Brother Bill Sunday School 2/23/14

Our need of prayer:

I read in C E Orr, “Odors from Golden Vials.”  I thought, “It is so good, I should read it throughout the year, every year.”

Mar 1:26  And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him.

Mar 1:27  And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this? what new doctrine is this? for with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him.

Mar 1:28  And immediately his fame spread abroad throughout all the region round about Galilee.

Mar 1:29  And forthwith, when they were come out of the synagogue, they entered into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.

Mar 1:30  But Simon's wife's mother lay sick of a fever, and anon they tell him of her.

Mar 1:31  And he came and took her by the hand, and lifted her up; and immediately the fever left her, and she ministered unto them.

Mar 1:32  And at even, when the sun did set, they brought unto him all that were diseased, and them that were possessed with devils.

Mar 1:33  And all the city was gathered together at the door.

Mar 1:34  And he healed many that were sick of divers diseases, and cast out many devils; and suffered not the devils to speak, because they knew him.

Mar 1:35  And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.

Even though Jesus was and is the Son of God.  Even He felt His need to get alone with God.  The people resorted to Him and the whole city was gathered to His door.  They realized that this man had something that they needed, that would supply their need.  He had something to be able to give out.

If Jesus wouldn’t have spent time with God, I doubt that He would have had that much to give out.  The way with us is the same.  All we are is a dead stick without God.  That which we have is because we have drawn from God.

If we don’t draw from God then we will not be able to give out properly. 

Ecc 11:3  If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth: and if the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be.

If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves out into the earth.  If you as a cloud can be full of God then you have something to empty out. 

Psa 87:7  As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there: all my springs are in thee.

The word ‘springs’ means a fountain, a source of satisfaction.  God is our source of satisfaction.  Not only that, He is the source of all we have to give out.  We have nothing to give out without Him.  People in the religious realm are empty unless they have something from Him. 

If people will really understand this principle it will take away the thing of thinking that they are something special.  If you realize that the only way that you can give out is by receiving from Him then there will not be the thought of “big I” or “little you”. 

All you are is an empty vessel, a dead stick without Him. 

Odors from Golden Vials, by C E Orr “Praying in the Spirit:” 

Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees.  He will do all he can to hinder the children of God in their prayers.  He will tell them they have no time for prayer.  But the Christian must take time for prayer.  No other religious exercise is so important as prayer; so the Christian must pray, if he does nothing besides.  The temptation to leave off prayer because of not having time is a cunning device of the enemy of prayer.  Satan endeavors to get us hurried in our prayers. 

But when praying in the Spirit we shall not be hurried but shall pray in calmness and deliberation.  Those that are acquainted with the laws pertaining to our physical health know that we should eat slowly, and that unless we do, we fail to get the full benefit of our food.  This same law exists relative to our spiritual health.  Take time to pray and take time in prayer.  The Spirit of God will not lead us in a hurry and if we get in a hurry, we shall get ahead of the Spirit. 

The whole of the Christian experience is to be filled with the Spirit. We are to worship God in the Spirit and in truth. Our bodies are to be the temple of the Holy Spirit. It is he who is to teach us and to guide us. It is he who anoints us that we may know God and the things of God. We get no true conception of God except by the Holy Spirit. "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit." 1 Cor. 2 : 9.

Oh, how dependent we are on him! We can not pray aright without him; we can not understand the truth of God without him; we can not know God without him; we can not love God without him; we can not have peace in the soul without him ; we can never get to heaven without him. Then, let us be careful never to grieve him nor quench him; let us do nothing that he would not have us do and let us do promptly all that he would have us do; let us honor him; let us look to him for guidance and for help ; let us acknowledge our dependence on him and seek his aid in prayer; let us have our whole life under his influence. A true, sincere Christian is one whose life is powerfully under the Holy Spirit's influence.

Song: I Am Only an Earthen Vessel (C W Naylor)

1 I am only an earthen vessel
That Jesus may use as He will,
Whether much I may do in His vineyard,
Or small be the place that I fill.

Refrain:
I am only an earthen vessel,
But Jesus has pleasure in me;
While I gladly submit to His purpose,
A vessel to honor I’ll be.

2 I am only an earthen vessel,
But cleansed by the Master’s dear hand;
He hath placed me just where He would have me,
And ready for service I stand. [Refrain]

3 I am only an earthen vessel,
All excellence is of the Lord;
For alone I am worthless and empty,
And nothing of profit afford. [Refrain]

4 I am only an earthen vessel,
The graces within are not mine,
For the love and the power and glory
Belong to the Savior divine. [Refrain]

To realize this is a healthy condition and will help people to not overstep themselves. 

Jos 15:16  And Caleb said, He that smiteth Kirjathsepher, and taketh it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife.

Jos 15:17  And Othniel the son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter to wife.

Jos 15:18  And it came to pass, as she came unto him, that she moved him to ask of her father a field: and she lighted off her ass; and Caleb said unto her, What wouldest thou?

Jos 15:19  Who answered, Give me a blessing; for thou hast given me a south land; give me also springs of water. And he gave her the upper springs, and the nether springs.

This woman had wisdom to her.  She already had the south land but she went to her daddy and said, “Give me also a spring of water.” 

Get more than just the upper springs.  Get that water that is underground, that is deeper.  Get more than just the upper springs.  Are you satisfied with just praying in the morning and at night?  Isn’t there something in your soul that says, “I want more of God?  I want deeper.”

In the end of Deuteronomy it says, there was not a prophet since in Israel that was like Moses that had an experience that is face to face with God.  I believe that I can go deeper and get a closer relationship with God.  Are you hungry and thirsty for that neither spring, where you can get something deeper than what you have?  In the time that we are in, we can be a benefit to our self and to others if we go deeper. 

Odors from Golden Vials: The soul’s hidden life, sustained by prayer: 

If a man has a religion that is fed through the intellect, a religion that is borrowed or 

learned from others and not that which comes along as a hidden stream from God, his 

religion is vain. True spiritual life comes from God to man's soul and then flows out in 

holy living. This life is both gained and sustained through believing prayer. The reading 

of the Scriptures is listening to the voice of God and is the listening side of prayer. 

The good deed, in order to be of full value, needs to have the stamp of the divine life; 

a coin must bear the government stamp in order to pass current. Our acts of kindness 

should have their origin farther back than in us. If they proceed from us, they will leave 

our imprint on others; if they have their rise in God, they will engraven his image on the 

character of others. Our stream of life should have its spring in God. 

Too many, we fear, have only the upper, or surface, springs, whose waters fail in a dry 

time, and dry times will come. We should have the nether (underneath) springs, whose 

waters never fail. If our outward life has its rise in our own human sympathy, compassion, 

and kindness, it will be feeble in a dry time. Oh! Let your life be hid with Christ in God that 

the spring of every act, word, and thought may be in him. 

Joh 15:1  I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.

Joh 15:2  Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

Joh 15:3  Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

Joh 15:4  Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

Joh 15:5  I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine:  we must be hooked into the vine.  You need to be hooked in and get your source from Him if you are to put out. 

Without me you can do absolutely nothing:  Our source of our spiritual success and victory to live right must come from Him. 

The secret of prayer, there is secret prayer and there is the secret in prayer.  If you are a whole hearted Christian, you can pray better and know more about God than you did in previous years and you will be better in prayer and know even more in time ahead.  The lord has many secrets in prayer that He is eager to teach our heart. 

Ps 86:1-

The word of God is so deep you will only learn as God opens things up to you.