Committed to Prayer

This is the Word of the Lord. We're going to be reading, as I said, Ephesians 6. Let us read together from verse 10 to verse 20. This is the Word of the Lord. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers and against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and as shoes for your feet, having put on the Readiness given by the gospel of peace in all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. How do we do all of that? Verse 18, praying at all times in the Spirit. With all prayer and supplication to that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.

And also for me, Paul says, the words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak. Amen. This is the reading of God's Word. And as I said today, I want us to address verse 18.

Actually, we're going to be going also into Matthew chapter 6, where the Lord Jesus Christ is going to teach His disciples how to pray. But we're going to be focusing on verse 18, where The Apostle is going to tell us that we are to pray, and he's going to qualify those prayers that we are to give. He says there that we are to pray at all times, that we are to pray in the Spirit, that we are to pray with all prayers and supplication, that we are to have this urgency of prayer, to be alert and with perseverance, and that we are to make intercession for all the saints. powerful verse that is going to teach us here also not only the importance of prayer, but also how to pray. And let me submit to you, my dear brother and my dear sister, that prayer together with the Word of God are perhaps the two most important spiritual disciplines in your Christian life.

The way that you commune with the Lord and the way that you become more like Jesus Christ is through the Word of the Lord and through prayer. As we are going to see in the Scriptures, both the Word of the Lord and prayer are interconnected. You cannot have one without the other, and you cannot have just only one here and the other here. If you have a life that is rich in communion with Christ through the scriptures, the manifestation of the richness of your life in Christ Jesus through the scriptures is going to be that you pray. Because the more that you pray, or the more that you know the Lord Jesus Christ better, the more that you commune with Christ, the more that your heart is going to be led to commune with Him in prayer.

I'm actually going to submit to you that your life of prayer is going to be a qualifier of your life in the Word of the Lord. You see, there's a fleshly aspect to pursuing knowledge through the Scriptures. People want to know things about Christ. People want to know things about theology. People want to know or have answers to certain questions.

And when people are pursuing the Scriptures only to fill their minds with information, usually they will be able to gather data and to be able to give answers about the Scriptures. But the life or prayer is going to be death. Because when you commune with the Lord, not to have answers to questions only, but when you commune in the Scriptures by the Spirit to be at the feet of your Savior, the one whom you love, because He gave His life to die upon the cross for your sins, when you're coming in a pursuit of Jesus Christ, Then the same hand that touches you to read the Scriptures is the same hand that will lead you to be on your knees, to come into the secret place of Christ Jesus, to be thankful for what He has done, He continues to do, and what He will do. Tell me about the secret life of prayer of a person, and I will tell you how much they're worth spiritually speaking. Because in the secret place of prayer, no one sees other than the Lord.

But in the public prayer of speaking words and just simply doing things to be seen by the eye of man, the eye of man is present. and the reward of men is tempting to the flesh to pursue and to do certain things just to receive the accolade of men. evangelizing, or preaching, or being a pastor, or whatever thing that is external, that is not qualified in this secret place, is empty and of no value at all. So do not tell me how much you do, or how much you know, or how much you speak. Tell me how much you pray.

Or better, don't tell me. just before the Lord, because the worth of the spiritual life of a person is seen in the secret place where only the Lord is present. So it is very important that for us as a church, we will not consider only things that are external, such as the Word of God and theology and doctrine, but we will consider those things of the heart. And prayer is one of them. I want us to consider today that a biblical church is one that is committed to prayer.

And as I said last week, we cannot have a biblical church if those who are in the church are not biblical in their Christianity. We have only a biblical church insofar as those who are present in the body of the Lord are living their lives for Christ. Because the health of the church is not a particular sermon or a way of preaching that we have on a Sunday or a Wednesday, but rather is what Christ Jesus does in the life of those who belong to that church in their lives daily, every second, every minute, every hour. That is the health. of a church.

And here at Cornerstone, we are now pursuing to have chairs that are seated with many people or to have a big building of money. What we want is that Christ will be enthroned in your heart when you are not here. So that the kingdom of God will be built, not with the things that are seen with the eyes of men, but the kingdom of Christ will be built in the heart of the believer. And that's what we ought to pursue as believers, as we look to Jesus Christ, who is the author, the perfecter of our faith, and who is the lover of our souls, who died upon the cross for us. So, a biblical church is not only one that is committed to the scriptures, but a biblical church is also one that is committed to prayer.

In other words, that those who belong to the Church are committed to prayer. And being committed to the Word of God, or being committed to prayer, is just simply saying being committed to Christ. Because if we are committed to Christ, we want to know Him through the Word. And if we are committed to Christ, we want to know Him through prayer. I want us to answer two important questions today.

Those two important questions that we're going to answer is what is biblical prayer? We're going to answer the what first, and then second, once we have considered that from Matthew 6, then we're going to consider how do we pray? in a biblical way, and that's what we're going to return to Ephesians chapter 6, because here the Apostle is going to tell us how we pray biblically, and he's going to give us five qualifiers of what it is to pray. In verse 18, the Apostle has told us that the way that we fight is a spiritual fight, not against blood or flesh, but against spiritual principalities. It is by putting on the armor of God, and we put that armor of God with all of those things by praying, verse 18, at all times in the spirit, with supplications and prayers, being alert and in perseverance, and by making supplications for all the saints.

