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Living a Broken Life Before God
Gerhard Du Toit

Gerhard Du Toit (birth year unknown–present). Born and raised in South Africa, Gerhard Du Toit grew up in the Dutch Reformed Church and converted to Christianity during his first year at theological school near Cape Town. He trained as an evangelist in South Africa and spent five years preaching there before serving eight years with The Faith Mission in the British Isles, leading Deeper Life Conferences. In 1988, he began ministering in Canada, later joining The Faith Mission (Canada) and, since 2011, Life Action Canada with his wife, Janice. A sought-after global conference speaker, Du Toit is known for his intense preaching style, focusing on prayer, revival, and the Holy Spirit, urging believers to seek God’s presence and burden for souls. He has trained thousands of pastors in spiritual renewal, emphasizing a vibrant prayer life and deep scriptural knowledge. Du Toit and Janice have a daughter, Monica, who is also in ministry. Based in Canada, he continues to preach internationally, inspiring godliness and revival. He said, “Revival begins when the leadership is ablaze with God’s presence.”
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Sermon Summary
In this sermon, the speaker discusses the concept of task-oriented praying and intercessory prayer. He refers to the story in Luke chapter 11 about a friend who comes to borrow three loaves of bread at midnight. The speaker emphasizes the importance of seeking God's will and praying according to it. He also highlights the need for a vision of God and the burden of God in our lives. The sermon concludes with a reference to Moses and the burning bush, emphasizing the importance of brokenness and purity of heart in prayer.
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Twice a year I'm in the most amazing circumstances, sharing with about, as I said earlier on, about 2,000 people who have come to Christ amongst the armies in Pennsylvania. You know, the people, maybe horses and buggies. And it's an incredible thing. The service starts at 9 Sunday morning, goes through 2 in the afternoon. You're not allowed to preach for less than 2 hours. Isn't that great? But I had a Thursday night free a couple of years ago when I was in the city of Philadelphia, and they brought me in and said, Can you give us 2 hours on Thursday night? We're going to bring all the 2,000 people or so together. And what we would want you to do is to speak to us on the biblical theology of brokenness. What does it mean to live a broken life before God? And so that night I went and I said to them, The first hour we're going to look at the negative perception of the theology of brokenness. And we ploughed into the depravity of sin. You know, if God will come in one moment in a little gathering like this and give us a vision of the depravity of sin, and what happened when Adam and Eve sinned, and when Paul said in Romans chapter 5, For as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men. If that were to happen, brethren and sisters, we won't get out of this place today when we see that. And for an hour we ploughed into the theology, the negative aspect of the theology of brokenness. We went into the Hebrew text of the Old Testament, explore sin, the state of sin, the act of sin, the awfulness of sin, and in the Greek New Testament. And after 60 minutes I said to them, Now we're going to spend an hour and look at the positive understanding of the theology of brokenness. And I took them into the life of Christ. And we discover in the Gospel of John the relationship that he had with the Father. Sin is in his birth, supernatural in his life, and we discover his dependence upon God the Father. And for an hour we ploughed into the depth of brokenness in his positive understanding. And the Spirit of God broke into that meeting at the end, you know. In fact, there were 57 people gloriously saved that night. And I want to read to you this. When God has given me a broken heart, I'm overwhelmed with a sense of my own spiritual need. When God has given me a broken heart, I'm compassionate. I can forgive much because I know how much I've been forgiven. I esteem others better than myself. When God has given me a broken heart, I have a dependent spirit, and I recognize my need for others. But when there is pride in my life, I focus on the failures of others. When there is pride in my life, I'm self-righteous. I have a critical fault-finding spirit. I look at everyone else's faults through the microscope, but I see my own faults with a telescope, and I look down upon the lives of others. When there is pride in my life, I have an independent and a self-sufficient spirit. When there is brokenness in my life, I've learned the secret of denying myself. When there is brokenness in my life, I'm motivated to serve others. When God has given me a broken heart, I've got a motivation to be faithful and to