May 7, 2023 - The Privilege of Prayer

12 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

If Christianity is a cake...

then SUFFERING is an ingredient OF that cake.

It COMES WITH the territory!

ITS COMING!! A kind that is hard to fathom!

NOW - KNOWING that suffering is on the MENU of life (Ingredient) for Christians...

How do we handle that?

How do we approach that?

Listen - the LAST thing you WANT in your life - is to be ILL-PREPARED for the suffering that’s coming!

The Persecution to come!

Let’s go to the apostle Paul - to see.

Why Paul?

Because Paul - TASTED persecution!

And BECAUSE he did - he always tried to PREPARE those he wrote to!

Do you guys remember what a big portion of Ephesians chapter 6 is about?

Paul - KNOWING what is coming for the Ephesian Believers… PERSECUTION...

He tells them to Armor up!

Let’s go to it...

Ephesians 6:10–17 ESV

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,

The belt of Truth

The breastplate of Righteousness

The shoes of Readiness

The shield of Faith

The helmet of Salvation

The sword of the Spirit

ALL of these things - WORKING together - on our behalf...

Helping us - NOT TO escape suffering and persecution...

But to HELP US STAND - thru it!

Paul wrote this to the Ephesians - but do WE need to ARMOR UP??!

And so we might think - WOW…OK...I’ve HEARD THE CALL....Now I have to get to work!!

Let’s go!!

- Let’s go ARMOR up!!

Paul would say - Whoa....whoa...SLOW DOWN -

Paul would say - STOP...And then he would say...

Ephesians 6:18–20 ESV

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, 19 and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.

We had just come out of this CALL for us to PREPARE for BATTLE...

TO ARMOR UP

But Paul then says...

Before you take ONE STEP - Before you REACH for that PIECE of ARMOR...

You need FUEL for this FIGHT!

And the FUEL - is PRAYER...

There are many types of prayers in the Bible...

We see...

Prayers of gratitude (praising God for Who He is and what He has done)

Prayers of dedication (Solomon dedicates the Temple)

Prayers of Adoration

Prayers of Thanksgiving

Prayers of Petition (praying on behalf of others)

And we see Prayers of Supplication...

Where supplication means - to HUMBLY plead…to make a request!

v18 said...

Ephesians 6:18 ESV

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 so - what we see FIRST from Paul is...

SLIDE: Praying at All Times: For Strength for the Fight

Praying at All Times

Prayer is the FUEL - for this FIGHT…!

ARMOR UP - Paul says - BUT FIRST - PRAY!

AND KEEP PRAYING!!

**It has happened many times - that I’ll be talking something up with the kids...Like - Oh, we can go do this or that...It’s gonna be awesome!

And THEN - we get in the car to go do that - and I realize - I have no gas.

I need to FIRST stop - and get gas

I can talk ALL I WANT about how cool this thing is gonna be……how cool this place is gonna be...

BUT - if we don’t have gas - WE’RE NOT goin anywhere!

I think VERY OFTEN - prayer - even in these circles...Can be - misused in a couple of ways...

SLIDE:

A Formality

A Means to Our Own Earthly Ends

I think that it can either be viewed as ...a formality: something that has to be done but has no real importance

a means to OUR OWN ends

Now - As a Formality...

I think we can get caught up in this idea - that since we believe God is SOVEREIGN...

Prayer - doesn’t really - MATTER...

That if this is all just - God’s PLAN playing itself out - does Prayer even DO ANYTHING??

Well - what was the command?

- PRAY at ALL times!!

The SAME people who are called to ADORN themselves with the ARMOR of God - are CALLED to CONSTANTLY - PRAY!!

PRAYER - literally - powers the FIGHT in us...

Let’s see if Jesus Himself provided an example of this FOR US...

Let’s go to John 17… KNOWN as - The High Priestly Prayer...

What is coming for Jesus - as He prays this prayer?

The crucifixion is coming!

John 17:1–5 ESV

1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

Jesus HERE - about to SECURE in HIMSELF - the CONQUERING of Death...

the GIFT of Eternal Life

His WORK on the cross - the VINDICATION of God’s RIGHTEOUSNESS...

