THE PRAYING CHURCH – PRAY CONTINUALLY

THE PRAYING CHURCH – PRAY CONTINUALLY 1 Thes 5:17 August 23, 2009 Given by: Pastor Rich Bersett [Index of Past Messages] Introduction There once was a man who wanted so badly to serve the Lord in a serious way that he searched out the most demanding monastery he could find so he could join it and express his love for God through rigorous disciplines of obedience and prayer. Among other difficult requirements this monastery required the vow of silence. In fact, adherents were allowed to speak only two words a year, and that before their confessors on one special day. After a the first year the man appeared before his superior and said, “bed hard.” Another year passed and his only two words were “room cold.” The third year, “food bad.” The fourth year he stood before his confessor and said these two words: “I quit.” The other priest responded, “Well, I’m not surprised – all you’ve done is complain since you got here!” When we are addressed as believers with a two-word imperative from the New Testament scriptures such as 1 Thessalonians 5:17 “Pray continually” what are we to think? Are we to think of nothing in this world but devout prayer? Is nothing else in all of life worthy of our attention? Jesus told the parable of the persistent widow in Luke 18, according to verse one “to show [the disciples] that they should always pray and not give up.” In Ephesians 6:18 we are taught to “be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” And in Romans 12:12 we are chided to be continually “faithful in prayer.” Yet the Word is also chock full of very practical commands on how to live out our faith in daily life in a manner such that we are obediently living out the fruit of the Spirit. Is there really TIME to pray continually, or as the King James puts it to “pray without ceasing?” Or do we need to tutor ourselves more perfectly on what it means to “pray continually”? Clearly we are not called to a monkish life of being lost in deeply devoted prayer with our heads covered so as not to be distracted by anything in the world around us. No, but there is a way to be both involved in the busy involvements of life as a witness and servant of Jesus Christ AND an obedient practitioner of prayer in such a way that it can best be understood in terms of “continual prayer.” In fact, we may find that many of our most cherished thoughts about what it means to be in continuous prayer are distorted by religious tradition and false caricatures of prayer. We have made it a point in the past two weeks to remember that prayer is both a personal and a corporate discipline in the Christian community. Consider a few thoughts about the nature of continual prayer. I. Continual Prayer captures the essence of prayer like no other “prayers” can. For just a moment think about what God was after when He created the very notion of prayer. What was He after when he designed this arrangement wherein the creatures communicate with the divine Creator? May I suggest His idea was not simply a mechanistic duty, or ritual of religious satisfaction. Don’t the pages of the Bible make us understand that God desires meaningful relationship with us? Yes, sin has separated us from Him, introducing guilt and judgment, but for the Christian, the one reconciled to God through Christ, is not the primacy of that relationship with God restored? Wouldn’t it be nice to have an encouraging employer? What would that be like? You get sick leave, all those benefits and a raise once in awhile, don’t you? And there is the annual picnic and a periodic motivational seminar. Yet, does that qualify the boss as an “Encouraging boss?” Not necessarily. Encouragement might mean a little more that doing the right things. You want to be generous. You consent to a paycheck deduction of a half of a percent. A couple dollars a year go into the Salvation Army kettle each year. Are you necessarily a generous person? You love your wife. Every time you part you kiss her goodbye, you share regular times of intimacy, give her gifts each and every birthday, anniversary. So you’re necessarily a loving husband, right? Not necessarily—love may go a step or two beyond the token behaviors into something more special. You pray before meals, you stay with the leader during public prayers, working hard at paying attention and praying along. You’ve been known to lead in public prayer. You even have a regular time of prayer every morning at 6:30 and a night time prayer as you fall asleep. These are good. But does it necessarily bespeak a prayerful attitude? Or is it a little different from saying I am in a devoted relationship with God? A church family prays two or three times together during Sunday worship services. The group intercedes for special needs regularly and is involved every year on the National Day of Prayer. Is it necessarily true that they are in a vital relationship with God? There is another level of attitude, devotion, hunger that moves beyond dutiful and right behavior into vital, devoted relationship. That’s the realm of Continual Prayer. J. B. Lightfoot put it this way: It is not in the moving of the lips, but in the elevation of the heart to God, that the essence of prayer consists. God’s wants a vital relationship with us marked by continual dialogue. 