In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of experiencing a deep and ongoing relationship with God. He warns against becoming complacent or shallow in one's faith and urges listeners to examine their current spiritual state. The speaker references the story of Saul of Tarsus and Ananias to illustrate how God can transform even the most unlikely individuals. He also highlights the need for prayer and humility in seeking a deeper connection with God.

We'll return with me to the reading of God's Word in Ezekiel chapter 47. Ezekiel 47. Just going to read the first 12 verses of this chapter. Then he brought me back to the door of the temple, and behold, water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the temple faced east, and the water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple south of the altar. Then he brought me out by way of the north gate, and led me round on the outside to the outer gate that faces toward the east, and the water was coming out on the south side. Going on eastward with a line in his hand, the man measured a thousand cubits, and then led me through the water, and it was ankle deep. Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water, and it was knee deep. Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water, and it was up to the line. Again he measured a thousand, and it was a river that I could not pass through, for the waters had risen. It was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be passed through. And he said to me, son of man, have you seen this? Then he led me back along the bank of the river. As I went back I saw upon the bank of the river very many trees on the one side and on the other. And he said to me, this water flows toward the eastern region, and goes down into the Arabah. And when it enters the stagnant waters of the sea, the water will become fresh. And wherever the river goes, every living creature which swarms will live. And there will be very many fish, for this water goes there, that the waters of the sea may become fresh. So everything will live where the river goes. Fishermen will stand beside the sea, from En Gedi to Eneglem. It will be a place for the spreading of nets. Fish will be of very many kinds, like the fish of the great sea. But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh. They are to be left for salt. And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing. A word of prayer together. Please will you echo in your heart the prayer which I offer to the Lord on your behalf and mine? Speak, Lord, in the stillness while we wait on thee. Hush our hearts to listen in expectancy. Speak, O blessed Master, in this quiet hour. May we see thy face, Lord, and feel, and feel thy touch of power for Jesus' sake. Amen. How good it was tonight to listen to a testimony which is so honest. How few people would admit that coming out of a BTI in Glasgow, or any other school, they were in a position of spiritual drought. But what a terrible possibility that is for all of us. Not only at school, or leaving school at any stage in life, to be absolutely dry. The language in John Samuel Monselle often haunts my heart. I hunger and I thirst, Jesu my manna be, ye living waters burst out of the rock for me. For still the desert lies, my thirsting soul before. That's true, true of many of us who have been on the road for many years, in terrible danger of ending our days spiritually dry. An experience through which many of us know what it is to pass. All the agony of it, the dread of it, the horror of it. Sense of the lost fellowship with God, a sense of inadequacy for the task, the sense of being beaten and knocked out, and bereft, and lost, and defeated. The sense of hopelessness and weirdness. Believe me folks, this isn't only the teenager's experience, it's often the experience of the missionary on the field. The often experience of the person who's been years on the Christian path, who's struck barrenness, and he wonders why. I want to talk to you tonight, the Lord helping me, on the subject of resources for Christian living. You know the Bible is an eastern book, and its illustrations are taken from the Middle East. That's why you have phrases such as these with which you're familiar, that run right through the Bible, wells of salvation. Streams in the desert, I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground. The godly man is like a tree, planted by the river of water, who bringeth forth his fruit in season, and he weathers not. And of course the metaphor is taken into the New Testament, when Jesus said to that woman, the water that I shall give you shall be in you, a spring of water, a fountain springing up into everlasting life. The verses which our president read to us earlier in this service. Jesus stood and cried, if any man thirst, let him come to me and drink. Out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. This spake he of the Holy Spirit, which they that believe in him should receive. And in the closing book of the Bible, and the little glimpse we have of heaven, we're not told much about heaven, but enough for us to get on with till we get there. And we find in heaven