There are some subjects I'm always reluctant to try to
address in the pulpit, some things I just am very reluctant to preach
about because I haven't personally experienced much concerning them
and I don't know much about them. I recognize it will never do
you or anyone else any spiritual good for me to simply give a
doctrinal recitation about anything. One of those subjects about which
I acknowledge with pain that I know very, very little is prayer. When I was 19 years old, I had
a opportunity to take an elective course in school on prayer. And we read a lot of books, studied
the subject from the text in scripture, dealing with it. And
I thought when I chose the course, it might be beneficial to me. And it was. I came away from
the course realizing that I don't know anything about prayer. I'm
not 19 anymore, I'm 67. And I know less about prayer
now than I did then. I know little about prayer. But the Lord is graciously teaching
me some things and I want to share them with you. My subject
tonight is praying in the spirit. Not just praying, praying in
the spirit. Praying is just saying words
or even expressing desires unless we pray in the spirit. Praying
in the spirit is something else. I ask you to pray for me and
friends call me or send me a note or speak to me and say, Brother
John, pray for me. And I'm always perplexed both
in the request that I make and request made to me. How should
I pray? How should I pray? Merely to
call your name and ask things for you that you desire isn't
praying. For you merely to call my name
and ask of God things that I desire is not praying. Prayer is praying
in the spirit. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
six. Let's read verses 10 through 20 together one more time. Ephesians
six, verses 10 through 20. Finally, my brethren, Paul is
wrapping up this blessed epistle. And he wraps it up with these
words of admonition. Be strong in the Lord and in
the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God
that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers
of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness
in high places. Wherefore, take unto you the
whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the
evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand, therefore, having
your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate
of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of
the gospel of peace. Above all, taking the shield
of faith, wherewith you shall be able to quench the fiery darts
of the wicked, and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of
the Spirit, which is the word of God. Now here's my text. Praying always with all prayer
and supplication in the spirit, and watching thereunto with all
perseverance and supplication for all saints. And for me, that
utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly
to make known the mystery of the gospel. for which I am an
ambassador in bonds, that therein I may speak boldly as I ought
to speak. What is prayer? Over the years,
I have read every book that has been brought into print that
I thought was worth reading on the subject, and I haven't gained
much from reading them. When and how are we to pray? Do we have any reason to expect
God really to hear and answer our prayers? I hope the Lord
will enable me to answer some of these questions in a very
practical way from his word in this message. I'm not going to
give you any formulas for prayer. I'm not going to try to establish
a certain time for you to pray or a length of time for you to
pray. The Pharisee made long prayers. He had a definite formula
by which he prayed, and it never varied from it. He prayed in
a formal posture. He prayed long, he prayed frequently,
and he prayed publicly. Folks looked at him pray, and
they heard him pray, and they were impressed with his prayers.
But God didn't hear him. God didn't hear him. Well, he
did, but he heard him contemptuously. whereas the poor publican offered
to the Lord God but one short, humble prayer. Trusting the merits
of Christ and the God of all grace, heard that publican and
gave him everything his heart could desire. He bowed before
the Lord and would not so much as lift his eyes toward heaven.
He beat upon his heart with his fist and he said, God, be merciful
to me. God, be propitious to me. God, look on Christ's sacrifice
by which your justice is satisfied and be merciful to me, the sinner. A sinner in need of mercy. Lots of folks give definitions
to prayer, and I haven't found one yet that I thought was adequate,
so I won't try to define prayer. Perhaps I can describe it somewhat
by pointing out some mistaken notions about prayer. Prayer
is indescribably more than a mere performed ritual at given times. It's time to pray, so we're going
to pray. We're going to go through the
ritual of praying. I call on you men here to lead
us in prayer, and I ask you to come to the microphone to pray
so that everybody can hear you, but I pray for you as you pray. Because I recognize that you,
like myself, are always inclined merely to repeat words we've
often expressed. God help us not to do so. Prayer is much more than just
repeating something somebody has written down. Folks talk about saying prayers. And by that, they mean recite
what somebody else has said. Recite a little poem or something.