We're going to see those five things about how to pray once we have answered the question of what is it that it is to pray in a biblical Of course, the Apostle is not going to tell us much there about the meaning of prayer because in verse 18, he only uses the word that participle there to tell us that we put the armor of God by praying at all times. So what is to pray? Pray is a very general and very simple way It is just simply to communicate with God. We do that with our wives, with our husbands, with our children in the context of the church. It is just simply to bring forth a communication to the Lord.

And of course, when we go through the scriptures, we realize that this idea of praying is not only used for Christians, but also even pagans. and false gods and false idols will receive prayers. So prayer is just simply communication with a deity. We are not interested in that. We want to go deeper than that.

Christian prayer is going to be the spiritual discipline of a person who has been saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus. in communicating with the Triune God, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We pray unto the Father in the name of the Son and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Biblical prayer, in a general way, is the way that the genuine Christian communicates with the Triune God. And the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the one that gives us more information about what it is to pray in a biblical way.

So that's why I'm going to now call your attention to Matthew chapter six, because in Matthew chapter six, if you remember the passage in the Sermon of the Mount, then the Lord is going to explain not only how to pray, but also as we're going to see there, what is prayer or biblical prayer? I want to invite you there to Matthew chapter 6. We're going to be reading together from verse 5 to verse 13. And this is going to be the first part of our sermon we are teaching this afternoon. And we're going to be considering here the characteristics of what it is a biblical prayer.

Let me just give you a little bit of the context here. The Apostle, or better, the Apostle of Apostles, the Lord Jesus Christ, is preaching this sermon, the Sermon of the Mount. And as he's going through half of this sermon, Now he is going to teach the disciples how they are supposed to pray. And the way that the Lord is going to explain how to pray, it is by telling them the wrong way that both the Pharisees and the Gentiles were praying. I want us to observe from these teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ, at least three or four, depending on how we go with the time, and then we will return to Ephesians, four characteristics of biblical prayer.

What I want us to do is that we ask ourselves the question, what is biblical prayer? And when we come to this text, that we answer from the text what biblical prayer is. So let us read together Matthew chapter six, verse five, all the way through 13. And then we will see four characteristics of biblical prayer. Let us go into verse five.

This is the Lord. And then he says, and when you pray, the Lord Jesus, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the streets' corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, When you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your father, who is in secret.

And your father, who sits in secret, will reward you. Now by the Gentiles, verse 7. And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for the many words. Do not be like them, for your father knows what you need before you ask him. So how do we pray?

Verse 9, heaven. Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.

And you will have for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. As I said, I'm not going to do an exposition of the Lord's Prayer here, but rather I want us to consider three or four characteristics that are going to help us to understand what biblical prayer is. Let me point you to the first one. The first one and the most foundational and most important thing that we ought to know about prayer.

And that is that prayer, biblical prayer, is meant to be informed by the words of Christ and not by my own wisdom. I can see here that the one that is speaking is the Lord Jesus Christ that is teaching and is comparing two groups of people, the Pharisees on one side who thought that they had the law and all the writings of the scriptures, and who thought that they knew God, and he's going to condemn the way that they pray, because these Jews, these Pharisees, were praying only to be seen and to be observed. And on the other side, we have the Gentiles, whom the law is also going to condemn, because these Gentiles, in a superstitious way, they were repeating many words, not looking unto the law, but they were just simply looking unto the way in which they prayed. We see that even though the Pharisees had all the instructions of the Old Testament, it took that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, will come in the New Covenant now to come and explain to these disciples how they were supposed to pray. And when we go through the New Testament, we realize that the power of prayer is going to be found in the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And then we know that biblical prayer is informed by the scriptures and not by my own wisdom. The Lord Jesus Christ is going to make this connection and this point in John chapter 15. If you come to John chapter 15, there is the most clear verse in which the Lord Jesus Christ, through John, is going to teach us about the intrinsic connection that exists between prayer and the word of the Lord. So come to John chapter 15 in verse 7. John chapter 15, verse 7.

It says the apostle is speaking through the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. In John chapter 15, verse 7, he says, if you abide in me, verse 7 of chapter 15, if you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. The asking there, it is a word that is used many times to speak about prayer. We have that powerful verse there. If there's only one thing that you're going to get out of the thing that is happening now, it is what is this in verse seven, that we are to abide in Christ.

And if we abide in Christ and the words of Christ abide in us, then we ask whatever we wish and it will be done for you. Now, this is not just simply a simple condition to please the desires of my flesh, that I want a bigger house, so I'm going to read the scriptures and I'm going to abide in Christ, so I get my fleshly desire to have something different materialistically speaking. Here is that when we abide in Christ, And when the words of the Lord abide in us, there's going to be a natural process of conformity to Christ Jesus. And then what I ask now is going to be in alignment with the one that is dwelling in me, because I'm becoming more like Christ, and becoming more like God, and because I'm becoming more like Him. through His Word, now my desires, my preferences, that which I expect and hope is going to be in alignment with the character of God.

