Pillar 3: Unceasing Prayer

Passionate, faith-filled, unceasing prayer brings God’s manifest presence to the church.

Introduction

If you’ve been here the last several weeks, you know that we’ve been walking through this series on what it means for Mosaic to be a vertical church. This isn’t just some maxium filled mumbo jumbo that we are spouting up here week in and week out. What we’ve been talking about and describing are the foundational elements and doctrines Mosaic is built upon.

And the last two weeks, Pastor James has given us two of four pillars the ministry of our church is held up with. We talked about Unashamed Adoration, Unapologic Preaching, and next week we will look at the last pillar: Unafraid Witness. This morning, though we are going to dive into unceasing prayer. What does it actually mean for prayer to be a core, definitional aspect of our lives.

Here’s the deal, I think each and every one of us in here realizes that our prayers are lacking. Not just in frequency, but in content and passion…even in expectation that our prayers will be answered. And there are many reasons and excuses we could give for this, but the reality when we break it down is that we don’t really believe God listens to us. We have a broken relationship and understanding with this line of communication we have with our Lord and creator.

Ultimately, here is a hard truth when it comes to prayer: Prayer is the first thing we give up on when life is easy, and true prayer is the last thing we turn to when life gets hard. Why is this? How can we reclaim, or maybe even claim for the first time, passionate, faith-filled, unceasing pray in our lives?

The first place for us to start, and it’s how we will unpack the pillar of unceasing prayer, is in Scripture. Turn to 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. Its the first place we will be this morning as we begin to reclaim lives that not just view prayer as a need, but embrace it as the very breath we breathe as believers. So 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, Paul writes:

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Let’s pray

Prayer Must Be Passionate

I don’t know why, but I am a silently emotional person. What I mean by that is that I’m not going to be the person who has these grand displays of emotion with flamboyant gestures, weeping at the drop of a hat, or yelling at everything that irritates me. This doesn’t mean that I never have grand gestures, ugly cry, or lose my temper—but these aren’t my default responses when I feel emotional.

My default response to emotion is to suppress it as much as possible, so that it isn’t obvious to those around me how I am feeling. A lot of times this gets misinterpreted that I am unemotional, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

And I could easily be accused of being dispassionate. I think I generally talk about things I really enjoy on a regular enough basis that people know things I at least like. But I even have a hard time working out things I would say move beyond the “I like this thing” category into true passion....I don’t know, maybe it’s different for you and you can name the handful of things you are passionate about.

Or maybe you’re one of those people who is seemingly passionate about everything and I gotta be honest, I’m happy for you, but it’s exhausting watching and listening to you talk about things you enjoy. I’m really happy that you’re super into miniature ship building or budgeting or video games or whatever…just please don’t tell me about it.

But here’s the thing, there are probably equally things I’m madly passionate about that you’d roll your eyes and secretly yell for me to shut up about if I started talking about them. It’s no secret that I love Lord of the Rings, pipes, and theology. If you have a long enough conversation with me, at least one of those things will come up at some point.

The crazy thing is, we can be passionate about any number of things, but what about prayer? If I’m honest, when I hear the word prayer, passion wouldn’t be the first word that comes to mind. It may not even be in the top ten adjectives I’d throw out to describe it.

We have been created in the image of a passionate God, so why does our idea of talking to Him not spark a sense of passion in our lives? I’d submit its because we have a broken understanding and theology when it comes to prayer. We’ve given into the notion that prayer is something that we are obligated to do, rather than something we GET to do.

Do you understand that? Prayer isn’t something we have to do, but something we are actually called to in love. PTR: By grace we can stand in the throneroom of God, the place where even angels fear to enter, and talk to Him as a child to a loving father. No other being in all of creation is invited into this type of intimate relationship with the maker of all things.

This unique reality for us as human beings, as creatures made in the image of God, should bring us to a place of passionate prayers. Imagine having the same kind of obligatory approach to our other relationships as we often do with God. Husbands, would that go over well for you? Bland, dispassionate words spoken to your wife. How about parents with kids. Do you think your kids would think you loved them very much if the only words you ever spoke to them were requests, corrections, and commands?

This isn’t just something in our more intimate relationships, try to play that game at work. Try communicating with your boss or coworkers in a way that said you cared nothing about your job or seeing the company succeed. You may play your role without grumbling and somewhat effectively, but do you think you’ll be getting a promotion anytime soon? And when layoffs are on the horizon, who do you think is getting sacked first—the person who gets their work done begrudgingly, or the one who pours all their effort into what they do?