make others a success. But when there is pride in my life, I am self-protective of my time, my rights, my reputation. When there is pride in my life, I desire to be served. When there is pride in my life, I desire to be successful. When there is pride in my life, I want to be self-advanced. But when God has given me a broken heart, I have a sense of my own unworthiness. I'm so frail that God would use me in any kind of a ministry. I'm eager for others to get the credit, and I rejoice when others are lifted up. When my heart is broken before God, I have an attitude that says I don't deserve to have any part in this ministry. I know that I've got nothing to offer God except the life of Christ that's flowing through my broken life. And I'm so humbled by how much I've got to learn, and I'm not concerned with a self-life. And I take, and I'm willing to risk, I'm willing to risk to get close to others, and to take the risk of loving people intimately. But when there is pride in my life, I've got this unbelievable drive to be recognized. I want to be appreciated. I'm deeply offended and wounded when others are promoted and I've been overlooked. When there is pride in my life, I've got this subconscious feeling that this ministry is so privileged to have me and the gifts that God has given to me. And all I think is what I can do for God. And when there is pride in my life, I feel confident by how much I know. And I'm self-conscious. When there is pride in my life, I keep people at a distance. When there is pride in my life, I am quick to blame others. When there is pride in my life, I'm unapproachable. I'm defensive when I'm criticized. When there is pride in my life, I'm concerned about being respectable with what others think. I try to protect my work, my image, my reputation. When there is pride in my life, I find it very difficult to share my own spiritual needs. When there is pride in my life, I want to be sure that no one finds out when I sin. I've got this instinct to cover things up. When there is pride in my life, I've got a hard time saying, you know, I was really wrong and I need your forgiveness. When there is pride in my life, I'm concerned about the consequences of my sin. I'm remorseful over my sin simply because I've been caught and found out. When there is pride in my life, I always wait for others to come and ask forgiveness. When there is a misunderstanding or a conflict in the relationship, I compare myself with others and I feel worthy of honor. I'm blind to my own spiritual heart condition. I don't think I've got anything to repent of. I don't think that I need revival, but man, I'm sure that other people need revival. When there is brokenness in my life, I receive criticism with a humble and an open spirit. I'm so easy to be entreated. When there is brokenness in my life, I'm concerned about being real. What I care about and what matters to me is not what others think, but what God knows. And I'm willing to die for my own reputation. When I serve God with a broken heart, I'm willing to be open and transparent with others. And once God has broken my heart, I don't care who knows or who finds out about me. I'm willing to be exposed because I've got nothing to lose. When I'm broken before God, I'm quick to admit my failures and seek forgiveness when necessary. And when I'm under the conviction of the Spirit of God, I'm able to acknowledge the specifics about my sin. And I'm grieved over the course and the root of my sin when I live a broken Christian life. And when I'm broken, I'm truly and genuinely repentant over my sin. And the evidence is the fact that I want to forsake it. And when I'm broken, I take the initiative to be reconciled when there is a misunderstanding or a conflict in the relationship. And I race to the cross and I see if I can get there first, no matter how wrong the other party may have been. And when I'm broken before God, I compare myself with the holiness of God. I feel desperate and need of His mercy and His glory. And I want to walk in the light. And I realize I have a need for a consistent heart attitude of cleansing and repentance. And when I'm broken, I continually sense my need for a fresh unction and an encounter of God and a fresh filling with the Spirit of God. If you live this, you don't need to live in any other way. You know, we know so much about the Word of God, but actually the Word of God knows so little about us, you know. Father, we are in the last 34 minutes of these glorious two days. And Lord, the thing that I've been so broken about is that we're only scratching the surface. And Father, you said to us in your Word that I will not give you the land at once, but I will give you the land portion by portion. And Lord, there was so much burning and arrogance in my heart as far as this time. And I pray that somehow over this weekend, Father God, that you will give birth to these pastors' conferences. And we would long to call them pastors' prayer encounters. Lord, we