Supernatural Prayer & Supplication

Praying in the Spirit of God!

Ephesians 6:18–20 ESV

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, that 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.

There's something about that Name

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus; 

There's just something about that name! 

Master, Saviour, Jesus, 

Like the fragrance after the rain; 

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, 

Let all heaven and earth proclaim; 

Kings and kingdoms will all pass away, 

But there's something about that name!

We are at the end of our series on the Armor of God. This will be the last part that we will discuss. By this time you should know that when we put on the whole armor of God we are putting on Jesus. Jesus is our defense against evil. Jesus is our righteousness, and He is the truth and the way. Jesus is the word of God and is responsible for our salvation. It is His Story that saves people through the gospel of truth.

Today can we talk about how to activate the armor of God. Because we can not put on the whole armor of God unless we activate it. The activation switch for the armor of God rests in relationship with Jesus. I love the way that Paul wraps this up in a nice little bow.

Another thing that I am learning is how important prayer is. It is the link to relationship with Jesus. If you are not praying then you do not have a relationship with Jesus. I do not know of any relationship that can survive without communication. Communication is the key for a successful relationship whether that is with your wife or husband, your children, your friends, or anyone that you desire to be around. So why is this important for Jesus. He knows that we as humans share our hearts through communication. He can see your heart and what is in it, but what He wants is for us to express our hearts to Him. We do that through prayer with Jesus. If I could add another lost art it would be meditation. We are to ponder on the word of God.

Pondering the Word of God is an active, meditative process of deeply weighing scripture to foster spiritual understanding, strengthen testimony, and apply divine truths to life. It involves slowing down to chew on single verses, praying for enlightenment, and "treasuring" these insights in the heart to foster personal transformation and peace. Scripture says that Mary pondered these things in her heart. Prayer is more than you just asking God for stuff. The prayer that foresters relationship is one that ponders and thinks on the concepts of God. Did you not do that when you met the person you love. Did you ponder on the things they said and wonder about the stuff they would like. This is a biblical concept that we have lost. Here are some scriptures on pondering on the word of God.

Joshua 1:8 “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”

So pondering and meditating on the word of God is connected to your being able to be obedient to Jesus, and also being successful.

Psalm 1:2 “but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.”

Psalm 119:15 “I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.”

Psalm 143:5 “I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands.”

This psalm says that I meditate on the things you have done. Do you ever look back on the things that Jesus has done in your life? It is important that we remember those things because if we don’t we get a Janet Jackson attitude. You know the one the “what have you done for me lately” attitude with God.

Prayer is more than just us flapping our gums never thinking and never allowing God to speak to us. Here is what prayer and meditation does for us. It allows us to share our hearts with God, and it also allows God to share His heart with us. As we ponder on His ways and laws He then speaks to us and tells us what is on His heart. Think about that for a second when the Lord speaks to us it is usually when we are pondering on some concept or passage in the bible.

I was speaking with Pastor Lisa and we were talking about this Sunday and I was sharing what was on my heart. But as I started to share what was on my heart about honoring God in prayer the Spirit of God started to speak to me. He started to share what was on His heart. Now here is where most of us get this wrong, because there was a moment when I could have continued down the path I wanted to go down. But when the Spirit started to talk all thoughts that I had went out the window. If I were to push my way to go down the path I wanted to go down then it would not have been honoring God.

Can we go deeper today in prayer. Because when we started RPC the Spirit of the Lord put on my heart that prayer would be a pillar of the church. This is the reason why we ordained a prayer pastor so that we would never go astray from prayer. I will give you a bit of in sight on how I prepare a sermon. I will get the passage first because I know that this is what the Lord wants me to speak out of. Then I will look at some commentary to see what others are saying about the passage. Then I pray and ask God what He wants me to say about the passage. As I write the sermon I periodically stop and listen to what the Spirit is saying. When I stop it is part listening and part praying. I always know when the Spirit is speaking because I start with a simple thought then my fingers start to type at the speed of my thought. Every time That happens when I go back to read it I always know it was not me but the Spirit of God.

Can we talk about prayer and meditation today? Can we talk about having a Heart to Pray? Can we talk about a Prayer of Intercession. Finally can we talk about A Prayer for revelation and understanding.

A Heart of Prayer;

Ephesians 6:18–20 ESV

praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.

What does it mean to pray in the Spirit? Also if we are to pray in the Spirit how many people are actually doing it?

Praying in the Spirit means praying under the guidance, power, and influence of the Holy Spirit, rather than by human effort alone. It involves aligning prayers with God’s will, often with the Spirit's help when we don't know how to pray, and can involve praying in tongues or simply praying with sincere, Spirit-led fervor.

How many of us ask for the Spirit to come and lead us before we even start to pray? To be honest Spirit lead prayer means that you take a back seat and the Spirit of God takes the front seat. I think the struggle that many of us have is that we want to pray what we want to pray. That is fine but if the Lord does not answer your prayer it could be because your not praying in His will. When we pray in the Spirit we are guaranteed to pray in the will of our Father God. Paul says to pray at all times in the Spirit. This means whenever I pray it should be in the Spirit. It does not matter what I am praying for.