We can get by for awhile with obligatory prayers, but how can we sit back and say “I don’t understand why my prayers never seem to get answered” or “I just don’t feel connected to God right now”. Well, no duh. What did you expect? Feeble, impotent prayers are going to be no benefit to you—and most importantly, they are not honoring to our King. God calls us to deep, strong, passionate prayers that call upon the Lord of all creation to move in miraculous ways.

And, come on, let’s not get too confused here. This does not mean that we are going to move into a name it and claim it attitude toward prayer. PTR: God isn’t a cosmic slot machine or magic genie here to grant our wishes—He does not exist to serve us, but we to serve and glorify Him.

This reality makes it imparative that we approach God in an honoring way that is deserving of His holiness. In Matthew 6:9-13, Jesus provides us a guide by which we can pray. And here’s the thing, this prayer Jesus teaches His disciples and us is a guide for us to model our prayers on, not a blueprint to follow step by step, nor a mystical incantation that conjures God’s presence and attention. Jesus prays:

Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth kas it is in heaven. Give us this day our ldaily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Remember Who You’re Talking To

The first step for us in making our prayers as passionate as they must be is in remembering who we’re talking to. Jesus starts out by recognizing God for who He is. He says, “Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.” Who does Jesus say we are praying to? He says Our Father in heaven. We aren’t praying to some far away, uninterested supernatural being—you’re praying to your father. You’re crawling up in your dad’s lap just to be close and talk. This is the relationship we have with Him through Jesus. But our Father is also holy. We aren’t to be flippent in our prayers, taking this honor for granted. He is other than us, but even in his holiness, he is a loving father who we talk to passionately.

For those of you who have children, how many times have you sat and listened happily to your kid explain to you something that stirs their hearts and minds? Even if its something you care nothing about—like some TV show they love, toy they’re playing with, or song they want to listen to over and over and over again. But because it is something you’re kid loves, you begin to love it in some way too, because you see how passionate they are about it.

And as we approach our loving father, passionately desiring to talk with Him, we can come in faith, knowing that he’ll hear us.

Prayer Must Be Faith-Filled

Going back to the imagry of entering the throneroom of God, it is by grace alone, through faith alone that we can stand in that presense. And while we are passionately communicating with the lover of our souls, the faith it takes to acknowledge and believe that He indeed hears our prayers should take our breath away.

Let’s be honest, how many times have you prayed for something with absolutely no expectation that God would hear and answer that prayer? I want to submit that this may be the reason many of us in here have such dispassionate prayers. Think about it, if you really, truly believed that when you prayed, that God not only would hear you, but answer your prayer—what would that change for you? This idea of our prayers being faith-filled is something foreign to so many in this room, as well as our other brothers and sisters around the world.

Why is that though, why are our prayers not just dispassionate, but also faithless? Are we, as Paul says in our text in 1 Thessalonians rejoicing always and in everything giving thanks? I’d say the answer to that is most likely a resounding no. Jesus tells us in the Gospel of John, that “whatever you ask the father in my name, He will give it to you.” And again, let’s not get what Jesus is saying here twisted up that if we pray for a Ferrari in Jesus’s name we’re getting that Ferrari. NO! Jesus is telling us to pray to the Father in faith, that because of Jesus, He will hear our prayers.

And the idea isn’t that God will give us everything we ask for, or everything we want. What type of Father does that? Someone who gives their kids absolutely everything they want and ask for doesn’t really love their kid. Some of you spouses need to hear that too. Just because your wife wants so new piece of jewlry or whatever, I don’t know my wife just likes books, you know whatever it is, doesn’t mean it’d be good for her to have. Wives, just because your husband wants a new tool, or some cool piece of tech, doesn’t mean he should have it. Again, this comes back to me with books—sometimes Cherry just needs to stop me from buying something else for our ever overflowing bookshelves.

Just because you want something, it doesn’t mean you need it or should have it! Yet we treat God like a slot machine to spit out our greatest desire and then get angry with Him when we don’t get it. It’s like you all never listened to Garth Brooks in the 90s to know that some of God’s greatests gifts are indeed unanswered prayers. I can’t tell you how many things I’ve prayed for over the years that I look back on now and thank God that he didn’t give me. Not just material things, but stuff that I desperately needed at the time like a job, answers to questions that kept me up at night, and desires to have a quote unquote normal life. If He had given those things to me, or given them to be immediately instead of waiting down the road, I wouldn’t be the person I am today. Some of you may think that’d be a good thing, and in some ways you might be right. But I can tell you for certain that I wouldn’t be standing up here this morning. I also wouldn’t be a pastor in this church. I wouldn’t know any of you—again you might think that not such a bad thing.