2. Continual Prayer enables walking in the Spirit Gal. 5 is a great passage on living in a way to please the Lord. It is filled with talk of living by the Spirit, walking in the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit. Rom.8 likewise references being led by and empowered by the Holy Spirit of God. Eph. 5:18 is a basic command for believers. It is in the present (progressive) tense and is best translated Keep on being filled with the Spirit. When we talk about being filled with the Spirit, let’s be clear, it does not mean having had a one-time experience. While that particular experience may have been a moving and catalytic event in your spiritual life, it is not the same as the New Testament’s reference to living the Spirit life or walking in the Spirit or being filled (continuously) with the Spirit. In similar fashion, saying prayers is not the same as praying continually. One is an experience—the other is a lifestyle. In practical terms, being filled with the Spirit or walking in the fullness of the Spirit can be easily defined by two symptoms: 1. having no un-confessed sin 2. being instantly obedient to the Lord Now we Christians know painfully that though we have been forgiven by God’s mercy and saved by His grace in Christ, we are still dragging around with us our old sin nature. And walking in the Spirit isn’t just a walk in the park. We need spiritual resources beyond ourselves to stay focused on Him and to stay plugged in to His Spirit’s presence and power. Enter Continual Prayer. Aren’t the new GPS systems great? Instant directions when you need them. Before that if you needed help getting where you were going, you could always use your cell phone. Before that you could invest in a CB radio or a walkie-talkie system. Before that, you stopped into the nearest Phillips 66 station and asked the clerk, who would invariably say, “I don’t know,” then offer to sell you a map. When we are in uninterrupted communion with the Lord, we are enabled to navigate life with spiritual acumen. There something about the Father’s presence and the Spirit’s voice in our hearts that not only reassures, but gives peace that we’re on track with Him. ILUS of girl scout campout with Krista: little sleep, helper’s hike. You just have to stay within earshot of the one who can see. God is quite interested in our genuine spiritual health, and He has provided a way for us to be informed and empowered. Armed with His Word, His Spirit and the irreplaceable privilege of prayer we need never get lost again. If genuine spiritual health is what you want; if you want to please the Lord by walking faithfully in the Spirit; if your desire is to walk in no unconfessed sin and to be instantly obedient to Him, learn to live in continual prayer. 3. Continual Prayer is essential in Spiritual Warfare I trust that I am addressing people who believe that Satan is a real being, and that we are in a real battle with Him. A desperate and defeated deceiver, the devil is out to kill, steal and destroy anyone he can get his demonic mitts on. He is especially out to get you if you have given your life over to Christ through faith. He does not like to lose and he will do whatever he can to get you back into the place of spiritual delusion, guilt and condemnation. Furthermore, whenever you begin to seriously attempt to grow in your faith, you will make him extra angry. Did you know you have in your power to really tick the enemy off? The devil loves church-going people who just sort of go with the flow and never put Christ in the center of their lives. He loves it if Christ is only an ornament, and add-on for you. But put Him in the center of your life and you get Satan’s attention. You will seriously rile him when you show signs of getting serious about your walk in Christ. Now let me be direct with you who are currently deciding to get serious about prayer. You must know that you will be aggravating the enemy of your soul, and you may expect retaliation. We are seeing it now. In reaction to even the most preliminary plans to build up the church as a house of prayer, the devil is busy creating havoc. He’s messing with marriages, he’s creating confusion and he is trying his hardest to get a wedge in wherever there is a chink in your spiritual armor. Be prepared, but don’t be scared, because greater is the one who is in you than the one who is in the world. But get ready—you will experience testing. Then when you have messed with the bull and he shows you his horns, do you know what you’ll need? More prayer; continual prayer. Satan will exploit every weakness you have—you must be covered in prayer. Satan will bring exasperating circumstances to bear in your life—you must learn to pray continually. Satan will mess with your marriage, fuss with your family and he may even wreak havoc with your health. Don’t believe me? Read Job. Most of you know me well enough to know that