When God Is Silent: How to Pray and Not Give Up

SPEAKER A 00:00:12 - 00:00:32 Jesus said in Matthew 28:19, Go therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Welcome to Go Teach All Nations, bringing you Christ's teachings through Australian and international speakers. And here is today's presenter, Leah Hodge. SPEAKER B 00:00:32 - 00:00:55 Before we start, I'm going to say another prayer. Father in heaven, may your name be glorified here today. I pray for you to send your angels and keep us safe, give us alert minds, and give me clarity. Give us wisdom and understanding is my prayer, in Jesus' name. Amen. SPEAKER A 00:00:58 - 00:00:58 Amen. SPEAKER B 00:00:58 - 00:01:56 So Jesus asks a question in Luke 18. Now, he had just told his disciples in Luke 17 the condition of the world before he comes the second time. And then he comes to Luke 18 and he gives us a parable, a parable of the unjust judge and the persistent widow. And at the end of that parable, he asks a question. He says, however, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth? Now when you're— when you need to find something, what does that imply? If you need to search for something, what does that imply? You've lost it or it's not— yeah, it's not easy to locate. Now this is very consistent with Scripture. If you think of the story of Noah, How many people out of the whole world decided to get on that ark? SPEAKER A 00:01:56 - 00:01:57 8. SPEAKER B 00:01:57 - 00:02:35 8 out of the whole world. And then we have the story of Lot, and Abraham and Jesus have this conversation. And Abraham says to— so Jesus comes to warn Abraham he's going to go and destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. So he tells his friend Abraham. Abraham says, hold on, if there's 50 righteous people in Sodom and Gomorrah, will you spare the city? And God says, yes. And then he gets him down to 10. He said, what about if there's only 10, or if only 10 righteous people, will you spare the city of Sodom and Gomorrah? He said, yes. But was Sodom and Gomorrah spared? No. How many people were saved out of Sodom and Gomorrah? SPEAKER A 00:02:35 - 00:02:36 4. SPEAKER B 00:02:36 - 00:04:07 Really 3, because the pillar of salt happened. Um, so we can see that Jesus is letting us know ahead of time, will he find faith on the earth? There's going to be few who have true faith in him at the end of time. Let us look at another question similar to this one. This is found in Revelation chapter 6, and this is in the 6th seal. And we're going to read— I've got it on the screen here. Most of the scriptures are on the screen today. And it says, I looked and I looked when he broke the 6th seal, and there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the moon, the whole moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and every free man hid themselves amongst the caves and amongst the rocks of the mountains. And they said to the mountains and the rocks, fall on us and hide us from the presence of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand? Now this is a description of the events that unfold before the second coming. Who is able to stand? The same question. SPEAKER A 00:04:07 - 00:04:08 I am. SPEAKER B 00:04:08 - 00:10:42 The pronoun who serves to ask us to look for a specific group of people, people who are able to stand with the Lamb in the presence of the Lamb, which we know is Jesus, when he comes. Let's find out the answer. Open your Bibles to Revelation 14. Open your Bibles to Revelation 14. And God shows us here through John who is able to stand. Revelation 14, and we're gonna look at verse 1. And it says, Revelation 14, verse 1, and I looked, and lo, a Lamb stood on the Mount Zion, and with Him 144,000 having His Father's name written in their foreheads. The 144,000 are those who are able to stand When Jesus comes. Now, if you've been searching for someone, or you're searching for something, and you find it, maybe someone was helping you. What do you say? Say, "Here, come look! I found it. Come here, here." Now, I want you to jump down to verse twelve in Revelation fourteen. Notice what John records. He says, "Here is the patience of the saints. Here are they that keep the commandments of God." and the faith of Jesus. John's saying, here, look, I've found them. I've found who God was looking for. This verse is a description of the characteristics of the 144,000 who are able to stand when Jesus comes. Now we have 3 things in this. We have got the patience, which can be better understood as steadfastness, endurance, perseverance. And we've got the obedience to God's commandments and the faith of Jesus. Now, these verses are in the context of the 3 angels' messages. We just had them in the scripture reading, and then we have, here is the patience of the saints. This is talking about a people who go through the end-time crisis, who go through the mark of the beast in Revelation 13. They go through the persecution, the death decree, and these are the ones that are standing. Now, If you're not familiar with the Three Angels' Messages and haven't looked into it deeply, I'm just going to give a brief overview. So we've got the first angel in Revelation 14:6-7, which began as early as 1831 by William Miller, and it continued to grow until we get to 1844 and beyond. But it first began then. It proclaims— the first thing the angel does is proclaim the everlasting gospel, salvation Through the righteousness of Christ, his justifying, his sanctifying power. And