Truth Magazine

By Larry R. DeVore

While a youth, more years ago than I care to enumerate, I was traveling with my parents, returning from a visit to my grandparents. While traveling, I became ill and lost consciousness. My parents rushed me to the hospital, disregarding the speed limit. I soon recovered from the illness.

I am using this story to illustrate the point that a law, in this case the speed limit, was set aside for the emergency. My parents felt justified in ignoring the speed limit to get me to the hospital as quickly as possible. No doubt, if they had encountered a police officer, he would have escorted us to the hospital. I think we recognize that these are manmade laws (and designed for our good) that can be temporarily set aside because of emergencies.

The concept that I would like us to consider is whether this has application to spiritual matters. Can we set aside scriptural principles and ways of doing things if an emergency, or something we consider an emergency arises in the church?

For example, in the story at the beginning of the article, suppose my parents had been en route to worship services. The emergency would have been just as real and immediate. I Timothy 5:8 requires that a Christian “provide for his own” which would include medical care. So the admonition in Hebrews 10:25 would have to be temporarily set aside to meet the emergency.

But sometimes situations arise in the church that brethren treat as emergencies that do not fit the definition. The dictionary defines an emergency as “an unexpected situation or sudden occurrence of a serious and urgent nature that demands immediate action.”

Informed brethren are aware that our institutional brethren have been going “Full Speed Ahead” for many years, ignoring God’s laws and Bible principles both in matters pertaining to the local congregation and brotherhood wide. This has been shown to be too obviously true to need more documentation at this point.

But conservative brethren need to heed biblical principles. We are not immune to the “emergency” syndrome. I heard of a church that had planned and arranged a gospel meeting two years ahead of time, and when the meeting was underway, decided the church was short of funds to pay the preacher. Now there are several ways such a situation could be handled, such as borrowing money from a bank, or arranging to pay the preacher later. But in this case, it was handled by taking up a collection in the middle of the week. No, the baskets were not passed to the assembled congregation. Instead, the word was passed around, and brethren were expected to dig into their pockets then and there to come up with the funds to pay the preacher.

Perhaps this was not a true collection in the formal sense as we usually consider it, but I Corinthians 16:1-2 was set aside. It was definitely not on the first day of the week. Also, not every member was informed, so that “every one” could lay by in store. The point is, there is no way the mid-week collection could be made scriptural. Does a gospel meeting scheduled two years ahead of time constitute an “emergency”? I hardly think so. One preacher told me that the church could receive funds any day of the week (i.e., interest posted to a savings account), but could only take up a collection on the first day of the week. The case described above doesn’t seem to fit either way.

The above story could be altered and multiplied. Can we claim an “emergency” and collect funds in a different way or time than the New Testament teaches? Can we withdraw from a brother who is a false teacher without following the scriptural steps because it is an “emergency”? Can we set aside God’s laws on benevolence because an “emergency” exists somewhere in the brotherhood? Could our poor singing constitute an “emergency” and so could we bring in an organ to help us until we can sing better?

Brethren, we need to study and think before we go “Full Speed Ahead” (Col. 3:16-17; 1 Pet. 4:11).

Guardian of Truth XXIX: 20, p. 623
October 17, 1985

By M. Thaxter Dickey

Undoubtedly it’s not been long since you heard a sermon on prayer, read an article on prayer, or determined to improve your prayer habits. And that’s good because if there is a secret ingredient of success as a disciple of Christ, prayer is it. So how are you doing? How well do you understand the purpose, operation and practice of prayer? Here’s a quiz that may help you check up on your understanding of prayer.

What is Prayer?

Some define prayer as talking to God, and it is indeed a precious privilege to know that His ears are open to the prayers of the righteous (1 Pet. 3:13). Prayer is not a solitary pursuit. No one really prays who has no sense of God’s presence. We have time for conversation with our friends. Can we not find time at God’s invitation to converse with Him?

Others have defined prayer as a wish turned to heaven. It is not just wishful thinking or daydreaming but a concentrated effort to put one’s problems into the hands of Him who can do all things. Thus, Paul speaks of striving in prayer (Rom. 15:30; Col. 4:12). Righteous prayer which avails much is fervent and not a casual thing. It requires effort.

In a similar vein, Paul portrays prayer as a crucial tactic in the spiritual warfare (Eph. 6:18). It is the battleground upon which we conquer our spirit and subject it to God. Some complain that prayer is difficult and wish that it came easily to them and even suppose that it does come easily to others. But this is not the biblical picture. We pray only with great effort, for Satan strives to prevent us.

