But if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, Who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
But let him ask in faith, nothing doubting: for he that doubteth is like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed.
For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord;
a doubleminded man, unstable in all his ways.
Ask in faith, nothing doubting.
I believe we all know that one of the most basic rules of prayer is faith. Whether it is our private, personal prayer or whether it is corporate prayer, we find this element of faith to be the most basic rule in prayer.
Without faith, we cannot please God. Hebrews says, “He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that seek after Him.” So, when we come to prayer, when we come to God, we have to come believing that He is. He is the great I AM, and He is the One Who rewards those who seek Him.
Oftentimes, we come to pray, but somehow we do not ask in faith. Rather, we are doubting in our hearts.
Probably it is because we try to limit God to our limitations. In other words, when we ask Him for something that we can do, we believe He can do it. But when we are asking for something that is beyond our ability, then we begin to doubt whether He is able to hear us.
We ourselves seem to set the scope and limitation of our prayers. But as we come to pray, we have to get out of ourselves and out of our limitations. We have to set our eyes upon Him, upon the Lord.
Here you find it is written, “Let him ask of God, Who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not.”
Sometimes we do not ask, or we dare not ask, because we do not believe that He gives freely to all. We think that we do not deserve it. We have not earned it. Our work is not done sufficiently, and therefore we dare not come to Him and ask of Him.
But we need to see that our God is One Who loves to give. He gives to all, and He gives freely. This is the God to Whom we come.
We do not come to a God Who requires from us certain conditions, certain works, or certain merits before He will hear us. We come to God Who gives, and gives freely, and gives to all.
We come to a God Who upbraideth not. Sometimes we dare not pray because we think, “Now, if we pray wrongly, He may reproach us.” But He says that He reproaches us not. We may pray wrongly, but He will answer rightly. He will not reproach us because we pray wrongly.
So, brothers and sisters, as we come to pray, if we set our eyes upon Him and not upon ourselves, that will give us liberty and courage to pray. Just remember that we ask of God, Who gives to all freely and reproaches not. This is the God to Whom we come.
Now, ask in faith. Of course, we know what His will is. As the Bible says, if we pray according to His will, then we have the confidence that He hears us.
But sometimes we do not know what His will is. Is it because we do not know what His will is that we cannot ask in faith?
Sometimes we think asking in faith means that we believe in the thing that we ask for. But that is not so. Asking in faith means that we believe that He hears us. Our faith is not in the thing that we ask for. Our faith is in the God of Whom we ask.
Sometimes we think faith means that if I believe that this is something of God—or even, as some people say, if you believe that you will have it, then you will have it—it is as if you put your faith in the thing instead of in God. That is not where faith anchors.
Our faith anchors in God, not in the thing that we ask for, but in the God of Whom we ask. We believe that He gives to all freely. We believe that He reproaches not. We believe that He loves to hear our prayer. We believe that He knows how to answer rightly, even if we pray wrongly.
Now, that is where our faith is. Because we believe in Him, therefore we ask in faith, nothing doubting. We do not doubt that God will hear us. We do not doubt that He knows just what is best for us.
What answer He will give to us, whether it is yes or whether it is no, we believe that He answers us because He loves to give and He reproaches not.
So, brothers and sisters, if we set our face towards the Lord, just think of Him—Who He is, what He is, what a God He is to us—then we can ask in faith; that is, believing Him. We do not doubt that He hears. We do not doubt that He knows what to give to us.
And it is said here that a man who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed about. “For let not that man think that he shall receive anything from the Lord.”
What is doubt? It means that if we doubt Him, then we will get nothing. Why? Because we are double-minded persons.
And, you know, in the original it says, “a double-souled man.” We are double-souled men. In other words, we set our hearts on the Lord and also on something else, with double eyes. A double-minded man will not be able to get anything from God.
I think there is a good illustration in the Bible. You remember when our Lord came down from the Mount of Transfiguration, and there was a father with a son who was troubled by a dumb spirit. The disciples were not able to cast out the demon.
So the father came to the Lord and said, “Lord, if Thou canst do anything, have compassion on us, and help us.”
And the Lord said, “If Thou canst?” No. He was asking, “Lord, if Thou canst do something.” He did not have that faith in the Lord. He was wondering whether the Lord could do anything. Why? He was limiting the Lord by himself and by the disciples.
“If Thou canst do anything, have compassion on us, and help us.” But the Lord said, “If Thou canst?” That is, He put it back as a question: “If Thou canst?” It is not a matter of whether I can or cannot; it is a matter of whether you believe.
So the Lord put it back to him and said, “Do not ask the question whether I can. Ask yourself whether you believe Me, because all things are possible to him that believeth.”
And you remember that father cried out and said, “Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief.” I do believe You, but I feel there is some kind of unbelief within me because I am trying to limit You, to circumscribe You, to bring You down to my level.
