Well, come back with me for the
last time in this series to Ephesians chapter six and the passage concerning
the whole armor of God. And I want to look at particularly
verse 18 this morning. Praying always with all prayer
and supplication in the spirit and watching thereunto with all
perseverance and supplication for all saints. we've been looking
at these elements of the armor armor to protect and last week
we saw the sword of the spirit which is the weapon of aggression
and these are the things that we we've been looking at over
recent weeks protection from those fiery darts of the wicked
one that come towards us to disturb our peace and disturb our faith
and our confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ because his objective
is to take that assurance of salvation away from the people
of God to make you feel that you've lost your salvation that
it it was never yours you never had any right to it these are
the fiery darts that come the fiery darts of doubt and there's
the confidence that Our strength is not in ourselves as believers
but in the Lord. Be strong in the Lord and the
power of his might. Be strong in the fact that he
has promised he will never lose his own. That he's done that
which is necessary to win his own and to keep his own. He's
defeated Satan, utterly routed Satan. Satan has no more accusations
to bring, for Christ has died. And then he's provided for this
walk, this armor, the belt of truth, the truth of God. And
we saw last week that they're all basically different metaphors
for the same thing, the things of which the Word of God by faith
assures the child of God. All of these bits of armour come
together to help us as we walk through this life. defensive
and aggressive defensive to protect us the sword of the spirit with
which to take it up and to fight and to attack, you remember last
week I was saying that these things come, these doubts, these
provocations from Satan come and the thing to do with the
sword of the spirit is take it knowing it and being skillful
in it and having trained yourself in it to thrust at them aggressively
As the Scots warriors used to say, if you don't kill them,
they'll kill you. So you've got to, these doubts,
kill it with the word of God when it comes to you. But now
he says, praying always, because you see, you can't miss this
one out of it. These are not just mechanistic.
these are not just lifeless things it's praying always with all
prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching there unto
with all perseverance and supplication for all saints this is the communications
you know if you were to talk to a modern-day military person
about what is needed for effective battle do you know what would
be right up there almost more important than the weapons that
go bang themselves is the communication. you know first the ability to
see and then the communication the communication is absolutely
vital absolutely vital you know the enemy forces it's not just
a question of throwing as many shells and rockets and mortars
at you as they possibly can if they can knock out your communications
wow they've achieved a magnificent coup against you and this is
communication Communication is vital as the armor. You know
how we feel these days, it's just a matter of the last 15
years or so, you know how we feel these days about mobile
phones and the communication that that gives. Do you remember,
I mean, if most of us now were dropped back into the situation
of 15 years ago without a mobile phone, unless you were one of
those very well-blessed people who carried a house brick around
for your mobile phone 15 years ago. But if you were to be landed
in a place without your mobile phone, just imagine how utterly
naked you would feel, how utterly, you know you can't just get that
message through that you know like when we go off we say oh
right we're going different places in the shopping center I'm going
to this shop and you're going to that shop and uh... just give
me a call to tell me where you are in ten minutes when you're
ready to meet, no we couldn't do that fifteen years ago it
was just absolutely impossible if you lost sight of one another
and I tell you if I lost sight of somebody fifteen years ago
without a mobile phone I didn't see her again till we got home
I remember losing sight of somebody in Southampton at a set of traffic
lights and we didn't see you for three hours, did we, after
that. That's how vital communications
are. You see, prayer is this communication.
You see, why do we talk? Because we're alive. You know,
when death occurs, talking stops. It's finished. No more communication
on that level. We talk because we're alive.
Why do we talk to God? because we have a God who is
alive. We often, we often, I'm not saying we forget it, but
do you know our sensibility of the fact that the God who we
worship is alive, our God is alive. We worship a living God. We worship a, I'm not talking
sentimental Arminianism, this is, this is truth. The sovereign
God of the universe that we worship is alive and so we talk to our
God. We communicate with our God.
