1: is not an end in itself, but the means to
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 1: an end. And so the apostle states the purpose for
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 1: which he asks this knowledge of God's will, that he
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 1: might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, fruitful, increasing, strengthened,
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 1: giving thanks. Their life is to be influenced by this knowledge,
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 1: walk worthy of the Lord. Knowledge is to be translated
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 1: into practice Walking is the characteristic Bible word descriptive of
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 1: the character of the Christian life, the full expression of
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 1: all our powers, as it presupposes life. So it means energy, movement, progress,
• 1:03:50
  Speaker 1: And for this knowledge is essential. How can we walk
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 1: unless we know why and whither we go? The knowledge
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 1: of God's will gives points and purpose to the activities
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 1: of life. Walk Worthy of the Lord. What a profound
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 1: and searching thought is here? Worthy of the Lord. Surely
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 1: this is impossible, Yet these are the plain words of
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 1: the inspired writer. To walk worthy of the Lord. It
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 1: is almost incredible, And yet this is one of the
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 1: possibilities and glories of grace. The Apostle is fond of
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 1: the word worthy. We are to walk worthy of our vocation.
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 1: Ephesians chapter four, verse one, Worthy of the Gospel, Philippians
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 1: chapter one, verse twenty seven, Worthy of the Saints, Romans
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 1: chapter sixteen, verse two, Worthy of God. First Thessalonians chapter two,
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 1: verse twelve. We may be perfectly sure that Paul would
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 1: not put such an ideal before us if it could
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 1: not be realized. God's commands always imply promises unto all pleasing.
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 1: Bishop Mule beautifully renders this phrase unto every anticipation of
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 1: His will. Colossian studies teach me to do the thing
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 1: that pleaseth THEE. P. B. Version. What a glorious ideal
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 1: we are so to walk as to please Him in everything,
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 1: not only doing what we are told, but anticipating his commands,
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 1: by living in such close touch with Him that we
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 1: instinctively know the things that will please him. These words
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 1: sound a depth of the spiritual life with which comparatively
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 1: few are familiar, And yet here they are facing us
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 1: definitely with their call to realize that which God has
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 1: placed before us. The specific details of this worthy walk
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 1: are next brought before us in four pregnant phrases, being
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 1: fruitful in every good work. Notice every word of this sense.
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 1: Our life is to be characterized by good works, and
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 1: in each and every one of these we are to
• 1:06:06
  Speaker 1: be fruitful, manifesting the ripeness, and, if it may be
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 1: so put, the beauty and lusciousness associated with fruit. Mark two.
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 1: That it is fruitful in every good work that is
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 1: in the process of doing the work, and not merely
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 1: as the result or outcome of it. The very work
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 1: itself is intended to be fruitful. Apart from particular results,
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 1: there may be very few results of our service for God,
• 1:06:37
  Speaker 1: but the service itself may and should be fruitful increasing
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 1: in the knowledge of God. Notice the difference between the
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 1: knowledge of His will and the knowledge of himself. That
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 1: I may know him Philippians, chapter three, verse ten, they
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 1: might know thee John chapter seventeen, teen, verse three, Ye
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 1: have known him first. John chapter two, verse thirteen. The
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 1: knowledge of his will will lead us to the knowledge
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 1: of himself, and beyond this it is impossible to go
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 1: strengthened with all might according to His glorious power, unto
• 1:07:21
  Speaker 1: all patience and long suffering with joyfulness. The Apostle's thought
• 1:07:27
  Speaker 1: pours itself out in rich abundance. In these words. It
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 1: seems as though he could not adequately express the possibilities
• 1:07:34
  Speaker 1: and characteristics of the Christian life about which he prays.
• 1:07:38
  Speaker 1: They are to be strengthened, and not only so, but
• 1:07:42
  Speaker 1: with all might. The principle or standard of it is
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 1: according to His glorious power, and the end of it
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 1: is unto all patience and long suffering with joyfulness. The
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 1: man of the world might see in this phrase an
• 1:07:57
  Speaker 1: anti climax, when it is that the end of strength
• 1:08:01
  Speaker 1: is patience and long suffering, and yet Christianity finds its
• 1:08:05
  Speaker 1: ideal in energy expressed in character, activity, manifesting itself in
• 1:08:10
  Speaker 1: passivity and might in meekness. Notice too, the suggestive addition
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 1: with joyfulness. Patience and long suffering without joy are apt
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 1: to be cold, chilly, unattractive. There is a stern, stoical
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 1: endurance of suffering, which, while it may be admired, sometimes
• 1:08:34
  Speaker 1: tends to repel. But when patience and long suffering are
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: permeated and suffused with joyfulness, the very life of Christ
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 1: is lived over again in his followers. Resignation to the
• 1:08:46
  Speaker 1: will of God is only very partially a Christian virtue.
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 1: But when we take joyfully the things that come upon us,
• 1:08:54
  Speaker 1: we are indeed manifesting the very life of God himself,
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 1: giving thanks unto the Father. This is the crowning grace
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 1: for which the apostle prays thankfulness. How much it means
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 1: the heart full of gratitude and gladness, the life full
• 1:09:15
  Speaker 1: of brightness and buoyancy, the character full of vitality and vigor.
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 1: The joy of the Lord is indeed the strength of
• 1:09:23
  Speaker 1: his people. And when this element of thanksgiving characterizes our life,
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 1: it gives tone to everything else. And crowns all other graces. Four.
• 1:09:36
  Speaker 1: The character of the prayer. We have seen what the
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 1: Apostle desired for the Christians of Colossy, and in so
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 1: doing we have learnt some of the deepest secrets of
• 1:09:46
  Speaker 1: Christian living. It remains to notice the characteristics of this
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 1: prayer in order that our prayers may be taught and
• 1:09:53
  Speaker 1: guided and inspired with power. His prayer was urgent. Hence
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 1: the day we heard from the moment the tidings came
• 1:10:04
  Speaker 1: by epapharas of the Christian life in Colossie, the Apostle's
• 1:10:07
  Speaker 1: heart went up to God in prayer. His prayer was incessant.
• 1:10:13
  Speaker 1: Do not cease to pray again and again, he asked,
• 1:10:18
  Speaker 1: and kept on asking. So fully was his heart drawn
• 1:10:21
  Speaker 1: out in prayer for these Christians whom he had never seen.
• 1:10:25
  Speaker 1: His prayer was intense and to desire. This was no
• 1:10:31
  Speaker 1: mere lip service. His heart had evidently been stirred to
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 1: its core by the tidings of the Christian life at Colossie.
• 1:10:37
  Speaker 1: And as he heard of their faith, their love, their hope,
• 1:10:41
  Speaker 1: their holiness, their service, a deep, intense, longing desire came
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 1: into his soul to seek for still fuller and deeper
• 1:10:50
  Speaker 1: blessings on their behalf. What a man he was, and
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 1: what prayers his were. His prayer was offered in fellowship
• 1:11:01
  Speaker 1: with others since the day we heard Timothy was associated
• 1:11:06
  Speaker 1: with the Apostle. In these petitions, united prayer is one
• 1:11:10
  Speaker 1: of the greatest powers of the Christian Church. If two
• 1:11:13
  Speaker 1: of you shall agree as touching anything that they shall ask,
• 1:11:17
  Speaker 1: it shall be done. Personal prayer is precious. United prayer
• 1:11:22
  Speaker 1: is still more powerful. Thus, in these verses we have
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 1: one of the fullest, deepest, and most precious of the
• 1:11:29
  Speaker 1: apostles prayers. And as we consider its union of thought
• 1:11:33
  Speaker 1: and experience of profound teaching and equally profound revelation of
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 1: Christian life, we learn two of the most urgent and
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 1: necessary lessons for the Christian life today. The first of
• 1:11:45
  Speaker 1: these shall be given in the words of Bishop Moule.
• 1:11:49
  Speaker 1: Beware of untheological devotion. If devotion is to be real,
• 1:11:55
  Speaker 1: it should be characterized by thought. There is no contradiction
• 1:11:59
  Speaker 1: between mind and heart, between theology and devotion. Devotional hours
• 1:12:04
  Speaker 1: do not mean ours when thought is absent. Meditation is
• 1:12:08
  Speaker 1: not abstraction, nor is devotion dreaminess. Thou shalt love the Lord,
• 1:12:13
  Speaker 1: Thy God with all thy mind is an essential part
• 1:12:17
  Speaker 1: of the commandment. If genuine thought and equally genuine theology
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 1: do not characterize our hours of devotion, we lose some
• 1:12:26
  Speaker 1: of the most precious opportunities of grace and blessing. A
• 1:12:30
  Speaker 1: piety which is mere pietism, an evangelicalism which does not
• 1:12:35
  Speaker 1: continually ponder the profound truths of the New Testament can
• 1:12:39
  Speaker 1: never be strong or do any deep service. We must
• 1:12:43
  Speaker 1: beware of untheological devotion. We must also be aware of
• 1:12:49
  Speaker 1: undevotional theology. This is the opposite error and constitutes an
• 1:12:54
  Speaker 1: equally great danger. A hard, dry, intellectual study of theology
• 1:13:00
  Speaker 1: yield no spiritual fruit. Accuracy and knowledge of Greek, careful
• 1:13:05
  Speaker 1: balancing of aspects of truth, large knowledge of the doctrinal
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 1: verities of the New Testament are all essential and valuable,
• 1:13:13
  Speaker 1: but unless they are permeated by a spirit of devotion,
• 1:13:16
  Speaker 1: they will fail. At the crucial point pectus facet theologium.
• 1:13:23
  Speaker 1: It is the heart that makes the theologian, and a
• 1:13:26
  Speaker 1: theology which does not spring from spiritual experience is doomed
• 1:13:29
  Speaker 1: to decay, to deadness, and therefore to disaster. When therefore
• 1:13:35
  Speaker 1: our devotions are theological and our theology is devotional. We
• 1:13:40
  Speaker 1: begin to realize the true being, blessing and power of
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 1: the Christian life, and we go from strength to strength,
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 1: from grace to grace, and from glory unto glory. End
• 1:13:55
  Speaker 1: of chapter five, Chapter six of the Prayers of Saint
• 1:14:05
  Speaker 1: Paul by W. H. Griffith Thomas. This LibriVox recording is
• 1:14:10
  Speaker 1: in the public domain recording by Marianne, Chapter six, Conflict
• 1:14:15
  Speaker 1: and Comfort. For I would that ye knew what great
• 1:14:21
  Speaker 1: conflict I have for you and for them at Laodicia,
• 1:14:26
  Speaker 1: And for as many as have not seen my face
• 1:14:29
  Speaker 1: in the flesh, that their hearts may be comforted, being
• 1:14:32
  Speaker 1: knit together in love and unto all riches, of the
• 1:14:36
  Speaker 1: full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery
• 1:14:40
  Speaker 1: of God and of the Father and of Christ Colossians,
• 1:14:46
  Speaker 1: Chapter two, Verses one and two. Although he was in prison,
• 1:14:52
  Speaker 1: the apostle was constantly at work for his Master, and
• 1:14:56
  Speaker 1: not least of all, at the work of prayer. If
• 1:14:59
  Speaker 1: ever there were words orari est libreri to pray is
• 1:15:04
  Speaker 1: to labor were true, they were true of Saint Paul.
• 1:15:08
  Speaker 1: For to him to pray was to work with all
• 1:15:10
  Speaker 1: his might, as we shall see from a study of
• 1:15:13
  Speaker 1: another of the prayers offered in his Roman prison One
• 1:15:19
  Speaker 1: what prayer means. Prayer is described as a conflict. We
• 1:15:25
  Speaker 1: have a similar expression used of the prayers of a
• 1:15:28
  Speaker 1: paphorus in the words laboring fervently Colossians, chapter four, verse twelve.