there's no sun, there's no moon, there's no night, but there's a river. A river as clear as crystal, that flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb. These are all subject themes that run right through the book, and I'm putting them all together in this great subject, resources for Christian living. Many passages of scripture which one could turn to for this subject, but I'm going to concentrate tonight on these verses which we've read together. I recognize of course that they have their literal fulfillment in a future millennial age, but they have a tremendous picture in them of what it means to be a Christian, how it means to live and keep fresh, and to be delivered from barrenness and dryness and drought. And no floods upon the dry ground are my life and of my heart. As I speak to you, I realize more than ever, my own personal need is the fulfillment of this prophecy in my heart tonight. I trust you do. I trust, I speak tonight to a congregation, many of whom are hungry and thirsty for God. He always meets us on the level of our appetite. You can have much, as much of God as you want. Yes, he's no off-duty moment. He's never times when he can't be consulted. He's always available. For as much as I want of him, the great thing that I have to decide as I start my message tonight is, how much of the Lord do I really want with all my heart? And how much am I prepared to let go to have him? Well, let's look at this passage briefly tonight, hopefully briefly. I notice in this vision of Ezekiel that God gave to the prophet, the vision is of a river. And I want you to notice about this river, the essence of its power. The essence of the river's power. See the source of it. The water was issuing, verse 1, from below the threshold of the temple toward the east. The source of this river was the sanctuary of God. The place of absolute authority, supreme power. And when I receive the Holy Spirit at my new birth, and that's when I do receive him, you cannot be a Christian without having the Holy Spirit. You can be a believer without having the Holy Spirit. I hope that doesn't shock you. Well no, I hope it does shock you. I remember Ian Thomas, our mutual friend I'm sure, coming to Moody Church in Chicago when I was pastor, and preaching a sermon entitled, Unsaved Believers. Took us about three months to get over that. The church was rocked to its foundations, nothing had ever been heard of that kind of thing. But it's desperately possible to have everything in my head and nothing in my heart. Everything right in my mind, but empty of experience. But when I become a Christian, I'm born again. At that moment the Holy Spirit comes into my heart, and, and his source is from the throne of God. When I receive him, I receive throne life. Throne life. The life of absolute authority. It comes to me from the greatest throne, and the highest throne in the universe. And he comes that he might administer in my heart, the life of the kingdom of God. That he might display in me, and through me, what it means, the sheer wonder, the thrill, the contentment, the joy, the peace, the strength, the tranquility, of being a man or a woman under the control of the kingdom of God. Displaying to a modern society, with all its permissiveness, the reality of freedom in submission to Jesus Christ. And he comes to make it possible for me to live that kingdom life, in my heart, every day. He does not come to set up a democracy. He comes to set up a dictatorship. He doesn't come to set up a constitutional monarchy, like we have in Britain. We like it that way, but it's really very stupid. Pardon me saying so, but really it is. I mean we have a queen on the throne, we have a government over here, they do the job. All she does is sign on the dotted line, everything they give her. Take an Englishman to think up a thing like that. We have a sovereign lady whom we love. I won't go into this, but just in brackets, this bit, the thing that amazes all of us Britishers, is that every time Billy Graham comes over to Britain, he goes and has lunch with her. Nobody else can do that, but he does. And she talks to him about what version of the Bible to use in family prayer. Oh she knows the Lord, she loves him, she's a Christian. But there she is, since she was 21 or 22 years of age, when she became Queen, she's been a constitutional monarch, with a throne, with a crown, a sovereign lady number one, but she signs on the dotted line, anything that Ted Heath and Co. give to her. That's a constitutional monarchy. And the thing that sends a shiver down my spine, is that's exactly what many of you want to do with Jesus. And he won't have any of it. He won't sign on your dotted line. He won't be a rubber stamp to you. He comes to administer his kingdom in your life. And on Sunday morning at church, many of you will pray, Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come. Hold it, hold it. You can't pray, thy kingdom come, until you pray, my kingdom go. The Holy Spirit comes with the authority of the Lord, with the power of risen Christ, the life of Jesus himself, to administer the kingdom in your heart, and to display to a world that refuses all