He speaks to us by His Word, but not just mechanistically
by His Word. Loads of people have got the
words in the pages of this book, but He speaks to His people by
His Spirit, who takes of the things of Christ that are there
and reveals them to us. And we, the living heart of faith,
speaks back to Him. We talk to Him. We talk because
we live. Prayer is the lifeblood of faith. It's the breathing of faith. You remember when Saul of Tarsus
met the risen Christ on the Damascus road and he was led blind into
the city of Damascus and he was led into a house and of course
it was all, none of it was left to chance, nothing ever is left
to chance with God. In the providence of God every
step was foreordained. Paul was a chosen vessel of mine. What you mean the man who was
slinging stones at Stephen the first martyr? Yes, Paul was a
chosen vessel of mine said God. I've appointed him. for great
things. He was appointed for great things
and God led every step into the city of Damascus. And there,
Paul, Saul of Tarsus, this man who was spitting out venom and
breathing threatenings against the disciples of the Lord Jesus
Christ, there was a man who was overcome Lord what would you
have me to do and there he is in the city of Damascus and there's
a new life there's a new birth happened there's a new man within
there's the old man of the flesh still there so he still says
he's the chief of sinners and he's not worthy to be called
an apostle and that in his flesh there dwells no good thing but
there is a new man there There's a new man of the Spirit of God
that's living and breathing. What's the first thing we listen
for when the baby's born? What's the first thing that we
want to hear? We want to hear that good pair of healthy lungs
breathing. We want to hear that cry. We
want to hear that the breath is there. And it is so it was
with Paul. He prays. Ananias is told to
go to him for there he is and he prayeth is what it says. Acts
chapter 9 and verse 11. He's praying from the heart.
That little newborn How can I put it? That newborn life of the
Holy Spirit is praying, breathing out prayers to the living God.
Go to him, Hannah and I. Ah, but he's threatening. No,
go to him. He's praying. He's got the Spirit of God within
him. It's the lifeblood of faith is prayer, praying. Not formally. You know, people talk. I hate
this idea. Oh, will you say a prayer for
me? No, don't say a prayer for me. Pray for me! Don't say a
prayer. We don't say prayers in a mechanistic
way. Pray for me. Oh, what am I to
do? Stand on the street corner with
my hands in the air and then God will especially bless? No,
no. Pray for me from your heart. From your heart. Heartfelt. You
know the prayers that are recorded in scripture that are heartfelt.
Heartfelt. The one that just cries out,
help me Lord. Help me Lord. I've got nowhere
else I can go, help me Lord. The one who cries out when he's
totally afflicted, the publican, who's totally afflicted with
a vision of God and His holiness and justice and judgment to come
and it's appointed to man to die once and then comes the judgment
and how will I fare and how can a man be just with God? God be
merciful to me, a sinner. because his word says he delights
in mercy. The heart prays, God be merciful. It doesn't just read words on
a page and go okay I'll put a tick in that box, I'm alright. No,
he prays from his heart, God be merciful to me, a sinner. You know we read earlier in Hebrews
8 and we could have read Jeremiah chapter 24 and other passages
in Jeremiah speaking of the new covenant or 2nd Corinthians 6.16
where God says they will be my people and I will be their God. you know the church of God and
the church of the Lord Jesus Christ is a family and within
families there must be communication there must be talking imagine
a marriage where there's no communication there must be communication and
so it is in the church of God and with Our Lord Jesus Christ
and our Heavenly Father, they must be talking, we must communicate
communion with Him. And that communion is based on
the gospel of His grace. We come to Him because we can
come to Him. There is forgiveness with Him,
He says in Psalm 130, that He may be feared, that He may be
worshipped reverentially. Do you know, you cannot worship
Him reverentially if you've not been forgiven your sins. You're
an object of wrath. but as a child of God forgiven
there is forgiveness with him that he may be feared that you
may approach him that you may approach him in a reverential
way but a way that he accepts you there is forgiveness with
him that he may be feared based on the gospel of his grace where
the Lord Jesus Christ took the sins of his people and those
sins specifically and who else could take those sins but the
infinite God become man could anybody else You know that hymn,
There is a Green Hill Far Away, it says, There was no other good
enough to pay the price of sin. I remember singing that at school
over and over again from five years old. There was no other
good enough to pay the price of sin. And you know, the force
of it never ever hit me. But think of it, there was no
other. Because he's the infinite God,
he's able to bear the sins of his people. Only he can do that. Only he can. And so this communion
with Him, communion in prayer based on this fact, that there's
this living relationship between God and His people. Now in relation
to the armour of God that we've already seen, on the back of
the bulletin, I put this piece by J.C. Philpott, which says
this, where it says, take unto you the whole armour of God,
and then at the end, praying always with all prayer and supplication
in the spirit, he says, oh how this heavenly recipe, this prayer
recipe, keeps every part of the armour bright. Did you notice
in the last hymn that we sung, there was a line about polishing?
how prayer polishes the hymn of Cowper, it polishes the armour
that God has given. How the heavenly recipe keeps
every part of the armour bright and the soldier active and expert
in its use. The armour indeed of itself as
being from heaven, it doesn't get rusty because it's from heaven.