Please don't teach your children to say their prayers. Try to
teach them to pray, but not to just say their prayers. Prayer
is much more than simply asking God to give you something and
receiving it from him. Prayer is much more than just,
as someone expressed it, filling in the amount on a blank check
God's given you. No, that's not prayer. All those
things are just expressions of carnal, lustful religion calling
on God to serve the will and whim of man. True prayer might
be expressed this way. It involves the believing, submissive
heart worship. God Almighty seeking His will
and His glory. I'm sure there's much more to
it than that, but it involves the believing, submissive heart
worship of God seeking His will and seeking His glory by the
merits of Christ. Prayer above all else is a matter
of the heart. It is not seeking to bend God
and make him serve our will. Rather, it is seeking God to
bend us and graciously calls us both to want to serve his
will and to serve his will for his glory. Prayer is not an act
of the body, but of the heart. I had been in company with fellows
who were embarrassing. I've had preachers preaching
that would lead the congregation in prayer and kneel down beside
the pulpit, and that looked so humble and so good, I wanna kick
his teeth in. I played golf with a fellow one
day, and we were out in the middle of the fairway, and he said,
let's pray, and knelt down there. I wanted to run. What idiocy. Nothing but a show. It's a show
of humility. Here in verses 18 through 20,
the Apostle Paul comes to this last statement. He is inspired
of God to give us with regard to what God's people have to
do in this matter of spiritual warfare. He's talking to us now
about this conflict that every believer is involved in from
the time he's born again till the time he is laid in the grave.
Every believer is involved in this conflict, this warfare with
the flesh and the devil and the world, this foot-to-foot, hand-to-hand,
face-to-face, eye-to-eye conflict that we're engaged in all the
time. And his last statement is about prayer. The New Testament plainly teaches
us about this conflict, but whoever imagined that in putting on the
armor of God, this armor must be put on finally with prayer. What's the meaning of this exhortation?
What relationship does praying in the spirit have with Paul's
saying that we are to put on the whole armor of God? It's
just this. Praying in the spirit is something
we must do and keep on doing in order to rightly use this
armor. We put on the helmet of salvation,
the girdle of truth, the shoes of the gospel of peace, and we
have the shield of faith and the helmet of salvation and the
sword of the spirit. But we walk in this armor rightly
only as we walk in this field of battle, praying in the Spirit
always. Paul's talking about an attitude,
not just words, not just a posture of the body, but an attitude,
an attitude of the heart, of the mind, as we walk with God
by faith. One of our hymns expresses Paul's
meaning very well. Stand up, stand up for Jesus. Stand in his strength alone.
The arm of flesh will fail you. You dare not trust your own.
The arm of flesh will fail you. You dare not trust your own. Put on the gospel armor. Each
piece put on with prayer. Where duty calls are danger. be never wanting there. What
Paul teaches us here is that everything we have to do as God's
people in this world must be done in prayer. It strikes me
that Paul had a very specific reason for ending this particular
epistle with this very emphatic exhortation to pray in the spirit
always. The book of Ephesians, perhaps
more than any other epistle, perhaps, that may be stretching
it a little bit, is principally a doctrinal epistle. In this
blessed epistle, Paul deals with the most mysterious wonders of
grace and redemption. He takes us back to the before
the foundation of the world when the triune God met together in
a blessed council of peace, establishing a covenant of redemption and
all the work of Christ as our surety in that covenant being
accepted of God and you and I who are gods being accepted in Christ
and blessed in Christ with all spiritual blessings before the
world was. And that's how it begins. And
it goes through these next chapters, expressing all the relationship
of this blessed gospel doctrine to us in the various relationships
we have in life, in the world, and in the Church of God. He
spends the whole epistle dealing with these things. And it appears
to me that Paul is here telling us that praying in the Spirit
is the most important aspect of the believer's life for this
one thing, for this one reason. Without this, all the doctrine
is just theory. And all the practice is just
ceremony. Praying in the Spirit always. We read our Bibles. I'll talk
about Don. You can jump in wherever you
can jump in. God forgive me, but it's so. How often I read the words on
the pages of this blessed book without an expression of prayer. Intellectually seeking to understand
things. Read them without calling upon
God. And as I do, rebuked of God's
Spirit for my haughty presumption. How often we come to the house
of God, sing his praise and just sing words. We sing, school rallying cries or battle
cries or songs of emotion with much more feeling and much more
expressed emotion than we normally sing the hymns of God's praise.
Now Mark, there's just something bad wrong with that. There's
just something bad wrong with that. Let us, as we come to the
house of God, come praying that we may hear a man speak in the
Spirit, and that we may sing in the Spirit, and that we may
pray in the Spirit, praying always in the Spirit, praying as men
and women who need Christ, who need grace, who need God and
find everything in Him. Find everything in Him. Sometimes
on television, you'll see those advertisements for Publishers
Clearing House, I think it is. And first of all, you got to
check in there. They'll just jump up and down and scream and fall
down. Oh, so excited because they got
a few dollars. You have God's grace. God's salvation. I have God's Son. Somehow that
ought to stir in me a little bit more than a few dollars.
