THE PERFECT PRAYER
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HISTORICAL RECORD
Cessationism: is the doctrine (teaching) that spiritual gifts such as speaking in tongues, prophecy and healing ceased with the apostolic age.
Cessationists argue that the moment the last Apostle died, or when the final sentence of the last book of the Bible had been written, all miracles including speaking in tongues ceased.
Are they correct?
Let's first establish the date that miracles supposedly ceased:
The Apostle Paul died somewhere between 64 AD and 69 AD, and the last Apostle, the Apostle John, died in 110 AD.
So let's compare the cut-off date, the year of the last Apostle's death, with the timeline of events in the Early Church:
THE PERFECT PRAYER
Irenaeus (c.130-202 AD) was born 20 years after the last Apostle died.
He was bishop of Lugdunum in Gaul, which is now Lyon, France. His writings were formative in the early development of Christian theology. Like Justin Martyr, he was an early Christian apologist. His writings carry significant weight because he was a disciple of Polycarp, who had been a disciple of the Apostle John.
He was bishop of Lugdunum in Gaul, which is now Lyon, France. His writings were formative in the early development of Christian theology. Like Justin Martyr, he was an early Christian apologist. His writings carry significant weight because he was a disciple of Polycarp, who had been a disciple of the Apostle John.
Irenaeus writes of believers in his day:
"Wherefore, also, those who are in truth His disciples, receiving grace from Him, do in His name perform [miracles], so as to promote the welfare of other men, according to the gift which each one has received from Him. For some do certainly and truly drive out devils, so that those who have thus been cleansed from evil spirits frequently both believe [in Christ] and join themselves to the Church. Others have foreknowledge of things to come: they see visions, and utter prophetic expressions. Others still, heal the sick by laying their hands upon them, and they are made whole. Yea, moreover, as I have said, the dead even have been raised up, and remained among us for many years. And what shall I more say? It is not possible to name the number of gifts which the Church, [scattered] throughout the whole world, has received from God, in the name of Jesus Christ,"
Irenaeus Against Heresies, Book II, Chapter 32, section 4.
Irenaeus testifies, in writings that exist to this day, that "prophetic expressions" and believers "who through the Spirit speak all kinds of languages" were so common and widespread in his life (130 - 202 AD) that "...it is not possible to name the number of gifts..."
Hilary (c.300-367 AD), born 190 years after the last Apostle died. was bishop of Poitiers and considered an eminent Doctor of the Western Christian Church. He testified that speaking in tongues and interpreting were present in the Church in his lifetime.
Hilary wrote:
"For God hath set same in the Church, first apostles...secondly prophets...thirdly teachers...next mighty works, among which are the healing of diseases...and gifts of either speaking or interpreting divers kinds of tongues. Clearly these are [not were] the Church's agents of ministry and work of whom the body of Christ consists; and God has ordained them."
--On the Trinity, Book 8 Chapter 33.
Hilary wrote this nearly two centuries after the last Apostle died.
for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.
(AMP)
"For God's gifts and His call are irrevocable--He never withdraws them when once they are given, and He does not change His mind about those to whom He gives His grace or to whom He sends His call."
John Chrysostom (347 - 407 AD) was a notable Christian bishop and preacher from the 4th and 5th centuries in Syria and Constantinople.
John Chrysostom (347 - 407 AD) was a notable Christian bishop and preacher from the 4th and 5th centuries in Syria and Constantinople.
Chrysostom was baptized in 370, and was ordained a deacon in 381. Sometime between 381 and his death in 407, he wrote of the waning of the Gifts of the Spirit in locales with which he was familiar, and the general backslidden state of the Church. We will look at three quotes from his "Homilies of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians."
Commenting on:
"Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant."--, John Chrysostom writes of the lack of these spiritual gifts in his day and locale:
"This whole place is very obscure: but the obscurity is produced by our ignorance of the facts referred to and by their cessation, being such as then used to occur but now no longer take place. And why do they not happen now?...why did they then happen, and now do so no more?