It is we who get sluggish in its use. But to our apprehension,
to how it appears to us, faith and prayer make that armour which
is heavenly bright, they make it appear heavenly bright. They
make it glitter more brightly. How, for instance, the prayer
of faith brightens up the belt of truth and makes it glitter
and shine. You pray about the things of
the Spirit of God. You pray about the things of
Christ, about His sovereign grace, about His particular redemption,
about His love for His people, His everlasting love. You pray
about those as you meditate on them and oh how they shine up
and how they sparkle in the light of His Word and that communion,
that communion between the child of God and his heavenly father
how it brightens up how it burnishes the breastplate of righteousness
and makes it fit tightly around the bosom in other words his
righteousness is mine how it makes the helmet glitter in the
sun and its noble plumes to wave in their native luster how it
beats out every dent in the shield that the shield may have received
from the fiery darts and fits it for fresh encounters how it
sharpens the sword of the spirit and gives it a brighter polish
and nerves the arm to wield it with renewed activity and vigor. Prayer is that which polishes
up these elements. You see, these elements are not
just mechanistic. They're not just matter of fact. They're living, vital, real things
and it's prayer that makes them shine. It's prayer that sharpens
them in our experience. Faith is exercised by prayer. Prayer is as vital as breathing. This armour in itself, it's useless
unless it's put on by faith. the bits of armor on by themselves
just mechanistically dead mechanistically they're lifeless they must be
put on by faith and prayer is exercised faith is exercised
by prayer that the belt of truth prayer to keep us from the rotten
threads of error that come along the breastplate of righteousness
prayer for assurance that that breastplate is mine and it fits
me tightly Footwear. Prayer as we walk every step
through this life, because the footwear is for walking through
this life. And prayer, every step as we
go. Shining the Word of God on every
step, for His Word is a light to our path and a lamp to our
feet. Or the other way around, I never can quite remember, but
you know the quotation from Psalm 119. The shield. Prayer for alertness. Make me alert to be able to move
it and use it. to ward off those fiery dart
attacks of Satan. A helmet! Prayer to God for protection
of the thoughts of my mind, of my meditation. Prayer for that
sword of the spirit that I'll be able to polish it and sharpen
it in its use against those attacks of Satan. Prayer is vital, it's
part of the living relationship between the child of God and
his God. I will be to them their God and
they shall be to me my people. A God and his people in unity of purpose and desire
and objective. The objective being the glory
of God, the glory of Christ, the accomplishment of the gospel
of his grace. Well let's look at some aspects
of prayer. You'll notice it says praying
always with all prayer and supplication. Always. Always. It's something
that must always be part of the child of God's existence. A mode of life. You know I don't
have to tell you to breathe. If you don't breathe for more
than a minute you'll start to panic a bit and if it gets to
two minutes you'll be wondering if you're going to pass out.
I know there are these people who can dive and hold their breath
for seven or eight minutes but they're very very rare. Most
of us it's a minute or so and we're absolutely gasping for
some breath. It should be like that with prayer.
No, you say, well I can't be stuck, I've got work to do, I
must be thinking about other things. I know, child of God,
you can walk through this life always conscious of the fact
that you're in the light and the sight and the glow of the
God of the universe, of your Saviour. You can always be conscious
of that. and walk in the light with it.
It's an always thing, it's not something that you stop and put
aside and then you only get it out for those fixed times when
you formally pray. It's an attitude of prayer all
the time as we'll see in a moment. And it's supplication in the
Spirit. That new life in Saul of Tarsus,
the Apostle Paul was supplication in the Spirit because that new
life had come from God. You know, this is the truth of
this book. God has elected, chosen a people
in Christ before the foundation of the world, and He's predestinated
those people to come under the sound of the gospel of His grace.