don't want to call them retreats. The church has been retreating all its life. But we want to move forward with God. And I pray today, Father, that here in South Africa, if God is going to do something, it needs to start with the leadership. That here in South Africa, in place after place, Father God, that you will give birth to these encounters that men and women will have with God. Lord, if you're not going to come to us, how are you going to come to our people? I was reminded of Evan Roberts, who so often used to say, God, bend the church and break the people. And we pray for our land. Father, if you're outside of South Africa, and you come back into this beautiful country, and you discover the immensity of the burden of God, you feel that we can walk around in this country like weeping prophets, proclaiming the reality of the greatness of the possibility of the outpouring of the Spirit of God and revival. And I want to pray that in the closing moments of this morning, Father, isn't it possible, as we contemplate this great subject of prayer, and as we try to fit into 30 minutes, 80 hours of material that is burning in my soul, help us just to touch on the realities of coming to the understanding that the God that we are serving does not necessarily answer prayer, because we are praying, but the God that we are serving answers prayer, because He is a covenant-keeping God. Father, the psalmist said, Thou that hearest prayer. And I pray this morning, that somehow, that you will take our lives and make from our lives unto 20 years souls. And we're not saying to you this morning that prayer is everything, but God, we want to say to you that we want everything to come through prayer. And we don't want to be like the Americans, Lord, who do not pray, and the reason why we don't pray in America is because we do not believe that it's going to make a difference. So give unto us, as Jonathan Edwards used to say, when God is going to do a great thing, He raised up a group of people that will be committed to a life in the ministry of intercessory prayer. And Father, as we move into Sunday morning, Lord, there are probably, I don't know, 1,500, 2,000 people who have no clue by what God has been doing in our hearts yesterday and today. And I can't even imagine stepping into that pulpit at the Klipkart tomorrow and try to communicate these concepts to these men and women. But Lord, you said to us, the preparation of the heart belongs to God. And in the hours of today and tonight, Lord, I don't even know if I'm going to sleep tonight, but isn't it possible that somehow you can prepare our hearts that in these final days, from tomorrow morning onwards to Thursday night, that God will put us in the midst of an organized disorder, not just here, but in every single place that we will be able to reach out. And Lord, thank you for the privilege of being with multi-ministries today. I feel so inadequate to come alongside this great work. And God, this work, we're not trying to make a name for ourselves. We're not trying to put this ministry on the table in South Africa. But we are passionate about the glory of God. And you said to us, I will give my glory to no man. We want to be in the dust before God and see God working in this country in a way that you have never worked before. In Jesus' name. Amen. You know, the medical profession is giving up to us a remarkable illustration. And they are saying to us that when a child is born in a house, that they say to us that during the first six months of the life of this child, is it true to say that this baby found itself being exposed to what they would consider as millions of different sounds and voices that is taking place in the average household? And then they would say to us that after a period of six months, is it true to say that that child being so conditioned by the noises and the sounds and the voices, that that little bundle of life that God has entrusted unto us has come to the place where that baby is able to discern between all the voices and the noises and the voices of what we would consider as the primary caregivers within that household. And that baby is able to say mama or papa or mummy or daddy and is able to begin to respond because of the process that has taken place. And the medical profession gives this scenario a definition or a name. And I love the word that they use. They refer to it as the process of saturation. You see, if a child is born in a house, in the first six months of the life of this child, there's not going to be any sound that is taking place in that household. And we would anticipate that after six months, that child will be able to say mummy or daddy, it's just not going to happen. And so they gave us this name and they refer to it as the process of saturation that has taken place in the name and the life of this child. And my brother and my sister, I want to say to you this morning, the only way that we're going to learn the language of