the angel also announces the time of the judgment. Now this is very, very important. We see the judgment in chapter in Daniel, in the book of Daniel. We have the judgment in Daniel seven, in Daniel eight, Daniel nine. If you study those three chapters and the book of Revelation, you will find that the judgment we're given the date that it is. starts. And we know from our understanding of prophecy that October 22, 1844, the judgment started for Earth, God's judgment. So this angel also calls people back to the true worship of God and recognizes him as their Creator. Okay, now we're going to go quickly to this, the second angel's message. This was first presented in the summer in America, the summer in America of 1844, uh, in 1844. And and it announces the fall of Babylon. Now these messages are connected. So first angel goes out, second angel comes, follows behind it. And so when this message was being presented back in 1844, around that time, the churches hearing those messages rejected the warning of the judgment. They became Babylon who has fallen. But Babylon continues to fall. So it's a gradual falling, and it talks about a church that was once pure but has now rejected certain truths. The, the falling of Babylon continues, and you find in Revelation 18 it falls completely. And that is when the churches reject the messages of the 3 angels completely, and they accept the strong delusions of Satan and the, and the wonders and miracles we're going to get to in a minute. And it also is completely fallen when these churches fully unite with the world and believe what the world believes and accepts what the world believes. So we then we get to the third angel's message. This first began around 1845. This is talking about the mark of the beast. So as the Advent movement was gaining understanding, the Sabbath doctrine came to light, and people who then accepted the Sabbath. Truth started presenting the Sabbath, and then the Advent movement started to realize what the mark of the beast is. Now, studying Revelation and all Protestantism has taught this for many decades, for many centuries, that the beast in Revelation 13 and in Daniel 7, the little horn, is the papacy. It is the Roman Catholic system. So, and they tell us, Rome tells us that their mark of authority is Sunday because there's no scriptural evidence. And they tell us that in their catechism, that the Sabbath— they have changed the solemnity of the Sabbath to Sunday. And so they're not ashamed to, to say that. So we have the 3rd angel's message with a clear warning: do not worship the beast or his image or receive his mark. The mark I've just shared with you is enforced Sunday observance found in Revelation 13. We're going to get there in a minute. This warning is the most serious one found in the whole Bible because this talks about the wrath of God being poured out. So this is a life and death matter. This results in eternal life or eternal death depending on how we accept these messages that are given to us. Now, these messages have continued and they have more to do with us now than they did back then. And I want us to understand, or I want us to ask a question to myself personally and to everyone here. Have we taken on the responsibility that we've been given the light of these messages and to be able to warn a world that is unaware of what's going on and unaware of these things, because this is our responsibility. SPEAKER A 00:10:42 - 00:10:45 Amen. SPEAKER B 00:10:45 - 00:29:22 The 144,000 are a result of accepting the 3 angels' messages. Their lives reflect that they've taken this message on and they— it prepares them to stand. Now I'm going to try and set the scene in Revelation 13, which tells us about this crisis time that's coming. By God's grace, I don't know all the details, but I'm going to try by God's grace to just go over a few things. Revelation 13, verses 11, we've got it on the screen. Then I saw a second beast coming up out of the earth. It had 2 horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. Historically, the only nation that fits these characteristics and the timing of this second beast coming up is the United States of America. So, in Revelation 13, you have the deadly wound given to the first sea beast, which is the papacy, and it goes into captivity. In 1798, it went into captivity. Napoleon's General Berthier captured the Pope. And their fall started happening. And as their fall started happening, America as a nation started to rise. 1776, today is the day, Independence Day in America, where they recognized that the Declaration of Independence was signed back in 1776, that they had escaped the Old World from the persecution that they were receiving from the papacy, and they were now their own independent nation. And then After 1776, they also formed the Constitution later on, and so they start to rise. So this America is perfectly fits this beast coming up, which beast in the Bible represents a kingdom, a nation. So it also says it has two horns like a lamb. Now the lamb is the representative of Jesus Christ, and the two horns represent two fundamental principles. That America was founded upon. And the first one is civil liberty, and the second, religious liberty. Or you could say republicanism and Protestantism. Republicanism being a government for the people, by the people, and Protestantism, freedom of conscience, freedom of a religion, freedom to practice your religion according to your own conscience. And this is why America, the