And no longer I'm going to be delighting in the pleasures of my flesh, but I'm going to be choosing the ways of God. Why? because biblical prayer is informed by the word of the Lord and not by my own wisdom. Just as like the disciples needed that Christ Jesus will come and say, when you pray, don't do this, don't do this, but pray in this way and to the Father in the same way we need to come to the feet of Christ and to receive from his words the instructions that we need to pray according to God's will. Then that means that the life of prayer is going to be connected with your life of abiding in Christ Jesus in the secret place.

This is powerful, brethren, because if we do not abide in Christ, And if we do not abide in his words, then our prayers are going to be informed by the religious environment in which we belong, in which we exist, and we are going to end up praying just like the others. Why? Because my prayers are informed by the people that are around me, or just simply my prayers are going to be informed by the cultural environment in which I grew up, or just by people around me, other than the words of Christ. Biblical prayer is meant to be rooted and connected in the Word of the Savior as we become more like Him. And that's why I said that prayer in your life is going to be a qualifier of your secret life of communion with Christ through the Word of the Lord.

are words that come in the secret place, and as we pour our heart before the Lord, that is the result of knowing the Savior through the Scriptures. Let us return to Matthew 6, and let me point you to another one. So, prayer is meant to be informed by the words of Jesus Christ, and not by our own wisdom. Now, another qualifier of prayer, and this is very important, and that is prayer is meant to be relational rather than ritualistic or religious. Prayer is meant to be relational.

relational to the God or to our Father, rather than ritualistic or religious. I don't know if you paid attention there to verse, I'm pretty sure that you did, to verse 9. The way that the Lord Jesus Christ is going to teach his disciples to pray, it is by referring to God as our Father. It says in verse 9, pray then like this, our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Biblical prayer is not only informed by the scriptures and not by my own wisdom, but prayer at its heart, at its core, is going to be relational rather than religious or ritualistic.

This is everything that the Lord Jesus Christ was condemning both on the Jews and the Gentiles. The Jews thought that because they had the law and because they had a connection with the covenant of relating to God and having access to God, they thought that now when they come and they pray, they have the knowledge and the means of understanding and their long prayers were to receive the praise of people. And the Gentiles that were following pagan gods, they were just simply repeating and repeating and repeating and repeating. Empty words. The condemnation of the Lord Jesus Christ is with the religiosity of people that either the Jews or the Gentiles, they were not seeking God in a relational way, but they were pursuing their own religion.

And let me submit to you, my dear brother and sister, that the temptation of religion is not only found in the Jews and in the Greeks or the Gentiles, it's found in the flesh. We are tempted to just simply do things for the purpose of ticking the box of a religious standard that we have in our minds. So when we tick the little box of the things that am I supposed to do, then I'm fulfilling the requirements of my standard. The heart of prayer is that I'm in a relationship with God. And when I ask why am I in a relationship with God, my Father, then the answer to that is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

because I can come with boldness before the throne of grace of the Father, because Jesus Christ died upon the cross to pay for my sins. And now I can have an enter with boldness into the throne of grace, not only as a criminal who has been forgiven, but I can enter into the throne of grace with boldness that he is my father and that I'm his child. And what I'm pursuing there is not to tick the box of my religion so that I feel OK about myself and my performance. What I'm pursuing is to spend time with my God, with the One who loved me, with the One who gave His Son to die upon the cross for me. I'm looking, I'm pursuing Him.

It is very different to pursue something than pursuing Jesus Christ or to pursue the Lord. Christianity is not a pursuit of something. Christianity is the pursuit of God Himself in the person of Jesus Christ. Religion that points or directs a person to pursue repetition of certain things for the sake of religion is a type of religion that sends people to hell. True religion is to keep oneself unspotted from the world by the grace that God has given you, pointed you to the one who is holy.

pointing you to the one who is a triune God who loved us in such a way that he gave his son to die upon the cross. So our heart should not be a heart that pursues to pray. Our heart should be a heart that pursues Jesus Christ. And the more that we learn about him, the more that we want to be with him. Why?

Because prayer is not only meant to or supposed to be informed by the scriptures, but prayer brethren is meant to be relational. So the question that we ask ourselves is the same question that the Lord Jesus Christ asked to the Jews and to the Pharisees in John chapter 8. Do you love me? Do you actually love me? Or do you love religion?

Or do you love the things around Christianity that make you feel comfortable? Do you love me, the Lord Jesus Christ says? Because if you love me, then you are a son or daughter of Abraham. Then you are a son or daughter of the true covenant. Then you are a son or daughter that has been begotten by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Please do not be overwhelmed with the idea of love, because the love that we can have for the Lord is not perfect in any way. But the question is, are we led by the Spirit to our Savior, because He loved us and He gave Himself for us, or are we pursuing religion? And if we are, we are to run away from that, brethren. coming to Christ is easily by grace to do faith, pointing our eyes to what he has done upon the cross for our sins, and to rest in the fact that he was victorious upon the cross. And then everything that we do by the power of the Holy Spirit will be led to be done because he loved us and he gave himself for us.

