Section (4) (Could You Not Tarry One Hour?)

Section Four
Provision： “Give us this day our daily bread. ’’

 

Ch.12. (Being in God’s Will)

 

 Athird-year seminary student rarely dines at the Petroleum Club in Fort Worth, Texas, but I was in those elegant surroundings at the invitation of the wealthy gentleman seated across the table. After the blessing I reached for my fork, then paused in surprise. He was crying. This distinguished, respected, 60-year-old millionaire bowed his head, and hot tears dripped off his chin, staining his expensive silk tie.
 “Sir,” I said softly, “what’s wrong? Can I help?” Several seconds elapsed as he struggled to regain his composure. Taking a deep breath, he confided, ‘‘I was 19 years old when God called me to preach, but I said no. I wanted my own way, wanted to make a lot of money. So I refused to take my hands off my life.
 

His voice broke, and more tears trickled down his face. “But I don’t have any peace,” he sobbed brokenly. “I missed God’s purpose for my life.” I can’t help imagining that the scene I witnessed that day was a repeat performance of a similar role that might have been played by another wealthy aristocrat in his latter days—the man whom we have come to know as the “rich young ruler.’’

 

 You remember the story. Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem when a well-dressed young man came running up and fell at Jesus, feet. “Good Master,” he asked earnestly, “what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” Mark records the momentous decision that took place in the next few moments：
 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest： go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven： and come, take up thy cross, and follow me. And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved： for he had great possessions (Mark 10:17-22).

 

 The rich young ruler was a good man, a religious man, but there was something amiss. Jesus knew what it was, and He put His finger on it： the love of money. When He instructed the young man to sell out and follow Him, Jesus wasn’t trying to rip the guy off. He was trying to prevent him from trusting in his riches. Jesus was offering the man the soundest investment counseling he would ever receive, but he refused it and walked away.

 

 God’s principles are diametrically opposed to those of the world. God says, “Give and it shall be given unto you.” The world cautions, “Get all you can, and can all you get!” But man’s ways are not God’s ways.
 Have you ever noticed the beautiful balance in the Lord’s Prayer? The first concern is His name; the second is His kingdom and His will. Then He tells us to pray, ''Give us this day our daily bread.M If we seek first God’s kingdom and His righteousness, all the other things will be added unto us. We must understand that Jesus was not trying to transform the rich young ruler into the poor old beggar. 

He was trying to break the power of the greed and poverty that bound this young man’s soul.

 

 The rich young ruler’s purpose was to count his money at night. He built his life around his bucks. A lot of people are like that. They have their security cushions, but they can’t sleep at night or enjoy their T-bone steaks. God wants to free His children from that suffocating mindset.

 It is no surprise that God’s four basic requirements for successfully praying in what we need are not what the natural man would guess readily. What are those requirements? First, you must be in the will of God. Second, you must believe it is God’s will to prosper you. Third, you must be specific when you pray daily for what you need. And fourth, you must be tenacious.

 

Be in the Will of God

 

 Being in the will of God implies four things： (1) fellowship with Jesus through prayer and reading the Word of God； (2) fellowship with God’s church； (3) diligent, balanced work habits； (4) obedience in giving. Fellowship with Jesus. To be in the will of God, daily fellowship with Jesus in the Word and in prayer is essential. If, like the rich young ruler, you have religion but not a relationship with God, you will not experience God’s peace, purpose or power. But as you fellowship with Jesus, the Holy Spirit empowers you with divine ability, efficiency and might to do the will of God (see Acts 1:8, Amplified).

 

 Fellowship with one another. The story is told of a woman who walked up to Dwight L. Moody at the con-clusion of a service and said, “Mr. Moody, I want to sing in your choir.”
Moody inquired, “Who is your pastor? Where is your local church?’’
The woman stuck her nose in the air and replied smugly, ‘‘I do not have a local church or a pastor. I am a member of the great universal church.”