He’s ABOUT to walk toward - SUFFERING unto DEATH...And He... PRAYS!

Prayer is the FUEL for the FIGHT...

STILLLLLL - some ask - what’s the point?

Why should we become a - PRAYING people??

Let’s go to the NT to see an example of why… but first...

Let’s set the stage: Sennacherib was the terrifying king of the great nation of Assyria.

And Isaiah 36:1 tells us this..

Isaiah 36:1 ESV

1 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them.

So this Sennacherib King of Assyria, was a bad dude...And so - from a human perspective - Jerusalem didn’t stand a chance!!

So Sennacherib sends one of his GENERALS to warn Jerusalem - to surrender!

And this GENERAL mocks God and says to Jerusalem - that NO ONE can deliver them from WHAT’s GOING TO HAPPEN!...

And Sennacherib sends a letter to Hezekiah with a new threat...

Isaiah 37:10 ESV

10 “Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.

Sennacherib’s saying - Don’t think for a second…don’t let your God fool you into thinking that Jerusalem will be saved...

And here now is Hezekiah’s response...

Isaiah 37:14–20 ESV

14 Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. 15 And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: 16 “O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. 17 Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. 18 Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, 19 and have cast their gods into the fire. For they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. 20 So now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord.”

What is this?

This is a PRAYER of Supplication!!

PLEADING before the Lord!!

And so let’s look to what happens… next verse...

Isaiah 37:21 ESV

21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria,

God says - - BECAUSE you have PRAYED to me…concerning this

THIS is my response!!

Let’s jump to verse 33 for God’s response!!

Isaiah 37:33–35 ESV

33 “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it. 34 By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the Lord. 35 For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.”

WOW - Is PRAYER - JUST a formality??

NO - “BECAUSE you prayed - VICTORY is yours!!”

PRAYER - is FUEL for the FIGHT!!

It’s NOT a formality...

AND BECAUSE It’s NOT - Let’s go to the Lord now...

- I’d like for AL to come up now and PRAY for us.

- That God would awaken in us THE REALITY of the trials BEFORE US…AND that we would view PRAYER as the FUEL for the FIGHT!

AMEN....back to our passage… and our next point.

Ephesians 6:18 ESV

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,

SLIDE: Praying at All Times: In the Spirit

Praying at All Times

We are to pray - In the Spirit…(big S)

Well how do we do that?

I think Martin Llyod Jones helps with this!

FIRST UP:

Let’s look at what Praying in the Spirit is NOT!

SLIDE: Praying In The Spirit: What It Is Not

Praying In The Spirit

The opposite of praying in the Spirit - would be to Pray in the Flesh!

Praying in the flesh can have many characteristics to it...

It would consist of US - In our OWN ability - carrying our prayers to God.

AND

It would consist of US - seeking our own FLESHLY desires in PRAYING to God!

Martin Lloyd Jones has said this:

We all know what it is to feel deadness in prayer, difficulty in prayer, to be tongue-tied, with nothing to say, as it were, having to force ourselves to try. Well, to the extent that is true of us, we are not praying in the Spirit.

And Jason Meyer says this...

Praying in the flesh calls upon human ability and effort to push past the difficulty. If we are tongue-tied in prayer, we may try to overcome that difficulty with a stream of many words. Jesus warned us against thinking we would be heard because we use many words (Matthew 6:7). If we struggle with wanting to give up after a short time in prayer, we may focus upon how long we pray. Success in prayer does not depend upon how much time we can log in prayer. Sometimes people try to overcome deadness in prayer by focusing on how well we can pray. We subtly trust in having perfectly composed, doctrinally correct prayers that rely upon the right diction, cadence, language, emotion, or volume.

In all of these ways - we end up - PRAYING in the flesh!

AND...

Our DESIRES in prayer - can be misguided as well...

We can treat PRAYER - as a MEANS to our own earthly ends...

BUT - It’s NOT a MEANS to our OWN EARTHLY ends!!