Paul goes on to say with all prayer and supplication. Praying with all supplication means approaching God with deep humility, earnestness, and sincerity to present specific, heartfelt requests for oneself or others. It signifies a posture of total dependence, often characterized as a "beggar's plea" for divine intervention in times of need or vulnerability.

Can I offer up a thought. Now this may not be anyone in this room. But when we pray we tend to come before God as if we are equals or as if He owes us something. I have to be honest there are times when I pray that I hear myself and I sound a bit presumptuous. To pray in supplication means that I come in humility praying with a beggars plea asking for something. Because I know that I am the lesser in this arrangement. I get that we should pray boldly and God wants us to pray boldly, but with a heart of humility.

Here is how that looks. I might say a prayer that says “In the name of Jesus be healed”. Now that is a bold statement, but there are two things that will make this powerful and at the same time humble. The first thing is what we have been talking about. If I make that statement in the Spirit of God then the power of God is being released. But to add to that if I make that statement in the Spirit of God while in my heart coming from a place of humility, now we get power and placement, and this is a prayer that Jesus is happy to answer. If I am honest with you this tension that I am speaking of is hard to maintain. Because our human hearts and minds see the power of God and somehow want to make it about us. We want to take the credit for the healing thus knocking us out of the place of humility. Our placement is gone we are no longer aligned with the will of God. This happens all the time to various Christian’s all over the world. This why I believe that the Lord left a thorn in Paul’s flesh.

2 Corinthians 12:7 “So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.”

This is why it is important to pray in the Spirit, because when we pray in the Spirit we cannot be conceited because we know that the Spirit of God is the one doing the work. We are just there as a witness to the power of God.

Can I be transparent with you all for a second. I know that Marissa always looks at me when I say or feel that I somehow missed the mark when preaching to you. To be honest most times when I leave the pulpit I feel as if I have failed in preaching the message. But I know that the Spirit of God takes what I cannot do and makes it right. But to be truthful with you the man in me wants to consistently know that I am knocking my sermons out of the park. In stead I leave most times feeling as if I have failed. Here is how it all comes together. I am inspired by the Holy Spirit to deliver the word He has given me week to week. It is my job to come before you and speak it boldly. But I know that it is not me who has produced the sermon so i humbly take a back seat to the Spirit of God. Listen I am not in any way patting myself on the back, because my flesh wants to revel in the success. But my success is not based on my performance, it is based on the Holy Spirits presence. So I am ok with feeling the way I do, nor will that stop me from preparing the sermons week after week. Because truthfully I want to glorify God so I must do as John did.

John 3:30 “He must increase, but I must decrease.””

This phrase, famously spoken by John the Baptist in the Bible (John 3:30), signifies a humble surrender of ego, pride, and personal ambition to allow Jesus Christ to become more prominent. It represents a shift from self-promotion to exalting God, ensuring that one's own, smaller influence decreases so that divine, greater influence can increase. This is what praying at all times in the Spirit with prayer and supplication looks like.

Prayer is not for asking for stuff. It is about becoming one with Jesus.  The goal for us to become one with Jesus.  We do this through communication which is prayer and meditation.

John 17:20–23 ““I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 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. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 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.”

That is powerful on so many levels. This is why we need a heart to pray. Jesus wants us to be one with Him and the Father. When we come before Jesus in the right posture with prayer and supplication we get His attention. We must develop a heart to pray. A desire to be in His presence and to spend time with Him. Family if I am honest I feel like we treat Jesus like we treat the other relationships in our lives. He should be everything and we should be willing to do everything we can to be in His presence. There may be some sacrifices that we need to make in order to spend time with Jesus. That is what the heart of prayer looks like.

Look at your neighbor and say what type of heart do you have?

2. A Prayer of Intercession:

Ephesians 6:18–20 ESV

To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,

Paul says to stay alert with perseverance. This means to know what is going on around you. We are not called to put our heads in the sand. We need to be alert of what is going on around us. How are we going to know what people are going through if we have buried our heads in the sand.

The problem that I see is that there are many churches that have closed their doors to the world. There is no outreach to the communities they are in. There is barely a prayer night or time to pray. But Paul is saying that we should be alert with all perseverance. Perseverance means persisting in something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success. This means that we do not pray just once and call it quits. We pray until we see results.

Then Paul says to make supplication for all the saints. Does anyone know who Paul was talking about when he referred to the saints? He was talking about you and I. We are the saints he was talking about. This means we should be praying in supplication for the saints. So catch this we should not just be praying for each other, we should be begging God for each other. This brings a deeper level of intercession. I hear all the time of people standing in the gap for others. But this says more than standing in the gap. This means standing in the gap and pleading with God on behalf of others. Paul did not say make only supplication for your family and friends. No, he said making supplication for all the saints. Guess what this means? This means even those saints you don’t like. This means even those saints who have hurt you. This means even those saints who talked about you. I know we like to not think of those people as saints. But one day many of them will be in Heaven with you, and your prayers will testify against you.

