Join me once again in the book
of Jude and I would like to read verses 20 and 21, it says, But
ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying
in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for
the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And we're
going to look at a thought in verse 20, we looked at last time,
building up yourselves on your most holy faith. And that had
to do with, and we see how that had to do with keeping in mind
what he opened the book with, that we were sanctified by the
Father, preserved in Jesus Christ, and called by the Holy Spirit.
And keeping those things in mind and those thoughts and how we
have arrived at at where we are, if indeed he has given us eternal
life, and building up that, where we stand in our knowledge of
our Lord and Savior, and based on those things. That's what
we looked at, and then today I'd like to look at the last
phrase of this psalm. It says, praying in the Holy
Ghost. Before we looked at some verses,
I wrote a couple of things down based on what I saw in the scripture,
and then we'll look at some scriptures. And I wrote down, we as believers
will always pray in all matters as God wills. His will be done. We do not always or very often
know how to voice our prayers to God. We know the Spirit intercedes
for us. We're going to see that. We know
to whom we pray and that He knows what is needful for us. Not knowing
what to pray for, we will pray according to what God's will
and desire and care for us and the church will be. We will not demand or suggest
what our God do, but by His Spirit, pray His will be done, and it
will be done. We're assured of that. God's
will will be done, like it or not, by the world or by others.
God's will will be done and always will. This is not a how to pray
that we'll be looking at. Not how to pray, but rather inward
heartfelt prayer to our God. Our prayer must be based upon
the promises to the church that Jude starts the letter with,
to them as we saw that are sanctified in the Father, preserved in Jesus
Christ, and called and are multiplied His graces
to us. Our common salvation by way of
these truths must be in our minds. Good to pray God's word always.
We're on safe ground praying what God says that things are. And we're gonna look at some
scripture today that deal with that. And starting in the book
of Romans, in the book of Romans chapter
eight, And some of these passages we
look at, it's hard to know where to start to get the thought. But in Romans chapter 8, I'd
like to start with verse 22 and reading down a bit. It says,
For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain
together until now. And not only they, but ourselves
also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves
groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the
redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope. But
hope that is seen is not hope for what a man seeth, why doth
he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see
not, then do we with patience wait for it. Likewise, the Spirit
also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should
pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession
for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searches the hearts
knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession
for the saints according to the will of God. And that last part
is a pretty important part of that. It's not that He intercedes
for us on behalf of what we think we want or need. He intercedes
for us, as it says in verse 27, according, as it says here, He
knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession
for the saints according to the will of God. How else can there,
what other prayer can there be to God other than according to
His will? It's not, and there was a phrase that I read in one
of the commentaries that was, that calls it a, and we're gonna
read the prayer that alludes to this in, quite a ways on in
1 Chronicles, but as a name it and claim it type prayers. I
want this or I think this and so we pray it and we claim that
we do it in Jesus' name so we should have it. That's not what
the scripture speaks about. It does. We do pray to our Lord
and Savior. We do do that in His name, but
it doesn't say no matter what or how. It's not a magic formula
on how to pray. It's not a how-to, and it's not
a you have a desire, so you pray for this. There's a lot of times
we don't know what we desire or what to pray. We pray, as
it says, the Spirit makes intercession for us in these things, in these
thoughts and infirmities, it says here. And then he intercedes
according to the will of God. And I mean, it stands to reason
in that sense. The Spirit's not going to intercede
for us contrary to what the will of God is. And again, like I
said, if We're on pretty safe ground if we pray that God's
will be done. And we're going to look at a
prayer that voices that in that many words like that. We're pretty
safe ground there. Its will is going to get done.