Pray. I'm not talking about emotionalism.
I'm not, I don't crave that. I stop the show of emotionalism
if it pops up. I don't want to show, but I do
want for my soul worship God in the Spirit. Oh, to sing in
the Spirit. Oh, to preach in the Spirit. Oh, to pray in the Spirit. Not now and then, but Paul says
always, always. This is to be a way of life. Praying in the Spirit in reality is the secret source
of strength for God's people in all the time of our conflict
on this earth. Strength given by God. Strength we cannot muster, strength
to stand, strength to do battle, but strength given to us by our
God as we seek his strength and seek his mercy. Now let me try
to answer two or three questions as I deal with this passage of
scripture. First, when are we to pray? Paul says, praying always. Praying always. I wonder if we know anything
about that. The preacher or you who are listening
to me, do we know anything about that? Do we know anything about
real prayer? Is prayer really the way we live? Not just saying words, not just
talking, not just spending time in prayer. I don't diminish that. I don't lessen the need for that.
I'm saying prayer is more, indescribably more than spending time in prayer. In the New Testament, it is assumed
that all who know God pray. All true believers. All true
believers, young and old, men and women, all true believers
are people of prayer. It is true our attitude toward
prayer may vary. The strength and liveliness of
prayer often is hindered. Confidence and joy in prayer
may be interrupted, but all believers pray. Prayer is the breath of
the heaven born soul. It is the cry of a newborn babe
in grace. Frequently, you hear folks described
as he's a praying Christian. Let me tell you something. If
he's a Christian, he's a praying Christian. If he's not praying,
he's not a Christian. We grow in prayer just as we
grow in faith, but God's people pray. In our text, Paul doesn't
admonish us to pray. He admonishes us to pray always. You remember our Lord spoke to
his disciples? He said, when you pray, say. He didn't say
if you pray. He said, when you pray, say.
The wicked, the unbelieving, the Pharisee, the hypocrite,
the religionist says prayers. God's people pray. Prayer is
not just a mark of strong faith. Prayer is a mark of faith. All
of God's children pray. and the disciples heard that
Saul of Tarsus had been converted. This is how he was recommended
to the church. Behold, he prayeth. Something's happened to this
man. He used to curse us and chase us and persecute us. Now,
he who once cursed the Lord, behold, he prayeth. Prayer. is simply the panting of our
souls after God. As the heart panteth after the
water book, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. Behold, he
prayeth. What are they talking about?
What are they talking about? He prayeth. This man who once
despised God, Though he pretended to be the most faithful of God's
servants, now worships God. That's what it's talking about.
Prayer and worship are as much a part of one another as this
palm is part of this hand. You can't separate the two. When
Paul admonishes us to pray always, he's telling us that the armor
God has provided for us can't be used except in fellowship
and communion with God by Christ. The armor and the spiritual application
of it must always be conceived in a vital living manner. Paul's
not just talking about facts and theories. He's not just talking
about creed and confessions. He's talking about a vital living
thing. He's talking about life in Christ
Jesus the Lord. Every single piece of armor would
be utterly useless, always and at all times, except as we live
before God and with God in living union with Christ. The helmet
of salvation is not just something I've got on my head, it's something
that's part of me. The breastplate of righteousness
is not just something I put out here for men to see, it's something
that's part of me. The shoes of peace in which I
stand are not just shoes I put on like I did these this morning,
they're part of me. The girdle of truth is not just
something I wrap around me, it's part of me. Prayer, prayer, it's
the way of life for the believer. To put it another way, Paul was
telling us orthodoxy is not enough. You gotta be orthodox, but there's
more than that. Religious knowledge is not enough. You gotta have
knowledge, but there's more than that. We must walk with God,
in union with God, in union with Christ, in a living, vital way,
praying in the Spirit always. His admonition is this, children
of God, always pray. Always pray. Our Lord taught
us men ought always to pray and not to faint. By his own example
he's shown us the great value of prayer. Time and again we
see the Lord Jesus coming apart to pray. Sometimes he spent the
night in prayer. Often he arose before the sun
did in prayer that he might call upon God. When Paul says praying
always, he certainly means at least this much. These three
things. First, He means that we ought to pray as we have opportunity. That is