Blessed nation is called that because it was a land of freedom, and God has blessed it because of these two principles that it was founded upon. But does the verse end there? No, it goes on that it will speak like a dragon, and the dragon in the Bible is none other than Satan himself. So those Christian principles will fall away in America, and it will start to speak like a dragon. The dragon enforces through persecution, coercion, deception. Jesus doesn't do any of that. You can choose. not to follow Jesus and he's not gonna do anything. He wants you to, but he's not like that. But Satan's different. He will force you with threats, with death, with all this, and this is what America is going to do. And we are here closer than what you think. Look at this headline. It says here, this is President Donald Trump at the religious— Religious Liberty Commission. Religious Liberty Commission. So I wanted to get that wording right. Rejecting church and state separation is on the wish list for Trump's Religious Liberty Commission. Now, this was the founding of America. It was started with the separation of church and state. And this is what Dan Patrick says. He's the chairman for Trump in the Religious Liberty Commission. And he said on April 13th this year, he said, there is no such thing as separation of church and state in the Constitution. For too long, the anti-God left has used this phrase to suppress people of religion in our country. He went on to say that the separation idea is the biggest lie that's been told since the founding of America. This is what the chairman is saying. And it might seem good on the surface to people that yes, bringing religion back to our country, bringing religion back to our schools, having the Ten Commandments in our classrooms, It all sounds good on the surface, but when you unite government and church, you will get persecution. And this is what we see in the papacy in the old world, because if you don't go along with their dogmas, with their ideas, you will be persecuted. And that's where we are heading. And we don't need another repeat of that. But unfortunately, let's go back to Revelation 13 because it says that America will speak like a dragon. In verse 12 it says, And it, Protestant America, exercised all the authority of the first beast, the papacy, on its behalf and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. And it, Protestant America, performed great miracles, great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people. And let's go to the next verse. Verse 14 says, because of these miracles, these signs it was given power to perform in behalf of the first beast, it deceives the world, it deceives the inhabitants of the earth, and it orders them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by a sword and yet lived. So I want you to get this: America, Protestant America, fallen Protestant America, is going to be creating these miracles in the name of Christianity, and it's going to deceive the world. It's going to make way to set up this image to the beast. We are living in a generation where seeing is believing. When you see something, you believe it, right? But if it doesn't line up with this, it's not truth. And we need this because it says— Jesus says in Matthew 24 that These lying wonders, these miracles that are going to be formed in the name of Christianity, could, if possible, deceive the very elect. So this is serious. There are 2 great false doctrines that form part of the wine of Babylon that will be used in the last days to bring the world under its deceptions. The first one is the immortality of the soul, the first lie Satan told in to the to Eve that you will not die. that you can communicate with the dead, and the false Sabbath, Sunday observers. It says in Great Controversy 588, through the 2 great errors, the immortality of the soul and Sunday sacredness, Satan will bring the people under his deceptions. Now, how will the false teaching of the immortality of the soul prepare the world for, for what's, for what's about to happen? Well, it's the very basis of spiritualism. What's spiritualism? It's the belief that you can communicate with your dead loved ones, that they survive somehow and you can communicate with them. And this is taught by the majority of Christendom, but it's not found anywhere in the Bible. The Bible actually fully condemns that because it's— you're not talking to who you think you're talking to, you're talking to Satan and his demons. So Christianity is open with this deception, the immortality of the soul. Now, It's not just in the church, it's completely throughout the whole world, throughout all of, um, entertainment media, this propaganda of communicating with, um, the dead. See Hollywood and Disney, they— Satan's cunning, he, he targets our children, okay? These, um, you know, seemingly innocent cartoons and, and, and movies and shows, spiritualism is all through there. In 1937, the first movie that Disney ever did was, um, Snow White. And Snow White has a magic mirror in it and communicates with it. And then in my time when I was a child, The Lion King, Simba's dead father appears from heaven and talks to him. And it's all innocent, it all looks fine, but this is propaganda. Do you know what the definition to propaganda is? Propaganda is a deliberate and systematic form of communication to shape perceptions to manipulate cognitions and to direct behavior. It normalizes it for people. It's like, this is, this is the new