prayer is when that which God is saying to us in His word, when that becomes part of our relationships with God. Because you see, we can't move from our experiences with God as it relates to prayer to the exposition of the word of God. Because if we're going to do that, we will become such emotional basket cases. We will only pray when we feel like it. We will not be committed to the discipline of a life in the ministry of intercessory prayer. And the greatest disaster that will take place is that there is the possibility that we will isolate Scripture. And we will say that if Scripture doesn't fit into my experience, it's not acceptable for me. Where we believe from a theological perception, when it comes to the interpretation of Scripture and the exegesis of God's word, that the word of God needs to become part of our lives. And the consequences of the word of God becoming part of my life brings me to the place where I pray even when I don't feel like it. Where prayer becomes part of my relationship with God. Where prayer becomes so important in my relationship with God. Where Martin Luther said, I've got so much to do today that I need to spend three hours alone in the presence of God. I need to tell you that if you and I have learned the secret of developing a life of being committed to God in prayer, I've discovered that after my times alone with God, I accomplish in a very short, brief period of time, sometimes twice as much as when I have not spent that time alone in the presence of God. You know, prayer to me is like breathing. Breathing takes place in our lives because breathing is a negative reaction. I breathe because of the pressure that is taking place upon my lungs. And because of the pressure that is taking place, I need to breathe. I mean, it's a natural thing, you know. You didn't come into the session this morning and say, hey, you know, I had a tough time breathing today. It's just part of what our lives are all about. And so when you and I begin to look at prayer, and you know, I was sitting here and I thought, man, how are you going to share with them some of these incredible concepts when the Bible is speaking to us about prayer? Because it is so rich and it's so incredible. If we would have had time this morning to look at the 16 moral imperatives of God as it relates to prayer in the Old Testament, it is just an unbelievable, blessed study. If we would have been able to look at the prayer life of Moses, 104 times God spoke to Moses, and he only spoke to God 25 times. If we would come to the understanding of prayer, that prayer is initiated by God, and we look at these concepts and the beauty of these concepts. In fact, I spent 90 minutes a number of years ago with about 90 to 100 pastors in the city of Calgary, and they flew me in one morning to speak to them on the theology of prayer. And may I say to you again today, brother and sister, you never get to the place where you really know how to pray. The moment when you think you've got it together, it's like running into the ocean, and you feel I've gone so deep and I can't go any deeper, and the water has just got to the ankles. You never get to the place where you conquer prayer. And may I say to you this morning, it's not the times that you and I spend with God, it's the times that God spends with us, you know. That's what makes the difference. And that morning I walked into the midst of those men there in Calgary in Western Canada, and I turned to these men and I said to them, Gentlemen, we're going to spend an hour and a half in the prayer life of the man with the name of Enoch in the Old Testament. And I could see the wheels turning, saying to me, Amen, which translation of the Bible are you going to use? But you know what we did? We plowed through this understanding of the biblical theology of being changed by God in the place as it relates to prayer. I took him to the life of Enoch in the Old Testament. It's a beautiful word in the Hebrew language. It's the word talak. The Bible says Enoch walked with God. We discovered the context of the passage. We came to the realization that it was not possible for Enoch to walk with God and not to become a man of prayer. Neither was it possible for him to become a man of prayer and not to walk with God. And we plowed into the New Testament. We came into the Gospel of Luke. I don't know if you realize this morning that the Gospel of Luke is giving us 69% more information about the prayer life of Christ and His teachings about prayer than Matthew and Mark's Gospel together. You say, why do we find it in the Gospel of Luke? You see, in the Gospel of Matthew, we're looking upon Jesus as the King of the Jews. In the Gospel of Mark, we see Christ as the servant of God. In the Gospel of John, we're looking upon Christ as the Son of God. But when you and I come to the Gospel of Luke, Luke was a physician and an historian. And he's giving us 50 technical, medical terms in the Gospel of Luke. And in