• 1:15:34
  Speaker 1: The same word conflict is associated with faith, the good
• 1:15:38
  Speaker 1: fight of faith first Timothy, chapter six, verse twelve, and
• 1:15:42
  Speaker 1: with the good fight of the apostles entire life tewod Timothy,
• 1:15:46
  Speaker 1: chapter four, verse seven. Prayer regarded as a conflict includes
• 1:15:51
  Speaker 1: these two ideas of toil and strife. The toil of
• 1:15:56
  Speaker 1: prayer shows us the work involved in it. Sometimes we
• 1:16:00
  Speaker 1: hear the expression if you can do nothing else, you
• 1:16:03
  Speaker 1: can pray, as though prayer were the easiest of all things.
• 1:16:07
  Speaker 1: As a simple fact, it is the hardest. No man
• 1:16:11
  Speaker 1: knows what prayer means unless he knows what it is
• 1:16:14
  Speaker 1: to labor in prayer. The strife involved in prayer implies opposition,
• 1:16:20
  Speaker 1: the opposing force of one who wishes above all things
• 1:16:23
  Speaker 1: to check and thwart our prayers. We discern something of
• 1:16:27
  Speaker 1: this opposition in the well known words we wrestle Ephesians
• 1:16:32
  Speaker 1: chapter six, verse twelve, and the words of the hymn
• 1:16:35
  Speaker 1: are as true as they are familiar, as Satan trembles
• 1:16:39
  Speaker 1: when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees. The
• 1:16:44
  Speaker 1: apostle knew by spiritual experience that to pray was to
• 1:16:48
  Speaker 1: rouse up against himself a mighty opposition, and it was
• 1:16:52
  Speaker 1: this force that made his prayer such a great conflict.
• 1:16:56
  Speaker 1: No believer should be surprised at his prayers being his
• 1:17:00
  Speaker 1: first Peter Chapter three, verse seven. It is evidently one
• 1:17:05
  Speaker 1: of Satan's main objects to get the Christian to restrain prayer.
• 1:17:09
  Speaker 1: The Christian man or the Christian Church that continues instant
• 1:17:13
  Speaker 1: in prayer may rest assured of malignant opposition from the
• 1:17:17
  Speaker 1: hosts of spiritual wickedness in high places. On the other hand,
• 1:17:22
  Speaker 1: we may be sure that Satan scarcely troubles himself about
• 1:17:25
  Speaker 1: the believer or congregation whose private family and public praying
• 1:17:29
  Speaker 1: is neglected or thought little of prayer is therefore a
• 1:17:34
  Speaker 1: great conflict. It is not solicitude only, but a struggle,
• 1:17:40
  Speaker 1: not merely anxiety, but activity. As Bishop Moule says, prayer
• 1:17:45
  Speaker 1: is never meant to be indolently easy, however simple and
• 1:17:50
  Speaker 1: reliant it may be. It is meant to be an
• 1:17:53
  Speaker 1: infinitely important transaction between man and God, and therefore, very
• 1:17:58
  Speaker 1: often when subjects and surcumstances call for it, it has
• 1:18:02
  Speaker 1: to be fewed as a working involving labor persistency conflict
• 1:18:07
  Speaker 1: if it would be prayer Indeed, Colossians Studies, page one,
• 1:18:12
  Speaker 1: twenty four. The bishop goes on to quote a familiar
• 1:18:16
  Speaker 1: incident which illustrates this great truth. A visitor knocked betimes
• 1:18:21
  Speaker 1: one morning at the door of a good man, a
• 1:18:24
  Speaker 1: saint of the noblest puritan type, and that was a
• 1:18:27
  Speaker 1: fine type. Indeed, he called as a friend to consult,
• 1:18:30
  Speaker 1: a friend, sure of his welcome, but he was kept
• 1:18:34
  Speaker 1: waiting long. At last a servant came to explain the delay.
• 1:18:39
  Speaker 1: My master has been at prayer, and this morning he
• 1:18:42
  Speaker 1: has been long in getting access. The practical question for
• 1:18:46
  Speaker 1: us is whether this is our idea of prayer, or
• 1:18:49
  Speaker 1: whether we are merely playing at prayer and not regarding
• 1:18:52
  Speaker 1: it with true seriousness. If we know what it is
• 1:18:56
  Speaker 1: to have great conflict in prayer, happy are we? If
• 1:19:00
  Speaker 1: we do not, we may well ask God to search
• 1:19:03
  Speaker 1: our hearts and change our minds about prayer. Prayer is
• 1:19:07
  Speaker 1: characterized by unselfishness. The conflict of the Apostle was not
• 1:19:12
  Speaker 1: self centered. It was on behalf of others. Great conflict
• 1:19:17
  Speaker 1: I have for you and for them at Ladicea. This
• 1:19:23
  Speaker 1: is the essence of prayer, intercession on behalf of others.
• 1:19:28
  Speaker 1: If our seasons of prayer are largely taken up with
• 1:19:30
  Speaker 1: prayers for our own needs, however genuine, we are failing
• 1:19:35
  Speaker 1: at a crucial point. But if our time is mainly
• 1:19:38
  Speaker 1: taken up with prayers for others, we shall soon find
• 1:19:41
  Speaker 1: that our own blessings begin to abound. There is that scattereth,
• 1:19:46
  Speaker 1: and yet increaseth. Prayer also implies sympathy. The Apostle was
• 1:19:53
  Speaker 1: praying for people whom he had never seen and probably
• 1:19:56
  Speaker 1: never would see. This is not easy, indeed is very difficult,
• 1:20:02
  Speaker 1: but it is a real test of spirituality. Out of sight,
• 1:20:06
  Speaker 1: out of mind. We are tempted to limit our prayers
• 1:20:10
  Speaker 1: to friends whom we know, causes in which we are interested,
• 1:20:14
  Speaker 1: subjects spiritually near and akin to us. Not so the apostle,
• 1:20:19
  Speaker 1: whose heart went out to the whole Church of God
• 1:20:21
  Speaker 1: in every place where he knew through friends that little
• 1:20:24
  Speaker 1: bodies of Christians were to be found. His sympathy was
• 1:20:29
  Speaker 1: at once quick, wide, and deep, And it was one
• 1:20:33
  Speaker 1: of the supreme tests of true spirituality to have a
• 1:20:35
  Speaker 1: sympathy possessed of all these three characteristics. Our sympathy may
• 1:20:40
  Speaker 1: be quick and yet narrow or wide, but not deep,
• 1:20:45
  Speaker 1: or even deep and not wide. But to be at
• 1:20:48
  Speaker 1: once quick, wide, and deep in sympathy is to be
• 1:20:52
  Speaker 1: a true follower of Christ. As we ponder these things conflict, unselfishness, sympathy,
• 1:21:00
  Speaker 1: do not our hearts condemn us? Instead of conflict? How
• 1:21:04
  Speaker 1: easy going have been our prayers? Instead of unselfish? How
• 1:21:09
  Speaker 1: self centered? Instead of sympathetic? How contracted? Thus the Apostle
• 1:21:15
  Speaker 1: searches and tests us as we dwell on his wonderful
• 1:21:18
  Speaker 1: life of prayer. Two, What prayer brings? What are the
• 1:21:26
  Speaker 1: objects for which the Apostle prayed so earnestly on behalf
• 1:21:28
  Speaker 1: of these unknown Christians? What were the precise gifts that
• 1:21:32
  Speaker 1: he sought for them from God? This is no unnecessary question,
• 1:21:37
  Speaker 1: for the same gifts will surely be suitable to us.
• 1:21:41
  Speaker 1: He asked for spiritual strength that their hearts might be comforted.
• 1:21:47
  Speaker 1: Saint Paul always went to the very center and core
• 1:21:49
  Speaker 1: of things, And so we find him constantly praying with
• 1:21:53
  Speaker 1: reference to the hearts of these Colossian Christians, Since, as
• 1:21:59
  Speaker 1: we have seen, the heart in scripture is the center
• 1:22:02
  Speaker 1: of our moral and spiritual being. If the heart is right,
• 1:22:06
  Speaker 1: all will be right, for out of it are the
• 1:22:09
  Speaker 1: issues of life. He prays that their hearts might be comforted.
• 1:22:14
  Speaker 1: That is, in the full sense of the word encouraged, exhorted, strengthened.
• 1:22:21
  Speaker 1: Comfort includes the three elements of strength, courage, and consolation.
• 1:22:27
  Speaker 1: We must be strong, brave, and cheery. This is the
• 1:22:31
  Speaker 1: full meaning of the term comforter as applied to the
• 1:22:34
  Speaker 1: Holy Spirit. He is the one who gives strength, courage,
• 1:22:39
  Speaker 1: and consolation. This too, is the true meaning of the
• 1:22:43
  Speaker 1: familiar phrase of the English prayer book comfortable words words
• 1:22:49
  Speaker 1: that minister strength, fortitude, and cheer. The fact that this
• 1:22:54
  Speaker 1: thought of hearts comforted was often in the mind and
• 1:22:57
  Speaker 1: on the lips of the Apostle shows the importance he
• 1:23:00
  Speaker 1: attached to it. Second Thessalonians chapter two, verse seventeen, Ephesians
• 1:23:06
  Speaker 1: chapter six, verse twenty two. With hearts made strong, courageous,
• 1:23:11
  Speaker 1: and cheerful, Christians can face anything, while with hearts that
• 1:23:15
  Speaker 1: remain weak, fearful, and sad. The Christian life is a
• 1:23:19
  Speaker 1: prey to all the temptations of the evil one. It
• 1:23:23
  Speaker 1: is exactly similar with a church or a congregation of Christians.
• 1:23:27
  Speaker 1: For one of the supreme needs in any community is
• 1:23:30
  Speaker 1: comforted hearts, the censers of life made strong, courageous, and happy.
