Prayer Meeting outline

Introduction

As Christians, we believe that prayer is powerful and we see in Scripture a command to pray. This morning we looked at Acts 1:9-14 and the final section of verses told us that these 120 people were praying and they were united as they did so. This evening, we are going to take a pause in our study of 1 Thessalonians and meditate on God’s Word and spend time in individual and corporate prayer. Before doing this, I wanted to read some Scripture and give us some points to keep in mind regarding prayer.

Ephesians 6:10–20 CSB

10 Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by his vast strength. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens. 13 For this reason take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand. 14 Stand, therefore, with truth like a belt around your waist, righteousness like armor on your chest, 15 and your feet sandaled with readiness for the gospel of peace. 16 In every situation take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit—which is the word of God. 18 Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request, and stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints. 19 Pray also for me, that the message may be given to me when I open my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel. 20 For this I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I might be bold enough to speak about it as I should.

In these verses we see several wonderful reminders about prayer and the Christian mindset when we pray. First, Paul starts this passage off by telling the believers in Ephesus to be strengthened by the Lord and put on the armor of God. Whenever we pray, we are strengthened by God! As the Psalmist says

Psalm 46:1 CSB

1 God is our refuge and strength, a helper who is always found in times of trouble.

He is our helper and He strengthens us. It doesn’t matter how big or strong you are on your own, whenever you pray to the Creator and King of the universe, you receive strength and you are able to face things that would be impossible otherwise. Paul says to put on the armor of God so that you can stand firm against the devil’s schemes. We understand that our battle is not just a visible battle, but our battle is a spiritual battle. Whenever we remember this, we understand why prayer is so important because it prepares us for spiritual warfare. We protect ourselves and others as we pray.

What does this armor actually do, though? It seems a little bit outdated in the coming verses. Paul’s warning in putting the armor on is to be prepared for battle and to stand firm in resisting the devil. What does this mean and how do we stand firm? In order to stand firm, we actually have to put these weapons to use in our lives. It’s not enough to read about them in Scripture and fail to apply them to our lives. Take, for example, the belt of truth in verse 14. We know how important truth is in our lives and in the life of the church as people who believe the Bible and believe that it is the Word of God and absolute truth. John says this

John 8:32 CSB

32 You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

The truth is extremely important and whenever we pray, one of the things that we can and should pray for is a heart that longs for the truth of Scripture and to be able to better understand it and share it with others. Not only do we receive understanding whenever we pray, we also are united with one another.

One of the most convicting aspects of prayer is that we have the opportunity to go to our heavenly Father at any time. He’s not like an employee who works 8-5 shifts 5 days a week and forces you to call back on the weekends. He’s always there. He’s always listening. He has all power and He holds all things in the palm of His hand. As we noted last week, we should pray continually. Yet there is a temptation to not pray at all or to pray a very surface level prayer. Not that there is anything wrong with a surface level and straightforward prayer, but if we have a relationship with our Savior, shouldn’t we surrender all things over to Him and share with Him even the most intimate and deep fears and dreams that we have? We certainly should! There’s nothing that you will say in prayer that will make God love you any more or less than He already does! As we see at the conclusion of Ephesians 6, we are to pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request and stay alert.

Are you alert right now? Are you growing in your walk? Are you lifting yourself and others up in prayer? I certainly hope so. This is a spiritual discipline and part of being a disciple of Jesus Christ means that we grow in our walk as we spend time with Him. How much time do you spend with Him? If you’re like me, that time can vary from day to day. Often times, I can honestly say that I don’t spend “enough” time with Him in prayer. I know that prayer brings about wisdom. Prayer brings about hope. Prayer brings about change. Prayer brings about power. Prayer brings about answers. Yet, it can be difficult to pray continually. There are distractions that always seem to pop up around the time that we begin our quiet time and pray with God.

So what must we do? We must pray. I encourage each of you to evaluate your private prayer life. How can you do a better job of spending focused time with the Lord. We say that we spend time with Him throughout the day with little prayers and those are great! But do you spend any intentional time with the Lord? We all should! Consider how you can do a better job with that.

Over the next few minutes, I invite all of us to spend some time in individual prayer and spend some time praying with your spouse as well. The prayer guide will help give you a few things to specifically pray for but please don’t stop with those things! Pray for other things on your heart. Pray for the lost in your life. Pray for our nation. Pray for our church! Online worshipers, we will have things on our screen for you to pray for and Scripture verses to remind you about the power of our God and the importance of prayer.

Conclusion

To wrap things up in a corporate sense, I want to share a prayer penned by John Stott.

The Preacher’s Notebook: The Collected Quotes, Illustrations, and Prayers of John Stott Prayer for Unity

May God give us:

the discernment to distinguish between essentials and nonessentials;

the courage to hold fast to essentials;

the generosity of spirit to give everyone liberty in nonessentials;

the love for all human beings (whatever their beliefs)

which is patient and kind,

which neither envies nor boasts,

which is neither rude nor proud,

which rejoices in the truth,

which never fails.

Love never fails. We must remember both the power of prayer and the love of God in the coming days, friends. Nothing catches our Lord by surprise and we are called to lay our petitions, fears, requests, anxieties, and worries at His feet. This is a wonderful privilege that we sadly don’t take advantage of as often as we should. As Jesus says, though,

Luke 11:9 CSB

9 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you.

Certainly this doesn’t mean that God is like a genie there to grant our every request, but we do see that there is something important about bringing our requests and questions before Him in prayer as we know that He can do all things and as we wait on His eventual answer. Are you asking, seeking, and knocking today? This should be a call to action for each and every one of us.