kind of authority, the wonder of life lived under the authority of Jesus Christ. So the source of his life is at the throne of God. And you have received throne life. But please notice the course of this river. The water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar. This river came from the throne by way of the place of sacrifice. And I receive the Holy Spirit simply and solely because Jesus made it possible for me to receive him at Calvary. The Holy Spirit does not come because of a ten-day prayer meeting before Pentecost. He came because Jesus said to his disciples, if I go not away, the Holy Spirit will not come to you. But if I go away, I will send you another comforter, and he shall be with you and in you forever. And Jesus, God's perfect man, rose from the tomb, ascended to heaven, and received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit. That great moment in the drama of redemption, in which eternity could invade time, and heaven could come down to earth, and the life of God could come in and dwell, bankrupt, hopeless, beaten, defeated, sinful humanity, when we admit our brokenness and the defeat, and simply bow at the foot of Calvary's cross to receive our Lord. Calvary must precede Pentecost. He comes to us by way of the cross. May I with great respect say, there are many people today who are seeking for an experience of the Holy Spirit, who refuse to go to Calvary. You cannot do it, my friends. You just cannot do it. Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it shall bring forth much fruit. But if it die, four words, ten letters, the most vitally important in Christian experience. And when I listen to some church prayer meetings, and I hear people pray, oh Lord, give us another Pentecost. I can't help wondering whether the angels in heaven look over the ramparts of heaven and say, you give us Calvary, and Pentecost is inevitable. He will not anoint the flesh with power. He'll give me Jesus, and in him is all power. And the Holy Spirit comes to me by way of the cross, and I can only know him in my life in power when I have really been to Calvary. Jesus Christ for me on the cross, wonderful. I with him on the cross, not so wonderful. No, no, but that's where I've got to get, and stay, and live at the cross every moment of every day, if I would know the flow of the river in my life, the course of the river by way of the cross. Oh God forgive us, thou omens would bow my head in shame. Some of us are too big to receive it. Some of us have got too big for God to use, too professional, too organized, too proud of our fundamentalism, too big, made a name for ourselves out of the name of Jesus, may shame on us. And it's the nobody, the man who's prepared to be nothing, that Jesus Christ can anoint with the Holy Spirit. He comes to us by way of Calvary. And do you notice the force of the river? I go through these first five verses, and I see that the river, less than a mile from its source, was too deep to get through, waters to swim in. And, and it was constantly flowing from the throne. I can see no evidence of any tributary having been added to it. And it owed its sheer force because of its unhindered freedom. It could flow where it wanted, and it flowed, and flowed, and flowed in increasing power, without any earthly stream having been added to it. I've said before, in other words, I say again, I cannot add or reinforce the Holy Spirit's power in my life. All I can do is humbly to admit him, to submit to him, and to acknowledge his authority, and to obey him day by day. Then he flows with freedom in my heart. The essence of the river's power. He comes to us from the throne. Throne life. He comes to us by way of the cross. Crucified life. He comes to us through the sheer force of a risen Lord, who was crucified for each one of us. But will you notice something else in this story? Will you notice what I would call, the experience of the river's depth? Over and over again in these verses, did you notice a phrase, he brought me through? He brought me through the waters towards the ankles. He brought me through the waters towards the knees. He brought me through the waters to the loins. He brought me through waters to swim in. Let me look at each one of these for a moment. He brought me through, and the waters were to the ankles. There's a picture of the carnal Christian. The man who's received the life of the river, but he's only paddling in it. He's only ankle deep. He hasn't really got wet. He hasn't got sunk in it, immersed in it. He's only paddling, only playing church. He's ankle deep. And when a man is only ankle deep, there's a tremendous lot of himself still seen. And this is the carnal Christian who lived in the Corinthian church, full of jealousy, full of envy. His reaction's just as if he hadn't been converted at all. Hard to detect him from other people as a believer. Ankle deep, ankle deep. Some of us are only paddling, only, only ankle deep in the water tonight. Oh, and so unhappy, so dry, so barren. So he brought me through. He brought me through, and the waters was to the knees. Ah, the man's going down now. The man's going down. The water's rising. The tide