He's predestinated those people to be redeemed by the blood of
Christ, that them particularly, for Christ covenanted with the
Father, that He would save them. And then by the Holy Spirit coming
to those people in life as the gospel is preached, for it pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save those that believe. He
comes and regenerates and breathes new life. And then there's that
supplication that flows in the Spirit. That new life that has
been given, supplication in the Spirit is what flows from it.
And then it's with watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication
for all saints. It's with perseverance. It's
an always thing, with supplication in the spirit and with perseverance. Another word for it is importunity,
a persistence, a not giving up, a continuing to pray. It's an
attitude that goes on and on and on. Let's think about some
examples of prayer. and obviously the scriptures
are full of them but I've just picked out a few. Do you remember
when Abraham sent his servant Eliezer of Damascus? At first
Abraham thought that Eliezer of Damascus would be the heir
because he was the boss of his household, he put him in charge
of everything and that he would be the heir in the covenant of
promise and God said no it won't be this one it will be one from
your own loins your own son from Isaac would the seed come but
the whole purpose of that was this that for God to save his
people a savior must come in the flesh and he would be of
God's line and of God's choosing and that line must be preserved
whatever else might happen however much Satan might try to devour
that child that would come of the woman as Revelation 12 puts
it he must be preserved that line must be preserved right
the way down through David and Solomon and so on and so forth
right the way down to Christ you can read all the genealogies
of it as you know in the scriptures when it came to Isaac you know
Isaac had been born and Isaac had grown and we had the incident
when he was ready to sacrifice Isaac believing that God would
raise him from the dead but then comes the time when there must
be a wife for Isaac now the promised seed the one through whom the
people of God would be saved must come The second person of the Trinity
must come to save His people from their sins through this
line. Isaac must have a wife. Who's going to be the right wife
for Isaac through whom this line will be preserved? Eliezer, go,
go back to my people, not from the daughters of Canaan and all
around because they will import their gods and their false Baal
religion into the line and it must be preserved. Go back to
my people and find a wife for my son Isaac from amongst them.
So Eliezer goes with all his camels and you know there's the
example of him praying there. by the well. He does that which
his master tells him but then how's he going to decide? Oh
God I need your help or Lord help me in this situation show
me which one it will be and Eliezer says if I say this and the young
maiden says then let that be the one and of course Rachel
comes and he says the words and she is the one that, sorry did
I get that wrong, it's Rebecca isn't it? Is it Rebecca or is
it Rachel? Never mind, doesn't matter, doesn't matter. But he
prayed there in that situation that God would guide him. Why? Because it's intent was to fulfill
the purposes of the gospel of grace. What was the intention
of that prayer? The intention of that prayer
was that the gospel of grace would be fulfilled. That the
glory of God would be accomplished by the fulfillment of the Gospel
of Grace. You know, even there, right back
then, all that time ago, in Genesis 24, that prayer then was for
the glory of God in the fulfillment of the Gospel of Grace by giving
the right wife to Isaac, that the right line might continue
from him and that might result in the Savior who would come
to save his people, Jesus who would save his people from their
sins. here's another thing if you look
in uh... don't look there now but in second
samuel chapter seven and verse 27 we find David, King David
who'd had so much turmoil because of his own sin it was all brought
upon him because of his own sin but nevertheless he was a man
after God's own heart and he wanted to build, he said I'm
living in this wonderful palace with everything I need but there
is no house for the living God there's just a tent, a tabernacle
and he wanted to build a temple and he was praying It says there
that he found it in his heart to pray. You know this supplication
in the Spirit, this is something that God puts in our hearts to
pray. He found it in his heart to pray
that God would let him build a house or that there would be
a house for the living God, a center for the worship of God there
in Jerusalem. And that was a fruit of communion
with God. He put it in his heart. David
found it in his heart to pray. Do you ever find that? As a child
of God, do you ever find, I don't know why, but something's weighing
on my heart. Has God put it in your heart to pray? Has he put
it in your heart to pray for things? You know, sometimes it
seems as though we ask amiss, as James says. We don't get what
we ask for because we ask amiss. We consume it on our lusts, is
what James says, James 4 verse 2 or 3. Consuming it on our lusts. Ah, but sometimes, you know,
God puts it in our hearts. He lays somebody or some situation
or something on our hearts to pray. I wonder if He laid on
our hearts to pray that there'll be such blessing flowing from
the conference that we seek to host next year. Such tremendous
blessing that the gospel of his grace will be exalted, that the
purposes of the eternal God will be set forth, will be uplifted,
will be magnified. Oh that he would put things in
our hearts for which to pray. Solomon prays, we have public
prayers, we have examples of great public prayers, when Solomon
the son of David built the temple there was this magnificent building
and Solomon led the people in this great public prayer, you
can read about it in 1st Kings chapter 8 and he kneels and lifts
up his arms and he prays to the God of heaven, this great public
prayer that God would answer prayer. His prayer again and
again and again is that God would answer prayer. When this happens,
oh that you would hear the prayers of your people. Oh that you would
be attentive to their cry. Be attentive to their cry. We've got examples with Daniel.