normal. Like, it's everywhere. And those are like the ones back, you know, in my day and in back in, you know, the other areas. But now it's so much more blatant. Like, it's, you know, there's witches, there's— oh, it's everywhere. Um, and this is all used by Satan to prepare people for this last great deception. Do you know that Satanists write the scripts of these children cartoons? If you don't believe me, I— yeah, this, this person, Gabriel Estavo, has anyone watched his testimony here? Okay, I watched his testimony last year. It was the most powerful testimony I've ever watched. Um, he was born into Satanism, as in his family from generations ago were steeped in, in Satanism. And he got initiated into it, trained and indoctrinated into the highest levels of the satanic order before he met Jesus Christ and who delivered him. It's a powerful, powerful testimony. I've nearly watched all of his YouTube videos of his testimony on YouTube and then I bought his book. I've read his book. It's a pretty chilling book to read, to be honest. But everything that he says is consistent with Scripture because it talks about child sacrifice in there. And this is in the Bible. They used to do this in the Old Testament. It's sacrificing to the gods of Molech, passing them through the fire. It's happening in our world today, trust me. It's very, very hard to read. But when Jesus shows up in his testimony, it's the most wonderful thing ever. But I want to tell you what he got taught in that site is very interesting. And he talks about how he was taught from a child that his first enemy was Jesus Christ, his second enemy are Seventh-day Adventists who have a true relationship with Jesus, and also Christians who are worshiping God according to their— the light that they have received. And, um, their whole mission— Satanists, the people who are actively serving Satan and they know it— their whole mission is to control our minds. Their whole, their whole mission. And they're constantly learning new ways and new methods of how to control people's minds. And he was meant to be— Gabriel was meant to be a children's author in the satanic order. He was meant to be a children's author writing books to help influence children. And so another thing that I want to mention is that The Satanists in the high levels, the secret societies like the Jesuits, the Illuminati, Freemasonry—they all know who Ellen White is, and it's been their job to slander her character and to show contempt for her writings. And sadly, they've even done that. It's become amongst us, even in our church. This is this is fascinating, very fascinating to to hear these things. Now, he also shares in his testimony one of them that the the fallen angels. There's billions of them. There's, he said, around 60 to 70 billion fallen angels. And they're split into 3 categories. Each category of angels has their own function. One of the categories of these fallen angels is to perpetuate the lie that you can communicate with the dead. And that you call— they're called familiar spirits in the Bible. Familiar spirits. So they familiarize themselves with our tone of voice, with what we wear, with what we look like. Transform themselves into our dead loved ones to communicate with us. And like, I know heaps of people that said that they've, they've had their dead ones speak to them. I've had— I come across it when I was Bible working, going door to door. I'd come across it all the time. So it's, it's everywhere. But these specific group of angels, they spread this lie throughout many different religions, many different cultures. It's their whole aim and purpose to continue this lie, to keep going. And so, um, Yeah, they can appear and look completely like your dead loved one. Through the agency of spiritualism, miracles will be wrought, the sick will be healed, and many undeniable wonders will be performed. And as the spirits will profess faith in the Bible and manifest a respect for the institutions of the church, their work will be accepted as a manifestation of divine power. So this is paving the way for that to happen, this spiritualism. Catholics, Protestants, worldlings, no matter who you are, you're going to be deluded if you do not know your Bible and you're not reading that every day. Because yeah, it's going to be overpowering, these miracles that happen. But I want to say, here is the patience of the saints. They will be going through this time. The second great error that brings deception to the whole world is Sunday sacredness. And when this is all— this stuff is already happening now. Natural disasters happen all the time, but it will become more and more so as we near the close of this world. And all these things will be happening— destruction on animals, destruction on the earth and humans. And you know what? All the blame is going to be heaped on the commandment keepers of God. It says here in Great Controversy, it will be declared that men are offending God by the violation of the Sunday Sabbath, that this sin has brought all these calamities which will not cease until Sunday observance shall be strictly enforced, and that, and that those who present the claims of the 4th Commandment, thus destroying reverence for Sunday, are troublers of the people. She goes on to say, communications from the spirits will declare that God has sent them to convince the rejecters of Sunday of their error, affirming that the laws of the land should be obeyed as the law of God. They will lament the great wickedness in the world and second the testimony of the religious teachers that the degraded state of morals is caused by the desecration of Sunday. Great will be the indignation excited against all who refuse to accept their testimony. Those who stand true to the Bible will be called evildoers. They will be called criminals. They will be persecuted. And they're going to be brought before the court systems. They'll be called before— and Jesus tells us this. You're going to be brought before the councils, you're going to be brought before— and we are going to be misrepresented and condemned. A false coloring will be given to our words, their words. The worst construction will be put upon their motives. Great Controversy 592. Here is the patience of the saints. Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Now remember, that verse I just said is the character of the 144,000 who are able to stand. The first characteristic is endurance or patience, and in the Greek, I have the Greek word up there. It's hupomone. I had to learn how to say that. Hupomone. The root idea of hupomone is to remain under some discipline. discipline, subjecting oneself to something which demands the submission of one's will to something against which it would naturally rebel. It portrays a picture of steadfastly and unflinchingly bearing up under a heavy load and describes that quality of character that does not allow one to surrender to circumstances or to succumb under trial. It has in it a forward look. That's beyond the circumstances, beyond the pressures, just like Jesus, who for the joy that was set before him endured, hupomone, the cross, despising the shame. Hupomone does not describe a grim resignation or a passive grin-and-bear attitude, but a triumphant spirit knowing that through circumstances God can work all things together for good. How do we develop this hupomone? How do we develop this endurance, this patience? Well, guess what? Jesus gives us the answer. Praise the Lord for that. Let's go to Luke 18 together as we look at the parable. In Luke 18, I've also got the words on the screen, but if you want to go in your Bibles, follow me. Luke 18, and we're going to start from verse 1. And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray and not to faint. Saying, there was in a city a judge which feared not God, neither regarded man. And there was a widow in that city, and she came unto him, saying, avenge me of mine adversary. And, and he would not for a while, but afterward he said within himself, though I fear not God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her. lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? Now firstly, this judge in this parable is not a representation of God. This parable Jesus taught by way of contrast, not by way of comparison. So God is not like this judge. Secondly, the context of this parable is the end of the condition of the world at the end of time. And we know this by reading Luke 17, and we have confirmation of this in Christ's Object Lessons, where it says, with special reference to that time, the end times, He related this parable. Now, what was the purpose of this parable? Jesus tells us in verse one. What was the purpose of this parable? Verse one tells us. It says to pray always and not give up. To pray always and not lose heart. To pray always and not faint. To not get discouraged. What's the word for not giving up? Perseverance, patience. To pray always and not give up. Now, we don't need, need to be mistaken here because Jesus tells us at the very beginning of the parable what this whole parable is about. Prayer is directly connected to perseverance and faith. Jesus was saying that continued prayer until he comes is not only an evidence of faith, but the means of building faith until his return. SPEAKER A 00:29:22 - 00:29:23 Amen. SPEAKER B 00:29:23 - 00:32:08 We must stay connected to the vine, for we cannot do anything without God. The widow's request, get justice for me from my adversary, represents the prayer of God's children. Christ Object Lessons 199. Satan is our great adversary. In Revelation 12:10, it describes Satan as our accuser. He goes before God day and night and he accuses us. That's right. Now, you know Satan's name. Have you forgotten what Satan's name means? It means adversary, the one who withstands. This is a Hebrew Strong's Concordance name here, Satan. He's our opponent. And this adversary, we actually use that in our court system here in Australia. It's a legal opponent in the court of law. Satan is the prosecuting attorney who accuses us before God. God. This parable is set in a court of law with a judge and an accuser. Satan and his demons are continually working to misrepresent and accuse and to deceive you and to destroy you. Says here in Christ's Object Lessons 166, it is for deliverance from the power of Satan and his agents that in this parable Christ teaches us to pray. Satan and his demons are actively trying to destroy your faith, and they do this in various ways through temptations, through persecution, through suffering. They're constantly trying to get you to give up your faith in God. One of Satan's greatest ways that he can do this— there are many ways, but this is one of them— is that to tell you, to tempt you to think that your case is hopeless, that you're never going to change, that you're always going to be the same. In Zechariah chapter 3, we have this, um, this— the work of Satan shown right in front and before us, where