is coming in. And the man's going out of sight, and he's on his knees. Forgive me, you know, but when a God captures a man's knees, he's got hold of something. Some things begin to happen when a man's on his knees. This tells me, it's a picture of a man who's getting to see that he, he just can't go on living on the same level. He's getting desperate. He goes deeper into the water. You recall the Bible story of the conversion of Saul of Tarsus? When he went to Damascus, blinded by the vision of Job, of the Lord. The Lord spoke to a very anonymous disciple, Ananias, and said, Ananias, go into Damascus and give that man his sight. Ananias thought he knew his, God's business better than he did, and said, Lord you can't do that, you're making a mistake. This man's a great enemy of the church. He tries to kill every Christian he meets. Don't touch him, we daren't touch him. Better leave him alone. And what was God's answer? Ananias, don't be afraid of him. Behold, he prays. What an amazing thing for the Lord to say. It seems as if the angels in heaven have folded their wings, as they look down on earth, at a proud, self-righteous Pharisee, who for years, as a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin, has said his prayers for hours every day, but he's never prayed. Behold, he prays. And the one person who really matters in this service tonight, is the Lord Jesus. The only one whom we cannot see, but whose presence is the most real thing of all. And, and I wonder what he says about each one of us. Behold he preaches. Behold he sings. Behold he prays. Behold he speaks. Behold he works. Oh, can't he look down upon your hearts and mine, and say, behold he prays. Tell me, how do you go out of these meetings when they're through? How do you leave them? I wonder how many of us, right here, could honestly say, that we've gone straight to our rooms, and knelt by our beds, and prayed, oh God, meet me here, in this place, this week. Or how many of us, in five minutes, have forgotten the whole thing? Just because of a, I don't want to use extravagant language, just because of a sheer thrill of meeting a boyfriend, or a girlfriend, or some lost relative, after a year. And we've wasted the whole thing, in just talking chatter, wasted gossip, and never really meant business with God, and the week's nearly over now. How desperately we need tide of Holy Spirit power. May I say, we need revival at Prairie Bible Institute this week, urgently. In my own heart, I do, you do, and you may not recognize it. How desperately we need tide of Holy Spirit power. May I say, we need revival at Prairie Bible Institute this week, urgently. In my own heart, I do, you do, and you may not recognize it. You may think a man who preaches like this is crazy, absolutely gone stark crazy. Well, he hasn't, except he longs with the desire of my heart that was born of God, I believe, that God will step into this conference and do something that he hasn't done before. I'd rather die die, I honestly would die, than just continue in Bible teaching and see nothing happen. I'm sick of it. There's nothing in teaching the Word of God, unless it's applied to life and obeyed in practice, and people are brought down on their faces before God, in humiliation. Behold, he prays. And I wonder if at 10 o'clock tonight, the Lord will look down from heaven, and out of this great crowd of 2,000 or 3,000 people, will he see one or two or half a dozen or how many on their knees before God and pray. Behold, knee deep, Lord, I'm dry. Lord, if I've got thrown life in me, I tell you, there's someone else bossing me around, and I don't like it. I can't go on like this. Lord, Lord, I've only set up a constitutional monarchy. I'm making my own decisions. I'm trying to run my own life, and it doesn't work, and it can't go on. Lord, I'm a missionary, and I've come up to pray, to give my testimony, and tell the kids what a time I've had. I've had to think out where my success has been, and how many people I've led to Christ, and there isn't anybody. And Lord, I feel so dry, bone dry, and I can't go back to the church, back to the pastor, like that. Some of you are farmers. Some of you are in business. Bless your heart. The most needed people of all, and your gut's spiritually dry with all the prices of it. And you're saying to yourself, oh God, oh God, in my farm, in my home, with my family torn apart, with the family altar gone, and with family life scrapped, oh God, visit us in my home with revival. Behold, he prayed. Behold, he took me through, and the waters were to the loins. That speaks to me of a man who's made a great discovery, which a man on his knees always does. The loins is a place of strength, they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, or, or put it this way, they that wait upon the Lord shall exchange their strength for his. Here's a picture of the man who's made the discovery that the Christian life, every demand that God may make upon him, is met by the life of the Holy Spirit within him, to relax and trust Jesus. Hallelujah. The law came by Moses. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Listen friends, if you think the gospel lets you off the hook to live as you like, you better start again. It doesn't. If you think there's no law in the gospel, forget it, there is. My greatest need is the establishment of the kingdom of God. You have heard it said, you have heard it said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. I say unto you, love your enemy. You've heard it said, thou shalt not commit adultery. I say to you, he that looks to lust is guilty. And I listen to that honestly, I'm on my face in repentance, and I admit my guilt. But the law, grace and truth, truth which makes demands that I can't possibly meet, but grace that meets them all. Holy Spirit in my life, the Lord overthrown in heaven, to call the shots, to dictate the play, the Holy Spirit in my life, to carry out his orders in response to my willingness. So hallelujah, relax and trust Christ. The water up to my loins, I've discovered the secret. It's not I, but Christ who lives in me. But waters to swim in. Oh, just forgive the fanciful interpretation. But when a man's swimming, what do you see of the man? Nothing but his head. And the head of every man is Christ. And when a man's filled up with the water, filled up with the Spirit of God, overflowing in his life, you only see Jesus. Jesus who comes through all the time in every reaction. Now ladies and gentlemen, let me single, oh no I can't do this, this is something that God must do. Everyone of you, out from the crowd and say to you, tonight on the 13th of April 1973, how deep are you in the water? How deep? Oh, perhaps you are swimming in it, 30 years ago. Perhaps you're head over heels in love with Jesus. Perhaps you are filled with the Spirit and you would have every blessing imaginable. But I tell you the tide's gone out. The tide's gone out and you're only up to the ankles. Do I need to remind a congregation like this, that Romans 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 are not the automatic biographic experience every child of God. You can leap out of identification in Romans 6, right flat with the Romans 8, and enjoy the life of victory. But you can lapse back into Romans 7. And you can end your days in spiritual carnality. Sound, orthodox, critical, hard, censorious, bitter. If anybody doesn't agree with you, you're up in arms all the time against it. A thorough fighting fundamentally. And you become carnal. Your life is just shallow, empty deep, ankle deep. And some of us have been in the water for about 40 years. And that's how far we are. Oh, I'm not asking how far you were 10 years ago. When you had your valedictory service, bless your heart, you are filled up. When you went to the, responded to the call to ministry, you were sure you were full. Yes indeed you were. And there were moments in your life with the joy, the fullness of God's blessing. But oh, tonight's the thing. Where are you right now? The experience of the river's depth. My final point, the effect of the river's flow. And here, God helping me, I'm going to skate through some controversial territory. I hope I've a lot of friends here. I hope you'll still be my friends when I pronounce the benediction. But I hope most of all that I shall be faithful to the Lord in what he has said to me about this passage of Scripture. Listen. The essence of the river's power. Strong life. Hallelujah. The experience of the river's depth. Swimming in it. The effect of the river's flow. What sort of a specimen of humanity would you expect to see in a man who is filled up to overflowing with the Spirit of God? What sort of person will you expect to see? A man who's swimming in the river. He's got his feet right off the bottom. He's involved. He's totally committed. He's out of his depth. And he's filled to overflowing. Out of him are flowing rivers of living water. What do you expect from a man like that? Three things. First, fruit. Verse 7. As I went back, I saw upon the bank of the river, very many trees on the one side and on the other. As this river has been flowing at full spate, it's attracted to its bank's growth. And the evidence of its flow unhindered in power is fruitfulness. Now, let me say this. If I meet a Spirit-filled Christian, the first thing I want to look for is resemblance to Jesus Christ. Is a transformation in character. Galatians 5.22. The fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace. That's my relationship to God. Long-suffering gentleness, goodness. That's my relationship to other people. Faith, meekness, self-control. My relationship to myself. Fruit, character, Christ. In the past seven years, it's been my immense privilege to preach the gospel in about 45 different countries, on many mission fields, in many areas. And everywhere I've been, I've come across one of the greatest phenomenon of our day. I refer to the charismatic movement. Where in every area, in every country, in every mission field, on every mission station almost, this, this is really on the march. Do you know that in Brazil, 75% of the, of the Protestant population of that country, is within the Pentecostal Church? And it's growing faster than the birth rate of the country. This has been on the march for at least 10 