the Epistle of the Lord to the
Ephesians chapter 6 and reading verse 18. listed of armour, and this last
item of course is the wonderful blessing of prayer. And although
this is listed lastly, of course really when all the other items
of armour are put on they should all be accompanied with prayer,
because prayer is so essential to seek that God will help us,
enable us to do those things which are so needful for each
of us, for our individual cases, for the Church of God and for
our nation. We need the blessing of prevailing
prayer. So we should always, always pray. And what a favour it is to be
able to pray. What a favour it is to have a
God who hears and answers prayer. A God who doesn't cast us aside. but a God whose ear is always
open and the Lord hears the prayers of his people. And may we be
very thankful for it. Of course, it's very encompassing,
prayer is. It takes in all sorts of needs. It takes in our mental needs,
it takes in our physical needs, and we can pray vocally We can
also pray in our mind. It's a wonderful blessing it
is. And prayer can be private prayer,
and it can be communal prayer, like we are tonight. And every branch of it really
is a blessing. And therefore, we can make these
requests, these petitions, to be defended, to turn away from
evil, to turn away from sin and to seek for those good things
which the Lord may come and give to us. And of course, to come
with a prayer of thanksgiving and need for it is to be thankful
in everything, in everything give thanks. And I suppose it's
one of the failures that we do have is to thank God for the
many, many blessings that we do receive Sometimes we remember
quite a long time afterwards. But it is good if we do remember
to give thanks, to give thanks for His mercies, to give thanks
indeed for His grace, to give thanks for His love, to give
thanks for health and strength, to give thanks for the provision
we have of being able to come together so that many things
that we have to pray for. We should therefore always remember
that it is our privilege and to know that the door of the
Lord's mercy stands open all day to the poor and the needy
that knock by the way. So we are told here, praying
always. Praying always. That's a very
comprehensive statement, isn't it? And it's interesting that
in the Word of God there are four occasions when the Church
of God is encouraged to pray without ceasing. There is, of
course, the familiar verse in 1 Thessalonians, in the 5th chapter,
in the 17th verse, where very simply it says to pray without
ceasing. You may think, well, that's perhaps
a little bit extreme. Well it's a wonderful thing if
we can pray our way along and when we have a great need and
we do sometimes have a great need really prayer isn't far
from us it's in our heart in what we're doing and even at
night when we wake up it's still there on our heart and as we
go about our work it's still there and we can thank for therefore
that we have such a word as this to pray without ceasing. And then also we read of it in
the Acts of the Apostles and the twelfth chapter and the fifth
verse. And that was when the Apostle
Peter was in prison. What did the Church of God do?
Well, they came together and they held a prayer meeting. Wasn't
that good? And Peter, we're told, was kept
in prison, but prayer was made. without ceasing in the church
unto God for him. And as we know those prayers
were answered in an amazing way. And he was delivered out of that
prison. And of course when he came to the house where they
were praying they didn't really believe it. And yet you see what
a good thing it is when God gives us faith to believe that God
will hear and will answer prayer because we are to pray in faith,
nothing wavering. You see, God does hear our prayers
and also that which is not of faith is sin. That's a very sad
and solemn word, isn't it? So when we come praying, as we
do together here and as we will tonight, to pray in faith, believing
that our God hears and answers prayer, and then when the Apostle
wrote to the Romans again this word to pray without ceasing
in the first chapter in the ninth verse we're told for God is my
witness wonderful isn't it to know that God is our witness
whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his son he says
that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers Paul
was a man of prayer. And may we be today men and women
of prayer. People that pray to our God and
the people that come with the humble expectancy that God will
hear and answer prayer. And then finally the chapter
we read in the second of Timothy in the first chapter in the third
verse. He says, I thank God whom I serve for my forefathers with
pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of
thee in my prayers night and day." He was able to thank God
that God gave him the ability to pray in this way without ceasing. Well, it's a blessing, isn't
it, to have these great truths put before us and to be reminded
of them. So praying always with all prayer
and supplication. Supplication is really a petition. We come to God supplicating is
really a petitioning God in our prayers. And what a mercy it
is when we have needs and we do come and we supplicate God,
we petition God. for those things which we need,
and not to forget to be thankful in those petitions. And the psalmist
speaks about seeking God. He tells us in Psalm 27, it's
a very beautiful psalm, and the 8th verse, this is what he says,
When thou saidst, Seek ye my face, and what does that mean?
That means pray unto God, Pray unto God, my heart set unto thee,
thy face, Lord, will I seek. It was that echo, wasn't it?
It was that desire. And the Lord encourages us to
seek his face, which he does. There are many encouraging words,
seek and ye shall find. Many encouraging words for us
in the word of God. To seek unto him and to not forget
to seek unto him. and to seek unto him very often. So we are told to pray always
with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit. It is a spiritual
exercise. What a mercy, therefore, when
God gives us the spirit of prevailing prayer, when we are able to draw
near to God and understand that we are praying in the Spirit. And then he says, and watching
thereunto with all perseverance. It means we are to watch, we
are to wait for answers to our prayers and we are to pray with
perseverance, perseverance. Because sometimes we expect prayers
to be answered almost immediately. We are to pray without ceasing.
We are to persevere in our prayers. With all perseverance, and then
he says, and supplication for all saints. What a blessing it
is to pray for one another, to come in this wonderful way of
petitioning for one another. We all need God, all of us. What a blessing to come and to
petition God for one another. We can very easily become self-centred. What a blessing it is when the
Holy Spirit enables us to come in this way with supplication
for all saints. Well, just a few remarks tonight
with prayer. What a blessing, therefore, if
we tonight are favoured to come and to pour out our hearts unto
our God, believing that he will hear and believing that he will
answer. Therefore we need to come and
pray in accordance with his will so that our souls may be blessed
and his name honoured and glorified. Therefore praying always, with
all prayer, and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto
with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.