the Gospel of Luke, we discover the humanity of Christ. Listen, brother and sister. Deity do not have a necessity to pray, but humanity has. And in the Gospel of Luke, he became a man of prayer. And I took them into the Greek New Testament. And we began to look at the possibility of God changing us. And I took them to the Mount of Transfiguration. Matthew chapter 17 doesn't say a word about prayer. Mark chapter 9, not a word about prayer. And we went to Luke chapter 9. And at the Mount of Transfiguration, Luke and his Gospel emphasize the prayer life of Christ. And he said in Luke chapter 9, while Jesus was praying, He was transfigured. We plow into this understanding of the Greek New Testament. God changing us through prayer. I took them to Hebrews chapter 11. When the writer to the Hebrews made the statement, and he referred to Enoch in the Old Testament. And he said, by faith Enoch was translated, that he should not see death. And he said God translated him. And before his testimony, he had this. Before his translation, he had this. And we took this word being translated in the place of prayer. And then we plowed into Romans chapter 12. When he said, I beseech you by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God. And we came to Romans chapter 12 verse 2. And he said, be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And then we went into 2 Corinthians chapter 3. And you remember how the apostle Paul used the prayer life of Moses. When Moses came down from the mountain, there was a fragrance upon the life of Moses. It's a great word in the Hebrew language. It comes from the Hebrew word for the word spirit, which is the word ruach. And we discover this fragrance. It's the word rayach in the Hebrew language. And when Moses came down from the mountain, they had to put this veil in front of his face. Because he was so glory soaked. He was so transparent. And he was so broken that he carried with him a sense of the fragrance of God. And we went to 2 Corinthians chapter 3. And the apostle Paul made this statement. He said, as we in a mirror or in a glass are in the process of beholding the glory of God. And the apostle Paul used an illustration out of the city of Corinth. And as he used that illustration, the women in Corinth made these little mirrors with their hands. And he said, as we in a glass or in a mirror are in the process of beholding the glory of the Lord. He said, we find ourselves being transformed from one degree of glory into the other. Brethren and sisters, I want to tell you something this morning. The place where God has changed me through the years is not when I listen to other people. Wonderful as that may be. Not when I read the books and all these kind of things. You know the place where God has changed me through the years is this place alone with God. And isn't it amazing when the Lord Jesus gave us in the New Testament what we would consider the Lord's Prayer. I need to be honest with you this morning. I don't think it's really the Lord's Prayer. It's the prayer that he taught his disciples to pray. You say, what happened in the Lord's Prayer? I don't think God has given us that prayer, brethren and sisters, necessarily to repeat that. You say, why do you say that? Because the one in Matthew chapter 6 is not the same that we discover in Luke chapter 11. It's a beautiful statement in the Greek language. You say, what is it? Jesus said, when you pray in the Greek language, it's a great statement. It's the word he tossed you on. He said, when you pray, he said, pray according to these lines. And my brother and my sister, you know in the Lord's Prayer, he has given unto us the ingredients of developing a personal and a private prayer life. You say, what are you speaking about? He's speaking about the place of prayer. He said, go into your secret den or your closet. He's speaking about the paternity of God in prayer. He said, pray to your father, which he said never. He speaks about the program of God in prayer. He's speaking about the plan of God in prayer. He's speaking about the provision of God in prayer. He said, give us this day our daily prayer. He's speaking about the pardon of God in prayer. He said, forgive us our debts. He gives you the secret of discovering the doctrine of repentance and the life of a spiritful believer and the beauty and discovering my inadequacy when I come into the presence of God and all I can say to God is, nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. Speaking about the protection of God in prayer. And in the beauty of what he said, when he spoke about the walking with God in prayer, he said, when you pray, he said, enter into your, and I love the word in the old King James Version of the Bible, he said, enter into your closet. You see, the Gospel of Matthew was written to the Jews, brother and sister. And you can imagine those Jewish disciples sitting there, and when Jesus spoke of this closet, four times in the Greek New Testament, we