always, always. Pray at all times, in all circumstances,
wherever you are. Walk with God, calling on him. Our prayers may be oral or they
may be silent. They may be lengthy or they may
be brief. Every blessing and every trial Every joy and every
sorrow, every pain and every pleasure, every temptation and
every deliverance, every experience and every thought should bring
us before God in prayer. Second, Paul is showing us the
necessity of faith. This is what he means when we
talk about praying in the spirit always. Constantly walk before
God. Deliberately looking to Him. Deliberately seeking Him. I've
quoted the text to you many times because I quote it to me many
times. Trust in the Lord always. Trust in the Lord always. Lean
not to your own understanding. He'll direct your paths. Trust
Him always. Walk with God in prayer. Paul's telling us that we are
to live in the constant awareness of utter dependence upon Christ. needing his righteousness, his
blood, his grace, needing his wisdom, his power, his direction,
needing him to uphold us by the right hand of his righteousness
and guide us in our way and order our steps in all things, looking
to him who is the author and finisher of our faith. Paul is
here showing us the necessity of seeking the Lord. Turn back
to Psalm 69. sorry, Psalm 63, Psalm 63. Prayer is seeking God. Paul tells
us to be always praying and he's saying, make this your way of
life. Seek the Lord. This is a Psalm
of David when he was in Judah, in the wilderness of Judah. Oh God, Thou art my God, early
will I seek thee. My soul thirsteth for thee. My flesh longeth for thee. In a dry and thirsty land where
no water is, to see thy power and thy glory, so as we have
seen thee in the sanctuary. God, I want to see you everywhere
the way I see you in your house. Because thy lovingkindness is
better than life, my lips shall praise thee. Thus will I bless
thee while I live. I will lift up my hands in thy
name. My soul shall be satisfied with
marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful
lips. When I remember thee upon my
bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches. Because thou
hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will
I rejoice. My soul followeth hard after
thee. Thy right hand upholdeth me. In the day, as you walk through
the world, and in the night watches, seek the Lord. Seek it. When
the apostle tells us to seek him, he's telling us constantly
to acknowledge our dependence on him. Seeking him as a thirsty
man would water in a dry wilderness where no water is. Here the apostle
is showing us the necessity of seeking the Lord. Seeking his
grace, walking with him. And when Paul urges us to pray
always, I think he has in mind the idea of constantly waiting
on him. This is what the psalmist said,
wait on the Lord, be of good courage and he shall strengthen
thine heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. Truly, my soul waiteth upon God,
from Him cometh my salvation. My soul, wait thou only upon
God, for my expectation is from Him. What does it mean, wait?
Wait. Not just wait and see how things
go. That's not it. Wait, as it's
used in Scripture with regard to faith, has the idea of hope
and expectation. You cast your care upon the Lord
and wait. Wait for what? Wait for Him to
do that which is best for your soul, for the glory of His name. Wait for Him to take care of
your care. Wait for Him to take care of
your care, and He will, and He will. I caught the eyes of several
of you just now who are going through some heavy times with care, care, care that sometimes
breaks your heart. A care that leaves you flat on
your face with no idea what's gonna happen. Care. Wait on the Lord. Cast your care on Him who cares
for you and wait for Him to do what's right. Wait for Him to
do what you need. Wait for Him to perform the very
best thing for His church, His people, for you, for His glory. And if God will teach us so to
trust Him, we can wait patiently before Him. Wait, wait on the
Lord. It's needful for me, I'm afraid,
to answer this too. How are we to pray? Paul says,
with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, watching thereunto
with all perseverance and supplication. There are things that people
call prayers that certainly are opposed to Paul's language. He's
not talking here about just vain repetitions, just saying the
same thing over and over again. He's not talking about cold,
heartless, formal prayers, things that are to be avoided by us.
He's not talking about just saying something. I receive calls frequently,
and sometimes from believers who just haven't been taught
any better, they'll say, Brother Don, would you say a prayer for
me? You can ask a priest to do that, not me. I don't say prayers. I try to pray. And if God will
enable me, I'll pray for you. There's a huge difference. Any
prayer that calls attention to ourselves, except as sinners
in need of mercy, is contrary to the spirit of God's word.