And we pray that he squares us up to what his will is, that
we pray in harmony with what the scripture says, and that
he causes us to rest in that our prayers will be answered
according to His will and for, as I wrote in that paragraph
there, for our good, what did I write that, will desire and care for us and
the church will be. That's foremost in his mind as far as
we're concerned. And we spent some time, a couple
of lessons here and message we've heard on the Lord's high priestly
prayer. And his prayer is for that his
will is going to be done. And yet he's praying for us,
for the church and that God would do those things needful and keep
the church. And we know that if he prayed
those things, That's according to God's will. We know that's
going to be done. The church is going to be preserved
in him and taken care of. Doesn't promise or say how that
will come about in the physical terms how that will be, but we
know that whatever that path is that it's for our health,
welfare, and benefit, and eternal good for us and for His glory. So I'd like to read it a couple
other places, but so here, the Spirit helps us and helps
us to, with those groanings that said can't be uttered, that we
can't voice those things, that it will be according to God's
will, whatever situation we are in, good as we see it or bad
as we see it, ill for us. In 1 John, turn to the book of
1 John, And as always, there's more ground here than we can cover
in a short time. In chapter 5 of 1 John, I found this to be not only an
interesting passage, but something to ponder, and it's a good piece,
you'll see here. Starting with 1 John 5, verse
10, it says, he that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness
in himself. He that believeth not God hath
made him a liar, because he believed not the record that God gave
of his son. And this is the record that God
hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son
of God hath not life. These things have I written unto
you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may
know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the
name of the Son of God. And this is the confidence that
we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will,
He heareth us. And if we know that He heareth
us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that
we desired of Him. A couple of things. First, this is not that name
it and claim it. passage here on how to get what
you want. This is not saying that we have
confidence that whatever we ask of God hears us and we're going
to get that. It speaks above here, and what
I read from verse 10 on, it speaks about the witness that God has
placed in us, in his people, that we believe on him to eternal
life. And not only that, we understand
that it's not of our doing that we have that. In Him, we have
eternal life. In Him, by His mercy and His
grace to us, we have that. And that because of that and
where we stand, it says there on verse 14, it says, this is
the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything
according to His will, He heareth us. There's a caveat there. Anything
we ask according to His will, It's not because I would like
a little bit newer automobile or whatever that we tend to ask
for, or even good health, that things that we think would be
fine for us to have may not be in God's idea, may not be His
will that that take place. But we know that, like it says
here, whatever we ask, we have His positions that we desire
of Him if we ask in His will. And I think I'm coming to the
realization somewhat that these things that we're reading about
here, about prayer and about what it is and what God does
and how he hears and answers prayer, that it is turning us
to not just to seek His will, but
for us to accept His will or to rest in that. And that's the
confidence, as it says before, that we have, that we rest in
Him. If we rest in Him, then the confidence
that we ask according to His will knowing it will be done. And it may not, we may not see
a lightning bolt answer type thing, but we know His will is
being done. And He doesn't operate on our
timetable or in our manners, and we have to realize that. In Matthew 17, we're in the book
of Matthew, Matthew chapter 17, We're actually going to go backwards
a little bit in a couple of places here, but in chapter 17 of Matthew,
it says here, Let's see. And brought one son to him to
have the demon cast out and And he says, verse 14, let's
start with verse 14 of Matthew 17. It says, when they were come
to the multitude, there came at him a certain man kneeling
down to him and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son, for he
is a lunatic and sore vexed, for oft times he falleth into
the fire and oft times into the water. And I brought him to thy
disciples and they could not cure him. Then Jesus answered
and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I
be with you? How long shall I suffer you?
Bring him hither to me. And Jesus rebuked the devil and
he departed out of him and the child was cured from that very
hour. Then came the disciples to Jesus
apart and said, why could we not cast him out? And Jesus said
unto them, Because of your unbelief, for verily I say unto you, if
ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this
mountain, Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove, and
nothing shall be impossible unto you. Howbeit, this kind goeth
not out but by prayer and fasting." And this verse 20, I think, does
also fit or have a bearing on what
we're speaking about praying in the Spirit because it says,
faith is a grain of mustard seed. And we know what kind of faith
we have and how much faith we have, which is a vacuum There's none. God has to reveal
and put that and cause that faith to be in us. And he's not saying
here, if you believe really hard, you can move a mountain. I don't
think we're going to see that take place. But it's like the
camel in the needle-eye type of thing. He's not saying if
you try really hard you can get that camel through that real
needle. He's saying with man it's impossible. And the same
here that if we had that kind of faith, but that's not going
to take place. It's not going to take place.