Biblical prayer is relational at heart, not religious. Third, very important. Biblical prayer is not only one that is meant to be informed by the words of Lord Jesus Christ, and one that is meant to be relational, but not religious. One that is meant to be submissive to God. Acknowledging that God is God, and I am not.

Biblical prayer is one that is submissive to God, and is not self-centered. Pay attention to verse 10 of the Lord's Prayer. He says, Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us, Lord, this day our daily bread.

And you, Lord, forgive us our debtors as we also forgive our debtors. And you, Lord, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. What is the common denominator of all of these verses? That the one who prays acknowledges that he is God and that we are not. That we submit entirely to the fact that God is God and that I am not.

So my prayers are not going to be, self-centered or declaring or obtaining something from God only by the power of my mouth, but rather I'm going to acknowledge His sovereignty. In verse 10, your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. I submit myself to the will of the one who is establishing this kingdom. I submit myself to the justice of God that is found in the gospel. Verse 11, better to the provision of the Lord in verse 11 give us this day our daily bread that whatever we have has been provided by the provision of the Lord or to the justice of the Lord in verse 12 it says and forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors that we can be forgiven only by the one who forgives, and also to the providence of the Lord, that if I'm not going to fall into temptation, it's not because I'm strong and powerful, and I have learned throughout these 14 years how to be a good Christian, but if I'm not going to be falling into temptation, it's because there's one that is preserving me and keeping me, and that is the grace of God.

Verse 13, "...and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." Biblical prayer is one that submits to the will of the Lord that is not self-centered, but that acknowledges that even though I'm close to God in a relational way through the completed work of the Lord Jesus Christ, I'm also to understand that He's God and that I'm not God. And my pursuit is one to be aligned with His will and to accept the will of the Lord. Paul, in Romans chapter 12, says something very powerful about accepting the will of the Lord, if you come with me to Romans chapter 12.

And this is a matter of the mind, a matter of the mind of the Christian. In Romans chapter 12, It says in Romans chapter 12, verse 1 and 2, something that is very well known among us Christians, Romans chapter 12, verse 1 and 2, he says, I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, by the testing that you may discern what is the will of God. And what is the will of God? What is good and acceptable and perfect.

Now, for my flesh, it is easy to accept that God's will is good. In my flesh, it is somehow easy, the limitations of my understanding, it is easy to accept that God's will is perfect. But acceptable or desirable, as some other translations may say, the more that we abide in the presence of Christ through His Word and in prayer. We understand not only that we have a relationship with God, but we understand that He is God and that we are not. And that is not only okay, that is the best possible scenario, that He is God and that we are not.

And when we understand the chasm that separates me from God, and I understand that He is good, and I understand that He's perfect, and I understand that He's holy, and I understand that He knows better than I do my past, present, and future, then the will of the Lord becomes acceptable. Because now I submit myself to this Lord who has control of all things in my life. And even though it does not feel that this is nice and that this is good, and I perhaps will choose a different way, I submit myself to the will of the Lord in my life, because He is God and I am not. Biblical prayer is one that learns to submit to the sovereignty of the Lord, and not only to submit in words and intellect, but just to come on our knees and to know that He is the one that provides our daily bread, that the will of the Lord is the one that is going to be done in heaven and on earth. that he has forgiven us as we forgive others, and that we are not led into temptation.

It is because of the sovereign hand of the Lord that restrains us from following the paths of our natural condition. He is the one that governs all things, and if he is the one who governs all things, my dear brother and sister, this should give us awe of who he is and dependence upon our Savior. Now, let us just come to Matthew chapter 6, and let me point you to the final one of what it is biblical prayer, something that is implicit there in Matthew chapter 6. I've said up to this point that biblical prayer is one that is informed by the scriptures and not by our own wisdom, that biblical prayer is one that is relational and not religious. Biblical prayer is one that is submissive to God and not self-centered, seeking our own things, declaring to have things into existence, or just requiring and of God things into our lives, but rather submitting to the will of the Lord that is good, perfect, and acceptable.

But also from verse six, I want you to see the communal aspect of prayer. Biblical prayer is communal and not individualistic. Do you pay attention there to all the pronouns that the Lord uses there in verse nine? Pray then like this. My father in heaven.

No, he says, our father in heaven. Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven. Give me this day my daily bread. No, he says, give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive me my debts. No, he says, forgive us our debts. And let us not into temptation. and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. The Lord is instructing his disciples on how they are supposed to pray.

And yes, it is true that prayer is the communion that we have with God in this secret place. The Lord has said it there. But it's also true, as we see it through the book of Acts, that prayer is an activity that happens for the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ when they come together. Prayer is not something that is only to be done in the individual way, but prayer is something that is meant to be done in the collective way in the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. So then when you go through the book of Acts, Acts chapter 2, 3, 4, 5, and so on, then you realize that the way that the church of the Lord Jesus Christ was built up was not only by the power of the Holy Spirit, but through the collective prayers of the saints.