Satan is standing at the right hand accusing Joshua the high priest, who's standing in filthy garments. And he's there accusing him. He's, he's making Joshua, who represents God's people, he's, he's making Joshua appear as worse as he can. He's pointing out all the defects, all our faults, all our failings, and, and all our— the ways that we dishonor our Redeemer when we say the wrong thing, when we do the wrong thing. He's urging all of these things, all of our mistakes to God, saying to ask to— as an argument to destroy us. He's like, let me work my will in their life. Look at them. Look what they've done to you. Through tempting us to sin and leaving us there broken, he hopes to destroy our faith and for us to turn away. Can we of ourselves answer Satan's charges? SPEAKER A 00:32:08 - 00:32:10 No. SPEAKER B 00:32:10 - 00:32:33 No. Joshua stood in filthy garments, right? He was there standing condemned, right? We cannot. When we look at ourselves, we despair, but we must go by faith to our Redeemer. We need to go to our lawyer, our advocate, and claim his merits. With the mighty argument of the cross, Christ silences the bold accuser. Can I get an amen? SPEAKER A 00:32:33 - 00:32:34 Amen. SPEAKER B 00:32:34 - 00:37:25 When Satan seeks to cover the people of God with blackness and ruin them, Christ interposes. Although we have sinned, Christ has taken the guilt of our sins upon his own soul. He has snatched the race as a brand from the fire. Christ Object Lessons 169. Now, in the parable of the unjust judge and the persistent widow, we have a, a clear, um, picture of a delay. There's a delay in the answer being given. There's a delay in justice being given, and God's elect are crying to him day and night. How long, O Lord? Like, where are you? Deliver us! Avenge us! The judge in the parable, though, he does not. He delays it because he's corrupt. He's a corrupt man. He doesn't fear God. He doesn't care about people. But we've seen that this parable is not like the judge is not like what God is like. God, his very nature is love. So why is there this? Delay. We have so many examples in scripture where it appears that God is silent. Listen to Job, Job 30. I cry to you and you do not answer me. I stand and you merely look at me. You have turned cruel to me. With the might of your hand you persecute me. Job cried these words to God. If we remember the story of Job, in all these calamities come upon him in quick succession, Job loses basically everything— his livestock, many of his servants died. The worst of all, his 7 sons and 3 daughters die in the terrible— when the house collapses on them. And then he's afflicted from head to foot with loathsome sores. Job's prayers seem to go unheard and unanswered. There's this waiting time when it appears God is not acting. We see this as well in this— the 5th seal. In Revelation 6, verse 9 and 10, it says, when he opened the 5th seal I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they bore. They cried out with a loud voice, O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? Here is a cry for justice. Where are you, God? Please come in, come into, to this situation. Now these martyrs are referring to the martyrs under the first 4 seals. in Revelation. I've just been reading about them in the Foxe's Book of Martyrs. It's a really harrowing read, um, from the pagan and papal Roman Empire when they persecuted, um, and lots of people died for the word of God, as it says in the verse. There is so much brutality going on when I read the— this book, the Foxe's Book of Martyrs. There's so much injustice, there's so much bloodshed And these souls are crying out, where are you? There is a call for God to step in and judge, to put an end. Have you ever felt like God was silent in your pain, in your darkness, in your suffering? When life doesn't go the way that you had planned? Broken relationships, marriages, separation, divorce, financial loss, estrangement from your children, lies spread about you, false allegations said about you. A life-changing diagnosis, and you've cried to God for deliverance, but it's so as your prayers were not heard. We have an insight into seemingly unanswered prayers in Daniel chapter 10. In Daniel chapter 10, verse 2, it says, in those days I, Daniel, was mourning for 3 weeks. I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all for 3, 4 weeks. See, Daniel is pleading, he's fasting, he want— he's seeking God for something, for the future of God's people. And then we jump to verse 12 in Daniel chapter 10, and he— an angel shows up— and he said to me, fear not, Daniel, for from the first day you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words. The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me 21 days, but Michael one of the chief princes came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia. Notice that from the first day Daniel's prayer was heard, but a mysterious prince of Persia opposed God's angel for 21 days until Michael the prince came to help. Most biblical scholars believe that the prince of Persia is a celestial ruler. This is none other than a case of spiritual warfare. So even though God heard and began responding immediately to Daniel's prayers 3 weeks earlier, there was a delay. There was an obstacle in the form of this prince of Persia. This is very, very insightful. Does God have the sheer power to answer our prayers immediately? SPEAKER A 00:37:25 - 00:37:25 Yes. SPEAKER B 00:37:25 - 00:43:58 Yes, he does. Yet