come across this word. And when he spoke about this secret place, this closet, you know, the Jew, when he sat there, his only understanding of what Christ was speaking about was the holiest of all in the tabernacle of God. The place where the high priest was able to enter in once a year on the great day of the atonement. And so when Christ came to him, and Dr. A.T. Pearson, in his little exposition on that passage, he said, the Jew had this understanding, I can never enter into the holiest of all. But you remember when Jesus died for us on the cross, brother and sister, and he cried those beautiful words on the Greek language, when he said, it is finished, it shall aside. The moment when he died on the cross for us, listen to what the Bible says, the veil of the temple was shrank from the top to the bottom. Why did that happen? The way into the holiest was open. The writer to the Hebrews comes to us this morning. What did he say? He said, having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiest, how by the blood of Jesus through a new and a living way, which he has consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say his flesh. And he said, having a high priest over the house of God. He said, let us draw near with a true heart, full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Can I ask you this morning, in our times alone with God, do we know the secret to the holiest of all? Boldness. You say, what is it? I love, I used to love this word, it came from the lips of dear Roger Vogt, those of you who know him, Roger Vogt used to say, it's a sensation of desperation. I wonder this morning if I can ask you, do you have this place where God meets you first? You know, maybe you are like me. I'm one of those people, I need an enormous amount of encouragement, you know. My wife often finds me, you know, my wife is just a wonderful, precious, precious woman, and you can pray for us. I mean, I spend 80 to 100 days just on planes, 50, 60 thousand dollars a year on these simple things that fly through the air, you know. And it's awful, and being away from Janet Zemanek for 6 months of the year, 2 weeks home, 2 weeks gone, and I was so glad this morning when my wife phoned me, and one of the last things as we talked to each other, she said, now daddy, I'm going to pray for you right on the phone. You know, it's expensive, but it's worth it, you know. I want to ask you this morning, she finds me many times, 3, 4 o'clock in the mornings, under a blanket, right in the corner of my study, there in the coldness of Canada, and she would lift it up, and she'd say, what is it? What is it Gerard? And I would turn to her, and I would say to her, my darling, it's the reason for my existence. Why did He save you? Have you become like one of those gristy bears in Yellowstone Park in the United States? Every year, the game keepers have to destroy them a certain time of the year, and you see, people are feeding them out of their vehicles, and as they are feeding them out of their vehicles, these bears begin to sit alongside the road, and they're giving them food, and as they are giving them food, these bears become aggressive, and then the game keepers come with their helicopters, and they sedate them, and they take them into the mountains, 25, 30 miles away, and in 2, 3 days, they're back at the roads, and when they come right back to the roads, these game keepers are in absolute agony, and then a certain time of the year, they try to take them into secret highways, little byways, and country roads there, and they kill these bears, and when you come across these guys, when they shoot and destroy these bears, and you say to them, what is it, why are you killing these bears, and the game park, they turn to an absolute agony, and they say, we don't want to shoot these bears, and you say, so why are you doing it, do you know what they say, they say, we are shooting them, because people are feeding them, they become aggressive, and they turn to an agony, and they say, they've lost the reason for their existence. Can I ask you this morning, why did God save us? One life to live, only that which is done for Christ, will last. You know Judson, the little man that went to Burma, the great missionary, the great missionary that went to Burma, and when Judson came back from Burma, and he poured his life into the mission field, and when he came back to Boston Harbour, there was a crowd of people expecting to see this little missionary, and they used to call him the modern apostle Paul, and when the ship boarded in Boston Harbour, and there were newspapers, Christian newspapers, waiting for Judson to come, and people were coming off from the boat, and as they were coming off, he was still in his cabin, and he was getting his little things together, and eventually they said, where's Judson? Where's the great missionary? And it took him all the time, and eventually these reporters, and some Christian leaders went onto the ship, and as