Teach us to Pray - Part 4

It's really an amazing privilege for me to be at today and just

to share a few thoughts with you around prayer.

And I thought of of hooking on and and my to call my talk the

effects of prayer because we pray, but what effects can we

accept or can we Yeah. Can we not accept respect.

OK, expect. Thank you, Stephen.

Expect Dennis. So I want to start off by saying

that this book has all the answers.

It has all the answers for all your problems.

And I'm going to use a couple of examples throughout the sermon.

And what's so wonderful about this is that when God gives you

a promise from this word, of course you have to study it

before you get the promises. There's no expiry date.

It's there forever. And we mustn't forget one people

125 says the word of the Lord endures forever, forever.

And it's a lamp to my feet. It's a light to my path and and

this is what I want to share with you today.

So I'm standing here in all humbleness because I also know

my own art and I know I have feet of clay.

I want to build my my talk this morning on on three specific

verses, which I hope that you will remember throughout the

talk. The first one would be from

Isaiah 29, verse 13, Isaiah 2913 that says you afflicted people,

Isaiah 29:13

you people going through difficult times.

You come to me with your mouths and your lips, but your hearts

are far from me. One book further, Jeremiah 2913,

we all love verse 11. I know the plans I have for you,

plans to give you hope in the future.

We love that. But the key is verse 13.

Seek me and you will find me if you seek me that that is the

basis if you seek me with all your heart.

So the one says your mouth, your lips.

The other verse not without your heart.

The other one says, seek me with all your heart.

And then the third verse that I'd like to build on is James

1/5 that if you need wisdom, we're now seeking the Lord.

We are now with our whole heart. And if you need wisdom, come to

me and I will gladly give it to you without reproach.

But the word says when you come and when you ask, you have to

come in faith. If you don't come in faith, you

like will be like a Hulfe wave first blown this way by the

wind, this way and that way, and the one translation said, and

such a man will be unstable in all his ways.

And I just realized, wow, this is not a game.

This is serious. This is the God of the universe

that wants to guide us through his word and we have to make

time. We have to be serious, we have

to study it. Let me start with one very good

example, which I I love and I'm hope you guys are going to help

me in this. One is from two Chronicles 20

and I call this the 11 PS, the 11 PS.

So I'm sure you're going to help me remember 1234.

OK, so let me give the the a little bit of the background.

The background is where Jehoshaphat was king of Judah

and near they stayed in Jerusalem and they were a small

number of people and a vast number of armies drew up against

Jehoshaphat and and Judah and the messenger came along and

said we have a problem first be and what did Joseph had do?

And the messenger said these vast armies, they're going to

wipe us out. Major problem.

What did Joseph had do, which all of us do.

If we have a major problem, we panic.

Secondly, and Joseph fact was the word says deeply distressed

because he didn't see any way out.

And what did he do? He got the nation together and

he said, guys, we have to fast and we have to pray third be

they prayed together. And then very interesting, one

of the the people that were there stood up and he said to

King Jehoshaphat, this is what the Lord says.

The Lord says that this war, this battle is not yours, but

it's his. That was the plan 4th 1, he said

prepare. Lord says you have to prepare

and your fifth one prepare and you have to go down to the

battle and he will give you the victory.

They then praised the Lord, important, they praised him

before they even had the victory.

And then the 6th one, what they did was critically important.

They prepared guys, if we prepare for battle, people

prepare for battle. They don't put on their suits,

they put on their armor. If we as Christians prepare for

battle, we have to put on the armor of God.

We put on a harness, we put on a helmet, the helmet of salvation

we put on, we've got a shield of faith.

We have a spear of of this of the Spirit.

So we have all of this available to us.

We have to prepare for battle. Then they went down.

Now Can you imagine? They went down this little hill.

There is a small band of people coming down the hill and before

they, when they started walking, Joseph did what every good

leader would do. He stopped them and he pointed

their eyes towards the Lord. And he said, remember, you have

to have faith as a leader. We need to encourage our people.

Remember, this is not me, This is God going to give our

victory. You have to have faith.

And then they went down and they praised the Lord again.

That's now a number. Whatever you have to mocount it.