...Well: what did happen then? Whoever was baptized he straightway spake with tongues and not with tongues only, but many also prophesied, and some also performed many other wonderful works... they [the Corinthians] at once on their baptism received the Spirit...And one straightway spake in the Persian, another in the Roman, another in the Indian, another in some other such tongue: and this made manifest to them that were without that it is the Spirit in the very person speaking.... For as the Apostles themselves had received this sign first, so also the faithful went on receiving it, I mean, the gift of tongues; yet not this only but also many others: inasmuch as many used even to raise the dead and to cast out devils and to perform many other such wonders: and they had gifts too, some less, and some more. But more abundant than all was the gift of tongues among them..." ("Saint Chrysostom: Homily on the Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians," Phillip Schaff, 1889. Volume 12, Homily 29 NPNF 168-169).
"...For there were of old many who had also a gift of prayer, together with a tongue; and they prayed, and the tongue spake, praying either in the Persian or Latin language, but their understanding knew not what was spoken.
("Saint Chrysostom: Homily on the Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians," Phillip Schaff, 1889. Volume 12, Homily 35 NPNF 211).
"What now can be more awful than these things? For in truth the Church was a heaven then, the Spirit governing all things, and moving each one of the rulers and making him inspired. But now we retain only the symbols of those gifts...they thus used to speak, not of their own wisdom, but moved by the Spirit. But not so now: (I speak of mine own case so far.) But the present Church is like a woman who hath fallen from her former prosperous days, and in many respects retains the symbols only of that ancient prosperity; displaying indeed the repositories and caskets of her golden ornaments, but bereft of her wealth: such an one doth the present Church resemble. And I say not this in respect of gifts: for it were nothing marvelous if it were this only: but in respect also of life and virtue." ("Saint Chrysostom: Homilies on the Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians," Phillp Schaff, 1889. Homily 36, NPNF 219-220).
In the same book in which Chrysostom laments the absence of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, he ties this loss in with the backslidden, corrupted state of the Church at that time:
"What now can be more awful than these things? For in truth the Church was a heaven then, the Spirit governing all things, and moving each one of the rulers and making him inspired. But now we retain only the symbols of those gifts...they thus used to speak, not of their own wisdom, but moved by the Spirit. But not so now: (I speak of mine own case so far.) But the present Church is like a woman who hath fallen from her former prosperous days, and in many respects retains the symbols only of that ancient prosperity; displaying indeed the repositories and caskets of her golden ornaments, but bereft of her wealth: such an one doth the present Church resemble. And I say not this in respect of gifts: for it were nothing marvelous if it were this only: but in respect also of life and virtue."
("Saint Chrysostom: Homilies on the Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians," Phillp Schaff, 1889. Homily 36, NPNF 219-220).
The OT miracles God wanted had faded to near nothing by the time Jesus came on the scene. Jesus did not blame God, but men!
For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’
they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
matt 15
“ ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’”
matt 15
Jesus did not stop healing the sick, raising the dead and delivering people from demons. In fact, the religious leaders accused him of working with the Devil!
But the Pharisees said, “It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons.”
matt
Today, we must decide which side we are going to stand on. are we going to side with man and his teaching or on what the Bible teaches?
By the Middle Ages, the Church had reached the point where it lacked life, virtue, and power. Church leaders could have humbled themselves, addressed the corruption, and returned to the literal interpretation of God's Word. Instead, they began to claim that speaking in tongues and miracles were rare at best, and demonic at worst. "In fact by A.D. 1000 the Rituale Romanorum (Roman Ritual) defined glossalia as prima facie evidence of demon possession." (Vinson Synan, The Century of the Holy Spirit, page 20).
Today some Christians actually have adopted the same position and claim that speaking in tongues occurs now only when a person is under the power of demons.
Filled with corruption, greed, sin, and hypocrisy, and actively denouncing speaking in tongues, it is little wonder that speaking in tongues waned in the Medieval Church even further.
He’s talking to us my friend!