• 1:23:36
  Speaker 1: Then it is that churches live, grow, extend, and witness
• 1:23:42
  Speaker 1: for Christ. In the demonstration of the Holy Spirit the
• 1:23:44
  Speaker 1: comforter he asked for spiritual unity, being knit together in love,
• 1:23:52
  Speaker 1: or quite literally, having been compacted in love. He prayed
• 1:23:57
  Speaker 1: that these Christians might be kept together, knit together, joined
• 1:24:02
  Speaker 1: together in a spirit of love. Solitary Christians are always
• 1:24:06
  Speaker 1: weak Christians, for unison is strength. If Christians are not
• 1:24:10
  Speaker 1: in it together, the cause of Christ must necessarily suffer,
• 1:24:15
  Speaker 1: for through the severances caused by division, the enemy will
• 1:24:18
  Speaker 1: keep thrusting his darts. That is why the apostle everywhere
• 1:24:22
  Speaker 1: urges them earnestly to strive to keep the unity of
• 1:24:26
  Speaker 1: the spirit. Ephesians chapter four, verse three. One of the
• 1:24:31
  Speaker 1: greatest powers that Satan wields today is due to the
• 1:24:34
  Speaker 1: disunion among the people of God. It is true of
• 1:24:38
  Speaker 1: the Christian home, congregation and denomination. The wedge of discord
• 1:24:44
  Speaker 1: is one of the enemy's most powerful weapons. On the
• 1:24:47
  Speaker 1: other hand, where the brethren dwell together in unity, the
• 1:24:51
  Speaker 1: Lord commands his blessing. In almost every epistle the Apostle
• 1:24:56
  Speaker 1: emphasizes unity, and we can readily understand the reasons this
• 1:25:02
  Speaker 1: unity is only possible in love. It is the love
• 1:25:06
  Speaker 1: of God to us that unites us to Him, and
• 1:25:10
  Speaker 1: it is the love of God in us that unites
• 1:25:13
  Speaker 1: us to our brethren. There is no power like love
• 1:25:16
  Speaker 1: to bind Christians together. We may not see eye to
• 1:25:20
  Speaker 1: eye on all aspects of truth, we may not all
• 1:25:24
  Speaker 1: use the same methods of worship and service. But if
• 1:25:27
  Speaker 1: we love one another, God dwells in us and among us,
• 1:25:31
  Speaker 1: and adds his own zeal of blessing to the work
• 1:25:33
  Speaker 1: done for him. Let every Christian be fully assured that
• 1:25:38
  Speaker 1: in so far as he is striving, praying, and laboring
• 1:25:42
  Speaker 1: for the union of God's people in love, he will
• 1:25:45
  Speaker 1: be doing one of the most powerful and blessed pieces
• 1:25:47
  Speaker 1: of work for his Master, and one of the greatest
• 1:25:50
  Speaker 1: possible pieces of disservice to the Kingdom of Satan. Contrariwise,
• 1:25:56
  Speaker 1: the Christian man or Christian Church that stands out for
• 1:25:59
  Speaker 1: separateness and exclusiveness is one of the best allies of
• 1:26:02
  Speaker 1: Satan and one of the most effective workers for the
• 1:26:05
  Speaker 1: kingdom of darkness. He asks for spiritual certitude unto all
• 1:26:13
  Speaker 1: riches of the full assurance of understanding. Wealth is a
• 1:26:18
  Speaker 1: favorite metaphor of Saint Paul, and he uses it to
• 1:26:21
  Speaker 1: denote the fullness and abundance of Christian life as conceived
• 1:26:24
  Speaker 1: by him. Mark how he piles phrase upon phrase understanding,
• 1:26:30
  Speaker 1: fullness of understanding, and then wealth of fullness of understanding
• 1:26:36
  Speaker 1: to the apostle, the mind was one of the essential
• 1:26:39
  Speaker 1: powers and principles of the Christian life. So far from thinking,
• 1:26:43
  Speaker 1: according to a modern fashion, that the less one uses
• 1:26:46
  Speaker 1: the mind, the better Christian one is, Saint Paul, following
• 1:26:50
  Speaker 1: his master, ever, emphasized the duty and glory of loving
• 1:26:55
  Speaker 1: God with all the mind. This wealth of the fullness
• 1:26:59
  Speaker 1: of understanding means an abundance of conviction, both intellectual and moral,
• 1:27:05
  Speaker 1: that Christianity is what it claims to be, and that
• 1:27:08
  Speaker 1: the Christian life is the perfect satisfaction of all the
• 1:27:11
  Speaker 1: different parts of a man's nature. He prays that they
• 1:27:16
  Speaker 1: may rise to the whole wealth of the full exercise
• 1:27:19
  Speaker 1: of their intelligence mul just as we find elsewhere the
• 1:27:24
  Speaker 1: fullness of faith Hebrews chapter ten, verse twenty two, the
• 1:27:28
  Speaker 1: fullness of hope Hebrews chapter six, verse eleven, and much
• 1:27:33
  Speaker 1: fullness first Thessalonians Chapter one, verse five. So here the
• 1:27:38
  Speaker 1: Apostle desires them to enjoy to the full the intelligent
• 1:27:41
  Speaker 1: grasping of assurance of Christian truth, which was theirs in Christ.
• 1:27:46
  Speaker 1: In the same spirit, Luke writes to Theophilus that thou
• 1:27:51
  Speaker 1: mightest know the certainty of those things wherein thou hast
• 1:27:54
  Speaker 1: been instructed. A firm conviction of the understanding is one
• 1:27:59
  Speaker 1: of the greatest needs, as it is also one of
• 1:28:01
  Speaker 1: the greatest blessings of the Christian life. If a Christian
• 1:28:05
  Speaker 1: cannot say I know, I am persuaded, he is lacking
• 1:28:10
  Speaker 1: in one of the prime essentials of a vigorous experience.
• 1:28:14
  Speaker 1: Let us ponder then, this remarkable phrase, the whole wealth
• 1:28:19
  Speaker 1: of the fullness of intelligence, and see in it one
• 1:28:22
  Speaker 1: of the absolute necessities of daily experience. But how does
• 1:28:27
  Speaker 1: it come? It is the result of the foregoing comfort
• 1:28:31
  Speaker 1: and love, hearts made strong, mean minds, fully assured, hearts
• 1:28:37
  Speaker 1: full of love, mean intellects, full of knowledge, and conviction.
• 1:28:41
  Speaker 1: Let no one say that love is blind. On the contrary,
• 1:28:45
  Speaker 1: it is love that sees and knows. It was the
• 1:28:49
  Speaker 1: Apostle of Love who was the first, with spiritual insight
• 1:28:52
  Speaker 1: to say it is the Lord on that memorable early
• 1:28:56
  Speaker 1: morning on the lake of Galilee. It is the Christian,
• 1:29:00
  Speaker 1: the heart, strong and full of love, who will have
• 1:29:02
  Speaker 1: the wealth of the fullness of intelligence. The same is
• 1:29:06
  Speaker 1: true of a church, for when it is strong and
• 1:29:09
  Speaker 1: united in love, there will come such an influence of
• 1:29:12
  Speaker 1: conviction and certitude that the world will be impressed by
• 1:29:16
  Speaker 1: the demonstration of the truth of the Christian Gospel. He
• 1:29:21
  Speaker 1: asked for spiritual knowledge, to the full knowledge of the
• 1:29:26
  Speaker 1: mystery of God and the Father, even Christ, not as
• 1:29:30
  Speaker 1: authorized version. Here again we have a favorite word of
• 1:29:35
  Speaker 1: these epistles, full knowledge. That is ripe mature experience, and
• 1:29:42
  Speaker 1: it means the experience of all that is summed up
• 1:29:44
  Speaker 1: in the one word Christ. In view of the dangerous errors,
• 1:29:50
  Speaker 1: then rife and increasing of a special knowledge confined only
• 1:29:54
  Speaker 1: to a few, to an intellectual aristocracy, the Apostle lays
• 1:29:58
  Speaker 1: stress upon the possibility of every Christian becoming acquainted in
• 1:30:02
  Speaker 1: personal experience with all the knowledge of God. That is
• 1:30:05
  Speaker 1: stored up in Christ. He declares Christ as the image
• 1:30:09
  Speaker 1: of God chapter one, verse fifteen, as the head of
• 1:30:13
  Speaker 1: the Church, chapter one, verse eighteen, as the one in
• 1:30:17
  Speaker 1: whom all fullness dwells chapter one, verse nineteen, as the
• 1:30:22
  Speaker 1: redeemer from sin, chapter one, verse twenty, as the hope
• 1:30:27
  Speaker 1: of glory, chapter one, verse twenty seven, as the one
• 1:30:32
  Speaker 1: in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and
• 1:30:34
  Speaker 1: knowledge Chapter two, verse three. There is no mistiness here,
• 1:30:40
  Speaker 1: no vagueness, no hesitation, no limitation, but a full, free,
• 1:30:47
  Speaker 1: open opportunity for all believers to become acquainted with Christ
• 1:30:51
  Speaker 1: in his divine fullness. This is the crowning point of
• 1:30:55
  Speaker 1: the Apostles prayer, for in the full knowledge of Christ,
• 1:30:58
  Speaker 1: everything else is included. This knowledge, at once intellectual, moral,
• 1:31:04
  Speaker 1: and spiritual, is the safeguard from all error, the secret
• 1:31:08
  Speaker 1: of all progress, and the guarantee of all blessing. Let
• 1:31:13
  Speaker 1: this prayer then be our constant and careful study. We
• 1:31:17
  Speaker 1: shall find in it much to rebuke the shallowness, the selfishness,
• 1:31:21
  Speaker 1: the dullness, and the sluggishness of our prayers. And we
• 1:31:25
  Speaker 1: shall also find in it a model of instruction and
• 1:31:28
  Speaker 1: the inspiration of all true petition and intercession. The Christian
• 1:31:33
  Speaker 1: who learns from the prayers of the apostle will learn
• 1:31:36
  Speaker 1: some of the deepest secrets of the Christian life. End
• 1:31:41
  Speaker 1: of chapter six, Chapter seven of the Prayers of Saint
• 1:31:50
  Speaker 1: Paul by W. H. Griffith Thomas. This LibriVox recording is
• 1:31:55
  Speaker 1: in the public domain recording by Marianne, Chapter seven, Wisdom
• 1:32:01
  Speaker 1: and Revelation. Wherefore I, also, after I heard of your
• 1:32:08
  Speaker 1: faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the saints,
• 1:32:12
  Speaker 1: cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of
• 1:32:15
  Speaker 1: you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord,
• 1:32:19
  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may give unto you
• 1:32:23
  Speaker 1: the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,
• 1:32:27
  Speaker 1: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that ye may
• 1:32:31
  Speaker 1: know what is the hope of His calling, and what
• 1:32:35
  Speaker 1: the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
• 1:32:38
  Speaker 1: And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to
• 1:32:41
  Speaker 1: us word who believe according to the working of His
• 1:32:45
  Speaker 1: mighty power. Ephesians, Chapter one, verses fifteen two nineteen. If
• 1:32:54
  Speaker 1: prayer for others is a barometer of our own spiritual life.
• 1:32:58
  Speaker 1: We can realize what Saint Paul felt was necessary for
• 1:33:01
  Speaker 1: himself by his prayers for others. In Ephesians, there are
• 1:33:06
  Speaker 1: two petitions, and nothing fuller and deeper is found in
• 1:33:10
  Speaker 1: any of the apostles writings. This epistle represents the high
• 1:33:14
  Speaker 1: watermark of Christian privilege and possibility. One the foundation. We
• 1:33:22
  Speaker 1: see from verse fifteen that his prayer is closely and
• 1:33:25
  Speaker 1: definitely based on what precedes, and this introduces us to
• 1:33:29
  Speaker 1: a feature not hitherto found up to now. The prayers
• 1:33:33
  Speaker 1: at the opening have been recorded almost immediately after the
• 1:33:36
  Speaker 1: personal greetings, but here a long paragraph intervenes and the
• 1:33:40
  Speaker 1: prayer is not recorded until after fourteen verses of spiritual
• 1:33:44
  Speaker 1: teaching have been given. This section deserves special attention because
• 1:33:49
  Speaker 1: it is the basis of the prayer. Let us review
• 1:33:52
  Speaker 1: it briefly in order to obtain the true perspective of
• 1:33:55
  Speaker 1: the petition. The key thought is in verse three, where
• 1:34:00
  Speaker 1: the apostle praises God for having actually blessed them with
• 1:34:04
  Speaker 1: all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Then comes
• 1:34:09
  Speaker 1: a wonderful statement of the way in which these blessings
• 1:34:12
  Speaker 1: have become their own. A they have been eternally purposed
• 1:34:17
  Speaker 1: in God the Father verses three two, six, a B.
• 1:34:22
  Speaker 1: They had been historically mediated through God the Son verses
• 1:34:26
  Speaker 1: six B, two twelve C. They had been spiritually applied
• 1:34:32
  Speaker 1: by God the Spirit Verses twelve to fourteen, and in
• 1:34:36
  Speaker 1: connection with each person of the Sacred Trinity. Practically the
• 1:34:40
  Speaker 1: same phrase occurs in this paragraph, showing that all the
• 1:34:43
  Speaker 1: blessings were given in order that they might be used
• 1:34:46
  Speaker 1: for the Divine glory, to the praise of the glory
• 1:34:50
  Speaker 1: of His grace verse six, to the praise of His
• 1:34:54
  Speaker 1: glory verse twelve, to the praise of His glory verse fourteen.