What is the Purpose of Prayer?

It is not to get for us that which we wish. Prayer is not an Aladdin’s lamp which we rub to get free wishes. God is not a gift machine which we manipulate to our own whims through prayer. This is the difference between magic and religion. Magic endeavors to bring the supernatural under the control of man, whereas religion is man’s effort to make himself pleasing to God. Prayer is thus conversation with God through which we conform our wills to His standards of holiness and come to agree with His plans for our lives.

Prayer is not for the purpose of debating with God, though Moses did apparently change God’s mind with his prayer for Israel (Ex. 32:9-14), and though prayer is effective, accomplishing much (Jas. 5:16), prayer is not out arguing or out thinking God. Who could be so presumptuous? The primary purpose of prayer is not to change God’s will, but to bring our will in line with His.

Prayer is not to be a sermon to either God or man. We may well follow the example of Bible prayers and rehearse that which God has accomplished and promised. But the purpose of prayer is communication of our spirit with God not the noble purpose of converting souls or teaching men. Effective public prayers are distinguished from those which leave us disinterested by this. They are spoken to God and not to an audience of men and thus lead us to think of God and not ourselves.

How Serious Is It If We Do Not Pray?

Prayerlessness is sin. Samuel recognized this at the time the Israelites offended him by asking for a king in his place. But he continued to pray for them rather than commit the sin of prayerlessness (1 Sam. 12:23). Prayer is a privilege, but it is also an obligation, and failure to pray is sin. We should so name it in our lives that we might be the more determined to pray.

Paul commands us to be vigilant in all manner of prayers (Eph. 6:17,18; 1 Tim. 2: 1). Failure to do so leaves us vulnerable to the onslaught of Satan. No sermon should ever be preached, or lesson taught, or trip begun, or task undertaken, or day begun without prayer. To do so is to foolishly risk temptation and spiritual, if not even earthly, failure.

What Hinders Our Prayers and Causes Prayerlessness?

The primary hindrance to prayer is sin. As Adam ran from God in the garden because of consciousness of sin, so we today avoid God in prayer when we are burdened with unrepented sins. If we love a sin more than we love God, He will not hear us (Psa. 66:18). When you have trouble praying, take spiritual inventory, and it’s likely you’ll find some sin lurking in the recesses of your soul. Root it out and your prayers will again flow to God.

1 John 3:22 teaches the positive lesson that God hears those who obey Him. By implication it teaches that He does not hear those who disobey Him. In the case of Cornelius God responded to the prayers of a righteous man who was not in a covenant relationship with Him. But His only answer was to refer him to a preacher that he might hear the gospel and have an opportunity to respond to it. I doubt that a man who is out of covenant relationship with God can effectively pray for recovery from illness or intercede on behalf of another.

James 1:5-8 reminds us that those who ask doubting will not receiving anything of the Lord. One who doubts will not pray as he should. He will not persist in prayer. Nor will God hear prayers offered in doubt. The infamous prayer of the agnostic perfectly illustrates the foolish ineffectiveness of the prayer offered in doubt. “God, if there be a God, save my soul, if I have a soul, from hell, if there be a hell.”

Another hindrance to our prayers is faulty personal relationships. Jesus taught that our sins are forgiven as we forgive others. This is the one lesson from the model prayer that He singled out for explanation after the prayer (Matt. 6:14,15). Many who would never drink or steal or murder will hinder their prayers by bearing a grudge against another. It’s a good bargain that God offers to us. If we forgive others their small offenses against us, He will forgive the great offenses we’ve committed against Him. Can you afford to reject so generous an offer?

Not just a lack of forgiveness, but any faulty personal relationship will hinder our prayers. Especially is this so of those with whom we are most intimate. Neither man nor woman can pray effectively if his heart is wrong against his spouse (1 Pet. 3:7), parents or children.

Another serious threat to prayer, as indeed it is to our entire relationship to God, is pride. Those who do not see their need will not ask. Further, God abhors the proud (Prov. 6:17) while His eyes are upon the humble. This is easy for us to understand. We enjoy helping those who ask us gently but resist those who are arrogant toward us. The temptation to pride is subtle. Some have even been known to grow proud of their humility. It is a difficult lesson for us to learn of our dependence and weakness and to ask as children that God deliver us. But we must become as children to enter the kingdom (Matt. 18:3).

