Sermon Tone Analysis
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In the realm of property, Harold Samuel coined the phrase “location, location, location” as the three things that matter.
In the realm of discipleship Edward Payson said: “Prayer is the first thing, the second thing, the third thing necessary to minister.
Pray, therefore, my dear brother, pray, pray, pray.”
You can try all kinds of strategies, develop programs, and reach out to the community, but without prayer these efforts won’t bring significant results.
Paul gave these instructions.
This verse comes right after Paul’s command to put on the full armor of God.
Prayer gives us the strength to wield it and the wisdom of how to use it.
Prayer is the way that we as soldiers of Christ maintain communication with our commanding officer.
When are we to pray
On all occasions – Doesn’t come naturally or automatically.
Needs to be practiced, become a habit.
Paul is reminding his readers and us that we are to persevere in prayer.
It is not just saying a few words before a meal or at bedtime.
It is an ongoing conversation with our Lord throughout the day.
Being able to be in close communion with our Creator and Lord is a great privilege.
We are encouraged to bring our requests, to ask, seek, and knock, to cast all our cares on Him.
How can we not take advantage of this amazing relationship that Christ sacrificed His life to make possible?
1 Thessalonians 5:17 pray continually;
Thomas Kelley says in his Testament of Devotion:
There is a way of ordering our mental life on more than one level at once.
On one level we can be thinking, discussing, seeing, calculating, meeting all the demands of external affairs.
But deep within, behind the scenes, at a profounder level, we may also be in prayer and adoration, song and worship, and a gentle receptiveness to divine breathings
What are we to pray
Prayers – general term, praising God
Requests – petitions, intercession
Thanksgiving
Who are we to pray for
All the saints – we need to be praying for each other, we each need prayer.
How are we to pray
Be alert
Having our minds directed towards Christ’s coming
Luke 21:36 Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”
In the Spirit
I think that usually when we pray we pray with our minds.
We think about what we want to say, who to pray for, what to be thankful for, etc.
The difficulty is that we do not always know what we should be praying for or how to pray.
Our knowledge is limited.
In 1 Cor.
14 Paul indicates that in addition to praying with his mind he will also pray with his spirit.
Praying “in the Spirit” means praying under the Spirit’s influence and with his assistance; prayer inspired, guided, and made effective through the Spirit.
He alone knows exactly what we will need in the many different situations we will face in life, and so he enables us to pray to the Father, even when we are not sure how to pray.
Why in the Spirit
He intercedes for us
Romans 8:26–27 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.
We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.
And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.
He gives us access to the Father
Ephesians 2:18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
He gives us the power to do God’s will
Dr.
John Piper’s book Desiring God:
Unless I’m badly mistaken, one of the main reasons so many of God’s children don’t have a significant life of prayer is not so much that we don’t want to, but that we don’t plan to.
If you want to take a four-week vacation, you don’t just get up one summer morning and say, “Hey, let’s go today!”
You won’t have anything ready.
You won’t know where to go.
Nothing has been planned.
But that is how many of us treat prayer.
We get up day after day and realize that significant times of prayer should be part of our life, but nothing’s ever ready.
We don’t know where to go.
Nothing has been planned.
No time.
No place.
No procedure.
And we all know that the opposite of planning is not a wonderful flow of deep, spontaneous experiences in prayer.
The opposite of planning is the rut.
If you don’t plan a vacation you will probably stay home and watch TV!
The natural unplanned flow of spiritual life sinks to the lowest ebb of vitality.
There is a race to be run and a fight to be fought.
If you want renewal in your life of prayer you must plan to see it.
In my quiet time each morning I pray for our church, asking that God would fill us with Holy Spirit, pour out His love upon us, rekindle a fire within us, and use for His glory.
To this end we are starting to set aside the last Tuesday evening of the month at 7 PM for a gathering for prayer.
If you can’t come to the church at least take some time wherever you are to open your heart to the Holy Spirit and pray for our congregation.
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