I'm going to continue our heart to heart regarding
the perfect will of God and the Holy Spirit as
he intercedes before the throne of God in behalf
of God's child who is seeking God's perfect will.
I'm a firm believer. And I am sure that my belief
can be substantiated with the Word of God. Or
that the Word of God substantiates what I believe.
And that is that God has a perfect will for each
individual. I believe that with every atom of
my being. I believe that... before I made my
first cry as a little bundle of flesh and came
into this world, that God had a blueprint, a
perfect will for my life. God had a perfect will
for your life. If only you... could know. If
only this very moment I could know the details
of God's perfect will for my life and you could
know the details of His perfect will for your
life. How differently our lives might have been
had we walked in His perfect will and lived according
to His will. But when we were born, we were also
born with free moral agency, born with a will,
separate and apart from His will. And we must
choose to live according to his will. God never
planned that any human being should live a defeated
life. You'll never make me believe. It was never
in his books. It was never in his thinking. It
was never in his plan that that man should live
the life of an alcoholic. Never. You will never
make me believe that it was God's perfect plan
for some man, some woman. You're listening to
me in this very moment, in the very depths of
defeat. Your life has been a failure. Right now,
as you come face to face with yourself, you have
been no good to yourself or anyone else. You're
in defeat. You're living in despair. Your life
is absolutely worthless. And it has been for
years. Look at yourself. Do you believe that
it was God's perfect will that you should be
where you are today, living the kind of life
that you're living? Never. Never. You have...
You have made the choice. For years you have
been living contrary to God's perfect will. You
have fought against God. You have not permitted,
you have not allowed Him to be the master of
your life. And you can only know His perfect
will. I as an individual can only know God's
perfect will as I yield my will to His will.
And then and then only can we claim that wonderful
scripture that all things work together for good.
Only those who are living that surrendered life
or will surrender to His will can claim that
promise. that no matter what happens to you,
all things will work together for your good and
his glory. I hope I've made that very clear because
it's vitally important. Sometimes, as I told
you in our last heart -to -heart talk, it's the
hardest thing in the world to know God's perfect
will. When we're living His will, we have His
favor. We have His smile. We have His blessing.
Oh, I'd rather have death than anything else
in the whole world. I don't ask to be rich. I
don't ask for material things. I ask above everything
else to have His smile, to have His favor, to
be surrounded with His love. God's blessed man,
God's blessed woman. We have everything when
we have that. And it's just like that. But sometimes
when we pray, it's the hardest thing to know
how to pray. Here's a precious woman. Her husband.
is at the point of death. She wants God's perfect
will. Should she pray, heal him, great physician.
Heal this body just now. Raise him up, I pray.
Or should she pray, take him, Father God. Take
him now. And there isn't a one of us but what
sometime in our life have come face to face.
Sometime we have faced that very situation. Maybe
not exactly for the passing of a loved one, not
knowing whether to pray that God should take
that one or whether God should heal that one.
But a simmer situation. You don't know how to
pray. I've been faced with that. How shall I
pray? The scripture tells us exactly what to
do. There are three people who know what is God's
perfect will. God the Father knows his will for
that one. Jesus Christ, in position of great
high priest, knows the Father's perfect will
for that one. The Holy Spirit knows God's perfect
will for all three are perfect knowledge and
perfect wisdom. What the Father knows, the Son
knows. What the Son knows, the Holy Spirit knows.
Three persons working in conjunction, one with
the other, never working separate and apart from
the other. All three persons know. God's perfect
will for you. The Holy Spirit is in the world
now. You had been filled with the Holy Spirit.
He is with you, but he shall be in you. This
glorious person, the third person of Trinity,
who governs, who rules, who feels, knows God's
perfect will for that given matter. Now, let
me give you the scripture, the eighth chapter
of Romans. Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth
our infirmities. In other words, he knows our
defects. He knows our personal failings. He knows
our weaknesses. I told you in our last heart
-to -heart talk that it's most difficult for
most of us to know God's perfect will sometimes
because we have our own desire in a given matter.
And the first thing that you and I have to do
if we're seeking to know the will of God, we
must seek at the beginning to get our heart and
to get our mind into such a state that it has
no will of its own in regard to a given matter.
That's the catch. We have our personal weaknesses.
We have our personal failure. We have our own
defects. The scripture here calls it our infirmities.
The Spirit also helpeth our infirmities. For
we know not what we should pray for as we ought.
But the Spirit itself maketh intercession for
us with groanings which cannot be... When you
get to the place where you do not know how to
pray, when you don't know what it is to pray,
dear Lord, heal that precious one, or pray, dear
wonderful Jesus, just make his passing be easy.