 

 Moody thought about it for a second and said, ‘‘You go find the pastor of the great universal church and sing in his choin”
 Now Moody wasn’t being rude； he was being realistic, for the Word of God commands：
Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves： for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief： for that is unprofitable for you (Heb. 13:17).
It is God’s will that we be rightly related to our brothers and sisters in a local church. We should also be committed and submitted to our pastor. We are commanded not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together； instead, we are to exhort one another (see Heb. 10：25). Now exhort means “to admonish, to urge one to pursue some future course of conduct.Isn’t it wonderful to fellowship with believers who can impel us morally, encourage and urge us forward and stimulate us to good works?

 

 Balanced, diligent work habits. The next prerequisite to being in the will of God is to have diligent, balanced work habits. Paul gave instructions regarding work (see 1 Thess. 4:11,12). We are to earn our living with our own hands and command the respect of the outside world as we are self-supporting and have need of nothing. Paul warned us not to be neglectful of duty and pass our lives in idleness, being busy with other people’s affairs instead of our own, thus doing no work (see 1 Thess. 3:11,12). As a matter of fact, Paul commanded： “If any would not work neither should he eat” (2 Thess. 3： 10).

 

 As pastor of a church, Fve noticed that we human beings seem to be divided into two groups： 

givers and takers.  Now I know for a fact there are seasons when God may lead a believer to live by faith, and then He will even send ravens to feed that believer if necessary. However, far too often, the brother or sister who asserts, “God told me to live by faith,” is actually saying, “I want to live on your faith.”

 

 That’s one side of the coin. But the other side of the coin is also a problem. Too many believers are working two jobs in order to keep up with the Joneses and dress their kids in designer jeans. We need to get real! We sing, "When we’ve been there 10,000 years, bright shining as the sun,” without a thought that the bricks and sticks and stuff for which we neglect the kingdom of God and work so hard will be vapor in 10,000 years.
Some believers are workaholics who allow the cares of this life and the deceitfulness of riches to choke out the Word of 

God and render their lives fruitless (see Matt. 13：22). Pride, fear, worry and insecurity drive us to overwork, but when we realize that God our Father is our source—not ourselves or paychecks or savings accounts— we can be content to do the possible and let Him do the impossible.

 

 Obedience in giving. The fourth prerequisite to being in the will of God is obedience in giving. In Malachi 3:10, God promises that if we bring our tithes into the storehouse, He will open the windows of heaven and pour out so many blessings we cannot contain them. Acknowledging God as our source and giving unselfishly back to Him helps destroy the root of all evil, the love of money (see 1 Tim. 6： 10). If we take care of the root of evil, we will not have the fruit of evil in our lives.

 

 God promises that if we bring our tithes into the store-house, He will pour out blessings upon us. On the other 
hand, in Malachi 3:8,9, He promises curses if we rob Him of tithes and offerings. God will not bless something He has cursed. Obedience in giving is essential if we are to receive God’s best.

 

 We also need to realize there is a proper order to giv¬ing and receiving. First, we give that there may be meat in God’s house； then He blesses our house. First we give； then it is given to us (see Luke 6:38). As we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, all these things shall be added unto us (Matt. 6：33). When we give to God first, rather than hoarding our limited resources, we acknowledge that He is our source. Remember： We cannot claim God’s blessings if we are violating this basic principle of prosperity.

 

 We must also obey God when He asks us to give the unusual or unexpected. I learned that one the hard way. Maybe you can learn from my mistakes.
I was a 24-year-old married man when I went to India to minister. While there I prayed for a 17-year-old girl who had been blind for ten years. God instantly healed her, and the entire village turned to God because of that miracle.  I had the privilege of ministering in villages where the people had never heard the gospel preached. One day as I walked along a dusty road, the Holy Spirit asked, “What would you say if I told you, just as Jesus told the rich young ruler, to sell everything you own? Would you do it and give the money to missions?"

 

 I replied glibly, ‘‘Lord, I’d do anything You tell me to do.” (Let me urge you never to tell God you will do something unless you mean it.) I just assumed it would be one of those ‘‘Abraham and Isaac’’ deals where God tested me to see if I was willing and then just dropped the matter. Instead, God commanded, 
“Go home and do it!”

 

 At that time, Melva, baby John Aaron and I lived in a little bitty, second-story apartment. Right beneath us lived seven illegal aliens. I mean, this was no high-class joint. We worked for a church, and all we had was a bed, a couch, $200 in savings and a Pontiac that wasn’t worth repairing.