It takes the power of God. to have the faith that we have
and the places where, and that one place in John where it talks
about them of little faith. I don't think he's, as was brought
out at the time in the message, he's not telling them that they,
he's not belittling them, he's not belittling them, but the
faith that they have is from him. And we're not a fountain
of faith unto ourself. We have none. We have none unless
it's put in us. And the same way with this and
asking about the prayer or looking to the prayer, that those things
are going to be according to God's will, and according to
that faith, that confidence we have in Him, if He's a God we
have no confidence in, we're not going to pray with much confidence. It's not any benefit to us. Our prayer to God is not a building
God up. It's putting us in alignment
with what God says. And like I said before, there's
many passages that we have of the word that we would do well
to incorporate that as prayer because they say the things that
God says to us, things that are and how things are, and not how
things we would like them to be. And then while we're in Matthew,
turn to chapter 7, if you would. Please join me to chapter 7. And let's see, there's another
place that speaks about asking of God, and I think it has a
bearing on prayer. It's starting with verse 7, chapter
7 of Matthew and verse 7. It said, Ask and it shall be
given to you. Seek and you shall find. Knock
and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth,
and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall
be opened. Or what man is there of you whom
of his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask
a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye men, being evil, know how
to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall
your Father, which is in heaven, give good things to them that
ask? him. Therefore, all things whatsoever
you would that men should do to you, do you also unto them,
for this is the law and the prophets." Enter ye in at the straight gate,
for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction.
And many there be that go in thereat, because straight is
the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and
few there be that find it." And particularly back up here where
it says, If ye then, being evil, know
how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall
your Father, which is in heaven, give good things unto him that
ask him?" Again, it's not talking about a new pair of Levi's or
cowboy boots. It's not talking about those
things, those good things that he should give to us. knowledge and faith in our Lord
Jesus Christ. It's those things, or the priceless
gift it's called in other places, eternal life that He gives to
His people. He may give us many good things physically, or maybe
not. But that's not what is being
referred to here. It's not saying, as this, if
your son asks for food, you give him a stone or a serpent. But
him as your father, which is in heaven, give good things to
Him, then ask Him. His people will pray petitions
to Him for those things that He knows that we have need of. And those good things that He
give us are, we have all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Him. Those are the good things. We may, like I say, physically
we may have, we may be on top of the world as far as we're
concerned physically and can be empty spiritually or vice
versa. We can have not much physically
and have everything that is needful for us in Him. And the Father
to His people, to the sheep, and Christ prays for them in
His prayer. that Father take care of the
sheep and keep them from the evil. And we know those things
He does do and will do for His people. In Luke chapter 11, we've got time for just a few more
places here, but in Luke chapter 11, Okay, let me get here. And starting with, I think, the
first verse. All right. It says, Luke 11, verse 1, and
it came to pass that as he was praying in a certain place when
he ceased, the Lord, speaking of the Lord, one of his disciples
said to him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his
disciples. And he, verse 2, and he said
unto them, when you pray, say, our Father which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, As in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily
bread. And forgive us our sins, for
we also forgive everyone that is indebted to us. And lead us
not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. And he said unto
them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him
at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves? For a friend of mine in his journey
is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him. And he from
within shall answer and say, Trouble me not, the door is now
shut, and my children are with me. In bed I cannot rise and
give thee. I say unto you, Though he will
not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because
of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.
And I say unto you, ask, and it shall be given to you. Seek,
and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened
unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh
findeth. And to him that knocketh, it
shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any of you that
is a father, will you give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish,
will you for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask
an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know
how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall
your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to him that ask him?"
And here he's speaking, he's asked, give the Holy Spirit to
them that ask him. And up above here, the Lord's
Prayer or the example prayer, and it's not a bad prayer, and
it's not one to not pray, but it's an example of what our prayer
will be in there. And it's not, if we notice in
here as the Lord prays this and says this to them, it recognizes
who our God is, and it recognizes that His will be done. We pray
that, and we We seek that, and that he lead us not into temptation,
but delivers from evil. The Lord prayed the same in his
high priestly prayer, that we keep from the evil. And here,
again, he goes on and says that, you know, as earthly parents,
we know how to give good things to our children as we view them.