years. And it's there for good or ill. You've got to observe it. Now what do you make of it all? When somebody comes and speaks to you about this charismatic movement, everybody says, oh but look, hold it, it's so divisive. Don't touch it. Wait. Who causes the division? What is the cause of divisiveness? After all, the Holy Spirit is the one who comes to unite the body of Christ, not to divide. What's the cause of division? I believe that causes twofold. I believe in the first case, it's caused by people who say the whole thing's of the devil. Can't have a thing to do with it. Wash it out. It causes division, trouble, and problems everywhere. Don't touch it. Friend, that's unbiblical. Paul spoke in tongues. He acknowledged this as a gift. To say that it was a gift which was eliminated after Pentecost, is impossible to substantiate from the Word of God. It's a recognized gift. And let me tell you this, I have seen and know hundreds of people, that's not an exaggeration, it's truth, whose lives have been absolutely transformed as they've used this gift, in the scriptural way. Who've met Jesus in a new way, and who are alert and alive and fresh and vital for Him, and serving Him with joy and spontaneous happiness in the Lord. No, I can't take that line. I believe that's one of the causes of division. But the other cause is, people who say in Alkia, if you are going to be filled with the Spirit of God, you've got to speak in tongues. As an evidence that you're filled with the Spirit. Friend, that is equally unbiblical. Equally unbiblical. Nobody can have all the gifts of the Spirit. But everybody can have all the character that the Spirit produces. The gifts of the Spirit are distributed severally according to the will of God, he's informed. Listen, if to speak in tongues was the one thing which every Christian must do to enter into blessing, surely it would be emphasized, the major emphasis throughout the whole of the New Testament. And surely Paul would have said, this is the thing you must bore in on, and give attention to. Instead of which, I find that this subject is only dealt with in one letter, and then only in two chapters, and then always with a view to keeping it in control. Quite evidently, to speak in an unknown tongue was not a mark of spiritual maturity. The Corinthians church spoke in tongues. Can we not possibly love each other and maintain the balance? Don't major on the minor, which is a gift, but major on the major, which is a character. A lady came up to speak to me, bless her heart, just a few months ago, and she said to me, oh past Redpath, what a pity you haven't got it. So I said, I beg your pardon ma'am. She said, what a pity you haven't got it. I said, what do you mean? Oh she said, if you come to my church you'll get it, all the gifts are in operation there, you come and you get it. And I said to her, my dear lady, I'm not looking for it, I'm hungry for Him, a person, my Saviour. And if my Bible tells me anything, it tells me this, that I can never move away from Jesus to the Holy Spirit, and pray to God. God has nothing for me except Christ. And the Holy Spirit comes into my life to apply Jesus, to make Him real, to make real in my life all that He did for me at Calvary, and all that He does for me at the throne every day. I pray God, said Paul in writing to the church at Ephesus, that He might be filled up with all the fullness of God. What's that mean? Colossians 2.9. In Him, in Christ, dwelleth all the fullness of the Lord, Godhead, and you are complete in Him. God has nothing for you but Christ. Well, you don't need any more than Christ, you've got everything when you have Him. So my dear friend, I hope I haven't hurt you, but I've sought to present this briefly as biblically as I can. Yes, I acknowledge the gift, I thank God for those who practice it in a scriptural way. I thank God for many, many people who can bear testimony to the reality of this in their life. But please don't insist that everybody else must have your gift. This is absolutely unscriptural. What I long for more than anything else is all of Jesus every day of my life, flooding my heart with Himself, the character of Christ. Yes, that's the first evidence of a spiritual life. Oh, to me, to me it's so wonderful to see a man, perhaps brought up in a pagan society. Maybe it's even more wonderful to see a man who's been brought up in a permissive society like ours, and to see that man change inside out, and transform, and made a man of God. A moral change in his life. Of course, of course, in the progress of that character, God gives us gifts in order that the character may be revealed. But don't insist on a gift which you haven't got. God gives you the gift that He knows you need, in order that the character may be matured. So there's truth, and then there's life. Everything shall live where the river comes. I love that phrase. Verse nine, everything will live where the river goes. Oh, now watch it, watch it, watch it. That doesn't mean there's going to be masses of conversions, but I'll tell you what will happen. Everything begins to live when the Holy Spirit comes, when Jesus comes. Oh, that prayer meeting, that's