They praise the Lord now. Now all these armies are down.

Yeah, yeah. There's a bunch of people coming

down and they are singing and dancing in front of the Lord.

What happens? They start arguing amongst

themselves the the armies, and they start fighting and killing.

The word says every one of them. Interesting.

And the battle was not King Jehoshaphat, it was the Lords.

And he did a miracle and they went and they collected the

loot, the clothes, the armament. 3 days it took them to collect

everything from these armies. They profited greatly.

Beautiful and then they went and they praised the Lord once again

and what did the Lord give them? He gave them peace and this is a

wonderful example of when we go through difficult periods, we

have to really, really just just press into the Lord and I'm

going to give a few examples the effect of prayer.

We have to see if we ask God to guide us and we pray, then we

have to expect an answer. But where do you get to answer

your own thoughts the the circumstances?

There's only one place to get it.

And this isn't the word because this is the truth.

Not what I feel, not what I experienced, not what I'm going

through. This is the word.

Let me give you an example where to buy buy our we.

Our pharmacy was too small for our hearing aid business and we

decided to buy a small office block.

And I remember and, and one of my friends, Rob noon and he's

sitting in the audience this morning.

We were standing in front of this building and said, well, go

from a pharmacy now all of a sudden to three floors and that

this is very big. And, and I remember saying to

the to the agent, I'm going to pray about it.

And I walked away and I thought, what the heck, I'm early, but

I'm not that early. We're in the word does it stand?

You can buy an office block. No way.

Anyway, so I went and I went home and the, the Wednesday

morning I had my quiet time at 4:00 and said, Lord, I'm now

sorry to put you under pressure, but you know that we, we going

on Friday to Botswana with a family for camping.

And I no need to know today whether we can buy this or not

because we have to have the paperwork ready.

And, and I'm, I'm, I'm really sorry for the pressure.

My reading that morning was from the one year Bible and I worked

through the one year Bible at that stage was from to King 6

and the seminary students went to Elijah and said, Sir, our

dormitory is too small. Can we build a bigger one down

by the Jordan River where there are plenty of logs?

And he said, yes, you can go, so will you come with us?

He said, yes, I will. And immediately doubt set in.

But we've just read James 1/5 that says if you ask, you have

to come in faith, and if the Lord answers you, you have to be

obedient. But I had this tremendous doubt

in my heart and I thought this is too easy.

We had breakfast that morning and Anita and the children were

sitting around the table and I sat there, Mr. Big Guy and oh by

the way, I prayed about this building and look what the Lord

has given the verse has given me, not sharing with them the

doubt in my heart. And as I looked up and saying

saw my daughter Louise with tears running down her cheeks

and she said, Dad, isn't God wonderful?

And that my friends, we have to understand we have an amazing

God. I want to also share a little

bit about the future because soon after that, in 1993, we had

just a year before the election, we said, well, we're in this

building now and where we're going to get work.

And, and everybody said the last thing you have to do is expand

and, and it's going to be bad news and you'll have to look and

see. And I went to the Lord and I

said, Lord, please, what about the future?

Please guide me, keeping in mind that when he gives you a

promise, it's forever. It has no expiry date.

And the only spirit took me to Isaiah 54 verse two to four and

says, enlarge the place of your tent.

Spread out your tent pens, lengthen the strengthen the

stakes. Do not hold back, do not fear.

You will not stand ashamed, because soon you are going to

burst by the seams. And I realized that God always

leads his children against the stream.

Folks, it's only dead fish that swim with the stream.

If we say we are Christians, we have to take an opposite stance.

We have to go against the tide. He confirmed that verse many

years later. A few years after the Marikana

massacre. I was invited to go and speak in

Rustermock, and I said, Lord Rustermock, yeah, it's so

depressing. After the Marikana shooting, it

was thousands of miners next to the road.

It was depressing to go through. What must I go and tell them?

Give them a message of hope. I say, excuse me, a message of

hope. I don't want to give them false

hope because that's worse than no hope.

Give them a message of hope. Go and tell them to forget the

former things. Tell them that I am doing

something new. Don't you see it?