How much more God to his children, Heavenly Father, give the Holy
Spirit to them that ask Him." So here we-and it's a restating
of that that we saw earlier, but the same-a little bit different
context here. But it's not a-and praying God's
word, praying the Lord's words is never going to be a wrong,
a wrong prayer to pray. But he's saying, he's not saying
that every time you pray, this is what you pray, but how, how
it's to be approached and are the attitude, the attitude of
God, towards God, that we do that. And then I'd like to look
at a couple of places that we pray, and Psalm 23 is one of
them that is thought of as a prayer that we As much of God's Word,
the 23rd Psalm there, it says, The Lord's my shepherd I shall
not want, maketh me to lie down in green pastures, leadeth me
beside the still waters, restoreth my soul, leadeth me in the paths
of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou
art with me. Thy rod and thy staff comfort me, Thou preparest
a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest
my head with oil, my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy
shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell
in the house of the Lord forever." This is a prayer of comfort,
peace, and trust to His people. It's common. People pray this
I think often in religion, pray this prayer not even not knowing
what they're praying or what it's speaking of or who it's
speaking of, of those things that God as a shepherd, picture
of a shepherd to his sheep, things that he provides and does. And
we thank him for that. Turn over just a little bit to
Psalm 25, just next door here. Psalm 25, verses 4 and 5, just
to read it. It says, Show me thy ways, O Lord, teach
me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach
me, for thou art the God of my salvation. On thee do I wait
all the day. Remember, O Lord, thy tender
mercies and thy loving kindnesses, for they kindnesses, for they have been
ever of old." There that we pray for God that indeed according
to His will would be that He teaches us and causes us to wait on Him and
to realize those things that we have in Him. And then one
more prayer we're gonna just look at for a minute. In 1 Chronicles, book of 1 Chronicles, and 1 Chronicles chapter 4, and,
you know, so many of these books in the Old Testament, I have
to admit in days past, these would be the ones that if you
can't sleep at night, you read them and you would find yourself waking up in the morning, you
know, that there's a lot of, and this, the Book of Chronicles
is a lot of begats in there, and a lot of important begats. Book of Chronicles, the first,
I believe, nine chapters is the begats in the family tree of Judah, of David, of Solomon,
some important people here coming down towards, indeed, the Lord
himself. But in chapter 4, one of the
ones here that's speaking about this, one of the sons of, and
you can read all the names, of Asher, and coming down from Asher,
in verse 9 and 10, it says, verse 9, and Jabez was more honorable
than his brethren. And his mother called his name
Jabez, saying, Because I bear him with sorrow. And Jabez, verse
10, called on the God of Israel, saying, O that thou wouldest
bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that mine hand
might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that
it may not grieve me. And God granted him that which
he requested." And this here, again, this short prayer in here
that he's desiring these things are not, they're not It's not
a shopping list that Jabez has. These are serious things that
he desires that, and when it says here, bless me indeed and
enlarge my coast that my hand might be with me. He's not just
saying, I hope that the herd gets bigger and I could get more
land and things are great. These are things that he desires
and to keep me from evil, And it says in the end of it,
God granted him that which he requested. And it says up here,
he was more honorable than his brethren, because there was all
sorts that come down the family tree here. But Jabez, it was
speaking about it in particular here. And that prayer of his
is indeed a prayer that is a good prayer. It's not, as
in the book of James, and we're not going to go to some of the
rest of the verses I have here, but it says you ask and you don't
get what you ask because you ask amiss. And he's not just
saying you're not wording it correctly, he's saying you're
asking, you got it wrong, you're not seeking God's will in this.
And it's not saying, you know, it's not, well, I know God's
will is that I prosper, so I'm going to have to ask. No, James
says, you ask amiss that you may consume it upon your lusts.
And I don't think he's saying you're asking for things that
you can be really naughty with. I don't think that's what, but
whatever it might be, goods, health, whatever it might be,
he says, you don't get it because you ask amiss. And God's people
will be praying and asking according to God's will. And that's what true prayer in the Spirit
is being. One more time, and we're going
to have this memorized almost by the time we're done. Verses
24 and 25 of the book of Jude. It says, Now to him that's able
to keep you from falling and present you faultless before
his presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise
God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power,
both now and ever. Amen. And that is, we're going
to spend some time on that in a few more lessons, but thank
you for your attendance and attention to this morning. And be free.