“Help mine unbelief. Take away my unbelief, that I may believe You, Who are able to do anything.” And because he believed, you remember, the Lord cast out the demon.
So, brothers and sisters, as we come together to pray this evening, let us ask in faith, nothing doubting. It does not mean that we put our faith in the thing that we ask for.
You know, oftentimes you find people saying, “Well, you have to believe. You have to believe.” Now, what do you believe? You believe in God. You do not believe in a thing. That is where our faith is.
And if you are believing God, it is easy. If you try to believe in the thing, it is very difficult. But if we believe in God and ask in faith, nothing doubting, then the Lord will reveal His mind to us, and He will answer.
So, just remember that as we come together to pray, we have to ask in faith, nothing doubting. And this must not only be true when we are praying together. When you are praying alone, that is the basic rule for prayer.
So may the Lord help us and give us that confidence in Him. How can we doubt Him? How can we be afraid of asking Him? He is just waiting to give freely, and He will never reproach us.
So do not be afraid. You know, just open your mouth and come in and pray together.
Thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker:
Ask Me of the things that are to come concerning My sons,
and concerning the work of My hands command ye Me.
Here we find that God is calling us to ask Him.
Now, sometimes you wonder why it is that God should ever call us to ask of Him. Certainly, we will ask Him. We do not need to be asked to ask Him.
But here you find the Lord says, “Ask of Me,” as if we are not asking. The Bible says, “Ye have not, because ye ask not.” Now, why do we not ask?
Probably we do not trust Him. Because we do not trust Him, we do not ask of Him. Or sometimes it is because we are just indifferent. We do not feel that there is anything to ask.
So the Lord here calls us to ask of Him. Prayer is a calling. We are called to pray, and not to pray is a sin.
I think we all have to acknowledge that we have committed this sin very frequently. We ought to ask of Him, but we do not. We either try ourselves, or we are simply not concerned.
The sin of prayerlessness is a very real thing. We have to remember that we are called by God to pray. He wants us to pray. He calls us to ask of Him, and because He calls us to ask of Him, He is waiting to hear us.
And here He says, “Ask Me of the things to come.” Now, what are the things to come?
You find that it is qualified: “Concerning My sons, and concerning the work of My hands.” So the things to come that God calls us to ask Him about are things that concern God’s children and things that concern the work of God’s hands.
Now, God is so interested in His people. His desire is to have His Son formed in us, that His Son may lead many sons into glory. This is God’s will. This is God’s eternal purpose.
But what do we see today? What do we see as to the actual condition of God’s people? We see many who are babies. We are not growing up as we should. There is little sonship manifested in our lives.
And how anxious and concerned must be our heavenly Father. He wants us to be sons, that His only begotten Son may be the Firstborn among many brethren. That is God’s supreme desire, His interest, His concern.
But this is something we do not ask. So He calls us to ask Him about this. This is the thing to come.
One day, when the sons of God shall be manifested, even this universe will be delivered from the bondage of corruption and enter into the liberty of the sons of God.
Now, how can these things be? It is all because of the work of His hands.
And in the original, you will find that the word work here is the finished work. He says, “Concerning My sons, and concerning the finished work of My hands.”
Now, if the work is already finished, why should we ask? But because it is finished, we have to ask.
You know, when our Lord Jesus was on the cross, He said, “It is finished.” The work of redemption is finished so far as God is concerned. And on the basis of the finished work, the Holy Spirit is able to work it into us, to make us sons of God.
So here you find God calls us to ask Him concerning the work of His hands, concerning the finished work of His hands. Two thousand years ago, He finished something, but two thousand years later it is still unfinished in us. And certainly this is something that we should ask Him to complete.
He has already begun a good work in us. Shall He not complete it? He is waiting for us to ask Him about these things.
Oftentimes, we find that we ask for the things in which we are interested. But do we ask Him about the things in which God is interested? Are we concerned with His concern? Are we burdened with His burden?
His burden is for all His people, that they may reach maturity. His burden is the good work that He has already begun in all of us.
Because whom He foreknew, He also called. Whom He called, He also justified. Whom He justified, He also glorified. Now, has He glorified us? He has predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His Son. It can be done because the work is done.
And this ought to occupy our minds, our thinking, and be our prayer.
So when we come together, brothers and sisters, we are not just coming together to pray in a vague, abstract, general way. When we come together, we have a work to do.
And the work is to pray that the finished work of Christ may be fully realised among His people.
The scope of our prayer is always unlimited. We are not just praying within a very limited scope—praying for ourselves and praying for our families. Actually, you will find that the scope of our prayer includes all God’s people, God’s eternal purpose, and His finished work.