I do not see demons behind every bush or get superstitious or go off the deep end about such spiritual issues. But I am here to tell you if you are not forewarned about the hazards of growing into deeper levels of prayer and maturity, you will be spiritually stunned and perhaps spiritually stunted. You have nothing to fear, because God is with you, but it is important to be alert. I think of the words of the apostle Peter: Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same. (1 Peter 5:8-9) I am your pastor, and as I have said before, I say again: while you personal and we corporately start getting more aggressive in our obedience be what Christ wants us to be—a house of prayer, we will be inviting the retaliation of the evil one. And it will drive us yet deeper into prayer. We will need to draw on resources from God and one another we have not yet experienced. It is in such crucibles where we will discover the true depth of the experience of praying together. Get ready. 4. Finally, Continual Prayer is what our future heavenly existence will be like – so get into practice now. Being in continual and increasingly more intimate fellowship with Him is the Father’s goal for us in prayer. In fact, that is part of what our eternal heavenly existence will be made of. Perfect, unmolested fellowship with God. Prayer here is a foretaste. The joy of the Lord is our strength until we get there. You know as well as I that the most satisfying levels of joy we can ever know come in the context of our healthy relationship with God. If you want to be strong, satisfied and steady in your pre-heaven faith walk, learn to more perfectly pray continually. I feel as though I am in pre-kindergarten in the school of prayer, but by God’s grace I have come far enough to know that it is where I want to be, and I want to grow in this relationship with God through prayer. I want our church to know the power and the intimacy of the kind of corporate prayer God has for us. The key ingredient, the Spirit is saying to us, is prayer. To pray without ceasing establishes prayer, not as a part of the Christian life, but as all of it. I must add to that quote that even prayer isn’t ultimately all of the Christian life, but it is the key to opening the rest of what God has for us. For now, pray these things asking God to help you grow in the art of prayer. First, to grow in your awareness that God is always present. Think of the analogy of love. When you are truly in love with another there is an unceasing awareness of the other. It doesn’t mean that you are consciously engaged in thinking of the other, but the “presence” of the one is constant with you. Every move you make and every thought you think is colored by the beloved one. All your decisions are made with the beloved one in mind. All of life is oriented around this great love. You are God’s beloved. He wants to be your beloved. Such intimacy will demand prayer—both prayers and that continual walking in the presence of God. Daily periods of intentional prayer, reflection, meditation on His Word, are essential to establish the climate of unceasing prayer for the rest of the day. Don’t deny your beloved God the honor of your devotion to Him. That’s the way we start to please Him in ever better ways—by growing in our openness to God. He His desire is that we consciously bring all of ourselves into His presence. I guess the greatest thing about drawing nearer to God is that when we do He enables us to see Him better, to see Truth better, to deepen our understanding of His will for our lives. Inspirational speaker and writer Barbara Johnson tells this story: The day had not started out well for a certain woman. She had overslept and was late for work. Then some things happened at the office that only contributed to her harried condition. By the time she reached the bus stop for her trip home, her stomach was tied in an intricate knot. As usual, the bus was late and packed, and she had to stand up. The bus started, stopped, turned left, then right, pushing and pulling her in all directions. The day wasn't improving even as it came to an end. Then she heard a man's voice up front proclaim, "Beautiful day, isn't it?" Because of the crowd she couldn't see the man, but he continued to comment on everything the bus passed that added to his joy: a church here, an ice cream store there, a baseball diamond here, a library there. The atmosphere in the bus grew immediately more carefree as did the woman's heart. The man's enthusiasm was so winsome, the woman found herself smiling. When the bus reached the woman's stop, she worked her way through the crowd to the door. As she did so, she glanced at the erstwhile "tour guide"; a plump man, wearing dark glasses, and carrying a white cane. He was blind. As she stepped off the bus, she realized the day's tensions had disappeared. God had sent a blind man to help her see that, though things go wrong sometimes, it's still a beautiful world. God help us to SEE – each of us and all of us. Ephesians 3:14-21 Prayer for Bob and Jan Claus – off next week to Ukraine.     [ Back to Top]