Scripture shows here there is a genuine conflict going on between God's angel and the angel of darkness. So this reveals to us there are some rules of engagement that are known to both sides in this conflict. There is a pre-existing dispute between Satan and God over his government. We find this in Revelation chapter 12. Satan has been allotted power and jurisdiction over this world, and this is within specified rules of engagement. And there are many examples in Scripture of this. I'm just going to give you a few of them. So It tells us in scripture clearly that Satan is the god of this world. Jesus repeatedly called Satan the ruler of this world. So we know that Satan has some legitimate power here, some legitimate jurisdiction here where God is allowing him to do certain things within certain limits. And we have in Matthew 8:29, when demons encountered Jesus while he was on earth, they shouted, what do you have to do with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us? Before the time. This indicates a specific— a specified time of future judgment known to both parties. Now, we also have 2 more examples. The case of the demon that the disciples couldn't cast out from the boy, and Jesus explained that this kind can only come out through prayer, thus indicating rules restricting demonic activity linked to faith and prayer. And lastly, um, just in this example, Christ could do need— do no deed of power in his own hometown. He couldn't do any miracles there. Well, why not? Doesn't he have the power to do it? He was restricted and restrained because of their unbelief. Satan's not going to just allow God to come in and do things when he's like, hang on, you're not abiding by the rules here. These people have no faith. You can't step in here. This is not part of the arrangement. So there are certain rules of engagement here. And these rules of engagement were the topic of heavenly court proceedings. We find this in Job, Job 1:6. It says, now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. This is one of many heavenly council scenes in the Bible. Before this heavenly court, God asked Satan, from where do you come from? And Satan answered, from roaming around on the earth and walking around on it. Then he said to Satan, have you considered my servant Job? God asked further. There is no one like him on earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil. Job 1:8. So God's words here are very— you've got to look into what he's asking here. He's revealing that there's this pre-existing dispute between God and Satan in which God raises Job as an example of faithfulness over Satan's charges. In response, Satan alleges that Job doesn't fear God for nothing, but only serves God because you've blessed him and you've made a hedge and a fence around him and all that he has. This highlights the boundaries, the limits, the rules of engagement in place that Satan could not cross. But Satan, in these heavenly court proceedings, asked to modify these limits. And you know what God does? He allows and he agrees to modify this limit on, on these fence, this hedge on, on Job, so Satan can put his charges to the test, his claims to the test, though still he had limits. So Satan brought all those horrible calamities on Job, as the Bible tells us. But what happened to Job? Job refused to curse God, and he proved Satan's allegations false. Yet Job had no idea what was going on behind the scenes. So we see from the, the story of Daniel and Job Some things about the great controversy: God had not forsaken Job. God was not absent. God was active. There was things going on that we had no idea about, that we that we don't see. This is why Jesus teaches us to pray always and not to get discouraged, to not lose heart, for there is more going on than meets the eye when we pray for deliverance, when we pray for justice, and it appears that God is silent. See, in Daniel, in the story of Daniel, if God's prayer— if God's answer, sorry, is delayed, as in Daniel's case, but in the meantime we stop praying and we, we lose heart, we, we continue— we, we don't continue to persevere, those avenues that were opened up by our prayers will not remain morally available to God anymore because of the rules of engagement. That's why we need to keep praying. We need to keep asking God while we are praying. God is working. There is no danger that the Lord will neglect the prayers of his people. The danger is that in the temptation and trial they will become discouraged and fail to persevere in prayer. Christ's Object Lessons 175. The parable of the persistent widow and the unjust judge is also not teaching us that if we pray persistently enough, if we just plead and plead and plead, then we'll twist God's arm and then he'll finally give in and And answer our prayers. Because that's what happened with the judge. Because she was annoying him, he's like, oh, okay, okay, she's bothering me, I'm gonna answer her prayer. That's not what God's like. No, no, no. His, his word tells us he is love. He is infinite in compassion and love. So the real important factor in this parable is the character of God, the one who wants to help his people, the one who is going to help his people and has promised to help his people. Amen. We must know the character of God in the end times, because when things are dark, when things— where we don't understand what's going on, when things are really hard and we don't know who God is, we will then start to— we'll lose our hold on him. We'll