When, How, and How Much Should We Pray?

Jesus tells us that we ought always to pray and never to grow weary in it (Lk. 18:2-8). Paul, a man of like passions to ourselves, taught the same lesson (1 Thess. 5:17). They did not mean that we were to give up daily life and become monks for the Lord’s sake, devoting ourselves in this way to prayer. Rather, they mean. that we should never lose the habit of prayer, that we should be ready always, at the blink of an eye as it were, to speak to God of that which is on our hearts. This requires living every day with a keen awareness of the presence of God.

There are times that are especially advantageous for prayer. It is a good idea to begin the day with prayer. This Jesus did (Mk. 1:35). A few moments at day’s beginning can set the tone for the entire day. And were there not many plans you had for this day that needed the Lord’s blessings? Likewise evening is a time for prayer. Were there not this day things which you need to speak to your Heavenly Father about before you sleep? Dare you sleep this evening before you’ve made yourself right with the eternal God who sees all things?

We ought to pray before important decisions as Jesus did all night before selecting the Twelve (Lk. 6:12,13). Our lives are filled with decisions, and the sad truth is that almost all of them must be made on the basis of inadequate information. Always after we’ve decided and set things in motion, we see more clearly the correct choice-and often it’s not the one we made. Can we, then, afford to neglect so great help as God offers?

We need to pray in times of temptation. If we prayed and thought of God during times of temptation we’d not fall prey to sin. Sin loses its power the moment we see God and His glorious holiness. The old adage about pausing and counting to ten in times of anger was good advice, for the delay before taking action allows more reasonable thoughts to prevail. Of even greater value than counting to ten is prayer. Jesus taught His disciples to pray that they might be kept from temptation. Do you fear temptation as you should? What is it that you pray will not come to you: poverty, old age, illness, ridicule, death? Above all these we should fear, and pray that we are kept from sin.

For What Can We Rightly Pray?

Remember, prayer is not just presenting God with a list of our desires and waiting for Him to fill our order. But we are encouraged to pray for specific blessings.

We are to pray for others. Paul commands us to pray for rulers (1 Tim. 2:1). This command indicates that God is active in the affairs of nations today. The best national defense is not missiles or ships but prayers. Likewise solutions to domestic problems are to be found, not in political rhetoric, but in prayer and a return to God-given values.

We are commanded to pray for our enemies (Matt. 5:43, 44). This is the unique characteristic of the Christian. He loves his enemy and prays for him. Jesus showed us the way by dying for us on the cross while we were yet sinful, unlovely and unlovable. But He died not just for you and me but for all men who will come to Him. Dare we hate and despitefully use someone whom Jesus loved so?

We should pray for the salvation of men as did Paul (Rom. 10:1). Our relationships with those outside the body of Christ would be far different if we spent hours in prayer over their soul’s salvation. We’d soon seek out opportunities to evangelize.

We can rightly pray for the spiritual growth of others (Phil. 1:9; Col. 1:9; 1 Thess. 1:11). I know I could benefit from more prayers on my behalf by spiritual men and women. Couldn’t you? Let us do for one another what we can. And this striving together in prayers will be of more benefit than all the “Hello’s” and “How are you’s” we’ve ever said, though we shouldn’t leave these unsaid.

We should pray more specifically than we do for the physical ailments of others. Those leading public prayers should make it a point to learn the names of those in need of prayers and make specific mention of them. And we can pray directly for their recovery. And in our prayers we need not limit God to working through the hands of doctors.

We are of course entitled by our relationship with God to pray for ourselves. But what manner of things may we ask for ourselves? We should pray for forgiveness, of course (Matt. 6:12). We should pray for wisdom-not just in matters of Bible study but in the practical wisdom needed to live rightly in this present world (Jas. 1:5). We can pray for our daily bread (Matt. 6:11). This means we pray for necessities not for a superabundance. Don’t be deceived by the present trend which distorts the gospel to promise wealth in return for serving God. Jesus didn’t make such promises even when multitudes thought He might. Instead He promised difficulties and heart break for those who would become His disciples (Lk. 14). We may pray for protection from bodily harm or poverty or other disasters. However, I think we should exercise great care in praying to God for material possessions. We cannot ask for these things out of selfishness and expect to receive them (Jas. 4:3). It is wrong to pray to God for a grand new home thinking only of its pleasure to you. It would, however, be right to pray for a new car if the one you presently drive is unsafe and unreliable in taking you about the Lord’s business. In short, we may pray for anything which relates to participation in and enjoyment of eternal redemption by ourselves or any other man.

