Praying at All Times!

INTRODUCTION

A. The Priority of Prayer

Mark 14:32–38 NASB95

They came to a place named Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, “Sit here until I have prayed.” And He took with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be very distressed and troubled. And He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain here and keep watch.” And He went a little beyond them, and fell to the ground and began to pray that if it were possible, the hour might pass Him by. And He was saying, “Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will.” And He came and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? “Keep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

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Prayer is MORE than another piece of the armor—it is woven throughout!

If we are to USE the armor effectively, we must use it in an attitude of prayer!

J. MacArthur: “Prayer is the very spiritual air of the soldier of Christ.”

B. The Presentation of Our Resources

Incredibly blessed (1:3); overwhelmingly loved (1:4-6); forgiven and redeemed (1:7); abounding in wisdom (1:8); spiritually rich (1:11); sealed by the Spirit (1:13); made alive (2:4-6); objects of God’s grace (2:8); prepared for good works (2:10); made one with every other believer (2:13-19); powerful beyond our imagination (3:20); able to glorify God (3:21); possessors of the Holy Spirit (4:3); members of the Body of Christ (4:4-6); recipients of gifts and gifted men to equip us for the work of ministry (4:11-13); taught by Christ (4:20-21); given a new self (4:24); made light (5:8); offered the fullness of the Spirit (5:18); given instructions and resources to make all relationships what God intended (5:21-6:9); given the full armor of God to make us invincible against Satan and his host of demonic forces (6:10-17)!

WOW!

C. The Problem of Spiritual Atheism – (1 Corinthians 10:12)

It is almost as if Paul is saying, “Don’t think that because you have all these wonderful blessings, gifts, and power, you don’t need God!”

James Russell Lowell – “The gift without the giver is bare!”

Ephesians beginsby lifting us up to the heavenlies and ENDS by bringing us to our knees!

(READ TEXT – PRAY)

I. The GENERAL INSTRUCTION – (6:18)

Four sets of “all’s” that provide five themes of prayer:

A. The VARIETY of PRAYER – “With all prayer and petition…”

“Prayer” refers to coming before your Heavenly Father!

(Colossians 3:2) (1 John 1:3)

“Petition/supplication/requests” refers to specific needs.

(1 Timothy 2:8)

B. The FREQUENCY of PRAYER – “…pray at all times”

Lit., ‘…in every season’

(Luke 21:36) (Acts 6:4) (1 Thessalonians 5:17)

There is never a time to not pray!

C. The MANNER of PRAYER – “…in the Spirit”

What does this mean? Is this a reference to praying in tongues?

(Romans 8:26-27) – The Spirit “…intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”

D. The WATCHFULNESS and PERSEVERENCE of PRAYER – “…be on the alert with all perseverance”

Jesus told two stories to illustrate these principles:

(Luke 11:1-10; 18:1-8)

E. The RESPONSIBILITY of PRAYER – “…and petition for all the saints”

I refer to this a RESPONSIBILITY, not because of the text itself, but because of another passage (and yes, I know that is imposing another passage on this passage). Let’s read it and see if this is appropriate:

(1 Samuel 12:19-25)

BACK to Ephesians: again, we are told to pray for specific requests of all the saints!

(John 14:13)

II. The SPECIFIC ILLUSTRATIONS – (6:19-24)

A. BOLDNESS in PREACHING the GOSPEL – (vv.19-20)

B. INFORMATION on Paul’s Circumstances – (vv.21-22)

C. The INVOCATION – (vv.23-24)