 

 But when God asked me to sell what we had and give the money to missions, I discovered that people who don’t have anything can be just as hung up on their “stuff” as people who have everything.
 When I told Melva what the Lord had told me in India, she didn’t feel a confirmation at all. As a matter of fact, she said, “I don’t believe that’s God, Larry. Let’s pray some more about it.”

 

 So instead of obeying God, we prayed a little about it, and I enrolled in seminary. But I got physically sick, emotionally sick, and I was so depressed for six months that I hardly made it.

 

 One Sunday morning I was too ill to go to church, so I sat at home watching evangelist James Robison on television. All of a sudden, James whirled around, pointed at the camera and announced emphatically：

 “There’s a man listening to me who wants to be a prophet of God. God has already told you what to do, and you haven't obeyed Him. Mister, you will stay sick and stay at home until you do what God told you to do.”

 His long, skinny finger seemed to point through the screen right at me! So do you know what I did the next day? I got myself a U-Haul trailer and loaded up everything we had in the house. My father-in-law met me at the front door. (You remember him and the tremendous first impression I had made on him?) Making every effort to stay calm and uninvolved, he stuffed his hands 
in his pockets and asked, “What are you doing, son?” 

 

 I replied, “I’m loading up all our furniture, and I’m gonna’ sell it and send the money to India.”
 His eyes bugged and he choked out, “What did you say?” But I had made up my mind. I was tired of not doing what Jesus had told me to do. Melva cried a little as she helped me load it all up, bless her heart, but we obeyed.

 It wasn’t easy. Melva and John Aaron and I slept on the floor for a while. Before you shake your head and mutter, "What a fanatic,” let me tell you the rest of the story.

 

 Two years later, while we were still working on that same church staff, we made our final payment on a $49,000 home. It happened supernaturally. Why? Because God said, “Give, and it shall be given unto you； good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over” (Luke 6：38). That’s the perfect way to describe God’s abundant provision for me and my family through the years.

 

 And if you’re wondering about my relationship with my father-in-law, let me assure you that we share a mutual love and respect for each other. He and Melva’s mom moved to Rockwall so they could be near us and their grandchildren, and the two of them have won a special place in the hearts of our congregation at Church on the Rock.

 

 It’s really very simple. The requirements for being in the will of God can be reduced to one element： the lord¬ship of Jesus Christ in your life. If He is Lord, you will have fellowship with Him in a personal prayer life and in the Word. You will fellowship with His church. You will be diligent and balanced in your work habits, and you will be obedient in giving. If these basic prerequisites no to being in the will of God are established in your life, 

you can depend on God to supply all your needs.
 That’s the first requirement for praying in God’s provision. There are three more. As we discuss them, men¬tally “grade” yourself and look for weak areas you may need to strengthen in order to pray more effectively, ‘‘Give us this day our daily bread.” 

 

Ch.13. (MEETING GOD’S REQUIREMENTS)
 

 My father made a fortune in oil and gas in East Texas, so I grew up surrounded by luxury. But because “stuff” had never satisfied, I reacted against wealth and concluded that anybody who had money and “stuff” couldn’t be right with God.
 But the more I studied the Bible, the more it defied my philosophy.

When I opened the Bible, I thought I’d find a bunch of impoverished ascetics. Instead, I read about wealthy Abraham (see Gen. 24:35). I read about Abraham’s son Isaac who sowed and reaped an hundredfold during a time of famine and accumulated great possessions (see Gen. 26:1,12:14). As I studied the lives of King David and his son Solomon, I shook my head in amazement at their tremendous wealth.

 

 Then I read about Job and how he lost everything, and I thought, Now we’re getting on the right track. But Job 42：10 reveals that God turned the captivity of Job and gave him twice as much as he had before.
 I read the words of Moses in Deuteronomy 8：18： “Remember the Lord thy God： for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant.’’
 I studied the promises in Malachi 3, referring to the giving of tithes and offerings.