It's already begun. I'm going to make a river in the

wilderness. Pathway in the wilderness and

rivers in the desert as I have 5043 verse 18 and 19 and I went

to share it with them and a year later ago and I said by the way

guys, fear is withholding you is blinding you from the

opportunities that God sends over your path.

Ask the Lord to open your eyes for the opportunities that you

can grasp. A year later a guy arrived out

of Rustenburg in a Bucky. He sat the whole front part seat

full of the Bucky. He walked down the aisle and I

thought, or the, OR the passage towards my office and this admin

staff thought that I'm going to, I'm going to get it today.

I'm going to be socked. And he sat in in the chair and

he said, I just want to say, a year ago you came to Rustenburg

and said, we have to ask the Lord to open our eyes.

And I asked him and I got a 14,000,000 Rand contract to

close a mine. And after a year and after I

closed the mine, I got another 14,000,000 Rand contract to open

the mine. He said, I just wanted to say

thank you very much. And you walk down the passage

and I want to still say, oh, they're not the small

Commission. So why do we fear the future

when it holds so much in it for us?

When God has said do not fear you will not stand ashamed.

Give that input. Ask the Lord to open your eyes

so that you can make a difference.

And it's interesting that just want to touch on the vision that

he gave me. We have to expect the unexpected

when God asks, when you ask him for a vision.

And many years ago, in 1992, we sponsored the first get together

of principles or schools for the deaf.

And when I left there, the, the, the principal said, you know,

signing children come back after they're metric, they're metric.

And then they, they can't speak because if you can't hear, you

can't speak. If you can't speak, you can

hardly read and they can't get any jobs. 90% are unemployed.

And it was depressing when I went away there and a few weeks

later I'm sat in my quiet time and said, Lord, we know I had

this conference. What, what do you want me to do?

And I clearly heard the Holy Spirit say to me, and I have my

quiet time in English. Well, so I clearly heard him say

to me, I want you to make a difference in their education.

Now folks, I'm a businessman, first of all.

And secondly, I hated school and I hated university.

So for me, education was a profitable moment.

Little did I know it took six years for God to change my

thinking. That when I give you a vision,

it's always to benefit other people, never yourself.

That's point #1 secondly, if I give you a vision, do not make

the vision that I've given you somebody else's burden.

And I realized over the years that I am not going to ask for

money. I'm going to share the vision

and trust God to work in the hearts of kings to open their

hands, their purses and their hearts.

But we have to expect the unexpected.

Because He knew I knew nothing about education.

And who does he send me? A 70 year old lady from England,

retired principal for a school for the deaf where they spoke

that oral language. They spoke like Mr. Bean.

Hello. Hello.

How are you? They didn't they didn't have the

technology guys. So and we I realized, OK, yeah,

this lady comes, she says, you know what?

I just want to say to you that we have that was today every

deaf child born deaf today, every 99.8% of every child born

death today. If you identify them early

enough and you fit them with the right hearing aids or cochlear

implants and with and you expose them to nothing but normal

natural language, they will develop normally.

I said I understand that but they speak funny because they

can't hear, said no, no, no, they speak funny because they

are being taught language and language is caught not taught.

That's why you need to put them in a normal school environment

and the the need for own trends. He said you have to start with a

professional people. I said OK, when we start

February 1998, we had our first course and I said well this is

now quite clear in my mind. Six years I've walked with this

vision. Yeah, I'm beginning to

understand this from the 75 year old lady.

We're having a conference for professional people.

I have to rent the City Hall and that we're going to pack it out.

Five people arrived that morning.

I sat in my quiet time and I said, Lord, I'm sorry, five

people, really. May I remind you this is not my

vision, this is your vision, but 5 people and the Holy Spirit

reminded me of Zechariah 4 verse 10.

Zechariah 4:10

Do not despise this small beginning, for the eyes of the

Lord rejoice to see the work begin.

And then my eyes fell on verse 6.

You will succeed, but not through might nor through power,

but through my spirit because the Lord knows I like to get

things done and I must not try and part the Red Sea in my own

strength. He will do it.

He worked in the hearts of kings.

I shared this with friends in in Switzerland.

We said what we now have to do is we with together with Mike,

we have to have a training centre, an edge duplex training

institute that we could train the professionals.