Whether we are praying for individuals, praying for things, or praying for companies, remember: at the basis of all our prayers, we are asking God concerning His sons and concerning the work of His hands.
And, you know, God is so anxious about this—not anxious in the sense in which we are anxious and worried. God is very anxious about it in the sense that He wants it very much. So He calls us to ask Him about it.
If we do not ask, God’s hands, as it were, are tied in this work. He needs our cooperation, and the primary cooperation is to pray.
He is so anxious that you find He not only calls us to ask Him, but He concludes with, “Command ye Me.” Command Me to do it.
Now, is not that remarkable? How can we command God? God commands us, and when He commands, we obey; we follow.
But here you find God says, “Command ye Me.” He gives us permission to command Him. Now, of course, we need to be careful lest our flesh come in and say, “Oh, we are greater than God. We can command God. It is the greater one who commands.”
No, let no flesh come in. God says, “Command ye Me,” because He has commanded us to command Him. We are given permission to command Him.
And this is what we call authoritative prayer. Now, what is authoritative prayer? Authoritative prayer is the prayer of command—not only the prayer of asking, but the prayer of command.
When you think of asking, you are praying upward. When you think of commanding, you are praying downward. In other words, you take up a heavenly position, that position which God has given to you in Christ.
We are seated with Christ above and praying from heaven to earth.
Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;
and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
God has not only given us the privilege of asking Him. We have the privilege of asking God because we are His children. If we are strangers, we cannot ask Him. He will not hear us. We have no right to come to Him.
But as children, we have the right; we have the privilege of asking Him. So, brothers and sisters, remember: we are God’s children. We have the privilege and the right to come to our heavenly Father and ask of Him. So do not be afraid. Come to Him.
But even better than that, as children we can ask Him; but as His servants, it is strange that we can command Him.
Usually a servant is given commands, given orders to follow. But here you will find that we, as God’s servants, have been given authority to command Him. Why? Because He has already revealed His mind to us.
So when we command Him, we only command Him to do what He wants to do. He wants it so much that He asks us to come in.
Not merely, “Lord, do it. Please do it.” But say, “Lord, You must do it. You must do it because this is Your wish, this is Your purpose, this is Your desire, this is what Christ has done on the cross for. You must do it.”
Now, that is the prayer of command.
Now, of course, if we do not know what the will of God is, we cannot pray the prayer of command. That would be presumptuous. Who are we to command God to do something that we want Him to do?
But if God has revealed His mind to us, we are given the authority to command Him—not merely asking Him, “Lord, will You do it? Please do it, if You please,” but to say, “You have to do it. You must do it.”
And if we pray with the prayer of command, it is as if God would do what we command Him to do.
So you can see how anxious God is that we ask, that we command, because this is something that is very dear to His heart.
He wants to see His children fully matured, conformed to the image of His Son. He wants to see the finished work of Christ fully realised and fulfilled in the lives of those whom He has called.
He is very anxious about it, and we are called tonight to come and work with Him.
So here you find prayer is more than just prayer. Prayer really is working together with God for God’s purpose to be so realised.
So let us come tonight with humility, and yet with boldness.
I exhort therefore, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings, be made for all men;
for kings and all that are in high place; that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and gravity.
This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;
Who willeth that all men should be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth.
In exhorting Timothy, Paul actually is exhorting the whole church. In other words, the Spirit of God, through Paul, exhorts us that we supplicate, pray, and intercede for all men.
The ministry of the church is prayer. There is no greater ministry than the ministry of prayer, and the church is called to pray—to pray for all men.
Sometimes we find it difficult to pray. The reason is, we are told by the Lord Himself that we are not of the world, and yet we are in the world.
We are not of the world. The Lord has called us out of the world. He has delivered us from the world. We do not belong to the world anymore. We are a people who have been set apart by God.
We do not belong. We should not identify ourselves with the world. We should not be entangled by the things of the world. We should not be occupied by worldly things. We are not of the world.
And because we do not belong to this world as a system, we are not called by God to reform the world, to make it a better place, or even a paradise on earth.
Even our Lord Jesus, while He was on earth, did not attempt to reform or change the world in the physical or material sense. We are not of this world.
And yet we are in the world. The Lord has not taken us to Himself yet. Now, thank God, He is going to; but at present we are still in the world.
He has left us in the world, even though we are strangers and sojourners. Yet we ought to be the salt and the light of the world.
In other words, our very presence in this world, to which we do not belong, is to serve as a restraining power against corruption and against evil, that sin and evil may be restrained.
You know, there is one phrase in Thessalonians, “He that restraineth.” I am not interpreting it; I am just using it. The church is the salt of the world. We are to serve as a kind of preservative to keep it from further corruption.
And also, as light of the world, we are to offer to this world a standard of right and wrong. The world is in total darkness. They cannot see the difference between right and wrong, and the church is the light that should shine.