 

Then I got into the New Testament and saw the promise of Jesus：
 Give, and it shall be given unto you； good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again (Luke 6：38).
And I discovered His pledge to those who sacrifice for the sake of the gospel：
There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s, but he shall receive an hundredfold now in this present time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions； and in the world to come eternal life’’ (Mark 10:29,30).
 Right about then, I discovered the second requirement for praying in God’s provision. You must believe that it is God’s will to prosper you.

 

Believe It Is God’s Will to Prosper You

 

 Where did we ever get the idea it was Jesus who came to steal, kill and destroy? “The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it” (Prov. 10:22). Paul promised, “My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4：19).
 Some people have taken these truths concerning prosperity and gone off on a selfish “bless-me” tangent. But that doesn’t negate God’s promises. Our Father has made 
this promise to His faithful children who seek His blessings in order that they might be able to stretch out filled hands to the needy：

 

 And God is able to make all grace (every favor and earthly blessing) come to you in abundance, so that you may always and under all circum-stances and whatever the need, be self-sufficient—possessing enough to require no aid or support and furnished in abundance for every good work and charitable donation....And [God] Who provides seed for the sower and bread for eating will also provide and multiply your [resources for] sowing, and increase the fruits of your righteousness [which manifests itself in active goodness, kindness and charity]. Thus you will be enriched in all things and in every way, so that you can be generous” (2 Cor. 9:8,10,11, Amplified).

 

 God doesn’t bless us so we can tear down our old barns and build bigger ones. Believers sometimes misunder¬stand the purpose of God's blessings and drown in their own gravy.
 God knows that money is a necessity. Would it shock you to learn the Bible says more about money than anything else?   The Scriptures are replete with instructions on how to make, save, give and manage money. You see, God wants His children to be givers, not takers； to be the head, and not the tail； to be lenders, not borrowers.

 

 If you are not already obeying God’s command to tithe, why not begin right now. Don’t be like the rich young ruler who walked away sorrowful. Sell out to Jesus, and watch Him rebuke your devourer. Get the doubt out. Believe it is God’s will to prosper you, then claim His promises for your needs. Daily ask for your allotted portion necessary to fulfill God’s plan for your life. What have we discussed so far? First, in order to pray in God’s provision, you have to be in the will of God. Second, you must believe it is God’s will to prosper you. These are extremely important requirements for spraying in” what you need, but they are incomplete without two additional steps. You must be specific when you pray, and you must be tenacious.

 

Be Specific

 

 A third aspect of praying in God’s provision is making specific requests. Do you bring specific needs to God each day, or do you just expect the answers to come in? Jesus instructed us to pray, ‘‘Give us this day our daily bread.” By this we know we are to pray daily over our specific needs.

 

 Immediately after Jesus gave His disciples the Lord’s Prayer in Luke 11, He related a parable illustrating the importance of asking specifically. Pay close attention to His words：
Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves； for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? (Luke 11:5,6).
 Did you catch it? Did you notice the man asked specifically for three loaves of bread? When you pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” ask specifically!

 

 If you had to have over $ 112,000 every week to meet your budget, would it make you nervous? That’s what I face every Monday morning, but I don’t worry about it. Why? Because over 1,000 members of our church are daily agreeing with me in prayer, asking specifically for that amount to come in. 

 First you must pray specific prayers over the needs of the house of God, then pray specifically for the needs of your own house. When you have sown your financial seed into His kingdom and have been faithful to God and to your church, you can confidently ask for your specific needs.

 

Be Tenacious

 

In Luke 18:1-8, Jesus told the parable of the unjust judge and the widow who repeatedly, persistently begged, “Avenge me of mine adversary.” Because of the woman’s tenacity, the unrighteous judge granted her request. Jesus emphasized this point to His disciples when He asked, “And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?” (v. 7).

 

 It takes tenacity, shameless persistence, to recover what Satan, our adversary, has stolen from us, but today many believers are not aware of that fact. Instead, they search for spiritual shortcuts. Of course there may be times when we can “name it and claim it.” But there are also times when we must intercede fervently, for many needs and situations require earnest tenacity before victory comes.