But you can't train professionals if you don't have

a model. You need a model school to train

the professionals in. We said right, we're going to

have start the school for inclusion.

Where we include two or three deaf children in every class.

So today we have 840 children in the school, 70 are deaf and 40

of those deaf children are the poorest of the poor.

They're dependent on bursaries. And when Mr. Quite quite

interesting in 1998 that when when we started with the

training, the Lord knew we had to put food on the table.

So on the one side, he said morack, and on the other side,

he gave us the vision to develop ear institutes.

And the two run hand in hand. Spurgeon says if you do God's

work God's way, God will look after your work.

And that's exactly what happened.

And the two grew, grew hand in hand.

And when Mr. Mandela opened the school in 2002, he said what

you're doing here is changing tragedy into triumph.

And that's exactly what we did. And then then something

interesting happened. We had this high in 2002 of the

school and the opening, but our business was going down the

drain because you'll remember the ram devalued, every shipment

was more expensive, spare parts were more expensive and there

was no business. And if there's no turnover,

there's no money. And the 6th of September, which

would be in five days time, 2002, I was on my knees in front

of the Lord and said, Lord, we're going bankrupt.

I have two choices. The Lord loves it when we when

we say we only have two choices. I have two choices.

The one is to go and borrow more money in Switzerland or borrow

money in Switzerland. And every time I need to remind

you, every time that I pray about it, you say do not go to

Egypt for you will be bitterly disappointed.

But I say the second choice that I have is we have to go

bankrupt. And I ask that you would help

me, that people will not get heard in the process.

My reading that morning was from Spurgeon's Checkbook of Faith,

and he started with Psalm 27, verse 1314.

Wait on the Lord, be of good courage.

Wait on the Lord that I expect that no, and Spurgeon said.

Let your waiting be on the Lord is worth waiting for.

But when you wait, keep up your spirit and expect a mighty

miracle and be ready to praise God for it.

The Rand strengthened went from 10 Rand the Swiss franc to 5

Rand the Swiss franc within months.

Shipments became cheaper, turnovers went up, and six

months later we did not owe the bank a cent.

That is the God that I pray to, but the Lord want to take me to

the next level of faith. Because you see when we built

the preschool, we had the money. There's no faith needed when you

have the money. And then the same people guys

said, well, the primary school the following year we're to

build and they gave money for the 1st 10 classes.

And a few years later, in 2006, they said, now we will give

money to complete the primary school.

But if God wants to take you to the next level of faith, what is

the easiest way for him to do it?

He stops the money because if the money stops, you hit your

knees. And I was standing there one

Tuesday afternoon watching them pump the concrete into the

foundations. And I got a phone call and my

friend said, I believe a church is using our facilities.

I said yes, nothing to hide. He said it must stop.

In Switzerland we don't have churches using schools and we

want, yeah, no churches and schools and we want, we will pay

for everything that the church has to go.

We stop the money. At that stage the school was a

16,000,000 Rand project. We were building the EAR

Institute for 17 million in Queenswood and we really in a in

a difficult situation and I remember saying to him, you know

what, it's your money, you do with it what you like.

It's my school and I'm not going to ask the church to go.

They stopped the money from 1 moment to the next.

Little did I know God was wanting to take me to the next

level of faith. Two months later we borrowed

money. The Lord blessed our company and

by the way, we cannot expect from him to go.

He's not a cookie cutter. Oh, I'll send you people to give

money, but no, it doesn't work that way.

Sometimes He used different methods.

He blessed our company that we could borrow 15,000,000 and two.

But two months later I woke up one morning and I was very

depressed. That evening before I went, I

checked my emails and there was an e-mail from this doctor,

Moore Clark Holiday. She was a Scottish lady

holidaying in Scotland. And she says, well I feel this

is unacceptable, but you should read Revelation 3 verse 8.

Revelation 3:8

The next morning I I go into the office, I open my mail, says my

dear friend Kharad Vorfart, which is now with the Lord, but

he holidayed in Mexico and he says this is unacceptable.

But really, you should read Revelation 3, verse 8.