You know when two in particular, in Daniel chapter six which ended
with Daniel being put in the lion's den and you know Darius
had been persuaded by his politicians to set a trap for Daniel and
Daniel's habit was that he prayed three times a day publicly, he
put his windows open to Jerusalem and he prayed three times a day
And that habitual prayer was under threat because anybody
who was caught worshipping any other god than the statue that
Darius had set up was to be put into the lion's den. And of course
Daniel was put into the lion's den because he habitually prayed. That's a good thing, habitually
prayed. Set times. I'm not talking like
Islam, that there are certain numbers of times a day and you
go to prayer when you hear the howling and wailing from the
top of the pinnacle, but a habit of prayer. And Daniel had that
habit of prayer, which he maintained. Not just a time of just breathing
prayer and living in the light of the knowledge that God is
there and communing with God in every situation, but set formal
times. And he also prayed in accordance
with the Word of God. In Daniel chapter 9, he read
the books, the scriptures. He read Jeremiah. He knew that
the 70 years was accomplished. And what did he do on the grounds
of what God's Word had said? He prayed. He went to prayer. He fasted and he prayed. For
days he prayed and prayed. Now is the time. Your Word says
this, bring these things to pass. Restore your people to where
they should be. Elijah, another example probably going back in
history from Daniel but Elijah when he gets the people on Mount
Carmel and you know Elijah always prayed in accordance with God's
word because God had promised that if Baal worship started
that he would withhold rain and so Elijah prayed and God said
there shall not be dew nor rain these three years, three and
a half years and when the time was up gets Ahab to bring all
the people to Mount Carmel and you know he mocks them for their
worship of Baal. Do you know when I you know I
always put the news on at eight o'clock on a Sunday morning and
while we're pottering around getting breakfast and then it's
followed by the BBC service. I tell you it's Baal worship. This morning was a classic example
of Baal worship, absolute Baal worship. Oh they use the name
of God, they use the name of Jesus but the whole philosophy
of it is Baal worship and that's the tendency of the human heart.
to depart from the sovereignty of God in salvation and go to
the innate goodness of all people and the innate ability of all
people to do things and Elijah got the people there and told
them to call upon their false god and see if he could do so,
he said the God that answers by fire let him be God let's
put this to the test your God Baal and the true God, let's
put them to the test and the God who answers by fire and they
cut themselves and they dance and they scream and they shout
all day long and they do that which religious fanatics do all
the time and of course there was no response no answer and
so Elijah mocks them perhaps he's in a journey perhaps he's
sleeping he says you know, he's confident, he's confident in
his God and then he prays and this is what he prays Lord God
of Abraham Isaac and Israel this day let it be known that thou
art God and I am thy servant who does he pray to? Lord God
of Abraham Isaac and Israel who is the Lord God of Abraham Isaac
and Israel? it's the God of covenant promise
it's the God of true salvation It's the God promised right back
in the Garden of Eden, the God who said that the seed of the
woman would come and crush the serpent's head. It's this God
that he prays to, the true God. He prays in accordance with God's
Word. He prays to Him. Turn to the
book of Nehemiah. You'll find it before the Psalms,
before the book of Job, before the book of Esther and Then you
get to Nehemiah. And look in chapter one. There's
some good examples of prayer here. Because remember, Paul
is telling us, this armor, pray always with all prayer and supplication
in the spirit, watching thereto with all perseverance and supplication
for all saints. Look at Nehemiah, chapter one.