• 1:35:01
  Speaker 1: Now it is upon this wealth of provision that the
• 1:35:04
  Speaker 1: apostle bases his prayer. On this account, God has so
• 1:35:09
  Speaker 1: wonderfully blessed them in Christ by his Spirit, and this
• 1:35:12
  Speaker 1: fullness of blessing was so clearly intended to be used
• 1:35:15
  Speaker 1: to the praise and glory of God that he could
• 1:35:18
  Speaker 1: pray as he does here assured that the answer would come.
• 1:35:23
  Speaker 1: God's revelation of himself is invariably and inevitably the foundation
• 1:35:28
  Speaker 1: of our prayers. Because of what He has done and
• 1:35:32
  Speaker 1: is doing, we can be sure of grace. Because His
• 1:35:36
  Speaker 1: power has provided all things that pertain to life and godliness,
• 1:35:40
  Speaker 1: we can be certain of power for daily living. Two
• 1:35:46
  Speaker 1: the appeal the names and titles of God are particularly
• 1:35:51
  Speaker 1: noteworthy and are always full of spiritual significance, shedding light
• 1:35:56
  Speaker 1: on the passages in which they occur. Paul prays the
• 1:36:01
  Speaker 1: God of Our Lord Jesus Christ. This title, as it
• 1:36:04
  Speaker 1: stands is unique, though already he has referred to the
• 1:36:08
  Speaker 1: God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ verse three,
• 1:36:12
  Speaker 1: and will refer again to the Father of Our Lord
• 1:36:15
  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ in connection with prayer chapter three, verse fourteen.
• 1:36:21
  Speaker 1: The God of Our Lord Jesus Christ seems to suggest
• 1:36:24
  Speaker 1: the highest point and peak of power and grace. God,
• 1:36:29
  Speaker 1: as the God of Christ, is the primary source of
• 1:36:32
  Speaker 1: all blessing. He is also the Father of glory. This too,
• 1:36:38
  Speaker 1: is a phrase not found elsewhere. He is the Father
• 1:36:42
  Speaker 1: to whom all glory belongs as its divine source. In
• 1:36:47
  Speaker 1: Acts chapter seven, verse two, he is the God of glory,
• 1:36:51
  Speaker 1: and in verse Corinthians chapter two, verse eight, Christ is
• 1:36:54
  Speaker 1: the Lord of Glory. In Romans chapter six, verse four,
• 1:36:59
  Speaker 1: Christ is said to have been raised from the dead
• 1:37:01
  Speaker 1: by the glory of the Father. Glory is a characteristic
• 1:37:05
  Speaker 1: quality of God. It is the manifestation of His splendor
• 1:37:10
  Speaker 1: and the outshining of his excellence. All radiance, all brightness,
• 1:37:15
  Speaker 1: all magnificence come from Him and are intended to be
• 1:37:18
  Speaker 1: returned to Him in praise. The glory of God in
• 1:37:23
  Speaker 1: Romans is threefold. It is God's proof for man's past
• 1:37:27
  Speaker 1: life chapter three, verse twenty three. It is God's prospect
• 1:37:31
  Speaker 1: for man's future life chapter five, verse two. It is
• 1:37:36
  Speaker 1: God's principle for man's present life chapter fifteen, verse seven.
• 1:37:41
  Speaker 1: And the association of glory with prayer seems to suggest
• 1:37:45
  Speaker 1: that the praise of His glory, which is to characterize
• 1:37:48
  Speaker 1: our life, can only come from God himself, as the
• 1:37:51
  Speaker 1: father of glory. If our lives are to be lived
• 1:37:55
  Speaker 1: to his praise, he must be the power. If our
• 1:38:00
  Speaker 1: lives are to manifest his glory, his must be the grace.
• 1:38:05
  Speaker 1: Thine is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory. Three
• 1:38:12
  Speaker 1: the request. Now we come to this profound prayer, which
• 1:38:16
  Speaker 1: teaches the inmost secrets of the spiritual life, on a
• 1:38:22
  Speaker 1: divine gift may give to you a spirit of wisdom
• 1:38:26
  Speaker 1: and revelation. He has spoken of the wealth of blessings
• 1:38:31
  Speaker 1: stored up in Christ verse three, and of God's grace
• 1:38:34
  Speaker 1: abounding to us in all wisdom in prudence verse eight.
• 1:38:39
  Speaker 1: Now he asks for wisdom and illumination to perceive all
• 1:38:42
  Speaker 1: this for themselves as a personal experience. The word spirit
• 1:38:48
  Speaker 1: seems to refer to their human faculty, though of course,
• 1:38:51
  Speaker 1: as in Dwelt, and possessed by the divine Spirit. But
• 1:38:55
  Speaker 1: the absence of the definite article from the word spirit
• 1:38:58
  Speaker 1: seems to suggest a gift rather than a person. The
• 1:39:02
  Speaker 1: Holy Spirit of God enters into our spirit, and the
• 1:39:05
  Speaker 1: result is wisdom and revelation. These two words refer to
• 1:39:10
  Speaker 1: general illumination and specific enlightenment. He desires his readers to
• 1:39:15
  Speaker 1: enter fully into the meaning of these great realities to
• 1:39:18
  Speaker 1: which He has given such full expression Verses one, two,
• 1:39:22
  Speaker 1: fourteen two. But this divine gift is only possible by
• 1:39:28
  Speaker 1: means of a simple yet important condition. It is in
• 1:39:33
  Speaker 1: the full knowledge of Him. The word rendered knowledge is
• 1:39:38
  Speaker 1: characteristic of these prison epistles, and always means full knowledge,
• 1:39:42
  Speaker 1: the mature experience of the spiritual man. It is invariably
• 1:39:48
  Speaker 1: connected with God. It refers to the deep, growing, ripening
• 1:39:53
  Speaker 1: consciousness which comes from personal fellowship with Him. Philosophy can
• 1:39:58
  Speaker 1: only say know thyself, but scripture says no God. This
• 1:40:04
  Speaker 1: is how wisdom and revelation become ours, and Christian history
• 1:40:08
  Speaker 1: and experience testify abundantly to the simple yet remarkable fact
• 1:40:12
  Speaker 1: of spiritual insight and moral understanding, which are due solely
• 1:40:16
  Speaker 1: to fellowship with God. Nothing is more striking than the
• 1:40:20
  Speaker 1: fact of a deep spiritual apprehension and appreciation, which are
• 1:40:24
  Speaker 1: independent of intellectual conception and verbal expression. Believers can have
• 1:40:30
  Speaker 1: a true spiritual consciousness of God without the possession of
• 1:40:33
  Speaker 1: great capacity or attainments. Many whose natural education and intellectual
• 1:40:39
  Speaker 1: opportunities have been slight have had this spiritual perception in
• 1:40:43
  Speaker 1: an uncommon degree, and it always marks the spiritually ripe Christian.
• 1:40:49
  Speaker 1: It is not the one whose intellectual knowledge is critical, scholarly,
• 1:40:53
  Speaker 1: and profound, but he whose spiritual insight is suffused with grace, love,
• 1:40:58
  Speaker 1: and fellowship. This does not mean that natural knowledge or
• 1:41:02
  Speaker 1: culture is to be despised or avoided as evil, but
• 1:41:06
  Speaker 1: that the two kinds of knowledge should be carefully distinguished.
• 1:41:10
  Speaker 1: The Christian Church has, at least for the last three
• 1:41:13
  Speaker 1: hundred years, set great store by knowledge and science. But
• 1:41:17
  Speaker 1: deeper than all this is the spiritual instinct, insight, knowledge,
• 1:41:22
  Speaker 1: and illumination, which constitute the supreme requirement of the true
• 1:41:26
  Speaker 1: Christian life. We can see this spiritual perception in its
• 1:41:30
  Speaker 1: various stages. In several passages of the New Testament, we
• 1:41:34
  Speaker 1: have seen how Saint John divides believers into three classes.
• 1:41:38
  Speaker 1: First John, Chapter two, verses twelve to fourteen. But while
• 1:41:43
  Speaker 1: in his repetition the apostle can vary the description of
• 1:41:45
  Speaker 1: the children and the young men, when he has to
• 1:41:48
  Speaker 1: speak the second time of the fathers, he has nothing
• 1:41:51
  Speaker 1: new to say, for they cannot be otherwise or more
• 1:41:54
  Speaker 1: fully described than as those who know Him who is
• 1:41:57
  Speaker 1: from the beginning three. The immediate consequence of this fellowship
• 1:42:04
  Speaker 1: is that the eyes of the heart become permanently enlightened Greek,
• 1:42:10
  Speaker 1: keeping in view the scripture truth of the heart, as
• 1:42:13
  Speaker 1: including the elements of mind, emotion, and will. The result
• 1:42:17
  Speaker 1: of fellowship with God is that every feature of the
• 1:42:20
  Speaker 1: inner life becomes purified and enlightened. The mind is illuminated
• 1:42:25
  Speaker 1: to perceive truth, the emotions are purified to love the good,
• 1:42:30
  Speaker 1: and the will is equipped to obey the right. It
• 1:42:33
  Speaker 1: is not that new objects meet the gaze so much
• 1:42:36
  Speaker 1: as that a new and deeper perception is given to
• 1:42:39
  Speaker 1: enable the heart to see and understand what had hitherto
• 1:42:42
  Speaker 1: been dark and difficult. This illuminated heart is one of
• 1:42:47
  Speaker 1: the choicest blessings of the spiritual life and one of
• 1:42:50
  Speaker 1: the greatest safeguards against spiritual error. Ye have an unction,
• 1:42:55
  Speaker 1: and ye know First John, chapter two, verse twenty. The
• 1:43:00
  Speaker 1: Spirit of God hath come and hath given us an
• 1:43:03
  Speaker 1: understanding First John, Chapter five, verse twenty. Many of the
• 1:43:09
  Speaker 1: problems affecting the spiritual life are solved only in this way. Criticism, scholarship,
• 1:43:16
  Speaker 1: intellectual power may be brought to bear upon them, but
• 1:43:20
  Speaker 1: they will not yield to this treatment. The illuminated heart
• 1:43:24
  Speaker 1: of the bay being Christ, is often enabled to understand
• 1:43:28
  Speaker 1: secrets which are hid from the wise and prudent. Four.
• 1:43:35
  Speaker 1: The outcome is a permanent spiritual experience that he may know,
• 1:43:41
  Speaker 1: i e. Possess an immediate, instinctive direct knowledge. Three great
• 1:43:47
  Speaker 1: realities are thereupon mentioned as the objects and substance of
• 1:43:50
  Speaker 1: our spiritual knowledge. A. The first is what is the
• 1:43:56
  Speaker 1: hope of his calling? His calling is the appeal and
• 1:44:00
  Speaker 1: offer of the Gospel with all its divine meaning and purpose,
• 1:44:04
  Speaker 1: and the hope of his calling is that which is
• 1:44:07
  Speaker 1: intended by and included in the offer of God. This
• 1:44:12
  Speaker 1: hope is either that too which God calls us or
• 1:44:15
  Speaker 1: by which He calls us, either objective or subjective, either
• 1:44:20
  Speaker 1: the substance or the feeling. Hope, when regarded as objective
• 1:44:25
  Speaker 1: as the substance of our experience, is full of promise
• 1:44:28
  Speaker 1: on which the believer fixes his faith. Hope, when regarded
• 1:44:33
  Speaker 1: as subjective as the possession of the soul, is full
• 1:44:36
  Speaker 1: of inspiration, as it encourages and confirms belief that he
• 1:44:40
  Speaker 1: is faithful that promised. Hope as an objective reality is
• 1:44:45
  Speaker 1: fixed on Christ, and since God has a purpose in
• 1:44:48
  Speaker 1: calling us, we can exercise hope. Hope as a subjective
• 1:44:53
  Speaker 1: realization is based on the fact of experience. God calls
• 1:44:58
  Speaker 1: us by the Gospel and and therefore hope becomes possible.