the way that we are going to push our carnality, the way that we're going to become more like Jesus, the way that we're going to renew our minds, the way that we're going to grow in understanding of the scriptures, the way that we're going to grow in love for one another, the way that we're going to love one another, and that we're going to forgive one another, the way that we're not going to be afraid of the things of this world, but stand up in the power of the Spirit to speak the things of the Lord, It is when we become more like Jesus through the Word of God and prayer. And if we do not pray, my dear brother and sister, if we do not come to the feet of Christ, both individually, collectively, as a church, then that is going to cost us. It is not only power in us to fulfill the mission of Christ, But it's going to cost us now that Christ Jesus is not conformed among us because of our negligence of what it is the means that God has given us to abide with him. It is very important that we abide individually at the feet of the Savior and that also collectively as a church that we pray and that we desire to be at the feet of Jesus Christ, having prayers that are informed by the scriptures as we fulfill the ministry that Christ has given us. Brother and sister, if I had other words and better adjectives and better adverbs and better verbs to put together in better sentences, perhaps with a better tone of the way that I have, perhaps with a better countenance, if I had better words, I will use them to tell you of the importance of what it is to come in the secret place to pray before the Lord and to pray together as a body before the Savior.

Children, if you want to know more about the God that your parents preach and that your parents try to communicate to you, come in this secret place with your heart and come before the Lord, the Lord that your parents speak about, and come before Him and speak to Him through what you've learned. Brother and sister in times of trials and tribulations, come to the Lord in the secret place and pray. Because when you abide in Christ, you're renewed and empowered. When you are in abundance or in scarcity, when in pain or in sorrow, come before the Lord. Because at the secret place of Christ, we are going to find the strength that we need to live this life.

Because remember Ephesians chapter 6, we are not fighting against blood and flesh. We're fighting against principalities. We're fighting against spiritual powers and this is done with diligent prayer that tarries in the secret place awaiting for the hand of the Lord to move among us and to lead us into the path of righteousness and by saying that and it took too much time I'm really sorry let us return to Ephesians chapter 6 because now in Ephesians chapter 6 we can find biblical qualifiers for what it is to biblically pray and I have said up to this point that biblical prayer is meant to be informed by the word of the Lord and not by our own wisdom. I have said that biblical prayer is not religious, but is relational in the Lord. Second or third, I have said that biblical prayer is not that one that is self-centered about me, me, me, but biblical prayer is one that submits to the will of the Lord, and that acknowledges that he is sovereign above all things.

And fourthly, I have said that biblical prayer is not only one that happens at the individual level, but one that happens in the collective level, in the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, as we come to Ephesians chapter 6, let me point you, with the time that we have, to these five characteristics there that we have in verse 18. This prayer that we ought to give in verse 18 has five qualifiers. The apostle tells us about the intensity of this prayer. It says, praying at all times.

Also, he speaks about the nature of this prayer. It's not in the flesh, but it's in the spirit. Thirdly, he tells us about the types of prayers. It's not only a single type of prayer, but he says, with all prayer and supplication. This is the variety of prayer.

And fourth, he tells us about the urgency of prayers. He says to that end, keep an alert with all perseverance. And then finally, he tells us about the focus of our prayers, and that is that we ought to pray for all the saints. You may have a different order if you have a different translation, but those are the five elements that are found in verse 18. Let me start with the first one.

We ought to pray at all times. And here, sometimes we might be tempted to believe that what the Bible is requiring of us, it is that we will pray every second, every minute, every hour of 24 hours a day, 7 days per week, 365 days per year. If that was possible, perhaps we could do that, but the requirement of the scriptures is not so much that we will be praying every single second, but the requirement of the scripture is not so much about frequency, but more about a disposition from the heart. And this position from the heart is that we will have a tendency to pray at all times. But I want you to see it not so much from the call to pray at all times, which is true, but I actually want you to see it from the other perspective.

That there's going to be instances in our lives in which the circumstances that we're going through are going to lead us not to pray. The message of the scripture is not so much actively call us to pray at all times, but rather that in all circumstances we will have a prayerful disposition. That is when Paul says in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, you remember, pray without ceasing. The best way to understand that command is not that we are to actively pray at all times every single moment, but rather that in all circumstances we will pray. That is that there will not be circumstances that are going to prevent me from praying.

Praying at all times is that whether I'm in high or whether I'm low, I'm praying. That whether I have abundance or whether I have scarcity, I'm praying. That whether I'm okay or I'm in pain, I'm praying. That whether I'm in need or I have everything that I require, I am praying. I have a disposition to pray.

Whether that I'm sick or whether I'm healthy, I have a disposition to pray. There is no circumstances around me that are going to lead me not to pray. That is what is to pray at all time. In the scriptures, there's going to be two aspects that are going to prevent us from praying. The first one, if you want to come with me to James chapter, I think it's James chapter five.

In James chapter five, there's going to be one aspect that sometimes prevent us from praying. And that is the aspect of suffering. Now, James is not going to mention that explicitly, but implicitly, he's going to mention that there. In James 5, verse 13. Suffering is usually one way in which we are tempted not to pray.

It says in James 5, verse 13. It says, Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Suffering is meant to lead us to prayer. Why?

Because suffering in our flesh, sometimes the burdens of sorrow and the burdens of what it is to suffer, sometimes are going to lead us to try to find the solution to the problem that is making us suffer, self-reliance, instead of relying upon the Lord through prayer. So praying at all times, it is to have an ongoing disposition to at all circumstances pray. Suffering is going to be sometimes a preventer from prayer, as it is, for instance, self-reliance. What is one of the indicators of how much a man or woman depends upon the Lord? Give them peace.