Here’s an example: When I was in college I had an internship at a major Christian record label down in Nashville. It was a great experience, I met a lot of cool people and got the opportunity to hang out with some musicians who wrote songs we sing here at Mosaic. And that was my plan after college, to move to Nashville, go work at this record label, marry Cherry and live happily ever after. I prayed about having the opportunity to take what I thought was the job of my dreams, to live in hippers Nashvegas, and have the life I always dreamed of having. I prayed for those things in faith that God would hear me and answer my prayers. And the thing is, He did answer my prayers, but not in the way I expected Him to.

Instead of having my dream job working in artist development in the music industry, I’ve dealt with the loss of jobs, a premature baby, nearly losing my wife due to that premature birth, struggling with depression and a panic disorder, raising a daughter with special needs, raising another daughter with a sassiness that is seemingly never ending. I’ve dealt with pain, heartache, defeat, and the death of a dream.

So maybe you’re wondering in all of that how God answered my prayers. Instead of what I thought was best for my life, God gave me the experiences to empathize with those who are hurting, he gave me a family that loves me and I adore, he gave me a church family that I love deeply. Most importantly, he gave me a greater sense of hope and faith—that no matter what happens, He is in control of everything.

That’s how prayer strengthens our faith. And as we pray in faith, our desires and prayers begin to not be so focused on our wants and desires, but shaped into reflecting the heart of God Himself.

Seek & Ask for God’s Will

This is why, going back to the verses in Matthew, Jesus tells us to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Ultimately what we want, or what we should want the most for God to answer is for Him to make the world back to what it was meant to be. For Christ to return and usher in the kingdom of heaven here on earth—to wipe away every tear and make all things new. PTR: That is praying the will of God, that is praying for the desire of every believer, that heartache, sin, and death would become nothing more than a distant memory to us. Everyone of us who calls himself believer should want this to be answered—we should beg for this prayer to be answered daily. And for many of us, for this to come to fruition—for Christ to return and bring the kingdom of heaven, it means the death of some of our dreams, and that can be a hard pill to swallow.

If Jesus were to come back today, it means that the spouse you’ve been praying for, or the children you desperately want to have, or the job you’ve always wanted, or whatever else it could be are all dreams that have to die and turn to ash—would you be ok with that? If not, why not?

Could it just possibly be that our faith and hope is more linked to the gifts rather than the gift giver? <Let this sit for a few moments>

God may never give us all we ever want and ask for, but he will always give us what we need, be for our good, and bring Him the most glory.

And as we pray for His kingdom to come and His will to be done, we can pray for these things with all faith that our prayer will be answered—because He has promised that it will be.

Request What We Need

This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t ask God for things. In fact, Jesus tells us the exact opposite, He says: “give us this day our daily bread.” And there’s a really cool parallel here between what Jesus is telling us to pray and how God provided for His people in Exodus. While the Israelites were wandering through the desert for 40 years on what should’ve been like an 11 day journey, God provided manna from heaven—this bread that the people could eat, just enough for that day, to nourish their bodies. And as Jesus is telling us to pray this, he is drawing us back into the imagery that we find later in the Gospels, that Jesus is the bread of life. Not to nourish our bodies, but to fill and satisfy our souls. In essense, what Jesus is telling the people here to pray is to not just provide for our food and every need—which He definitely does—but to give us a daily portion of himself, to fill and satisfy us. PTR: Ultimately what we are requesting is not just for our needs to be met, but for our daily ration of the love and mercy of our Savior.

Seek Forgiveness & Reconciliation

Not only are we seeking God’s will and requesting our needs be met, but in faith we pray for forgiveness of and reconciliation for our sins. We ask God to forgive us our debt as we forgive those indebted to us. Not only are we wanting forgivness and reconcilitation for the wrong we have done, we should also ask for the ability to quickly and fully forgive those who have wronged us. To not just be reconciled to God, but to have reconciliation with our fellow man. This is why when we get our vertical relationship right that our horizontal relationships are able to be fully healed as well.