• 1:45:03
  Speaker 1: Hope is the topstone of life and follows faith and
• 1:45:06
  Speaker 1: love c f Verse fifteen. Faith draws the curtain aside.
• 1:45:13
  Speaker 1: Hope gazes into the future, while love rejoices in the
• 1:45:17
  Speaker 1: present possession of Christ. Faith accepts hope, expects, Faith appropriates hope, anticipates.
• 1:45:28
  Speaker 1: Faith is concerned with the person who promises, hope with
• 1:45:32
  Speaker 1: the thing that the person promises. Faith is concerned with
• 1:45:36
  Speaker 1: the past and present, hope with the future alone. Hope
• 1:45:41
  Speaker 1: is invariably fixed on the future, and is never to
• 1:45:44
  Speaker 1: be regarded as merely a matter of natural temperament. It
• 1:45:49
  Speaker 1: is specifically connected with the Lord's coming, and we are
• 1:45:52
  Speaker 1: thus reminded that the calling of God covers past, present,
• 1:45:56
  Speaker 1: and future. It starts from regeneration and culminates in the
• 1:46:01
  Speaker 1: resurrection of the body at the coming of Christ. B
• 1:46:07
  Speaker 1: The second is the riches of the glory of His
• 1:46:10
  Speaker 1: inheritance in the saints. This may mean the wealth which
• 1:46:15
  Speaker 1: God possesses for them, or in them, our wealth in Him,
• 1:46:21
  Speaker 1: or His in us. If we take it in the
• 1:46:24
  Speaker 1: former sense, it will mean that God is the inheritance
• 1:46:27
  Speaker 1: and we are the heirs. That the saints now possess
• 1:46:30
  Speaker 1: imperfectly and anticipate in its fullness, the inheritance of grace,
• 1:46:34
  Speaker 1: the spiritual canaan, which they are to enjoy here and hereafter. If, however,
• 1:46:40
  Speaker 1: we take it as is more likely in the latter sense,
• 1:46:44
  Speaker 1: it will mean that we are the inheritance and God
• 1:46:47
  Speaker 1: is the possessor and heir. We must never forget that
• 1:46:51
  Speaker 1: the biblical ideas associated with air, and inheritance always refer
• 1:46:56
  Speaker 1: to possession, and not as in ordinary phraseology to succession.
• 1:47:02
  Speaker 1: In the Bible, the heir does not merely expect, but
• 1:47:05
  Speaker 1: already enjoys in part that which he will possess in
• 1:47:08
  Speaker 1: full hereafter adopting then the second of these interpretations, The
• 1:47:14
  Speaker 1: saints belong to God and are precious in his sight.
• 1:47:18
  Speaker 1: They are his peculium or special treasure, like Israel of
• 1:47:23
  Speaker 1: old Deuteronomy chapter four, verse twenty. They have been formed
• 1:47:28
  Speaker 1: for him and are to show forth his praise Isaiah
• 1:47:32
  Speaker 1: chapter forty three, verse twenty one. He sets store by them,
• 1:47:37
  Speaker 1: as is suggested by the significant words, hast thou considered
• 1:47:42
  Speaker 1: my servant job. There are several indications in scripture that
• 1:47:46
  Speaker 1: God values and trusts his people. I know him that
• 1:47:50
  Speaker 1: he will command his children and his household after him.
• 1:47:54
  Speaker 1: Genesis chapter eighteen, verse nineteen. The Lord taketh pleasure in
• 1:47:59
  Speaker 1: his people some one hundred forty nine, verse four. The
• 1:48:04
  Speaker 1: steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord,
• 1:48:07
  Speaker 1: and he that is God delighteth in his way Psalm
• 1:48:11
  Speaker 1: thirty seven, verse twenty three. And the wealth is a
• 1:48:15
  Speaker 1: further proof of the value placed on believers by God
• 1:48:19
  Speaker 1: five times. In Ephesians, the apostle uses this metaphor of riches,
• 1:48:23
  Speaker 1: showing his thought of those who have been bought with
• 1:48:26
  Speaker 1: a price. Vers Corinthians, chapter five, verse twenty. Believers are
• 1:48:31
  Speaker 1: God's riches, wealth, treasure. They belong to him in view
• 1:48:36
  Speaker 1: of that day on which He will enter in full
• 1:48:39
  Speaker 1: upon his inheritance, when he comes to be glorified and
• 1:48:42
  Speaker 1: admired in them that believe. Second Thessalonians chapter one, verse ten.
• 1:48:47
  Speaker 1: And we are to see this, to know it, to
• 1:48:50
  Speaker 1: realize the spiritual possibilities of each believer and all God's
• 1:48:54
  Speaker 1: people together as God's own inheritance. See the third is
• 1:49:02
  Speaker 1: the exceeding greatness of His power to us word who believe.
• 1:49:08
  Speaker 1: In this marvelous association of almost inexpressible thoughts, the dominant
• 1:49:12
  Speaker 1: note is power, and the apostle praise that the Ephesian
• 1:49:16
  Speaker 1: Christians may know what this means. Power is a characteristic
• 1:49:20
  Speaker 1: word of Saint Paul as expressive of Christianity. The Gospel
• 1:49:25
  Speaker 1: is the power of God unto salvation Romans chapter one,
• 1:49:29
  Speaker 1: verse sixteen. By the resurrection, Christ was designated the son
• 1:49:34
  Speaker 1: of God with power Romans chapter one, verse four. He
• 1:49:39
  Speaker 1: is the power of God. First Corinthians, Chapter one, verse eighteen.
• 1:49:44
  Speaker 1: Man needs power, not merely a philosophy or an ethic,
• 1:49:49
  Speaker 1: but a dynamic. And it is the peculiar privilege of
• 1:49:52
  Speaker 1: His gospel to bring this to us. But let us
• 1:49:55
  Speaker 1: try to analyze this power. There are no less than
• 1:49:58
  Speaker 1: four comparisons stated or illustrations given one. It is exactly
• 1:50:05
  Speaker 1: the same power that God wrought in Christ at the resurrection.
• 1:50:09
  Speaker 1: Nothing less than this is the standard of the divine working.
• 1:50:13
  Speaker 1: We are to possess and experience the spiritual and moral
• 1:50:16
  Speaker 1: dynamic exercised by God on Christ when he raised him
• 1:50:20
  Speaker 1: from the dead. This is described as the exceeding greatness
• 1:50:24
  Speaker 1: of his power. The same adjective is used of Grace
• 1:50:29
  Speaker 1: chapter two, verse seven, and of Love chapter three, verse nineteen.
• 1:50:34
  Speaker 1: And it is intended to express the superabundance of that
• 1:50:37
  Speaker 1: power which was put forth in the resurrection, and which
• 1:50:40
  Speaker 1: is now exercised on our behalf. Then the four words
• 1:50:45
  Speaker 1: used for power are particularly noteworthy. Power, energy, strength, might.
• 1:50:53
  Speaker 1: Each conveys an aspect of this great spiritual force. Might
• 1:50:58
  Speaker 1: is power in possession. Strength is power as the result
• 1:51:03
  Speaker 1: of grasping or of coming into contact with the source
• 1:51:06
  Speaker 1: of that power and energy is a power in expression. Two.
• 1:51:14
  Speaker 1: Not only so, but the power exercised by God in
• 1:51:17
  Speaker 1: the ascension is also intended to be bestowed on and
• 1:51:20
  Speaker 1: experienced by us. When we are told that Christ was
• 1:51:24
  Speaker 1: set at God's right hand, far above all powers, we
• 1:51:27
  Speaker 1: can understand something of the divine might exercised. Three. Still more,
• 1:51:35
  Speaker 1: it is the same power by means of which God
• 1:51:37
  Speaker 1: put all things under the feet of Christ. This too
• 1:51:41
  Speaker 1: is the divine force and energy for believers. Not least
• 1:51:45
  Speaker 1: of all, it was divine power that gave Christ to
• 1:51:49
  Speaker 1: be the head over all things to the Church, And
• 1:51:52
  Speaker 1: it is exactly this power that is exercised on our behalf.
• 1:51:57
  Speaker 1: When we contemplate all this as intended by God for us,
• 1:52:01
  Speaker 1: we can see something of the vigorous and victorious life
• 1:52:04
  Speaker 1: He can and will enable us to live. As we
• 1:52:09
  Speaker 1: review this wonderful prayer, it is impossible to avoid noticing
• 1:52:12
  Speaker 1: that the first petition refers mainly to the past his calling,
• 1:52:17
  Speaker 1: the second mainly to the future his inheritance, and the
• 1:52:21
  Speaker 1: third mainly to the present his power. Though of course
• 1:52:25
  Speaker 1: each petition has its bearing on the other two points
• 1:52:27
  Speaker 1: of time. Every part of our life is thus adequately
• 1:52:31
  Speaker 1: supplied and intended to be abundantly satisfied. Nor may we
• 1:52:36
  Speaker 1: omit to observe that. All through the prayer, the emphasis
• 1:52:39
  Speaker 1: is on God, his calling, his inheritance, his power. Everything
• 1:52:46
  Speaker 1: is regarded from the divine standpoint, because we are not
• 1:52:49
  Speaker 1: our own but his. The contemplation of this glory, of
• 1:52:53
  Speaker 1: the divine love and grace overwhelms the soul with wonder,
• 1:52:58
  Speaker 1: love and praise. In the presence of such a prayer
• 1:53:03
  Speaker 1: dealing with such profound realities, three thoughts naturally arise in
• 1:53:07
  Speaker 1: our minds. A. How little we know, and how much
• 1:53:11
  Speaker 1: we might and should know. B how little we are
• 1:53:17
  Speaker 1: and how much we might and should be. See how
• 1:53:21
  Speaker 1: little we do and how much we might and should do.
• 1:53:26
  Speaker 1: And Yet, if we will but remind ourselves of the
• 1:53:29
  Speaker 1: simple secret of true living as here described, we might
• 1:53:33
  Speaker 1: become and accomplish infinitely more than we have ever experienced
• 1:53:37
  Speaker 1: up to the present. To us, word, who believe faith
• 1:53:42
  Speaker 1: is the simple yet all sufficient secret trust relies on
• 1:53:47
  Speaker 1: God and receives from him. It puts us in contact
• 1:53:51
  Speaker 1: with the source of blessing, and in union with him
• 1:53:54
  Speaker 1: we shall find spiritual illumination, spiritual insight, spiritual experience and
• 1:53:59
  Speaker 1: spiritu rual power, that shall all be lived and exercised
• 1:54:03
  Speaker 1: to His praise and glory. End of chapter seven, Chapter
• 1:54:15
  Speaker 1: eight of the Prayers of Saint Paul by W. H.
• 1:54:19
  Speaker 1: Griffith Thomas. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain
• 1:54:24
  Speaker 1: recording by Marianne, Chapter eight, Strength and Indwelling. For this cause,
• 1:54:34
  Speaker 1: I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord,
• 1:54:36
  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and
• 1:54:40
  Speaker 1: Earth is named, that He would grant you, according to
• 1:54:44
  Speaker 1: the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might
• 1:54:48
  Speaker 1: by His son in the inner Man, that Christ may
• 1:54:51
  Speaker 1: dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted
• 1:54:56
  Speaker 1: and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with
• 1:54:59
  Speaker 1: all the saints what is the breath and length, and
• 1:55:03
  Speaker 1: depth and height, And to know the Love of Christ
• 1:55:07
  Speaker 1: which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all
• 1:55:11
  Speaker 1: the fullness of God. Ephesians, Chapter three, verses fourteen nineteen.