Revelation 3:8

My first reaction was, who the hell reads Revelation when

you're on holiday? Anyway?

Sorry that that slipped out. So, so.

And Revelation 3 verse 8 says, I know you well, you are not

Revelation 3:8

strong. Yeah, folks, when I read that, I

just burst, burst out in tears and realized God knows this so

well. I don't have to pretend

anything. He knows I have feet of clay.

He knows I'm afraid. He knows I'm under stress.

I know you well. You are not strong, but you have

tried to obey. Folks, none of us can obey.

Only Jesus could obey. But we try, and God sees it.

Then he says, I know you well. You're not strong, but you've

tried to obey and the key and not denied by name.

Therefore, I've put before you an open law that no man can

shut. I grabbed that verse for myself

and after a few days realized it's for the for our children in

the school, it's for our staff, it's for our parents, it's for

the community. It's for each one of us that God

puts an open door in front of each one of us.

It's up to us to walk through it in faith or to turn away in

fear. And what was this?

The next level that the Lord took me to was next level of

faith that in 19, in 2920, fifth of November, he said I wanted to

develop a second campus. We had exactly 27,000 Rand in

the bank, a second campus. Lord what must be, oh, you have

to build a high school, you have to build an audiology centre,

you have to develop the sports fields.

This is not possible. And when I sat a few months

later in the 5th of April 2010, I sat in Germany praying about

this whole second campus and I said, Lord, the money, the money

is like a mountain in front of me and and I don't know where

we're going to get this. And I read that was, but it took

me to Isaiah 45 verse first 3 verses.

It says I will open the door. Amazing how the Lord sometimes

reminds us of his promises because we didn't forget it.

I will open the door, I will flatten the mountain, quoting

from Zechariah for the Seven. I will flatten the mountain,

this mountain of money that you see in what you don't know where

you're going to flatten it. And I will give you, I will

break down the city gates. And when I read that, I knew

this was the 9.4 hectares sports fields that we needed to ask the

City Council for that everybody said the ANC City Council will

never donate. That said, well, the Lord said

he's going to break down the city gates.

And we, I'm not, unfortunately we don't have time for me to go

into the detail. But I just want to say the mayor

visited us, who's now the, the Minister of Electricity,

Sputlara Mohopa, he visited us. An amazing story of how people

influenced him and his life to eventually bless us and the

whole City Council with the story. 9.4 hectares.

The Lord can do the impossible. And I want to say that I've seen

in my life Proverbs 21 one come true that says that the heart of

the Lord, the heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord and

he directs their thoughts like water in a furrow.

If you're going through a difficult time, keep your eyes

on the Lord, ask Him. Seek Him with all your heart.

You will be amazed, amazed at what is in store for you.

And I want to end by saying how? How do I have my quiet time?

Just want to share it. Maybe it can help you.

Mark 125 says that Jesus sought the Lord his Father early in the

morning. In fact, it was so early that

when the disciples woke up there to look for him because he was,

he really disappeared. So my suggestion would be that

you have a separate room or area where you can seek the Lord

every day. I know some people say no, no,

no. We always pray together.

Our men's group get together every day and we pray no, no,

no. The Lord wants you alone my

friend. He wants to you to spend time

with him. I cannot say I love Anita and I

do not spend time with her. I cannot say I love Jesus and I

don't spend time in his word because what did Jeremiah 2913

say? You will find me if you seek me

with all your heart. And then the 13 thing is, we

have done all of this, but we now need to be obedient.

Let's go back to to James one, verse 22.

Do not merely listen to the word and so deceives yourselves.

Do what it says, do what it says.

If you have to do what it says, Does it take guts?

Takes a lot of guts. Is it easy?

No. You get so much resistance.

If you want to do the Lord's work, you get so much criticism,

but you have to stay focused and you have to keep your eyes on

the Lord. And it's my prayer that the Lord

will bless you as you seek Him with all your heart in the days

to come. And Lord willing, tonight we're

going to have a little bit of a different angle, but may you be

blessed as you seek Him. I'm sitting there thinking I

have to ask you how you have your quiet time because I know

we've got some tents who got baptized this morning.

You've only walked this walk for for five months.