as dead as a donor in my church, it takes life. I tell you, I'm not being sarcastic, but realistic when I tell you that the average church prayer meeting drives the pastor up the wall. He knows who's going to pray first, how long he's going to pray for, how dead the prayer meeting will be when he's finished, and the sheer deadness of it. Nobody, and very seldom, I hear in church prayer meetings these days, a prayer for real spiritual power and life. It's usually a prayer for somebody's rheumatism, somebody's backache, or somebody's problem. I'm not unsympathetic to these kind of things, but this is the extent of our pain, and the thing's dead as a donor. Oh, but when Jesus comes and fills my heart, why that prayer meeting begins to come to life. People begin to pray and talk to him. Oh, I just come back a few weeks ago from Japan, Keswick, in Tokyo, and Hokkaido, Hakone, you know, 1,500 pastors, and after one peaked for, oh, at least an hour and a half, didn't mind that, I'm not going to do that, it's all right, but you know, you know, when I finished, I would say, now look, just a moment of silence, now would anybody like to lead us in prayer? And I tell you, there was a gradual increasing crescendo and volume, as one after another joined in prayer together, and the place was filled with the glory of Christ. People who were absolutely hungry for the Lord were expressing themselves, not in tongues, well to me it was tongues, I didn't understand a word of it, but it was Japanese, and, and pouring out their hearts to God simultaneously. It came to life, it came to life. God give us prayer meetings like that, come to life. But I say, let me just put in a word here, this doesn't mean that I'm going to see massive conversions, doesn't seem to say I'm going to see hundreds of people saved necessarily. Have you read that book of C.S. Lewis's, Screwtape Letters? Huh, terrific book. Do you remember that paragraph in it about his conversation with Wormwood? Screwtape, the devil talks with Wormwood, his senior officer here on earth, who's governing hell's strategy of attack, and Screwtape says this, listen to every word of it, I can repeat it verbatim, I've learned it in my heart, in my life, it's meant so much to me. He says this, be not deceived Wormwood, our cause is never in greater danger than when a human being, no longer intending but still desiring to do the enemy's will, the enemy being God, looks around him upon a universe from which every trace of the enemy's existence has vanished, wonders why he's been forsaken, but goes on obeying. Life, a man who can stand alone in adversity, life. I spoke at the OMF conference in Thailand a few years ago, and missionaries came out of North Thailand who'd been there for 17 years, and it was like hammering against a brick wall, not a sign of blessing, hard, tough, tough, tough, tough, hitting, not a sign, and they were exhausted, but they lied, they were alive, and that, that conference was full of the sense of praise to God that he'd given them such an opportunity, and a year or two, it broke, the thing broke wide open, and people would say right and left, are you a Christian who can stand if God chooses to give you a winter time, when there seems to be no evidence of his presence, no sign of blessing, and you're left absolutely desolate, but still you go on obeying him, you don't quit and say, oh phooey, I'm off, you stand your ground, and you fight through to the end, and you remain victor on the life, life. One last word, healing, the fruits of the trees were for healing, and, and the margin of your authorized says are for bruises and sores, again not to be controversial, but I don't question God's power to heal anybody instantly from anything. But I question his will upon that matter. I don't think that you and I have a right to demand at any moment that anyone should be instantly healed. Who are we to be amateur provinces? Only that person who's ill and the God know exactly why they're ill. When I was flat on my back and 90 percent of the way into heaven, finished, helpless, weak, reduced to a cabbage, through a stroke, seven years ago, couldn't move, couldn't speak, nothing. Somebody wrote to me and said, if only you'd got faith, you could be well in a minute. That wasn't any comfort. I left my wife to the answer of that person. I don't believe in instant healing. I believe in divine healing. I've experienced it, experienced it. But listen, there's a healing tonight in our hearts, in, in our homes, which is much more vital. The Holy Spirit is for the healing of bruises and sores. Is there bruised life here? Bruised homes, bruised family, sore, sore, wounded, hurt, grieved, lonely, desolate. Oh, what are we to do about that break and split in our church that's ruined our testimony? What are we to do about our family, altar, our home, where things have fallen apart? And I'll tell you what to do. Let the Holy Spirit in. Let him in now. Let the river flow. Take out every block and let Jesus just flood your heart, that he may heal the wounded life, the bruised life, the sore heart. For the leaves of the tree are for medicine, for bruises and sores. Let's pray.