• 1:55:18
  Speaker 1: In no part of Paul's letters does he rise to
• 1:55:21
  Speaker 1: a higher level than in his prayers, and none of
• 1:55:24
  Speaker 1: his prayers are fuller of fervor than this wonderful series
• 1:55:27
  Speaker 1: of petitions. They open out one into the other, like
• 1:55:31
  Speaker 1: some majestic suite of apartments in a great palace temple,
• 1:55:35
  Speaker 1: each leading into a loftier and more spacious hall, each
• 1:55:39
  Speaker 1: drawing near the presence chamber, until at last we stand
• 1:55:43
  Speaker 1: there MacLaren. The second prayer in Ephesians possesses remarkable affinities
• 1:55:51
  Speaker 1: with the first. Indeed, the two are complimentary, and many
• 1:55:55
  Speaker 1: of the expressions call for close comparison. On the standpoint.
• 1:56:02
  Speaker 1: For this cause verse fourteen to what does his phrase
• 1:56:07
  Speaker 1: point back? Some associate it with verse one for this cause,
• 1:56:12
  Speaker 1: thinking that Saint Paul, having been diverted from his main
• 1:56:15
  Speaker 1: teaching in verses one to thirteen, here resumes it in
• 1:56:19
  Speaker 1: the form of a prayer. But perhaps it is still
• 1:56:22
  Speaker 1: better to regard the resumption of the main teaching as
• 1:56:25
  Speaker 1: coming in chapter four, verse one, where the Apostle again
• 1:56:28
  Speaker 1: speaks of himself as the prisoner. This would make chapter
• 1:56:33
  Speaker 1: three wholly parenthetical, so that instead of the present prayer
• 1:56:37
  Speaker 1: being based on the teaching of chapter two, the Apostle
• 1:56:40
  Speaker 1: is led here to speak of his ministry chapter three
• 1:56:43
  Speaker 1: verses one to thirteen, and its outcome. His ministry is
• 1:56:48
  Speaker 1: a gift, a trust a stewardship, and its purpose is
• 1:56:53
  Speaker 1: the proclamation of the Gospel and its results in the
• 1:56:56
  Speaker 1: accomplishment of God's purposes for Jew and Gentile. On this view,
• 1:57:01
  Speaker 1: the standpoint of the prayer is associated closely with his
• 1:57:04
  Speaker 1: ministry and its effects, as seen in the immediately preceding verses.
• 1:57:09
  Speaker 1: It is because of his remarkable ministry given to him
• 1:57:12
  Speaker 1: by God and all the spiritual privileges brought to the
• 1:57:16
  Speaker 1: gentile Christians thereby, that he is able to work for
• 1:57:19
  Speaker 1: them verse thirteen, and also to pray for them verse fourteen. Thus,
• 1:57:26
  Speaker 1: while the prayer in Chapter one looks at their life
• 1:57:29
  Speaker 1: from the standpoint of the divine purposes, this prayer will
• 1:57:32
  Speaker 1: be occupied with their spiritual privileges. In Christ two the
• 1:57:38
  Speaker 1: attitude I bow my knees unto the Father verse fourteen.
• 1:57:44
  Speaker 1: The intense reverence of the apostle in this allusion to
• 1:57:47
  Speaker 1: bowing his knees is particularly noteworthy. As a rule, the
• 1:57:52
  Speaker 1: Jews stood for prayer Luke Chapter eighteen, Verses eleven to thirteen,
• 1:57:57
  Speaker 1: and prostration seems to have been an exceptional posture, but
• 1:58:01
  Speaker 1: in connection with Christians, kneeling is mentioned Acts Chapter seven,
• 1:58:06
  Speaker 1: verse sixty. Chapter nine verse forty, Chapter twenty, verse thirty six.
• 1:58:12
  Speaker 1: Nothing could more beautifully express the true attitude of the
• 1:58:15
  Speaker 1: soul before God than this posture of the body. At
• 1:58:19
  Speaker 1: the same time, the use of the word Father indicates
• 1:58:22
  Speaker 1: the other side of the truth and confidence with which
• 1:58:25
  Speaker 1: we approach God. He is at once our God and
• 1:58:29
  Speaker 1: our Father Chapter one, verse seventeen. And our attitude must
• 1:58:34
  Speaker 1: be expressive both of our adoration and of our assurance.
• 1:58:39
  Speaker 1: He is great and good, and we approach Him as
• 1:58:42
  Speaker 1: the Holy One and the Loving One. Three the address
• 1:58:49
  Speaker 1: the Father from whom every family in heaven and Earth
• 1:58:53
  Speaker 1: is named. It is interesting that the title God is
• 1:58:57
  Speaker 1: not associated with this prayer, as in Child one, although
• 1:59:01
  Speaker 1: the thought of deity is found in the allusion to
• 1:59:04
  Speaker 1: bowing the knees. And in addition to God as the Father,
• 1:59:08
  Speaker 1: he is described as the one from whom every family
• 1:59:12
  Speaker 1: Greek fatherhood in heaven and Earth is named. This seems
• 1:59:18
  Speaker 1: to mean that whatever element of family life exists, it
• 1:59:21
  Speaker 1: comes from God, that all true spiritual life in heaven
• 1:59:25
  Speaker 1: or Earth has its origin in the Father. The scope
• 1:59:29
  Speaker 1: of the prayer is particularly noteworthy as we contemplate God
• 1:59:33
  Speaker 1: as the fount of every fatherhood and the parent of
• 1:59:36
  Speaker 1: all men everywhere. Such a statement will do more than
• 1:59:40
  Speaker 1: anything else to guard us against narrow or purely selfish
• 1:59:45
  Speaker 1: desires as we approach God. In prayer four the appeal
• 1:59:52
  Speaker 1: that He would grant you verse sixteen. As in the
• 1:59:57
  Speaker 1: former prayer, the apostle is clear that what he is
• 2:00:00
  Speaker 1: about to ask is essentially a divine gift. It comes
• 2:00:03
  Speaker 1: from above. Whether he is seeking knowledge chapter one, verse
• 2:00:07
  Speaker 1: seventeen or power chapter three, verse sixteen. At every step
• 2:00:13
  Speaker 1: God must give and the believer must receive. It would
• 2:00:17
  Speaker 1: be well for us, in our Christian experience to emphasize
• 2:00:20
  Speaker 1: this simple but searching truth. Every good and every perfect
• 2:00:25
  Speaker 1: gift comes from above five the standard according to the
• 2:00:32
  Speaker 1: riches of His glory verse sixteen. Here again we begin
• 2:00:37
  Speaker 1: to realize something of the fullness of the prayer to
• 2:00:40
  Speaker 1: be offered. The measure of the Apostle's desire is not
• 2:00:44
  Speaker 1: our own poverty, but God's wealth. We are to look
• 2:00:48
  Speaker 1: away from ourselves to the infinite riches of the divine glory.
• 2:00:53
  Speaker 1: In the former prayer he asked that we might know
• 2:00:56
  Speaker 1: the riches of God's glory, But here there is something more.
• 2:01:00
  Speaker 1: We are to experience them in our heart and life
• 2:01:06
  Speaker 1: six the petitions in general, Saint Paul asks for two
• 2:01:12
  Speaker 1: great spiritual blessings, the inward strength of the Holy Spirit
• 2:01:16
  Speaker 1: and the indwelling presence of Christ. These are inseparable, and
• 2:01:21
  Speaker 1: we may regard the first as essential to the second,
• 2:01:24
  Speaker 1: and the second as the effect of the first. But
• 2:01:27
  Speaker 1: the prayer goes into detail, and each part of the
• 2:01:30
  Speaker 1: petition calls for careful meditation one strengthened with power through
• 2:01:37
  Speaker 1: his spirit in the inward Man verse sixteen, revised version,
• 2:01:42
  Speaker 1: as wisdom was the burden of the former prayer Chapter one,
• 2:01:46
  Speaker 1: verse seventeen. So strength is the main thought here. The
• 2:01:51
  Speaker 1: order too is significant wisdom and power, since power without
• 2:01:56
  Speaker 1: knowledge would be highly dangerous. The strength comes from the
• 2:02:00
  Speaker 1: Holy Spirit. He is the agent of God's enabling grace,
• 2:02:05
  Speaker 1: and the strength is to extend into the inward man.
• 2:02:09
  Speaker 1: The contrast seems to be between the inward and the outward.
• 2:02:13
  Speaker 1: As in secod Corinthians Chapter four, verse sixteen, Romans chapter seven,
• 2:02:18
  Speaker 1: verse twenty two. The strength is not of the body
• 2:02:22
  Speaker 1: or of the mind, but of the soul. The inward
• 2:02:26
  Speaker 1: is not exactly identical with the new man, but emphasizes
• 2:02:30
  Speaker 1: the inner life of the Spirit, as contrasted with the
• 2:02:33
  Speaker 1: outer life of the body, the hidden man of the heart. Two.
• 2:02:39
  Speaker 1: That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, Verse seventeen,
• 2:02:44
  Speaker 1: revised version. This is the outcome of the inward strength
• 2:02:49
  Speaker 1: of the Spirit, and almost every word needs attention. The
• 2:02:53
  Speaker 1: indwelling of Christ is virtually identical with that of the
• 2:02:56
  Speaker 1: Spirit Chapter two, verse twenty two, although, of course Christ
• 2:03:01
  Speaker 1: and the Holy Spirit are never absolutely identified in Holy
• 2:03:04
  Speaker 1: scripture Tewod Corinthians, Chapter three, Verses seventeen and eighteen. It
• 2:03:10
  Speaker 1: is only in regard to the practical outcome in the
• 2:03:12
  Speaker 1: believer's experience that the indwelling of Christ and the Spirit
• 2:03:16
  Speaker 1: amount to the same thing. This is to be a
• 2:03:20
  Speaker 1: permanent in dwelling and not a mere passing stay, just
• 2:03:24
  Speaker 1: as believers together are described as a temple for God's
• 2:03:27
  Speaker 1: permanent habitation. Chapter two, verse twenty two Greek. This permanent
• 2:03:33
  Speaker 1: in dwelling of Christ is to be in your hearts.
• 2:03:37
  Speaker 1: Almost every prayer is thus concerned with the heart, the
• 2:03:41
  Speaker 1: center of the moral being, and the apostle praise that
• 2:03:44
  Speaker 1: Christ may make his home therein. This is no mere influence,
• 2:03:50
  Speaker 1: but a personal presence the living Christ within, and it
• 2:03:54
  Speaker 1: is to be through faith. It is faith that admits
• 2:03:58
  Speaker 1: Christ to the heart, allowing him to enter into every
• 2:04:01
  Speaker 1: part of the inward man. And the same faith that
• 2:04:05
  Speaker 1: admits him permits him to remain, reside and rule. Faith,
• 2:04:10
  Speaker 1: in a word, is the total response of the soul
• 2:04:13
  Speaker 1: to the lordship of Christ. Three that ye being rooted
• 2:04:20
  Speaker 1: and grounded in love verse seventeen. Here again, the original
• 2:04:26
  Speaker 1: expressions imply permanent results, and the two words rooted and
• 2:04:31
  Speaker 1: grounded are beautifully complimentary. The one refers to a tree,
• 2:04:36
  Speaker 1: the other to a house, and the expressions point to
• 2:04:39
  Speaker 1: those hidden processes of the soul which are the result
• 2:04:43
  Speaker 1: of Christ's indwelling and the Holy spirits working. The power
• 2:04:48
  Speaker 1: of the Spirit and the indwelling of Christ tend to
• 2:04:51
  Speaker 1: our permanent inward establishment in the element and atmosphere of
• 2:04:55
  Speaker 1: Christian Love. This is one of the seven occasions in
• 2:04:59
  Speaker 1: the short place, So where we find the Pauline phrase
• 2:05:02
  Speaker 1: in love referring to the sphere and atmosphere of our
• 2:05:06
  Speaker 1: fellowship with God, the love, no doubt means primarily and
• 2:05:11
  Speaker 1: perhaps almost exclusively, God's love to us as that in
• 2:05:16
  Speaker 1: which we are to live and move and have our being.