Now, how do you reconcile these two almost opposite positions? We are not of the world; we do not belong. And yet we are in the world, and we have a responsibility to serve as salt and light.
Now, to complicate the situation, being in the world means that whatever happens in the world affects us. Suppose there is a war and we are in a war zone—it affects us. Or if we are living under a government that is against God, well, it affects us.
So, putting ourselves in such complicated situations, is there a way that we can live our lives as those who are not of the world, yet are in the world, serving as salt and light, and yet not becoming part of the world? Is there a way that we can live?
And I think the way is here. We are called to supplicate, to pray, and to intercede.
Now, these words—supplications, prayers, and intercessions—cannot be completely isolated from each other. But they do give us the full meaning of prayer.
Supplications emphasise our personal needs. Because we have personal needs, we supplicate. Prayer is a more general term, more inclusive.
And intercession emphasises more the taking up of the needs of other people and bringing them to God, because we have access to Him.
So here you find supplications, prayers, and intercessions. It includes our personal needs, it includes the needs of other people, and we are to pray in different ways in order to bring all these to God.
And the scope is so broad. He says, “Pray for all men,” not just for our immediate circle, but really pray for all men. Why? Because God is interested in all.
And the reason given for such prayer is especially to pray for kings and those in authority.
We are exhorted to pray for all men. We are exhorted to pray for kings and those in dignity. In other words, we are exhorted to pray for authorities.
Now, why? Here you find two reasons given. The first reason is that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all godliness and gravity.
We are exhorted to pray because through prayer we will be granted such an environment that we may be able to lead a quiet and tranquil life in all godliness and gravity.
This world is not friendly to us because we do not belong. This world is even hostile to our spiritual life. Everything in this world is against our spiritual growth; it is not conducive to us. And we are living in such a difficult environment.
Therefore, we need to pray. We need to pray for all men. We need to pray for those in authority, because especially those in authority can affect our lives to a very large degree.
In a sense, you know, they can provide us with the right or the wrong environment. And, of course, there are the people all around us. So we need to pray for them, in order that the Lord will rule over their lives and overrule them.
We pray so that they will not make our environment worse, even more difficult for us, but that they will, by the grace of God, be used of God to give us such an environment that we may be able to lead a quiet and tranquil life in all godliness and gravity.
Now, this is a very humble prayer. In other words, we are not supermen in any way, as if we are able to meet anything. But we cry to the Lord, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”
You know, to pray for all men and for those in authority is actually asking God not to lead us into temptation and to deliver us from evil, that He will provide us with an environment in which we can live godly before God. And that is the first reason given.
And the second reason given is this: “For this is good and acceptable before our Saviour God, Who willeth that all men should be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth.”
The first reason seems to be for ourselves. As we are praying for all men, we are actually praying for ourselves—not in a selfish way, because we are praying that we may live a life that will be pleasing to God.
So that is not selfish; it is for the Lord’s glory. Yet, when we pray for all men, we are actually praying for ourselves.
And then, secondly, as we pray for all men and for those in authority, we are praying according to the will of God, because it is the will of God that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.
It is the will of God. God wants all to be saved, and unless the church prays, they will not be given the opportunity to be saved. So that is the second reason why we should pray for all men and for those in authority.
People who are in authority—if we read Romans 13, we find that there is no authority except from God, and those that exist are set up by God.
For rulers are not a terror to the good work, but to the evil.
For he is a minister of God to thee for good.
In other words, God sets authority upon this earth. You have government. You have those who rule over us, and authorities are appointed by God.
They are appointed by God for one purpose. They are God’s ministers. They are appointed to punish evil and to protect good. Now, that is basically what authorities are.
Now, even though today we may find authorities doing just the opposite, still you will find that this is the basic meaning of why God set up authority upon this earth. They have the power to do the will of God.
And therefore, it behoves us to pray for those in authority. We need to pray for those in authority. God has put them there, or God has allowed them to be there.
And now it is for us to pray that they may truly be God’s ministers and not ministers of the enemy; that God will touch their hearts and move them to do the right thing, to exercise justice, to see that evil is punished and good is protected.
We need to pray for them that they may serve God and serve God’s purpose. Now, that is the way that we should pray.
To put it another way, since God has not called us to reform the world, one day our Lord Jesus will come. And even when He comes, He does not reform it; He changes it. He is to bring His own kingdom upon this earth.
But I do believe that God wants us to touch the world, not directly, but indirectly, through prayer.
There is no power greater than prayer. Sometimes we think that if we do not plunge ourselves into the world system and try to change it, then we will never be able to live and our environment will get worse.
Now we forget that there is a power greater than our direct intervention. The power is prayer. Why? Because when we pray, it is God Who comes out to touch the situation instead of us.