they got onto the ship, they came into his cabin, and they filled his cabin, and here was this little insignificant missionary, and they came to him, and some of these reporters just blurted out, and they said, Judson, you're the missionary? He said, yes. They said, you've come back to the United States? He said, yes. And they were all there, and they turned to him, and they said, you are regarded as the modern apostle Paul, and suddenly little Judson just dropped his head, and he began to weep, and he said, and he wept, and there was a hush that came upon this cabin, and when everything was quiet, he lifted his hand to God, and he said, God, I never wanted them to compare me with the life of the apostle Paul, I wanted them to compare me with the life of Christ. You see, if you take care of the gracing upon Christ, God is going to take care of the growing, you know. So he said, what is it? It's the place, the holiest of all, the brokenness of God. That's why Jesus said, you know, blessed are the pure in heart. Why? Because they shall see God. Observation affects, brother and sister, intercession. That's why the prophets in the Old Testament, when they pray in the Old Testament, what did they say? They say, the burden of the Lord was upon me. What was it? This word burden is a marvelous word, you know. It's the Hebrew word masa. It's based upon revelation. It came out of the life of Moses. Forty years, Moses was the prince in Egypt, and you remember after 40 years, Moses became the shepherd in Midian, and brother and sister, after 80 years, hey, listen, God is never in a hurry and seldom late, you know. And do you know what happened to Moses? This is what needs to happen to us, you know. When God comes and he puts the sentence of death upon the self-life, brother and sister, the thing about prayer is not taking all our stuff to God. The thing about prayer is us coming to God and let God work in our lives, and we discover the will of God, and as we discover the will of God, and we pray according to the will of God, and we get it, and we do the will of God, and the blessing of God will rest upon it, and we would stand back in amazement to see God allow us to be part of the greatness of what he is doing. And do you know what needs to happen to us? What happened to Moses? There was the birth of the vision, there was the death of the vision, and do you know what? There was the resurrection of the vision. And after 80 years, the burning bush, what was the difference? It was not consumed. And God came to Moses and said, Moses, take off the shoes from your feet because you are standing on holy ground, and here comes the burden of God. We say, what is it? It's the revelation of God. Brethren and sisters, can I ask you, have you lost the vision of God in South Africa? The vision. I'm sitting with 5,000 pastors in the city of Lima, in the beautiful land of Peru. 1983, only 4% of Peruvians were evangelicals. Today, 18% of them. There's a move of the Spirit of God in that country. We sit with 5,000 pastors and missionaries for four glorious days of prayer about what is going to happen if God turns up in these gatherings. Can I ask you this morning, have you lost the vision of God? Have you lost the vision of the fatherhood of God? Jesus said, when you pray, you say, Our Father. It's an incredible thing, you know. You know that the word Jehovah did not exist. The Hebrew scholars took the first name of God, which is the word Jehovah. There's really four letters in the Hebrew language. And they took the name of God, which is the name Adonai. And they took the vowels and the consonants out of those two words. And what did they do? They brought them together. And that's where the word Jehovah comes. Hey, as God said, Our Father. The loving Father. He's not looking for people who's going to kill themselves. He's looking for lovers. So you say, what is it? It's prayer, you see. My time is gone. Believe it or not, I bought this 80-rand watch in a hotel from an Indian, and the simple thing broke this morning. But I've got... No, no. Not this one. This is a Canadian one. And this thing worked. Let me close. Listen, folks. Let me tell you something. I mean, this is so precious and this is so wonderful. I mean, when you deal with prayer, and this thing that prayer is initiated by God, and the beauty of what... Let me just tell you something about the New Testament. I mean, everything that the Old Testament is saying about prayer was fulfilled and manifested in the life of Christ. Now, you come to the New Testament. 