But in seeking forgiveness, we are also asking God to help us turn away from our sins and become sanctified. Jesus tells us to pray “lead us not into temptation and deliver us from evil.” Here’s one thing about this part of the prayer, God will never, ever lead you into temptation. So you’re praying for something he’s already not going to do, so there’s a win there. 1 Corinthians 10:13, Paul writes “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” No temptation we face is beyond what is common to the rest of mankind, and God will not allow us to be tempted by more than what we are able to endure. It doesn’t say more than He is able to overcome, right, you see that right? There is no temptation He cannot overcome—and He will always provide a means of fleeing and refusing the urge to give into our temptations. So we must pray faith-filled prayers that expect to be heard, that our sins will be forgiven and that we will be more and more changed into the image of His son.

Prayer Must Be Unceasing

Now going back to where we started things off this morning in 1 Thessalonians 5, Paul writes: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” This final aspect to look at is that prayer must be unceasing. But what does it actually mean to pray without ceasing? I’m pretty sure Paul doesn’t mean that we are to constantly, non-stop be in prayer. For one, we’d never get any sleep, and two—and definitely most importantly—we’d probably end up committed somewhere because we are walking around all the time seemingly talking to ourselves.

So, here’s what Paul means by having unceasing prayers: First, it means that there is a spirit of dependence that should saturate everything we do. Going back to the prayer Jesus gives in Matthew 6, dependence on God is the spirit and essence of our prayers. So, even when we aren’t speaking to God consciously ad infinitum, there is this deep, abiding dependence on Him that is sewn through faith into the fabric of our hearts.

Second, and what Paul probably had most in mind, was that we are to be praying repeatedly and often. The words Paul uses here are the same words in Greek that he uses in Romans 1:9 when saying “For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers.” It doesn’t seem like Paul is implying here that he was spending every minute of his waking hours mentioning the church at Rome in his prayers. Not only did Paul pray about other things, but he did other things besides praying. But the point he was getting at was that he mentioned the Christians at Rome over and over, and often. So “without ceasing” doesn’t mean that we have to pray every minute of the day, but that we should pray over and over, and often.

Third, and probably the aspect all of us have failed at, is that praying without ceasing means to not give up on prayer. Paul is saying that we should never come to a point in our lives where prayer has ceased. This goes back to the idea earlier of praying faith-filled prayers. We aren’t to abadon hope and say “There’s no use in praying.” That’s incredibly defeatest and not at all what God has called us to.

And this is a lesson Jesus hammered in on. In beginning one of his parables in Luke, it says, “And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always pray and not lose heart.” Jesus knew that our experience in prayer would tempt us to quit altogether and lose our hope, to lose our faith and joy in Him.

Conclusion

This is why prayer is so fundamental and foundational to our lives as believers. This is why Unceasing Prayer is a pillar upon which Mosaic of Winchester is held up.

And I don’t know about you all, but I’ll be honest in saying prayer doesn’t come easy for me. Unless I am intentional in planning out parts of my day around prayer, I’ll most likely forget it altogether. And if you’re in the same boat, I want you to understand one thing—that reality doesn’t make you any less loved by God. But here’s the reality too, without prayer, without passionate, faith-filled, unceasing prayer to God, our lives will not be what He has created them to be.

This is our path of communication with our Father. He speaks to us through His word, and we speak to Him through prayer. And it’s not a magical formula that you have to get right or God won’t hear you. Our prayers don’t have to begin with “Dear God” or end with “In Jesus’s Name Amen” to be heard by Him. Our kid’s don’t talk to us in a patterned manner, so why do we? Now, there’s nothing wrong with approaching God with reverence and petitioning Him in the name of Jesus, but there’s also absolutely nothing wrong with simply saying, “Hey dad, can we talk for a minute?”

So, if prayer is something struggle with, and just from talking with some of you, I know many of you do, I’m going to give you a tool that I’ve found to be incredibly helpful that I’ve borrowed from our Anglican friends. The Book of Common Prayer has laid out within it what is called the Daily Office. There’s also an app available on iPhone and Android that has the Daily Office each day. And what it is is a series of Morning, Afternoon, Evening, and Night-time prayers and devotions meant to center you and creat intentionality around prayer in your life.

Maybe that seems like too much for you—praying four times every day. There’s also a book by Charles Spurgeon called Morning and Evening, that are quick, daily morning and evening devotionals and prayers. There’s also New Morning Mercies which are daily devotionals and prayers by Paul Tripp, that my wife Cherry has used for awhile and found helpful. Either way, these are simply tools to help guide you and create a habit of regularly going to God in passionate, faith-filled, unceasing prayer.

This is a pillar that holds up and gives support to the mission of the church. It’s through the prayers of the people of Mosaic that God’s presence will be with us and stregthen us to see to see Christ glorified in our community and beyond.

Let’s Pray