And we've got some who've had their morning devotions for 50

years, but I do have 44. How many?

4444. So there's a couple questions

that if you wouldn't mind answering.

Explain to me. You wake up in the morning, you

have a cup of coffee. No.

No coffee. Tea.

No. Nothing.

Oh yeah, I know. I feel you're groan.

OK and you still hear the Lord. I'm just the voices in your head

now. OK, so you sit down.

So the one Thessalonians one says be imitators of me and the

Lord. And that's what the

Thessalonians did. And they became a model to the

whole of IKEA and Macedonia because they imitated the faith

of what they'd seen in in Paul, Timothy and Sylvanus.

So this is not a formula. This Is Us saying, as a senior

man who's walked this walk, just explain to me the the process.

Start with time. How much time do you spend?

I, I used to get up at 4, but now, you know, after 70, I

thought, let me give you a bit of space and I get up at 4:30

and that's. What I was thinking, yeah.

Then I have a a glass, a litre of water just to hydrate myself

instead of a coffee that I've liked at the office.

But then I go and I and I pray and you see, I mean, I go with

and sometimes I don't know. I just praise the Lord and thank

him for the day and, but but please guide me also for the day

ahead because I don't know what it holds.

But some days I have specific questions and that's when I say,

Lord, I really need guidance on this like James 15 said.

And then then I sometimes bounce this off Anita or off my

children or other believers and say, do I hear this correctly?

I mean, this is, am I perhaps off the wall?

And if they confirm it, then, then I have to push forward.

I've also realized that sometimes Satan uses the people

closest to you to, to discourage you and and that you have to,

you need discernment to say, I'm not going to lend my years to

this one. I'm going to, I'm going to carry

on. That's like one of our top board

members came and said, you know, you, you, you deceiving the

people that say you're going to build a high school said, but I

have all these verses that the Lord said, no, you can't do

that. You, you're deceiving the

people. It was such a discouragement

when I said I have to carry on, keep my eyes on the road.

Then after that at 5:50, then I start on the treadmill.

My trainer comes at 6:15 six days a week.

And you went off to the. Office, I know when you spoke at

the call conference you referred to a daily devotional.

Do you read through something like that every morning?

Is it scripture as well? I have 45 daily devotionals

because as people give them to me, I, I can't put the old ones

down. And Spurs and Shepherd of Faith

is my oldest one and I've worked through it now for nearly 30

years. It's the old books falling apart

and every day of the year read the same piece.

And it's very interesting that sometimes if you pray about

something, the Lord will open a part that you've never seen

before and you've read through this for 25 years.

So the Holy Spirit works in our hearts and he works in

mysterious ways. And we just have to be open.

And there was mornings that I that I thought had I missed this

morning and sleeping a bit, I would have missed such a

blessing. But it takes discipline, takes

discipline to put the TV off at night, to close my book, to go

to bed early and to get up early.

Some people say, you know, I'm not the morning person.

Now you have to then change your routine because if you only pray

at night, you're going to sleep clean, but you'll live dirty.

OK, the the the $1,000,000 question Nico, how do you know

that God is speaking to you from that verse?

If I'm reading 2 chapters in the morning, how do you know when

there's that is my answer. That's an interesting 11

morning. I had quiet time and I was I was

reading and working through Matthew and all the time my eyes

went back to a verse that says be be kind to the strangers in

your house. I said, there's no strangers in

my house. We have servants and we have

Anita and she's not a stranger and carry on.

But every time I went back to this.

Then I walked into the room and Anita said, you know, I mean, I

know you don't want additional people in the house and but our

our servant, she wants to bring her sister and trainer and and I

know you don't like it and we won't have more pup and we won't

have more of that. We won't.

And I said, relax, God said I have to be kind to the strangers

in the house. Bring them in.

Let's accept them with open arms.

You know, you know if you see. I'll end it there.

You know, Heavenly Father, we just want to bring this word to

you. Your word tells us that Your

word is like seed and its own and hearts.

And I trust that our hearts are ready.

I pray, Lord God, that the seed will be not only planted, but

that it would take root, that you'd protect it, that you would

water it, and we'd see much fruit coming from this.

In Jesus name, Amen.