lose our hold on him. Remember John 17:3? It says, for this is life eternal, that they may what? Know me, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. Praying continually plays a crucial role in keeping us in a right relationship with God. It shows our strong confidence in God. This quote, prayer moves the arm of omnipotence. Notice the, the rest of this quote. Ellen White attributes the Hall of Faith to prayer. It says, prayer moves the arm of omnipotence. Prayer has subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, prisoners, obtained promises, stopped the mouth of lions, quenched the violence of fire. We shall know what it means when we hear the reports of the martyrs who died for their faith. Turneth to flight the armies of the aliens. Don't give up praying, my friends. SPEAKER A 00:43:58 - 00:43:58 Amen. SPEAKER B 00:43:59 - 00:49:24 Don't give up praying for your family and friends to come to know God, no matter what is going on around, but no matter how bad the situation looks, don't give up Praying. You need to look with the eye of faith because there's more going on behind the scenes, as you realize from this Bible study today. Don't give up praying for your life to reflect the life of Jesus. Don't listen to Satan when he tempts you that you will never change. You need to silence the enemy's temptation with the mighty argument of the cross and cling to Jesus. Don't give up praying through trials and suffering. God is not Absent, God is active. Here is the patience of the saints. Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. How are the saints to persevere in the context of the mark of the beast and the persecution and on the unraveling of the world? To pray always and not give up, to not lose heart. For he who endures to the end, it says in Matthew 24:13, will be saved. He who perseveres to the end. And James points points to Job as an example of endurance. We count those blessed who endured. You have heard the endurance or patience of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord's dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful. The same word here in James is the same word for the, um, the 144,000. Are we able to endure like Job? Romans 5:3-4 says, but we also glory in our sufferings because we know that sufferings produces perseverance, and perseverance character, and character hope. The ability to look forward in face of suffering and trial is called hope. Hope in scripture is the absolute certainty of future good. For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance, through patience, and the encouragement of the scriptures, We might have hope. In the midst of extreme loss and suffering, Job maintained his hope. Listen to his words: As for me, I know my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will take his stand on the earth. After my skin is destroyed, yet my flesh I shall see God. Job held on to the promise of the Second Coming, where sin and suffering and death will be destroyed. Those who endure to the end, those who have patience of the saints, hold on to the promises of God. You know, Paul summed up my whole sermon in one verse, Romans 12:12: Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Now listen to the end of the parable. He who has an ear, let him hear what Jesus said: I tell you that he will avenge Them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, shall he find faith on the earth? Every trial we endure now is preparing us for the final conflict. Deliverance is coming for God's people. Jesus himself has promised. Here is the patience of the saints. Here are those who do not give up praying, who do not get discouraged no matter the persecution, no matter the trial, no matter the contempt. They hold on to Jesus by faith. I want us all to go to our closing scripture. Hebrews 10, verse 35 to 37. I don't have it on the screen, unfortunately. Hebrews 10, verse 35 to 37. And when you get there, say amen. Hebrews 10:35-37, and it says, cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For you have need of patience, That after you have done the will of God, you might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come and will not tarry. While we are waiting for his timing, we are to pray always and not lose heart. This is the patience of the saints. In the future life, the mysteries that here have annoyed and disappointed us will be made plain. We shall see that our seemingly unanswered prayers and disappointed hopes have been among our greatest blessings. Conflict and Courage, 228. How's your prayer life? Who wants to make a commitment today to pray always and not lose heart? Let us pray. Father in heaven, We pray for all the decisions, for each one of us to pray, to know you, to trust you, no matter what goes on, no matter what we face, that you have promised that you will be there and that you have got a plan. I pray that you will be with each person here, that you'll fill us with your Spirit, and that you'll seal these decisions, Lord, that we won't lose heart. that we'll keep faithful, that we will be able to stand with you when you come. In Jesus' name, amen. This message was made available by the Doreen Creek Seventh-day Adventist Church. SPEAKER A 00:49:24 - 00:49:59 For more resources like this, visit doracreek.church. Missed part of an Australian program? Listen anytime on demand at 3abnaustralia.org.au. And click on the listen button. It's been a pleasure bringing you this program here on 3ABN Australia Radio.