• 2:05:21
  Speaker 1: Four may be strong to apprehend with all the saints.
• 2:05:26
  Speaker 1: What is the breath and length and height and depth?
• 2:05:31
  Speaker 1: Verse eighteen revised version. Here again the emphasis is on
• 2:05:36
  Speaker 1: strength and the apostle praise that we may have full
• 2:05:39
  Speaker 1: strength to grasp may be quite able to accomplish this purpose.
• 2:05:44
  Speaker 1: Spiritual ideas can never be appropriated by intellectual action alone.
• 2:05:49
  Speaker 1: It is not by brilliant intellect, but by spiritual insight
• 2:05:53
  Speaker 1: that we become able to comprehend. Although there is now
• 2:05:57
  Speaker 1: no specific reference to love, it would seem as though
• 2:06:01
  Speaker 1: the idea of verse nineteen is already in view. And
• 2:06:05
  Speaker 1: assuming this to be the case, we have four aspects
• 2:06:08
  Speaker 1: of the divine love which we are to be strong
• 2:06:11
  Speaker 1: to grasp. Its breath means that there is no barrier
• 2:06:15
  Speaker 1: to it, reminding us of the extent of the divine councils.
• 2:06:20
  Speaker 1: Its length tells us of the divine foreknowledge and his
• 2:06:23
  Speaker 1: thought of us through the ages. Its height points to
• 2:06:29
  Speaker 1: our Lord in Heaven as the goal for the penitent believer.
• 2:06:33
  Speaker 1: Its depth declares the possibility of love descending to the
• 2:06:37
  Speaker 1: lost abyss of human misery for the purpose of redemption,
• 2:06:41
  Speaker 1: and the ability to grasp the divine love in this
• 2:06:45
  Speaker 1: fourfold way is to be experienced with all the saints.
• 2:06:50
  Speaker 1: It is impossible to accomplish it alone. No spiritual exclusiveness
• 2:06:54
  Speaker 1: is thinkable in this connection, to say nothing of the
• 2:06:57
  Speaker 1: lower forms of egotism and selfishness. Twice in this brief
• 2:07:02
  Speaker 1: writing does the apostle refer to all the saints Chapter six,
• 2:07:07
  Speaker 1: verse eighteen, thereby reminding us of the place and power
• 2:07:11
  Speaker 1: of each saint in the spiritual economy of God. One
• 2:07:15
  Speaker 1: saint will be able to comprehend a little, another saint
• 2:07:18
  Speaker 1: a little more, and so on, until at length all
• 2:07:22
  Speaker 1: the saints together are strong to grasp the divine love.
• 2:07:28
  Speaker 1: The wider our fellowship, the fuller and firmer our hold
• 2:07:32
  Speaker 1: of the love of Christ. This is doubtless why public
• 2:07:35
  Speaker 1: worship is so strongly emphasized in the New Testament, where
• 2:07:40
  Speaker 1: two or three are gathered together in My name there
• 2:07:43
  Speaker 1: am I. The experiences of our fellow worshippers are always
• 2:07:48
  Speaker 1: intended to be, and usually will be, of help to
• 2:07:51
  Speaker 1: our own fuller realization of our Lord and Master. The
• 2:07:56
  Speaker 1: soul is justified solitarily and alone, but it is sanctified
• 2:08:01
  Speaker 1: only in the community of believers. Five. And to know
• 2:08:08
  Speaker 1: the love of Christ which passeth knowledge verse nineteen. If
• 2:08:13
  Speaker 1: we are correct in interpreting verse eighteen of the Divine Love,
• 2:08:17
  Speaker 1: the present verse will be the climax of this part
• 2:08:20
  Speaker 1: of the prayer. And it has been helpfully suggested that
• 2:08:23
  Speaker 1: we have here the fifth dimension of the love of Christ,
• 2:08:27
  Speaker 1: after the four already mentioned. Not only are they to
• 2:08:31
  Speaker 1: experience breadth and length, and height and depth, but also
• 2:08:36
  Speaker 1: the inwardness. They are to know by personal experience the
• 2:08:40
  Speaker 1: love of Christ, as it can only be known by
• 2:08:43
  Speaker 1: those who have fellowship with him. It is a love
• 2:08:46
  Speaker 1: that surpasses knowledge, just as His power surpasses everything. Chapter one,
• 2:08:51
  Speaker 1: verse nineteen. The paradox of knowing that which surpasses knowledge
• 2:08:56
  Speaker 1: will not be misunderstood from the standpoint of spiritual experience,
• 2:09:00
  Speaker 1: because it is the difference between apprehending and comprehending. We
• 2:09:05
  Speaker 1: know and know deeply, increasingly blessedly, and yet all the
• 2:09:10
  Speaker 1: while there are infinite stretches of love beyond our highest experiences. Six,
• 2:09:18
  Speaker 1: that ye may be filled unto all the fullness of
• 2:09:21
  Speaker 1: God Verse nineteen, revised version. This is the climax of
• 2:09:27
  Speaker 1: the prayer and is the culminating purpose of the work
• 2:09:31
  Speaker 1: of the Spirit and the indwelling of Christ, Strength, indwelling, love,
• 2:09:37
  Speaker 1: and knowledge are to issue in fullness, and we are
• 2:09:41
  Speaker 1: to be filled unto all the fullness of God. In
• 2:09:44
  Speaker 1: the former prayer, this fullness is associated with Christ and
• 2:09:48
  Speaker 1: with His body the Church chapter one, verse twenty three.
• 2:09:52
  Speaker 1: But here it is specifically associated with God and ourselves
• 2:09:56
  Speaker 1: as believers in Christ. When these two passages are associated
• 2:10:00
  Speaker 1: with chapter five, verse eighteen, which speaks of the fullness
• 2:10:04
  Speaker 1: of the Spirit, we have the word fullness connected with
• 2:10:07
  Speaker 1: each person of the blessed Trinity. What it means for
• 2:10:12
  Speaker 1: the soul to be filled to overflowing with the presence
• 2:10:14
  Speaker 1: of God itself is beyond our comprehension. It can only
• 2:10:19
  Speaker 1: be a matter of personal experience as we seek to
• 2:10:22
  Speaker 1: fulfill the proper conditions. Such a prayer for the fullness
• 2:10:27
  Speaker 1: of God is best expressed in miss Havergall's words. Lord,
• 2:10:33
  Speaker 1: we ask it scarcely knowing what this wondrous gift may be,
• 2:10:39
  Speaker 1: but fulfill to overflowing Thy great meaning. Let us see
• 2:10:47
  Speaker 1: end of chapter eight, Chapter nine of the Prayers of
• 2:10:57
  Speaker 1: Saint Paul by W. H. Griffith Thomas. This LibriVox recording
• 2:11:01
  Speaker 1: is in the public domain recording by Marianne, Chapter nine,
• 2:11:07
  Speaker 1: Love and discernment. And this I pray that your love
• 2:11:14
  Speaker 1: may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all judgment,
• 2:11:18
  Speaker 1: that ye may approve things that are excellent, that ye
• 2:11:22
  Speaker 1: may be sincere and without offense, till the day of Christ,
• 2:11:26
  Speaker 1: being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by
• 2:11:29
  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God. Philippians,
• 2:11:35
  Speaker 1: Chapter one, verses nine, two eleven. One of the most
• 2:11:41
  Speaker 1: beautiful elements in the Pauline epistles is the intimate relation
• 2:11:45
  Speaker 1: which evidently existed between the apostle and his converts. This
• 2:11:49
  Speaker 1: is especially the case in the Epistle to the Philippians,
• 2:11:53
  Speaker 1: for in no other writing is there such a full
• 2:11:55
  Speaker 1: revelation of the heart of Saint Paul and of his
• 2:11:58
  Speaker 1: love to those with whom whom he was united in Christ.
• 2:12:02
  Speaker 1: As therefore he knew them so intimately he prayed for them,
• 2:12:08
  Speaker 1: the prayer revealing at once their need and his conviction
• 2:12:11
  Speaker 1: as to essential things. Prayer is always strong in proportion
• 2:12:16
  Speaker 1: to our acquaintance with the spiritual life of others and
• 2:12:20
  Speaker 1: feeble so far as we are ignorant of their needs.
• 2:12:24
  Speaker 1: One the definite request let us mark the opening words
• 2:12:31
  Speaker 1: this I keep on asking Greek. There was one thing
• 2:12:35
  Speaker 1: for which he asked continually, and this seemed to him
• 2:12:39
  Speaker 1: to sum up everything in their life. One he prayed
• 2:12:43
  Speaker 1: for love, your love. As they already possessed life, he
• 2:12:49
  Speaker 1: wished it to be expressed in love. The epistle is
• 2:12:52
  Speaker 1: full of this subject. No writing is so truly characterized
• 2:12:56
  Speaker 1: by the love of Saint Paul for his converts or
• 2:12:59
  Speaker 1: of his kind verse for Saint Paul see Chapter four,
• 2:13:02
  Speaker 1: verses fourteen eighteen. Let us again remind ourselves that love
• 2:13:08
  Speaker 1: in the New Testament is something definite, tangible, strong, practical, intense.
• 2:13:15
  Speaker 1: It is more than sentiment, though of course it includes
• 2:13:18
  Speaker 1: that it is more than emotion, though undoubtedly it includes
• 2:13:23
  Speaker 1: that it is more than desire, though obviously it includes
• 2:13:27
  Speaker 1: that love is the outgoing of the entire nature in
• 2:13:32
  Speaker 1: self sacrificing service. It is the sympathy of the heart
• 2:13:37
  Speaker 1: and the devotion of the life to its object. As such,
• 2:13:41
  Speaker 1: it is the supreme proof of the reality of our
• 2:13:44
  Speaker 1: Christian profession. If ye love me, ye will keep my commandments.
• 2:13:49
  Speaker 1: John Chapter fourteen, Verse fifteen revised version. Lovest thou me
• 2:13:56
  Speaker 1: feed my sheep? John Chapter twenty one, verse sixteen, seeing
• 2:14:01
  Speaker 1: ye have purified your souls, love one another from the
• 2:14:05
  Speaker 1: heart unfeignedly. First Peter, Chapter one, verse twenty two, revised version.
• 2:14:12
  Speaker 1: It was with no cynicism, but with a wonderful astonishment
• 2:14:15
  Speaker 1: that the heathen used to say, see how these Christians
• 2:14:19
  Speaker 1: love one another. When therefore the apostle prayed for love,
• 2:14:24
  Speaker 1: he was asking that the Philippian Christians might possess and
• 2:14:27
  Speaker 1: manifest the very finest, truest, most powerful, and most attractive
• 2:14:33
  Speaker 1: proof of their Christian life. Two he prayed for abounding love,
• 2:14:41
  Speaker 1: that your love may abound not only some, but abundant love,
• 2:14:47
  Speaker 1: not a little but much. Love. To be real must
• 2:14:51
  Speaker 1: be kept full, intense, overflowing. It calls for continual reinforcement, replenishings,
• 2:14:58
  Speaker 1: and the abundance of love is the measure and proof
• 2:15:01
  Speaker 1: of the possession of abundant life. Three he prayed for
• 2:15:07
  Speaker 1: increasing love, that your love may abound yet more and more.