Nehemiah is there serving in the palace in Shushan and the
Medo-Persians have taken over the Babylonian Empire and he's
there as the cup bearer for the king, Artaxerxes, the king, the
mighty emperor and he asks some people who've come back from
Jerusalem how are things there and the answer is that they're
terrible everything's in a mess, the wall of Jerusalem's broken
down the gates thereof are burned with fire this is not what he
hoped to hear Jerusalem is in a mess and verse four it came
to pass when I heard these words that I sat down and wept and
mourned certain days and fasted and prayed before the God of
heaven and he prayed and he prayed right down to verse eleven I
beseech thee Lord let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer
of thy servant and the prayer of thy servants for a long time
he prayed and he prayed and he prayed he was in great heaviness
of soul he was pleading with importunity to God that he would
do something about this dreadful situation God had promised a
restoration to Jerusalem at the end of the seventy years and
some had gone back and they were in a terrible mess and you might
say that they looked as about effective as we the church here
in Nebwith looks today what a mess what a weak pathetic looking
specimen of the power of the God of the universe and the gospel
of grace and he prays and he prays and he prays oh that God
would put in our hearts to pray like this to pray with persistence
but then the day comes chapter two he's doing his job he's the
cup bearer of the wine before Artaxerxes and he goes into the
presence of Artaxerxes and he's the cup bearer now cup bearers
are not meant to be miserable And he's miserable. Why is he
miserable? His heart's heavy. He's been praying that God would
restore things. He can't be cheerful because,
you know, have you ever had something that so worries and concerns
you and churns you up? It doesn't matter what the situation
of life, nobody can make you laugh because there's such turmoil
and anguish inside. Such dreadful anguish. And the
king says to him in verse two, why is your countenance sad?
You're not ill. there's nothing else but sorrow,
this is nothing but sorrow of heart and Nehemiah was terrified
because it wasn't a good thing for the cupbearer not to be happy
in the presence of the king and so he said to the king let the king live forever why
should not my countenance be sad when the place of my father's
the sepulchres lies waste and the gates thereof are consumed
with fire Then the king said to me, for what dost thou make
request? So I prayed to the God of heaven. Do you see that? Verse four,
end of it, so I prayed. There he is, fear of his life,
in the presence of this great potentate, this great king, this
one who could have his head taken off straight away. And he's asked
a question. What do you make requests for?
And look what he does. I prayed to the God of heaven.
So he stops everything, puts his cup down, kneels down on
the floor, spreads his hands to heaven and prays. No, he doesn't.
Not at all. In a split second. between the
king asking him and him replying what does he do in his heart
in his mind in the secret quietness of his heart knowing that that
God who said he will never leave him nor forsaking him is holding
his hand and he's with him and by his side he prays to him Lord
help me give me the words now doesn't pray out loud doesn't
say anything out loud Help me in this situation. In a split
second, he prays. That's prayer. That's praying,
always, with all supplication in the Spirit. He's walking through
these situations. Here's a situation. No time to
get down on his knees. Lord, help me now. He's conscious
of the fact that his God is there. Look at another example. Turn
over to chapter 4. because in the will of God he
gets his request and he gets the resources to go back to Jerusalem
to build the walls amazing how the God of heaven the heart of
the king is in the hands of God the heart of Artaxerxes was in
the hands of God and Nehemiah got everything that he requested
sent back with all the resources he needed to go back and do that
which was necessary But when he got there, as is the case
for all the children of God in this life, there are always problems
that come along. There is always opposition that
comes along. And Nehemiah experienced opposition. And in verse 9, they're
all conspiring together. Nevertheless, verse 9 of chapter
4, we made our prayer unto our God and set a watch against them
day and night. You see, his prayer was practical.
His prayer was not fatalistic. They prayed to their God and
set a watch. They didn't say things will happen
this way or that way irrespective of whether I do anything. We
prayed to our God who controls everything. And we use the faculties
that our God has given us, and the resources he's given us,
and we set a watch to guard the holes in the walls of Jerusalem.