Give them everything that they want. Give them money. Give them peace. Give them work. Give them time.

Give them effort. Give them health. And that everything is in place. And when everything is in place, what is the flesh producing? Self-reliance.

I no longer need the Lord for my bread on my plate. And I no longer need the Lord to provide, because I'm not in need. I have so much. I no longer need the Lord to strengthen my feeble body, because I have health. Give a person everything that they want and they will trust in themselves.

Prayer at all times, or prayer without ceasing, is that no matter the circumstances, the disposition of our heart is one that is inclined to be humble before the presence of the Lord. Whether we're persecuted, or whether we have peace, whether we have abundance, or whether we have scarcity, whether we have health, or we don't have it, whether we have certainty, or we have uncertainty, whether we're about to die, or we have many days ahead of us, the disposition of the heart is one that is meant to be praying at all times without ceasing, without the temptations of the circumstances leading me to rely on something or someone else different to the Lord. Praying at all times. And how can I pray at all times? Just by having a greater perspective of all my circumstances in light of the Lord.

The more that I spend time in the scriptures, it doesn't matter how much money I have, if it's millions or just cents. It doesn't matter how many cars I have, if it's five or none. It doesn't matter if I'm healthy or not healthy. It doesn't matter if I'm persecuted or not persecuted. If I have the perspective of Christ, He's the one that is going to lead us through times of trial and times of joy, times of blessings and times of difficulty.

Perspective of Christ that comes through the Scriptures so that I can be led by the Spirit to pray at all times. Let us return to Ephesians chapter 6. It is not only about the frequency or intensity of prayer, but it's also about the nature of prayer. We are told that we are to pray, verse 18, in the Spirit. Praying at all times in the Spirit.

And many people, many communities will say that praying in the Spirit It is a particular way of praying. They will say, perhaps, that praying in the Spirit is to pray in different tongues, or that it's praying through prophecy, or that praying in a particular way. But let me submit to you that when we interpret the Scriptures according to the Scriptures, we know that praying in the Spirit, it is by praying in the power or in alignment of the Holy Spirit that is the one that connects that which is inside of us with God himself. That is the whole point of the apostle, if you come with me. to a very well-known verse in Romans chapter 8.

Romans chapter 8 verse 27. You may know this in Romans chapter 8 where the Apostle teaches us about praying in the Spirit. Verse 26. In Romans chapter 8 it says, likewise Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts, that is, God and His Spirit, knows what is in the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God."

That is, that the spirit that God has given us, in us, is the one that leads us into alignment according to the will of the Lord. So when both in the Old Testament, in the New Testament, he says that we pray according to the will of the Lord, it is not that the things that I want are going to be given to me by the Lord, but rather that progressively My inner being is going to be aligned to the will of the Lord, and the more that I abide in the Scriptures, the more that I spend time with Jesus Christ, my desires are going to be not only informed, but they're going to be shaped by the character of the Lord, And that which God desires, I will desire. And that which God hates, I will hate. And that which is delightful to the Lord, it will be delightful to me. And that which is despicable to the Lord, or it is not good for the Lord, it will not be good for me.

Why? Because I'm being conformed to Jesus Christ by the power of the Spirit. And when I'm in alignment with the will of the Lord, that is not a spiritual maturity because I have been walking with the Lord for so many years, but rather that is the Spirit of God in me that is now leading me to walk according to the will of God. Praying in the Spirit is the result of abiding in Christ and abiding in His words and maturing in the ways of Jesus. And the more that we mature in the ways of Jesus, we will be praying according to God's will and according to the Spirit that is in us.

That's why Paul, in 1 Corinthians chapter 14, he makes a distinction between praying in the mind and praying with the Spirit. If we do not have the Spirit in us, we're going to be praying according to our own preferences, and we're going to be shaping prayers according to our traditions or according to the influence that we have around us. prayers should happen in the power of the Holy Spirit that leads us, moves us, teaches us, and empower us to prevail in the place of prayer. Let me return to Ephesians chapter 6. I know that this is a lot of information, brethren, but I'm trying to do this in only one sermon.

So it is a lot of things in only one sermon. So please forgive me for the length of these and the many things, but just try to prevail by the Spirit with me. It says in verse 18, praying at all times, that is the extent of the intensity of prayer, and in the spirit. And also it says, with all prayers and supplications. I'm calling these just simply the variety of prayers.

Prayers, and I will just try to make this as short as I can. Prayers, my dear brother and sister, are not only requests of things that we want of the Lord. Prayers comprise a variety of different things, such as giving praise to the Lord for who He is and the things that He has done, rejoicing in the promises of the Lord. You can go through the Psalms of 1 Timothy 2. It is also thanking the Lord for the things that He has given us.