7957 verses in the New Testament. Of course, it depends on the translation. I still use the old King James Version. You say, why are you using it? Well, you know, if it was good enough for Paul, it's good enough for me, I guess, you know. No. It's just one. I mean, I find it easy to memorize it. But you know, I've discovered seven pillars in the Greek text that speaks about prayer. Out of those six... Sorry, six pillars. Out of those six words in the Greek New Testament, a possible 12 other words in the structure of the construction related to those words. And on top of that, there are about another five glorious words. And you know what happened to those words? They flow into 248 passages in the New Testament as it relates to prayer. Now, you bring those 248 passages together, and you know what you discover? You discover 12 aspects of New Testament prayer. Let me give you a few of them. Fellowship praying. Routine praying. Task-oriented praying. Praying in the Holy Spirit. I wish we would have had time to go into Luke 11. Jesus said, If you then who are evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those that ask Him? It's the structure. It's an oppressive and imperative one. He said, How much more shall your heavenly Father keep on giving the Holy Spirit to those that keep on asking Him? Let me share with you one of those aspects. Do you know George Muller of Bristol? The longer he prayed for someone... You know the problem trying to speak about this material is that your brain is giving you words your lips can't get quick enough out to them. But listen, let me... George Muller of Bristol... Do you know how long he prayed for someone? 63 years. Do you know when that person was saved? Three weeks after George Muller died. This thing of routine praying. You pray for the same people every day. And people went to George Muller and said, Mr. Muller, do you ever get tired of praying for people? And Muller said, No. He said, If God has given me a burden, I never get tired. And they said, Mr. Muller, do you pray for these people? And then what do you do? Oh, no. He said, You don't understand. He said, When I pray for these people, He said, God gives me promises. And he said, When God gives me promises out of His Word... You see, brother and sister, when God gives us a burden, the burden of God brings brokenness. Brokenness brings cleansing. Cleansing allows the Spirit of God who is rested in the mire to become present in my life. And the Spirit of God brings a spirit of prayer. And the spirit of prayer leads me to the will of God in prayer. And the will of God in prayer is surrounded with the promises of God in prayer. And people went to Muller of Bristol and said, So, he said, I pray for them and God gives me promises. And then they said, Do you quote the promises? No. He said, You don't understand. He said, I pray for them. And he said, Those promises, I meditate upon those promises. Those promises become part of my life. And they said, In my times of prayer, He said, The promises of God wash every aspect of my life. And then Muller said, I pray when I pray and when the promises is part of my life. He said, Those names of the people are the consequences of the promises of God. You get that? He said, I never get tired. Man, I tell you, task oriented praying. Ask and it shall be given to you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened. Press in imperative mood. Keep on asking. Keep on knocking. Keep on seeking. Three dimensions of task oriented praying. What is the secret in understanding it? Here it is. Which of you, Luke chapter 11, which of you shall have a friend who will come to him at midnight and say, Friend, lend me three loaves. A friend of mine in his journey has come. I've got nothing to say before him. He from within will answer and say, Trouble me not. The door is now shut. My children are not with me in bed. Because he is his friend. Luke said, He will rise and give him as many as he needs. You want to know about task oriented praying? You put the ask. You go back into the previous verses and you discover a dimension of intercessory prayer. Seeking another level. Knocking. And my time is up. Here we are brother. Come along. Amen.
Living a Broken Life Before God
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Gerhard Du Toit (birth year unknown–present). Born and raised in South Africa, Gerhard Du Toit grew up in the Dutch Reformed Church and converted to Christianity during his first year at theological school near Cape Town. He trained as an evangelist in South Africa and spent five years preaching there before serving eight years with The Faith Mission in the British Isles, leading Deeper Life Conferences. In 1988, he began ministering in Canada, later joining The Faith Mission (Canada) and, since 2011, Life Action Canada with his wife, Janice. A sought-after global conference speaker, Du Toit is known for his intense preaching style, focusing on prayer, revival, and the Holy Spirit, urging believers to seek God’s presence and burden for souls. He has trained thousands of pastors in spiritual renewal, emphasizing a vibrant prayer life and deep scriptural knowledge. Du Toit and Janice have a daughter, Monica, who is also in ministry. Based in Canada, he continues to preach internationally, inspiring godliness and revival. He said, “Revival begins when the leadership is ablaze with God’s presence.”