And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues;
What happens when a person speaks in tongues?
(NIV)
For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit.
(NIV)
It is a direct link to God
It is a language spoken by the person by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.
Mysteries of God are spoken
Mysterion - Mystery, secret, secret designs, God’s unfathomable purposes
A Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, Revised Edition μυστήριον,-ου+
mystery, secret rite, ceremony (mostly pl.; in relig. sense) Wis 14,15; mystery, secret (in secular sense) Tob 12,7; secret (in mil. sense) 2 Mc 13,21; τὰ μυστήρια the mysteries Dn 2,28
τὸ μυστήριον τῆς βουλῆς secret designs Jdt 2,2; οὐκ ἔγνωσαν μυστήρια θεοῦ they have not understood the mysteries of God (God’s unfathomable purposes)
Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves, but the one who prophesies edifies the church.
For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit.
Speaking in tongues is a source of personal edification - being built up
I want to be more useful to the Lord! Be built up - or personally edified!
Hospital illustration: The more rooms and services offered the more useful the hospital will be to the community!
For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my understanding; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my understanding.
Otherwise when you are praising God in the Spirit, how can someone else, who is now put in the position of an inquirer, say “Amen” to your thanksgiving, since they do not know what you are saying? You are giving thanks well enough, but no one else is edified.
1 cor 14
I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.
1 cor 14
For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my understanding; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my understanding. Otherwise when you are praising God in the Spirit, how can someone else, who is now put in the position of an inquirer, say “Amen” to your thanksgiving, since they do not know what you are saying? You are giving thanks well enough, but no one else is edified. I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue.
(NIV)
Your spirit prays in tongues though your carnal mind does not understand what is being spoken.
Prayer in our own words to God is important
Singing in the spirit is another way to communicate with the Lord
For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. 15 So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my understanding; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my understanding. 16 Otherwise when you are praising God in the Spirit, how can someone else, who is now put in the position of an inquirer, say Amen to your thanksgiving, since they do not know what you are saying? 17 You are giving thanks well enough, but no one else is edified.
Singing with understanding is important
Keep your feet on the ground!
I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue.
So much more can happen during your week if you employ praying in the spirit during the week!
Don’t get hung up on what happens in here!
18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. 19 But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue.
Let’s make this practical for Christian living:
For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit.
Let’s make this practical for Christian living:
(NIV)
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit.
The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
(NIV)
God makes the rules, everything under that must operate according to those rules.
Satan must love that only the prayers or a righteous person are powerful and effective!
Even in the Church there are times we get off track and operate by selfish motive!
What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God.
When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
God made the rule linking effective prayer to righteous people. So, He in his good planning made a way for wayward man to pray the perfect, effective prayer!
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
(NIV)
(NIV)
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for Gods people in accordance with the will of God.
(NIV)
What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
We all fight the flesh in daily battles. Our spirit strives to please God in obedience while at the same time our flesh wants nothing to do with God in the most sinister of ways. How are we ever going to pray the perfect prayer if we are not perfect?
God says, the prayer of a righteous person accomplishes a great deal right? Well, because we’re not righteous, no luck on good prayers! But, tells us that the Spirit prays for us, which means we’re out of the way so the prayer can be perfect… in our own voice. So now Satan is really bummed because the person praying in the Spirit is the one praying the perfect prayer!
Satan must hate it when men and women of God pray perfect prayers!
Don’t you think your family deserves you to be praying perfect prayers?
What if the Holy Spirit needs to pray strength into your life to handle an upcoming struggle?
- Apostle Paul is a great example of this
What if your granddaughter, grandson, daughter, son, mom, dad, whoever it may be, needs to have clarity because of big life decisions?
Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy.
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues.
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
(NIV)
Submit to God
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double- minded.
Come near to God and he will come near to you
9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.
Wash your sinful hands - going your own way
10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
Purify your hearts - by the truth of God’s word - Don’t be double minded
Humble yourself before the Lord and he will lift you up!
Prayer: