Prayer in perilous times

Paul begins I Timothy 2 with, “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;

[2] For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.”

“He adds the kings and all that are in authority because of that divine institution of human government,” explains Preacher Richard Jordan. “The amount of sound doctrine resident in the populace of a nation determines the direction or the course of that nation. Listen, doing what this verse says does more for your country than what you do at the ballot box.

“Prayers for all ‘that,’ meaning purpose and intent, we may lead quiet and peaceable lives. He’s not saying this so the world and our community is quiet and peaceable, but so we as Believers in the world can lead a quiet and peaceable life.

“He’s not talking about how as you pray correctly, and pray enough, you won’t have any storms or difficulties and it'll just be smooth-sailing through life.

*****

“II Timothy 3 starts, ‘This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.’ Paul says, ‘You know what, we’re going to be living in perilous times.’ The reason they’re perilous is ‘for men shall be lovers of themselves’ and all the things he lists in verses 2-5. Those things produce perilous times.

“We got a song in the book that goes, ‘Am I a soldier of the Cross? Are there no foes for me to face?' Paul says I’m to be a soldier so there must be an enemy.

“II Corinthians 11:23 says, [23] Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. [24] Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.
[25] Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;

“Does that sound like a peaceful, gentle little life? Verse 26 says, [26] In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;
[27] In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.

“Notice he uses that one word ‘peril’ eight times in that one verse. That’s what perilous times he’s talking about. He’s not talking about times when your neighbor says something nasty to you. He’s talking about real trouble.

“You can pray all you want to and you’re not going to get out of that. In fact, the more you pray and live godly in Christ Jesus the more of that you’re going to find.

*****

"II Timothy is the last book Paul wrote but it’s not the last book in his epistles. He puts Titus after II Timothy because it deals with, ‘Okay, now that you’re living in complete apostasy, here’s how to function in that age.’

“Philemon is sort of a little capstone that says, ‘Taking everything I’ve taught you about grace at this point, let me show you how to operate in the assembly; the effectual communication of your faith.’

“Anytime God puts in a one-chapter book in the Bible that book is powerful because generally it’s overlooked.

“He writes, [4] I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers,
[5] Hearing of thy love and faith, which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all saints;
[6] That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.

“Paul says in I Timothy 1:18-19, [18] This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare;
[19] Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:

“That’s how serious it is not to follow Paul’s pattern in the work of the ministry. That’s what happens to you when you don’t. If you’re going to leave grace and go back to the law, you have to leave Paul and go back to Peter and Moses. That’s the only way you can do it.

“So when you’re in I Timothy, this is one of the places people’s prayer life goes wrong and they run back in Israel’s program and try to get God to remove all the problems and send an angel and kill all their enemies and all that stuff.

“That isn’t who we are and if you don’t understand where we are in the dispensation of grace and what God’s doing today, you’re never going to have a quiet and peaceable life. Paul’s talking about your inner-man attitude.

“Whatever the circumstances you’re in, rather than going to pieces and being destroyed by them, you can have a quiet and peaceable life in those circumstances. You can have a quiet, peaceable inner man. You can be at peace and not tossed to and fro when in turmoil. How do you do that? That’s what prayer does.

“Prayer takes the instructions in God’s Word, and you talk to God about how to apply those instructions to your circumstances, and it begins to work and produces the peace of God, a quietness in your inner man.”

(new article tomorrow)