James 4:3 ESV

3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

You PRAY yes - but you do not receive - because you ask WRONGLY...

The Bible tells us to - PUT TO DEATH what is earthly in you...And YET - often times - we PRAY that God would SATISFY what is earthly in us...

THOSE prayers are prayers of the FLESH!

And so we must DO THE OPPOSITE!

SLIDE: Praying In The Spirit: What It Is

Praying In The Spirit

Our prayers must SPRING forth from - NEW desires...

Desires ALIGNED with the Holy Spirit! - FROM the Holy Spirit Himself!

But AGAIN - sometimes we feel stuck! Don’t we?

*Guitar Analogy (new chords / strums)

And these NEW chords that we unearth...

These new strum patterns will EMBOLDEN us…WILL CARRY US FURTHER in our playing!!

YET - Listen - Not every PRAYER in the Spirit - will feel ELECTRIFYING!

Sometimes it will feel - like groaning!

Sometimes the prayer will be - SHORT!

But it will be SPIRIT powered....and THAT’S the difference!

Back to Jason Meyer:

I remember going on a bike ride where there was a gradual incline for the first half and a gradual slope down for the second half. I sometimes think of that as the experiential difference between praying in the flesh and praying in the Spirit. Praying in the flesh feels like an upward climb in which we are having to power up the hill. Praying in the Spirit reflects the reality of the downward slope. Obviously, there are degrees of decline. But the basic awareness of a downhill energy and momentum are present in all of the different degrees of a downward slope.

When we pray in the Spirit... we experience being carried or driven in prayer to God by the Spirit, but how is it done?

SLIDE: Praying In The Spirit: How Is It Done?

Praying In The Spirit

How do we do this?

Jones helps us with this:

SLIDE: Praying In The Spirit: Admitting Our Inability to Pray

Praying In The Spirit

We should start with confession: we must admit our inability to pray as we ought. We must come face to face with our tendency to try to pray on our own. We start with the recognition that prayer is a spiritual activity, and the power of the flesh profits nothing at all. We should feel our dryness and difficulty and confess to him our dullness, lifelessness, and spiritual slowness and sluggishness (Living Water, 86)

But this step is not passive; it is the act of yielding ourselves to the Spirit. Confession leads to expectation and prayerful anticipation.

SLIDE: Praying In The Spirit: Enjoying Living Communion with God

Praying In The Spirit

Our prayer life - should REFLECT this truth...

YET - I know a lot of us - experience a..

FORCED...

Lifeless - Prayer life.

We feel - DISTANT from God - AND YET...

We need to know that the SPIRIT of ADOPTION inside of us - BRINGS us INTO the presence of God!!

He’s NOT DISTANT!

And the Spirit of God will AWAKEN in us the REALITY of God’s closeness....His presence!

And that should LEAD to something!

SLIDE:

Praying In The Spirit: Pleading with Holy Boldness

Praying In The Spirit

When we actually SENSE and FEEL the reality of the Presence of God...

We’ll pray with a PLEADING desire and BOLDNESS!

And see - the prayers will be saturated in BOTH - PLEADING AND BOLDNESS...

The beauty of this boldness is that it is a humble and holy boldness. There is no presumptuous sense of demand.

Back to Martin Lloyd JONES:

Do not claim, do not demand, let your requests be made known, let them come from your heart. God will understand. We have no right to demand even revival. Some Christians are tending to do so at the present time. Pray urgently, plead, use all the arguments, use all the promises; but do not demand, do not claim. Never put yourself into the position of saying, ‘If we but do this, then that must happen.’ God is a sovereign Lord, and these things are beyond our understanding. Never let the terminology of claiming or of demanding be used.

Praying in the Spirit entails a humble, holy boldness before the Lord!

And in CONTEXT with our passage today in Ephesians...

Paul knows that it will take PRAYING in the Spirit - in order to experience the power of the ARMOR of God!!