It is expecting from the Lord that He will move in us and among us, rejoicing in the future promises that the Lord has given us, prayer. It is not only coming before the Lord to ask and to request certain things, which is a very important aspect of prayers, to make a request not before the Lord, Philippians chapter 4, but he's also rejoicing in the presence of the Lord for who he is, what he has done, what he continues to do, and what he will do for us and in his bride and his people. It is that we understand God in a more comprehensive way through the scriptures So that when I come to the feet of Jesus, I'm not only filled in my heart with request, but I'm filled with joy of knowing who he is and what he has done and the favor that has been granted unto me. This is the variety of prayers that we can see it. If you allow me from first Timothy chapter two, let us just see it in a verse because I feel a little bit uncomfortable just speaking and not pointing you here.

So let us just go first Timothy chapter two, where Paul speaks about these different variety of scriptures. 1 Timothy chapter 2, it says in verse 1, Paul giving the instruction to the Ephesians through Timothy of how they are supposed to pray, it says in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 1, first of all, then I urge, in verse 1, first of all, then Paul says, I urge that supplications and prayers and intercessions and thanksgiving be made for all, and that he will continue like that. Prayer is much more than requesting something from the Lord. Prayer is the outpouring of the heart of the believer that has to spend time in communion with the Savior through the word of the Lord. So the heart of the believers has been illuminated by the scripture to the many full wisdom of God and the many full acts of God that are worthy to be praised and worthy to be thankful for because of what God has done.

So then our prayers are going to be a manifestation of our knowledge of the Savior. Let us return. And let me just point you to the last two. They're in verse 18. I'm going to leave you with these two last.

Not only that we are supposed to pray at all times, that we're to pray in the Spirit with a variety of prayers, but we need to be urgent in our prayers. The apostle says in verse 18, to that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for old saints. And may the Spirit lead me now to put these two into one here. Now it is the urgency of prayer with perseverance as we make supplication for all the saints. My dear brother and my dear sister, prayer is not only an individual spiritual exercise in which I just receive something for myself, But prayer is the weapon that God has given to each one of his children, so that by using this spiritual weapon, we extend and we build the kingdom of the Savior.

And there's a matter of urgency in that, in that the kingdom of Christ will be expanded. that the church of the Lord Jesus Christ will be built, that people will be saved, that those who are dying, that those who are perishing, that they will not die in their sins, but they will be saved by the power of the grace that saved us. And that urgency of bringing salvation to the one that is lost is the one that we need to have present in our heads, that even though we may not be very strong, that even though we may not have many resources or that we may not have much money, there is one thing that we can do, and that is to enter before the throne of God in urgency and perseverance to bring before him all the needs not present only in me, but in the context of the church and in the place in which we live, this urging necessities of the spiritual world, that when we bring those before the Lord, this is the way that the kingdom of Christ is established. So then we learn that the mission that I have in this place that I call earth on this side of eternity, on this side of the redemptive history. It's not only about me and my needs and my problems and the situations that I'm going through.

Yes, I need to address those spiritually speaking, but I need to look beyond me because there are people who need my prayers. There are people who need my intercession. There are people who need that I will bring them before the Lord. And the way that God establishes his bride, it is through the many prayers of the saints that come before the presence of the Lord. And these will not be seen by the eye of man.

This will not be seen by the eye of people, but the Lord receives the prayers of the saints. And in that, my dear brother, there's a great spiritual contribution to the work of God that He's doing upon this earth with His bride and every single Christian. who has been saved by grace through faith has not only the privilege of entering to the throne of grace with boldness, not only in time of need, but also in time of thanksgiving and in times of praise to come and pray before the Lord, not only for our individual needs, but also for those who are around us. It does no matter how strong you are, how old you are, how young you are, how weak you are, how many of you you have, if you have centimeter of brain, and if you have one centimeter of energy, and if you can open your eyes, you can come before the Lord and pray. And my dear brother and sister, we do not know the extent of the power of prayers and what the Lord is going to do with those prayers that we pray today.

Very well, someone might be saved 50 years down the track by the prayers that we give now, and we will never know because we will die. But you know what? That may the Lord use the prayers of His people to build up His kingdom in ways that are known to us. Because we don't need to know what is going to be the fruit of our prayers. What we need to know is that God has called us to pray.

And the way that He establishes His kingdom is through the prayers of His people. I've done what I can, I've sweated as much as I can to tell you, my dear brother, of the importance of what it is to pray. If you're going to do something with your life, do it at the feet of Christ, interceding for brothers and sisters and for your life and for the kingdom of Christ. Are you tempted by certain things in your mind, in your eyes, in your heart? Come before the Lord in prayer.

Are you weak in a particular way in your flesh, in your body? Come before the Lord in prayer. Are you lacking understanding of certain things that you read in the Scriptures, and the Scriptures are not speaking unto you? Pray before the Lord that he will illuminate you and that he will guide you. Are you struggling with desire to come to church and to be with the brothers and sisters and to minister unto one another?