What Are the Benefits of Prayer?

God, of course, answers prayer. Thus we may escape temptation through prayer or regain our health or be preserved on the highway through prayer. But there are other benefits to prayer, too. I don’t intend to reduce prayer to a psychological exercise as some have done, but we ought to recognize all of its benefits.

We are drawn closer to God through prayer. Someone has said that prayer is like pulling on an anchor stuck to the bottom (Heb. 6:12). You feel as if you’re pulling it in, but all the while you’re pulling yourself to it. Thus in prayer you may well be putting your needs before God, but fervent honest prayer will all the while bring you closer to Him.

Prayer can give us a feeling of forgiveness. Of course feelings can be wrong and the only way to know for certain you are forgiven is to comply with God’s conditions for forgiveness. Nonetheless feeling forgiven is important and prayer makes that possible. We need to feel renewed that we might with enthusiasm be about our Father’s business (Heb. 9:14). Our souls are often like a new car. We are so careful when it’s new to avoid any scratches or even dust. But after it’s a year old we no longer are so fussy about where we drive it or how it looks. Thus, if we had no way to scrub up our souls and make them new again the motive for doing good would be diminished. But we can be made new and pure again each day through prayer and thus maintain our incentive for acting soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.

Prayer puts things in perspective. Some things we thought were so very important lose significance when we take them to God in prayer. The secret to accomplishing any great thing is not to lose sight of the big picture. We can get so caught up in the details of a task that they overwhelm us. Living faithfully to God is a great task and we often get so caught up in the grubby details of life that we lose sight of the big picture of God’s scheme of redemption. We forget, in our anxiety over bills and home repairs and children’s school, that we are bound for heaven. Prayer sets these things in their right place again.

How well do you understand the purpose and practice of prayer? Are you praying as you ought or are you missing out on the blessings of prayer? Let us today renew ourselves in prayer to God the Father who is the source of our strength and our blessings. Adoring and thanking Him, let us place our burdens and petitions and our lives in His competent, loving hand.

Guardian of Truth XXIX: 20, pp. 624-626
October 17, 1985

By Bill Hall

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God” (Phil. 4:6).

If there were ever a people whose hearts should be overflowing with thanksgiving it is the people of God in 1985. Have there ever been people so richly blessed?

We have our God, whose “eyes are over the righteous and whose ears are open to their prayers.” We have our Lord, who died for us, through whom we have forgiveness, salvation, and access to God’s throne. We have truth, revealed by the Holy Spirit through the inspired apostles and prophets of the first century. We have our Bibles, the complete truth in written form, written not on cumbersome, handwritten scrolls, but in clearly printed, compact books which even the poorest can afford. We enjoy the benefits that have come from great characters of recent generations, whose faithfulness has contributed heavily to our understanding of truth. We are a part of God’s family, made up of all the saints of all ages, with whom we sit in the heavenly places in Christ. We have brothers and sisters in Christ of the present age, who, though yet in the imperfect state, will come to our aid at any hour of the day or night, and without whose encouragement we would hardly be able to maintain our faith and service to God. We have material blessings, in varying degrees of abundance to be sure, but in sufficient abundance to supply the needs of all. We have hope, that which “anchors the soul,” hope of happiness beyond imagination for eternity. Never should a grumbling word pass through the lips of people so blessed.

But all are not grateful. There is a tendency among us to take our blessings for granted. Have we not seen within the same audience some visibly weeping at the story of the cross while others were sleeping throughout? Do we not see some treasuring the word of God, reading it and “hiding it in their hearts,” while others are virtually ignoring it? Do we not see some who find so much joy in their salvation that they are excitedly telling others of the Christ, hoping that they, too, will find that same joy, while others are assuming that their friends will be as bored with it all as they are? Do we not know people who can trace their “Christian heritage” back to the third, fourth, or fifth generation, but who are themselves lukewarm, indifferent, and ungrateful? Blessed beyond comprehension, but ungrateful! In fact, the sad truth is: the more we receive, the less thankful many of us tend to be!

It is not mere words that the Lord desires. We can say “Thank you” an hundred times a day without being truly grateful. The Lord wants us to count our blessings, to realize how truly rich we are, and, with our knees bowed in His presence and our hearts filled with gratitude for all He has done, to say, “Thank you, God”; then to go out to conduct ourselves as people who are genuinely thankful.