SLIDE:

Praying in The Spirit

Admitting Our Inability to Pray

Enjoying Living Communion with God

Pleading with Holy Boldness

And so LET’S go before the Lord now. I’d like to ask Mark Fender to come up and pray that we would become a people - who SEEK to pray IN THE SPIRIT… ALIGNED with His desire to glorify God - and not ourselves!

Well - Paul doesn’t stop there!

See - If Prayer IS the fuel for OUR fight…

It makes sense - that Paul would THEN call us to - - PRAY for the saints as well!

And not just 1 time!· Not just on Sunday mornings…

BUT THAT WE WOULD – PERSEVERE in this…

· That we would BE ON GUARD in this ENDEAVOR…to pray for others

And we see this in our text...

Ephesians 6:18 ESV

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 so we see…

SLIDE: Praying at All Times: For Others

Praying at All Times

· That we would become a people who – PERSEVERE in our SUPPLICATION - FOR the saints!

...KNOWING that our prayers are fuel for THEIR fight!!

*How many of you have recently BEEN strengthened by the PRAYERS of OTHERS?

Back to v18

Ephesians 6:18 ESV

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,

· It’s amazing to think that MY prayers – can fuel / EMPOWER your fight…· And that YOUR prayers – can fuel MY fight

· And of COURSE – no one knew this better than – Jesus Himself Remember Jesus’ High Priestly prayer we walked thru earlier…?

· When Jesus prayed for God the Father to Glorify Him…

How do you think Jesus FINISHED that prayer ?

John 17:6–26 ESV

6 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. 9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. 20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

· Amazing??· HERE – we READ Christ’s prayer FOR YOU…

· Here we read Christ’s:

o Armor empowering

o Faith sustaining

o Life overcoming

o Suffering Enduring - PRAYER

o FOR YOU

The prayer of Jesus - FOR US - empowers - OUR FIGHT!!

Your PRAYERS FUEL - Other’s FIGHT!

The apostle Paul KNEW this…and he KNEW the power of other’s prayers...

Think of the SUFFERING that Paul walked thru...

The question is OFTEN asked - HOW could he do that?

- Get stoned, get back up - and HEAD BACK toward the suffering??

- Answer? - Other people’s prayers - FOR PAUL!

And so I just want to do this now...

I’d like Jim Nowosielski to come up - and Pray - I want to pray to God that He would HELP us become a people who PRAY for our brothers and sisters in Christ! [Jim Nowosielski]

The apostle Paul FELT the blessings of OTHER’s prayers FOR HIM...

- And SO NO WONDER - we see our next point today...

We will see this...

SLIDE: Praying at All Times: Asking Others to Pray for You

Praying at All Times

There’s more to it than just praying for God to strengthen us...

There’s more to it than just praying for others

There’s something to be said - when a HEART - humbles itself - and asks the saints for PRAYER...

Who requests OTHERS to go before the Lord in prayer on their behalf!

Maybe you’re someone who is always PRAYING for others…!

Maybe you’re someone who has a really consistent prayer life...

BUT MAYBE you rarely EVER - ask others to pray for you…

Ephesians 6:18–20 ESV

EVEN PAUL - the great theologian....The SAME guy who WROTE these words...

Still NEEDED to ask for prayers...

Listen to these amazing verses...

2 Corinthians 1:8–11 ESV

8 For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. 10 He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. 11 You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.

Paul knew that his ministry - was sustained on the PRAYERS of the saints FOR him...And so no WONDER he said this in Romans 12...

Romans 12:12 ESV

12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

And so I just want to do this now...I want to pray to God that He would HELP us become a people who SEEK the PRAYERS of the saints...

SEAN BACON - Pray that we would become a people - HUMBLED enough to ask others to PRAY for us!

What have we seen today?

SUMMARY:

Praying at All Times

For Strength for the Fight

In The Spirit

For Others

Asking Others to Pray for You

We’ve seen today - that PRAYER Fuels the Fight of Faith!

That if we want to wage war against the Spiritual forces of evil trying to destroy us - we MUST be a PRAYING people!

I’d like to ask - [Dr. Nick] to come up and close us out today - To plead with God that we EMBRACE the privilege we have - in Having God’s EAR - thru prayer!