 

 In his valuable book The Art of Intercession, Kenneth Hagin, the well-known faith teacher who in his lifetime has spent untold hours in intercession, urges believers to intercede. He explains：
 Here is where some people miss it. They don’t hear everything you teach, and they grab some little something and run off with it. There are some things you can pray the prayer of faith on—and you pray one prayer and that's the end of it. You don’t have to pray anymore； you just thank God for the answer....But there are other 
things you cannot pray the prayer of faith on....For God to accomplish what He desires to accomplish...the art of intercessory prayer will have to be resurrected.
 

 Though your answer may be long in coming, be tenacious. When God hears your prayer of faith, the answer is conceived at that moment (see Dan. 10:12-14). If God’s response is delayed, continue to carry the petition in your heart. Do not allow yourself to grow weary as you bear the burden. Do not lose heart and give up, for by doing so you will miss the answer God has prepared.

 

 There can be miscarriages in prayer. That thing conceived in the Spirit can be aborted if we cast away our confidence and refuse to wait on the Lord.
 The Amplified Bible translates Matthew 7：7： “Keep on asking and it will be given you； keep on seeking and you will find； keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you.” Jesus said, “Men ought always to pray, and not to faint^, (Luke 18：1). Remember： God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him (Heb. 11 ：6).

 

 To summarize, in order to appropriate God’s provi¬sion you must first be in the will of God. Next, you must believe it is God’s will to prosper you. Then you must be specific and tenacious in prayer. This is how Jesus taught us to expect and experience God’s provision.

 

 

Review Questions

 

1. True or False? In the following blanks write “T” if you believe the statement to be true, “F” if you think it is false.
     a. ___ Being in the will of God is a basic requirement for

                Meeting God's Requirements successfully praying in what you need, 
     b. ___ To be in the will of God, fellowship with Jesus in a consistent personal prayer life and

                in the Word of God is essential.
     c. ___ If we are in God’s will, we will be rightly related to our brothers and sisters

                in a local church and be committed and submitted to our pastor.
     d. ___ Diligent, balanced work habits are important if a person 
                desires to be in the will of God.
     e. ___ God says we should take care of the needs of our own
                house first. Then if there is anything left over, we should help take care of the needs of His kingdom.
     f.  ___  To appropriate God’s provision, it is important that you  
                 believe it is God*s will to prosper you.
     g. ___ God knows what we need before we ask. Therefore, it is not necessary to ask daily and specifically

                for what we need. 
     h. ___ We should only ask God for something one time. If He wants us to have it,

                He will give it to us without our having to keep asking.
     i.  ___ There is copious evidence in God’s Word that it is His will to bless His people.

 

2. a. In order to appropriate God’s provision it is important that we be in the will of God, believe it is God’s will to prosper 

        us, ask God specifically for our daily needs, and be tenacious. In which two of these things have you been

        weakest?  
    b. What will you do to correct those weaknesses?
 
Prayer Outline

I. Be in the will of God.
    A.   Ask the Holy Spirit to help you develop a consistent, daily personal prayer life and time in the Word where you

          fellowship daily with Jesus. 

    B.  Pray the Lord will plant you in your local church and make you a contributing, functioning, healthy part of that body.
    C.  Examine your work habits. Are you slothful? A workaholic? Ask the Lord to give you ability, efficiency, might and

          balance.
    D.  Examine your giving. Are you obeying the Lord in bringing your tithes and offerings into the storehouse?

         Or are you greedy, stingy or a poor manager? Do you pay your bills and have a reputation as a fair and honest 

         person who keeps your word? Take time to pray along these lines.

 

II. Believe it is God's will to prosper you.

    A. Memorize Scriptures such as Luke 6：38 and Philippians 4:19 to use as faith declarations as you pray in your

        provision.
    B. Meditate upon the Word of God until you truly understand and believe it is God*s will to bless you.

 

III. Be specific.
    A. Bring specific needs daily before God.
    B. Decide to pray instead of worry.

 

IV. Be tenacious.
    A. Repossess lost ground the devil has stolen from you. Discouragement and unbelief have robbed you of answers to          prayer. Take up those petitions again and persevere un¬til the answer comes.
    B. Praise the Lord because He is Jehovah-jireb，. He sees your need beforehand and makes provision.