But, even then, our noblest of praise and thanksgiving will fall far short of what His goodness and mercy deserve. But one day we shall see our God and our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the fullest sense we shall comprehend His matchless grace, and then, and only then, shall we thank Him as we ought. But, till then, we must continue to offer our imperfect expressions of thanksgiving and strive for greater appreciation for what we have in Christ. Have you said, “Thank you, God,” today?

Guardian of Truth XXIX: 20, p. 616
October 17, 1985

By Irven Lee

“But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8). This is a part of a conversation the Christ had with His apostles just before He ascended to the heavenly throne. You and I are not about to receive miraculous power to bind on earth that which is bound in heaven. Neither are we witnesses of the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension that others might establish their faith on our direct knowledge of these great events. We could, in our feeble way, profit by considering the Master’s order of evangelizing: Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost part of the earth.

The beginning place for the preaching the full gospel was Jerusalem (Lk. 24:47). This was a matter of prophecy (Isa. 2:1-3; Mic. 4:1,2). From this beginning place the gospel was to spread to every creature in all the world (Mk. 16:15). Jerusalem was in the province of Judea, and Samaria was an adjacent province. Saints from Jerusalem might be expected soon to preach the word in Judea and Samaria. Later Paul preached at Ephesus, and the word spread to the Roman province of Asia around Ephesus (Acts 19: 10; Col. 1:7; 4:12). Planting the truth at Thessalonica. led to the sounding out of the word in Macedonia and Achaia and to regions beyond (1 Thess. 1:8).

It would be wonderful if each church today could see that the territory surrounding it (its Judea and Samaria) could hear the word. Philippi helped in the preaching of the word at Thessalonica and Corinth (Phil. 4:15,16; 2 Cor. 11:8). Is this not the Lord’s will-for every place? The seed of the kingdom is planted in one place that the resulting church might plant the church in the area around it and beyond. Even in the field of nature a seed that falls on the ground is designed to produce a plant that will provide seed for the area around it. That is the way the ground is covered. That is the way the gospel should cover the earth in every generation.

It is scriptural and important to send men to distant places with the gospel, but at the same time we should be able to evangelize the home county and adjacent counties. The Lord’s pattern for the early church included Judea and Samaria as well as the uttermost part of the earth. Is the church where you meet neglecting its responsibility in this regard?

It is easy to see that starting a new church within a neighboring community may be less difficult than it would be to send some one into a distant area to start from the “ground up.” A few might go to the new work in “Judea” or “Samaria”and the home church still carry on somewhat as before. In fact, the challenge of seeing the will of the Lord carried out can strengthen the church that encourages this special effort. The few that left may soon be replaced by new faces at the church which is made more zealous by the worthy activity.

We are not suggesting starting “missions” under the control of the “mother church.” We are suggesting starting independent churches through the preaching of the pure gospel in another community. The Bible says nothing about little churches being under the control of the older church. There is an abundance of Scripture that encourages the preaching of the word in other communities. When the truth is faithfully preached this leads to the obedience of some. When they are saved they become members of the church, and they will need to continue “steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers” (Acts 2:36-47). Churches spread over an area as the gospel is faithfully preached publicly and privately.

The new work may develop new skills in leadership and more zeal for some. It is a challenge to find song leaders, teachers, and preachers for another church. The need will be there, and the need encourages a pleasant response. Each servant is to turn his five talents into ten, or his two talents into four. It is a shame for one to bury his talent. In reaching out in the work new abilities are discovered and developed. Good preachers and other good workers are born in such efforts.

Sometimes a new work gathers in trouble makers who seek to dominate the work. Factious people are to be marked, avoided, and rejected (Rom. 16:17, 18; Tit. 3:10, 11). The older church may have strengthened itself to handle such problems while the few at the new place find it hard to deal with such at first. Satan evidently likes to attack where the defenses against him have not been put in place. Beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing while you continue to search eagerly for worthy laborers.

Do not despise the day of small things. Patience is needed in planting and watering where time and past effort have not already established a strong church. Rome was not built in a day, we are told. Many of the strong churches today began small and grew slowly. Those who first struggled had much to do with the good work that is being done today. Do not be ashamed or afraid to start small and persevere.

Guardian of Truth XXIX: 20, p. 617
October 17, 1985