Bring those things before the Lord, because the things of the Spirit are not fixed by repetition or by training. The things of the Spirit are fixed and addressed by the things of the Spirit. And let me submit to you that if there's anything that you're going to remember from me being your brother, it's this. The two most important things is how you give yourself unto the word of the Lord to treasure up the commandments of Christ in your heart that you may not sin against him, and how much you spend time before the presence of the Lord in prayer. Every other thing of the Christian life, who you are, what you do, whom you marry, how you're a husband and a wife, a children, a brother and sister in the context of the church, evangelism, the word of God, preaching, sermons, and all of this is going to be the result of your communion with Christ.

through the Word and through prayer because it is in that place where we receive of Jesus Christ. May the Lord have mercy and give us the understanding of these matters, my dear brother and sister, so that each one of us will be united not only by the grace of Christ but also we will be united in the blessing of what it is to pray unto our Lord who saved us and loved us and redeemed us. Amen. Let us pray together. Father, we come before you in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, and we give you thanks, Lord, for what you have done for us.

I pray, O Lord, that your word will abound in the hearts of your people, and as your word abounds in the hearts of your people, that we will have a deeper and greater understanding of Christ. And as we have a deeper and greater understanding of Christ, Lord, lead us to the place of prayer. I pray, O Lord, that you will grant us by your Holy Spirit to understand that it is not only a religious activity that we do on a Wednesday or a Sunday, but that because of the glorious relationship that we have with you, Father, through Christ Jesus, that we can come before you and by the Spirit to call you Abba, Father. I pray, O Lord, that you will show us and make us a people who pray in the secret place. Lord, I pray for us husbands and wives.

Please help us in being diligent in praying, Lord. Help us, Lord, with our children to pray with them, Lord. Please help us, Lord, to teach them to come before the place of God, to pray. Help us, Lord, to point them to Christ. Help us, Lord, that our instructions to our children will not overwhelm the prayers that we bring before you for them.

The amount of discipline and the amount of instruction that we give will not be so overwhelmingly different to the amount of prayers that we give for our children. I pray that you will do this, Lord, for our husbands and wives and for our parents, Lord, that the amount of love that we have for them will not be seen in the things that we do for them, but in the time that we spend praying for them. I pray, O Lord, that the way that we manifest love towards one another is not only in the coming together of the saints on a Sunday, but in our prayers for one another. Lord, please, that many prayers will come from our church and from our people before you, Lord. Teach us, Lord, to pray.

Teach us, Lord, the words that we need to say to pray. Teach us, Lord, to pray collectively and corporately. Teach us, O Lord, please, to pray in the secret place. Teach us, Lord, to pray as families, as couples, and as single. Help us, O Lord, please.

We're so easily tempted in many of the things of this world, and many times, Lord, we say that there's not enough time for us to pray. So I pray, I pray, and I pray, O Lord, that you will help us, that you will have mercy upon us lord that you will empower us when we are praying together lord and our minds are easily tempted to go and deviate in another place lord i pray that you will grant us the understanding of how important it is that moment in which we bow down our heads and pray together And even as we listen to the voice and to the prayer of the other person, Lord, that we will bring them before you, that we will understand that even in this little moment, these little seconds, a minute or two in which we're praying together, that there is something spiritual that is taking place and there is something that is coming before you, Lord. So I pray that you will make us prayers, that you will make us people who pray and abound in prayers, Lord, and that you will protect us from religion and desire to just simply do things because of the flesh or religion, but rather, Lord, that you will lead us to pray. Lord, in the morning when we wake up and when our senses come and we're conscious of the day, that you will be the first thought that comes into our head, so Lord, please, and that we will pray and that we will give you thanks for being alive. When we have food before us, Lord, that we will give thanks for the food that you provide.

When we see our husband or our wife, Lord, that we will be thankful for their lives because you are the one who has provided. When we see our children, Lord, that we will do the same. When we see our brothers and sisters, that we will do the same, Lord, that we will be thankful and rejoice in the heart for the lives of those that you have given us. When we come to church and we're gathering here together, that we will be thankful in our hearts in prayers, oh Lord, for the things that you do for us and for the things that we perhaps deserve that you have not given us, Lord. We pray even now for all of our brothers and sisters who are not here present, who may be going through difficult times and temptations or whatever circumstances, we bring them before you, Lord, now, even to each one of the minds of my brothers and sisters, whoever is that person that we ought to intercede for, I pray, Lord, for them, and I ask that you will be with them, Lord, that you will protect them and that you will keep them, Lord.

We pray for our mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters who are not in Christ, and I pray, Lord, that you will have mercy upon them and that you will give them salvation. We pray, Lord, that you will forgive us for the many times that we have behaved in ways that we are not supposed to behave. things that we said that we are not supposed to say, O Lord, that you will forgive us from those things, Lord, and that you will empower us to be vessels that bear fruit of righteousness, Lord. We bring before you our children who are not in Christ, and we pray, Lord, that you will have mercy upon them, Lord, that you will protect them from the temptations of this world, that you will protect them from the temptations of idolatry and sex and sexual immorality and money and all of these things, Lord, and that You will do work in them, Lord. We pray, Lord, that You will do these things for the glory of Your precious name, for the extension of Your kingdom, for the edification of this church.

that in all things Jesus Christ will be exalted in our hearts and that you will take all the glory and now lord as we come to the table we give you thanks lord because we can come and rejoice in the fact that we have been united to you by grace And we don't want to do this out of repetitious activity, Lord. So we want to do it with a thankful heart for who you are and what you've done. So Lord, please bless us as we partake of this table. And we ask that you will do this in Jesus' name. Amen.