Psalm 56:8 “You have kept count of my tossing; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?”

Revelation 5:8 “And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.”

Your prayers go up before God as an offering of incense. We have been commanded to bless not curse.

James 3:4–5 “Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!”

The intercession that Paul is talking about is not cursing the saints, rather it is praying in supplication for the saints. So Paul is saying to stay alert with perseverance praying in supplication for all the saints. We are watching and praying for everyone. Intercession is the act of intervening on behalf of someone else. This is what Paul is saying. I think one of the biggest problems we as the church have is that we do not pray for all the saints. We prays for those in our church and we get so tied up with praying for each other that we never pray for anyone else.

Lord forgive me for praying for the things that I care about and not the things that you care about. There are children starving in the world and I am praying asking for God to give me a good day. Right now there are people in harms way whom have nothing to do with anything other than living where they live. They have bombs dropping around them and they do not know if they will survive the night. Who is praying for them? They are the saints as well. We complain that we meet in one room here at the VFW. There are those who have to hid to meet in caves and underground so they are not arrested or killed. Who is praying for them? Lord forgive us for being so self absorbed. Lord forgive us for not asking you what we should be praying for. I want to pray in supplication for all the saints.

(Have leaders come up to pray) Pray for children who are hungry, pray for those who have to hide to praise God, pray for those who are in harms way. Somebody pray for the West Warwick Baptist Church. Have the church intercede for all the saints.

Look at your neighbor and say now that is how you pray!

3. A Prayer for Revelation & Understanding:

Ephesians 6:18–20 ESV

and also for me, that 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.

I have found out that I am a prisoner in chains for Christ. That I have found something that I am willing to give my life for. In fact I have given my life for it and it was the best thing I have ever done in my life.

Paul says to pray for him that he may be able to open his mouth boldly in proclaiming the mysteries of the gospel. That is something to ask for. I ask that you may pray for me to be able to proclaim the mysteries of the Gospel. That is a deep understanding of what the Gospel says and means. I want that because if I had that someone might hear and be saved.

That I may be able to declare the gospel boldly. We need some people who have a desire to proclaim the gospel boldly. This will take being prayed for. How often do you pray for your spiritual leaders. I am not ashamed to ask how often do you pray for me? The reason I ask is because those who pray for everyone are usually the ones who never get prayed for. So if we pray for you please pray for us. I would like to know that someone is praying for me because we need prayer to do this. I need someone to pray that I receive revelation and understanding from the Spirit of God. Because I don’t know about you but I have to do this. It is like fire in my bones that if I do not do this I will explode.

Family please keep me in prayer and keep the leadership here in prayer. The enemy would want nothing more than for the church to not pray and he can take free swipes at the pastor and the leadership.

At Sacred Exchange we would pray for Pastor Mike before every service. We would not let him preach without him being prayed for. I do not think that Paul was bashfully asking for prayer. I think he was unashamed to ask and like him i am unashamed to ask.

When we put on the whole armor of God prayer is the sealing agent. Listen this is how we become one with the Father. As we put on the armor we put on Jesus. Once we put on Jesus prayer is the added piece that makes us one with them. Praise God that He has allowed us to be one with them.

Pray and ask the Lord to give your Pastor and leaders understanding and revelation on the word of God so that we may proclaim it boldly as we ought to.

(Have the Leader come back up and have the congregation pray for us.)

This is what supernatural prayer and supplication looks like family.

look at your neighbor and ask will you pray for me as I pray for you?

End with:

Matthew 6:5–8 ESV

“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Family supernatural prayer and supplication is not done with fancy words. It is done by praying from the heart. It is done with being authentic with God and allowing Him to enter your life.

Let me say something about prayer.  That obedience must come in order for prayer to be answered.  We can ask for revival and we think that revival has not come because we have not prayed.  But truthfully the revival has not come because we have not been obedient.  When we have some obedient Christian’s praying we will see God move.  We will see revival come. 

We have decided to once a month to have a time of prayer during our worship time. it is different but what we want is for us as a church to learn to sit at the feet of Jesus. When we do have those instrumental times please come and let’s learn together to sit at the feet of Jesus. During that time you can read your word. You can come and lay before Jesus. I am betting that we are going to see the move of God during those times like never before.

(Pray for everyone… Encourage everyone to get involved in Rally Point). We have mid week prayer. We have once a month bible study with pastor Joan and Bob. We have men’s group that meets every Saturday morning right here from 8:00 AM until 9:00 AM. We now have a once a month ladies bible study right here get involved and lets grow together.

I want to challenge everyone to pray for five people who you do not normally pray for. I want you to pray for them for the next month. At the end of the month I want to have a time of testimony to tell what the Lord has done.