Now, it's pretty hard to know what is God's perfect
will. And if you don't know how to pray, then
just let the Spirit pray through you. Let Him
do the praying. The Spirit itself maketh intercession.
Oh, this is tremendous. This is marvelous. He
will intercede. For us, before the Father's throne.
With groanings which cannot be uttered. Have
you ever gotten to the place in your life? Of
course you have. Where it is almost impossible
for you to pray, the words just will not come.
You just, you don't know what to say. Perhaps
the burden is so heavy. You know what I'm talking
about? Perhaps your feelings are so involved,
There are no words in human vocabulary to express
what you really feel on the inside of you. The
longing is so great, or the hurt is so great,
or the lack of wisdom is so prevalent. You do
not know how to pray. They just keep quiet. Don't
say anything. Don't do anything. Let the Holy
Spirit who knows God's perfect will intercede
for you. Let him make intercession for you before
the throne of God. He who knows God's perfect
will will intercede. with groanings which cannot
be uttered. For he that searches the hearts knoweth
what is in the mind of the Spirit, because he
maketh intercession for the saints according
to the will of God. You and I may not be able
to pray according to the will of God, but the
Holy Spirit. will pray and make intercession
for us according to the will of God. And you
can't miss. It is absolutely impossible to miss
when the Holy Spirit is making intercession for
you according to the will of God. Oh. Sure. I
could not tell you. that the Holy Spirit has
ever spoken to me audibly. I would not dare tell
you that God has spoken to me in an audible voice.
I would not dare tell you that Jesus has spoken
to me in an audible voice. You read the Scripture.
And through the... pages of the Holy Word, when
the saints of God have said, He spoke to me.
I doubt seriously that He spoke in an audible
voice, and yet He speaks to one so definitely,
as definitely as though you heard an audible
voice. And his speaking is as real to me, as
much of a reality, as the audible voice of any
human being. And it's just like that. All right.
Turn, if you will, please, to the 8th chapter
of Acts. This begins with the 29th verse. And
always remember that when the Holy Spirit...
That's the speaking. Listen to him. But be dead
sure it's the Holy Spirit who is doing the speaking.
Be sure you're listening to the right voice.
Be vitally sure it's the right voice. But you
can trust him. I read now from the 8th chapter
of Acts, the 29th verse. Then the Spirit said
unto Philip, Who did the speaking? The Spirit,
the Holy Spirit. And I do not believe that Philip
heard an audible voice, but he knew it's the
Spirit speaking. Said unto Philip, Go near and
join thyself to this chariot. And Philip ran
thither to him. and heard him read the prophet
isaiah and said understandest thou what thou
readest and he said how can i except some man
should guide me and he desired philip that he
would come up and sit with him and did you notice
something whenever the spirit tells you to do
something No matter how unreasonable it may seem
in the natural. No matter how unlogical it might
seem to you in the natural. If you're dead sure
that the spirit is doing the speaking, you be
obedient because he'll follow through. Always.
There was the eunuch. He knew the heart of the
eunuch. He knew the mind of the eunuch. And the
spirit said unto Philip, There's a man that I
want to be born again. Go and join thyself to
this chariot. And Philip ran thither to him.
He was obedient. And the place of the scripture
which he read was this. He was led as a sheep
to the slaughter. And like a lamb dumb before
his shearer, so opened he not his mouth. And
in his humiliation his judgment was taken away.
And who shall declare his generation? For his
life is taken from the earth. And the eunuch
answered Philip and said, I pray thee, of whom
speaketh the prophet this? Of himself? or of
some other man. Then Philip opened his mouth
and began at the same scripture and preached
unto him Jesus. And as they went on their way,
they came unto a certain water. And the eunuch
said, See, here is water. What does hinder me
to be baptized? Oh, we don't have to go any further.
He's been born again. He's been regenerated.
The Holy Spirit knew he was ready for the new
birth experience. And the Holy Spirit spoke to
Philip. because he knew he'd be obedient to him.
And he sent him to the man who was ready for
regeneration. And sure enough, the heart was
prepared. He heard the word. He accepted the
word. And then he said, Look, here's water. And
I dare say, not anyone spoke. of immersion not
any one spoke of him as being baptized see here's
water what doth hinder me to be baptized and
philip said if thou believest with all thine
heart thou mayest and he answered and said i
believe that jesus christ is the son of god and
he commanded the chariot to stand still and they
went down both into the water both philip and
the eunuch, and he was baptized. And when they
were come up out of the water, the Spirit of
the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch
saw him no more, and he went on his way rejoicing.
Be obedient to the Spirit. When he speaks.