That's one of my favorite prayers in scripture. We pray to our
God and set a watch. You see those different examples
of prayer. We haven't time, but we could
look at all sorts of other applications. examples, the examples of Christ
praying how the man who was the God of the universe but as a
man he spent so much time in prayer he went away alone into
the hills to pray on his own he prayed in that garden of Gethsemane
he asked his disciples can you not watch with me one small hour,
can't you just be with me now he prayed let's just apply this
we're under attack from Satan who wants to rob us of the assurance
of our salvation. We have here in these verses
the armour of God which we're told to take and wear it but
wear it in living communion, vital communion with God and
we do that by prayer. Do it at private times, set times,
spontaneous times, when the need arises as it did with Nehemiah,
Lord help me in this situation. In public situations, in formal
meetings. I'm very, very cautious about
what is commonly known, especially in Britain, in conservative churches
as the prayer meeting. I really have a problem with
this idea. I used to hear people say, of all the meetings of the
church, the prayer meeting is the most important meeting of
the week. Sorry, I've got a problem with that. I would tend to put
the preaching of the clear gospel of grace somewhat above that.
to be honest with you. I really do have a problem with
that idea because there are all sorts of dangers that creep into
it. There's spiritual one-upmanship. There's the danger of it becoming
a free-for-all. I remember one, I was telling
Evelyn yesterday, I remember one prayer meeting being reintroduced
and all sorts came and people who didn't come to hear the preaching
of the word came to the prayer meeting because it was an ecumenical
gathering where we could all gather together and I remember
that there was one woman who was a spiritualist she went to
spiritualist meetings and there in a meeting of what was supposed
to be the people of God praying in a public prayer meeting she's
praying her spiritual prayers I'm sorry that's never going
to happen if I've got anything to do with it, God helping us
in an assembly like this, not at all. I say with Don Faulkner,
you say, when do we have a prayer meeting? All our meetings are
prayer meetings. When we're worshipping, be in
an attitude of prayer. we pray publicly as part of our
worship services when we sing the hymns most of these hymns
are prayers from the heart make those words your own pray those
words as you're singing the hymns as you're hearing the preaching
pray that God would apply it to your heart and give you wisdom
and understanding of it all of our meetings are prayer meetings
we don't go in for these shows be not rash with thy mouth said
Solomon let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before
God for God's in heaven and you're on earth therefore let thy words
be few let thy words be few we're not heard said Jesus for our
much speaking you think how much he condemned the Pharisees for
their great shows of praying how they wanted people to see
them being so pious and religious in public places oh look at them
they must be Christians oh gosh we better give them a special
respect for what they're doing no be careful of that No. Jesus said, when you do these
things, do it quietly in secret, go into your closet. Don't do
it under the gaze of men, to be seen of men. They've got their
reward, they'll have their reward, but don't you go about it that
way. Prayer is not spiritual arm-twisting. It's not people
ganging up to get God to change his mind, to do things our way. No. And it's not spiritual one-upmanship
either. where we can see who are the
most spiritual in the church by the ones that are the most
eloquent. Not at all. You know, the weakest
child of God, that prayer is just as valuable in the quietness
of your heart. In all circumstances we should
pray. As he goes on to say, pray for the preaching of the word
of God above all other things and above everything, above everything
for God's glory in the salvation of his people. Don Faulkner wrote
this, It's an indisputable fact that all of God's children pray.
Prayer is the breath of a newborn soul. But what is prayer? Prayer
is much more than merely asking and receiving. It's much more
than simply saying our daily prayers at the appointed times.
Prayer is the submissive, believing heart worshipping God and seeking
his will. If ever we really pray, there
are certain things which will characterize our prayers. All
true prayer is the request of faith, relying on the promise
of God. All true prayer is offered in
the name of Christ, trusting the merits of his righteousness
and shed blood for its acceptance with God. All true prayer is
offered in the name of our Redeemer and seeks only those things that
are for the glory of Christ. Brethren, we must learn to subject
all things to the glory of Christ. And fourthly, you may be sure
that if ever we do truly pray, our prayer will be according
to the will of God. In prayer, we seek the gracious
guidance of the Holy Spirit to show us the mind and will of
God. Then in faith, we ask our Father
to do His will. I can have what I will, if my
will is lost in his will, and one with his will. Is this not
what James tells us? Ye ask and receive not, because
ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Let us ask
the Lord as his disciples of old. Lord, teach us to pray,
and this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask
anything according to his will, he heareth us.