Here, Paul encourages us to constantly employ every form and aspect
of prayer. He says, with all prayer and
supplication, We should come to God in reverence, confessing
our sin. We should come to God in adoration
for His glorious person, with great gratitude for all His grace. We should come before the triune
God to worship Him with joy because of our knowledge of Him. And
we should make thanksgiving a part of all coming to God. I'm not talking now just about
saying words. Mark, I'm talking about coming
to God with joy, thanksgiving, gratitude, praise, because he
deserves it. And because you know it. Because
in your soul you want to give it. Prayer is coming to God,
not an occasional thing. I'm talking about deliberately
through the day coming to God. I have a little bit of a difficulty
when I get high in the air. Planes are compressorized, but
if I get up above about 25,000 feet, every now and then I have
to do something that I just never used to do, just never did. Every
now and then I have to just deliberately take in a good
deep breath to breathe comfortably. Lord God, graciously fix it so
that I have to deliberately, every moment of every day, come
to you in prayer. Fix it so that I can't just pass
through life ignoring you. Prayer, you see, arises from
our sense of need. so that we make our supplication
to the Lord, and we ought to do so freely. How often have
you ever thought to yourself, I won't bother God with that?
If I had a house full of children here tonight, and I was talking
to them about prayer, I would illustrate it to them this way.
I'd say, you children, I can't tell you how much your daddy,
how much your mama wishes that you would share everything with
them. Because if it affects you, it affects them. And if it's
important to you, doesn't matter how little it may seem to you,
it's important to them. Any parent here of whom that's
not so? Don't you wish Marcus's girls
had talked to you about everything growing up? Don't you wish they
still would? Everything. Our God, our Father,
bids us come freely to the throne of grace, that we may obtain
mercy and find grace to help in every time of need. Bring it to God, He'll take care
of it. Above all else, pray in the Spirit. What's that mean? Seek to know God's will and pray
according to God's will. Pray as the Spirit of God would
enable you to pray, as the Spirit of God indicts a prayer in your
heart, as the Spirit of God moves you to pray. Not just according
to a prayer list you wrote down and you've got to go through
it. Mechanics are horrible. They're just horrible when it
comes to spiritual things. Pray as God the Holy Ghost puts
prayer in your heart and pray that he will do so constantly.
Praying in the Spirit. If you ask anything according
to my Father's will, it's yours. What's that mean? What's that
mean? If somehow you can find out what God's will is and pray
for it, you have it. That's exactly what it means.
And the only way you can find out what God's will is, is if
God makes it known to you. So that God puts the prayer in
you. God puts the prayer in you. and
you pray with faith in opportunity, in opportunity, in opportunity. I just read again a couple of
times today, Luke 11, our Lord's disciples came and said, Lord,
teach us to pray. And he gave them that disciples
prayer our father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name so
and then he spoke a word to him a parable he said a man comes
to his friend and he's his friends in bed asleep and he's knocks
on the door and he says he says give me some bread i've got some
friends who come to visit me and the fellas i'm in bed with
my family what are you doing knocking on my door this time
of night and he says my friend's here he's hungry and i've got
nothing to feed him and he pays him no attention, and he knocks,
and he knocks, and he knocks, and he knocks. And after a while,
the fellow says, oh, hang on, I'll be there in a minute. And
he wouldn't give it to him just because he asked, but because
he kept on asking, he got what he wanted. He needed something
he couldn't do without. I'll tell you when I'll pray.
I'll tell you when you'll pray. When God gives you a need of
something, you can't do without. When God gives you a need, you
can't do without. Did any father ever give his
child a rock when he asked him for a piece of bread? Did any
father ever give his child a scorpion when he asked him for a piece
of fish? How much more shall your father in heaven give good
gifts to them that seek after him? praying in the Spirit. Well, what should we pray for? Pray for that which God has called
you to need. Paul says specifically, pray
for all saints, all God's saints everywhere. Remember those who
are in bonds as bound with them. those who suffer as suffering
with them. Those who are oppressed as oppressed
with them. They're God's saints. They're
our brethren. Pray for all saints just like
you'd pray for a hurting child. Brother Mark Medley called South
Texas Shelby and asked us to pray for his dad. His dad's in
serious condition, an old man, and dying, and that's never easy.
But pray for all saints just like that. Just like you'd pray
for that dying girl sitting beside you, or that dying baby in your
arms. Pray. Pray for those who preach
the gospel. for the successful ministry of
the gospel wherever it's preached. Pray for me, God's messenger
to your soul, that God would make me faithful and keep me
and inspire me with his word and give me a message for you
and open doors of utterance for the gospel elsewhere and send
the gospel into the world and make it effectual wherever it's
preached. that I may declare the mystery of Christ boldly
as it ought to be declared and may inherit for the everlasting
welfare of their souls and the glory of Christ. Pray always
in the spirit for the glory of God. Amen.