• 2:15:13
  Speaker 1: Expression is piled upon expression in order to emphasize the
• 2:15:16
  Speaker 1: importance of love and its progress. Love is intended to
• 2:15:20
  Speaker 1: grow and not to remain stationary. Just as life makes progress,
• 2:15:26
  Speaker 1: so must its results similarly develop. In love, The motto
• 2:15:31
  Speaker 1: for the Christian is more and more. This is why
• 2:15:35
  Speaker 1: there is so much in the New Testament about growth,
• 2:15:38
  Speaker 1: For just as it is with natural life, so it
• 2:15:41
  Speaker 1: must be with spiritual constant increase, development, progress, extension, expansion,
• 2:15:49
  Speaker 1: must market at every step. Four He prayed for discerning love,
• 2:15:57
  Speaker 1: that your love may abound yet more and more. In
• 2:15:59
  Speaker 1: nons Knowledge and All Discernment revised version, the two words
• 2:16:05
  Speaker 1: knowledge and discernment are particularly noteworthy. One expresses the principle,
• 2:16:12
  Speaker 1: the other the application. Again, we observe this word knowledge
• 2:16:16
  Speaker 1: as a characteristic expression of the Apostle in these prison epistles.
• 2:16:22
  Speaker 1: Full knowledge Greek is one of the marks of a
• 2:16:25
  Speaker 1: growing Christian life and is proved by spiritual perception, spiritual feeling,
• 2:16:31
  Speaker 1: spiritual discernment. There is a world of difference between intellectual
• 2:16:36
  Speaker 1: ability and spiritual insight. Many people are clever but not spiritual,
• 2:16:42
  Speaker 1: while many people are often truly spiritual without being possessed
• 2:16:45
  Speaker 1: of much intellectual capacity. Much is said in scripture about
• 2:16:51
  Speaker 1: sight in regard to things spiritual. Except a man be
• 2:16:55
  Speaker 1: born again, he cannot see John chapter three, Verse three.
• 2:17:00
  Speaker 1: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
• 2:17:04
  Speaker 1: Matthew chapter five, verse eight. There are many people in
• 2:17:08
  Speaker 1: our congregations of average intellect, and perhaps with mental powers
• 2:17:12
  Speaker 1: decidedly below the average, who are nevertheless full of profound
• 2:17:16
  Speaker 1: spiritual wisdom, because love to Christ has given them keenness
• 2:17:21
  Speaker 1: of vision and depth of insight. Two. The immediate purpose,
• 2:17:29
  Speaker 1: this constant progress, an abundance of love, was intended for
• 2:17:33
  Speaker 1: a very practical purpose, so that ye may approve the
• 2:17:38
  Speaker 1: things that are excellent Verse ten, revised version. This discernment
• 2:17:44
  Speaker 1: already mentioned was intended for spiritual discrimination. They were to
• 2:17:48
  Speaker 1: be enabled to distinguish, to prove, and thereby to approve.
• 2:17:54
  Speaker 1: As Lightfoot points out, love imparts a sensitiveness of touch,
• 2:17:59
  Speaker 1: a keen edge to the discriminating faculty in things moral
• 2:18:03
  Speaker 1: and spiritual. In things spiritual, at least, love is not blind,
• 2:18:08
  Speaker 1: but keen sighted. It is endowed with a spiritual discernment
• 2:18:12
  Speaker 1: which is able to distinguish not only between good and bad,
• 2:18:16
  Speaker 1: but between good and better, between better and best, between
• 2:18:20
  Speaker 1: best and excellent. The words approve the things that are
• 2:18:25
  Speaker 1: excellent occur also in Romans chapter two, verse eighteen, and
• 2:18:29
  Speaker 1: the meaning seems to be first that they were to
• 2:18:33
  Speaker 1: distinguish the things that differ, and then as a result
• 2:18:36
  Speaker 1: they were to approve the things that transcend. This spiritual
• 2:18:41
  Speaker 1: discernment is particularly needful to day, as the Christian soul
• 2:18:45
  Speaker 1: is surrounded by so many views and voices. Much that
• 2:18:50
  Speaker 1: appears on the surface to be attractive and charming contains
• 2:18:53
  Speaker 1: within it the elements of spiritual danger and disaster. And
• 2:18:57
  Speaker 1: it is only by spiritual discernment, which from a bounding
• 2:19:01
  Speaker 1: and increasing love to Christ, that the soul is safeguarded
• 2:19:04
  Speaker 1: against evil and led to approve and follow the things
• 2:19:08
  Speaker 1: that are superior. It is a vivid picture that the
• 2:19:11
  Speaker 1: Prophet gives of the Messiah when he describes him as
• 2:19:15
  Speaker 1: endowed by the Spirit of God and made of quick
• 2:19:18
  Speaker 1: scent in the fear of the Lord Isaiah Chapter eleven,
• 2:19:22
  Speaker 1: verse three Hebrew. It is this quick scent that by
• 2:19:27
  Speaker 1: the same spirit the Lord Jesus Christ bestows upon those
• 2:19:30
  Speaker 1: who love Him with all their heart. Three. The permanent result.
• 2:19:39
  Speaker 1: Every Christian grace is intended for practical and permanent effect.
• 2:19:43
  Speaker 1: In character, our lives are not to be intermittent, but
• 2:19:47
  Speaker 1: continuous in their expression of grace and blessing, and all
• 2:19:51
  Speaker 1: that the apostle has been praying for and desiring on
• 2:19:54
  Speaker 1: behalf of his Philippian Christians, was intended to develop and
• 2:19:58
  Speaker 1: express in them the solid and permanent realities of Christian character.
• 2:20:04
  Speaker 1: One sincerity that ye may be sincere Verse ten. This
• 2:20:10
  Speaker 1: has to do with motives. The word is thought to
• 2:20:14
  Speaker 1: mean tested in the sunlight. Our lives are to be
• 2:20:18
  Speaker 1: manifestly true, genuine, sincere transparent. Motive makes the man, and
• 2:20:27
  Speaker 1: from time to time it is essential that we should
• 2:20:29
  Speaker 1: allow ourselves to be tested and judged in the sunlight
• 2:20:32
  Speaker 1: of our perfect fellowship with Christ, just as Saint Peter,
• 2:20:36
  Speaker 1: when asked by his master, said, Lord, thou knowest all things.
• 2:20:43
  Speaker 1: Sincerity is one of the essential features of the true
• 2:20:45
  Speaker 1: Christian life. The believer, if he is to do the
• 2:20:49
  Speaker 1: will of God and commend the Gospel to others, must
• 2:20:52
  Speaker 1: have no doubtful eriere pensee, but a life lived moment
• 2:20:57
  Speaker 1: by moment in the perfect brightness of the presence of
• 2:21:00
  Speaker 1: perfect holiness. Two consistency void of offense Verse ten, revised version.
• 2:21:10
  Speaker 1: This has to do with conduct. Not only are we
• 2:21:14
  Speaker 1: to be inwardly true, but outwardly sure. Our lives must
• 2:21:19
  Speaker 1: not hinder others or put a stumbling block in their way,
• 2:21:23
  Speaker 1: just as the Master said, blessed is he whosoever is
• 2:21:27
  Speaker 1: not put to stumble by me. So must it be
• 2:21:31
  Speaker 1: with every follower of Christ. Our lives are to be
• 2:21:35
  Speaker 1: stepping stones, not stumbling blocks. Three. Character being filled with
• 2:21:44
  Speaker 1: the fruits of righteousness. This has to do with our
• 2:21:48
  Speaker 1: permanent life, both within and without, though the emphasis is
• 2:21:52
  Speaker 1: on being rather than ondoing. Character is the highest point
• 2:21:58
  Speaker 1: and peak of the Christian life life. For just as
• 2:22:01
  Speaker 1: fruit is the outcome of the life of a tree,
• 2:22:04
  Speaker 1: so character is the fruit of Christian living and is
• 2:22:07
  Speaker 1: the best proof of its existence. The Apostle's word suggests
• 2:22:12
  Speaker 1: that we are to be permanently filled Greek with the
• 2:22:16
  Speaker 1: fruits of righteousness, those things that are right, straight, true, correct, upright,
• 2:22:24
  Speaker 1: without any deflection on either side. The Lord, who is
• 2:22:28
  Speaker 1: our righteousness, works in us the fruits of righteousness by
• 2:22:32
  Speaker 1: the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Four the ultimate object.
• 2:22:40
  Speaker 1: The Apostle looks forward unto the day of Christ verse
• 2:22:44
  Speaker 1: ten revised version, and then speaks of the Christian life
• 2:22:48
  Speaker 1: being lived unto the glory and praise of God verse eleven.
• 2:22:54
  Speaker 1: Everything is to tend towards the manifestation of the splendor
• 2:22:58
  Speaker 1: of God in human life, whereby others will be led
• 2:23:01
  Speaker 1: to acknowledge and praise Him Matthew Chapter five, verse sixteen.
• 2:23:06
  Speaker 1: And this will reach its culminating point in the day
• 2:23:09
  Speaker 1: of Christ, that time when Christian people will stand before
• 2:23:13
  Speaker 1: their Master and receive the reward of their life and
• 2:23:16
  Speaker 1: service rendered to Him. Chapter one, verse six two, verse sixteen.
• 2:23:23
  Speaker 1: This was the Apostle's constant thought, and towards this he
• 2:23:27
  Speaker 1: strained every nerve Chapter three, verses eleven to twenty one.
• 2:23:33
  Speaker 1: It expresses the highest ideal of Christian living, for day
• 2:23:37
  Speaker 1: by day we are to live with this wonderful thought
• 2:23:40
  Speaker 1: of the glory and praise of God, and day by
• 2:23:43
  Speaker 1: day we are to look forward to the coming of
• 2:23:46
  Speaker 1: Christ as that day in which our life will find
• 2:23:49
  Speaker 1: its fullest realization, its complete satisfaction, and its unending joy.
• 2:23:56
  Speaker 1: All this reminds us of the essential simplicity of life,
• 2:24:00
  Speaker 1: for there is nothing complex or involved, or mysterious or
• 2:24:04
  Speaker 1: difficult in a life lived day by day to the
• 2:24:07
  Speaker 1: praise of God and in the light of the coming
• 2:24:10
  Speaker 1: of our Master. As we review this prayer, we may
• 2:24:14
  Speaker 1: feel perfectly sure that the Apostle meant it to be answered,
• 2:24:18
  Speaker 1: And indeed he himself gives us the hint of how
• 2:24:22
  Speaker 1: this may come to pass when he tells us that
• 2:24:25
  Speaker 1: the fruits of righteousness are through Jesus Christ. This is
• 2:24:30
  Speaker 1: only another way of expressing what he has already shown,
• 2:24:33
  Speaker 1: his confidence that the possession of the Christian life is
• 2:24:37
  Speaker 1: the guarantee of its complete realization and full perfection by
• 2:24:41
  Speaker 1: the indwelling presence and work of the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
• 2:24:46
  Speaker 1: Chapter one, verse six. Let us therefore take heart of
• 2:24:50
  Speaker 1: grace as we contemplate this prayer and the other prayers
• 2:24:53
  Speaker 1: of the Apostle. We must not be depressed or disheartened
• 2:24:58
  Speaker 1: or discouraged as we ponder the marvelous details and contemplate
• 2:25:02
  Speaker 1: the stupendous heights of the Christian life as depicted by
• 2:25:06
  Speaker 1: Saint Paul's wonderful spiritual insight. On the contrary, we must
• 2:25:11
  Speaker 1: remind ourselves that he would not have prayed these prayers
• 2:25:15
  Speaker 1: unless he had been certain that God would answer them,
• 2:25:18
  Speaker 1: and they will assuredly be answered as we set ourselves resolutely, humbly, lovingly,
• 2:25:25
  Speaker 1: trustfully to fulfill the required conditions through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
• 2:25:33
  Speaker 1: End of Chapter nine and end of the prayers of
• 2:25:37
  Speaker 1: Saint Paul by W. H. Griffith Thomas, recorded by Marianne Spiegel, Chicago, Illinois,
• 2:25:45
  Speaker 1: in August two thousand and thirteen,