Prayer | Part 1

From the Love We're Fighting studios in Memphis, Tennessee, I'm Byron Tyler, here with Kerry Vaughn, the CEO of Love We're Fighting. Kerry, today, Adrian Rogers, part one in a message called Prayer, and we'll be looking at Romans 8, 26 and 28. You know, the Spirit administrates our access to God.

I love that, by the way. You know, no set appointments, no calendar conflicts, no reservations, right? We have full access to Almighty God. We do. You know, as Christians, prayer is our greatest privilege and service, yet it can also be our greatest failure.

Well, it's so fundamental, we can look right past it, right? To me, it's the blocking and tackling of our faith that we are people of prayer. Well, Adrian Rogers says the devil laughs at our organization and mocks our schemes. He ridicules our good intentions, but he fears our prayers.

Sure, he does. Absolutely. We know that prayer is powerful.

It's the best tool we have in the toolbox. Well, Adrian, Rogers reminds us now why we should pray. Well, I believe that for a number of reasons. First of all, Jesus commanded it, and to keep his commandments, you can do nothing better. And Luke 18, he spake a parable unto them to this end that men ought always to pray and not to faint. And of course, the apostle Paul said we're to pray without ceasing. But the reason that we can do nothing better than pray is, in my estimation, that prayer links our nothingness with God's almightiness. And I think we're unmitigated fools if we don't learn how to pray, because what an opportunity to come to the ruler of the universe and move his mind and heart. Some people think that prayer does not change the mind or the heart of God. But the Bible clearly says that we have not because we ask not. And I believe one day when we get to heaven, we're going to be ashamed when we find out what we could have had, had we only learned to ask and trust.

I pray I can be a greater blessing to your ministry this year, because it has blessed me. What a great response. You know, we tell people often you need to have a quiet time.

But what does that mean? I mean, most people say, how do you structure that? How do you formulate a quiet time? You know, we have a great hardbound new journal entitled Good Morning, Lord. And it is a great resource. And I think this book helps us to really structure that quiet time with a daily practice of studying scripture.

And so I want to encourage people not only to get a copy, get two copies, give it away, right to family and friends. And you can do that at LWF.org or call 1-877-Love-God. Well, with today's message, prayer, part one, here's Adrian Rogers. Romans is the constitution of Christianity. We are looking at the foundations of our faith, a solid word in an unsure age. And we've been right in the heart of this eighth chapter, which is the heart of the book of Romans, which is the heartbeat of all great theology. And today we're going to be talking about prayer.

We're going to retrace some things that we've told you before and reemphasize these things because they are of such great importance. Let's go to chapter eight and we begin in verse 26. 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 this searcheth the hearts, knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he, that is the Spirit, maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the call according to his purpose.

Now, it's very obvious that there are two words that are standing out here. One is the Spirit and the other is the word prayer. And I want to talk to you about how to pray in the Spirit. I don't know one of us that would say, I am satisfied with my prayer life. And I think all of those of us who know and love the Lord Jesus want to pray better. It is the greatest Christian privilege. I want to say it is the greatest Christian service. You can do more than pray after you've prayed, but you cannot do any more than pray until you've prayed. It's the greatest privilege, it is the greatest service, but alas, alas, alas, it is the Christian's greatest failure. We fail in our prayer life, and very few of us would say, I am satisfied with my prayer life.

Now, why? What are the problems? Well, first of all, there's the problem of indifference. Many times, we just don't have a desire to pray. We just don't want to pray. We don't have a longing to pray.

We might as well admit it. There's something in every one of us that doesn't want to pray. There's the problem of indifference. And then there's the problem of ignorance. We don't know how to pray or what to pray for. And then not only is it the problem of indifference and the problem of ignorance, but folks, there's the problem of interference. I mean, when you go to pray, the devil moves heaven and earth and hell beneath to try to keep you from praying.

He really does. The beans will burn. The kids will get in a fight. The telephone will ring. You will get sleepy. Your mind will gather wool. You will think silly thoughts. Does that ever happen to you or just me? All right, when you're trying to pray, there's interference.

Do you know why? The devil laughs at our organization. He mocks our schemes. He ridicules our good intentions. He fears our prayers. So, when you go to pray, the devil is going to level all of the artillery of hell against you because he does not want you to pray.

And your indifference and your ignorance and his interference sometimes just line up against us. And then we just say, well, we're not very good at prayer. We like to talk about prayer, sing about prayer. But many of us really do not have a satisfying, fulfilling prayer life.

Now, what is the answer? The answer is to find that God has given us an ally, an asset, a helper, an encourager, and he is the Holy Spirit. And this passage of Scripture says, likewise, the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities.

We're going to talk about that word help in just a moment. But I want to show you how the Holy Spirit of God helps you, energizes you, enlightens you, empowers you to pray. Now, what are some ways that the Holy Spirit of God helps us to pray?

Let's look right here. First of all, the Holy Spirit of God activates our wills in prayer. The Holy Spirit of God, listen, he activates our wills in prayer.

The Holy Spirit of God moves your will to pray. We might as well admit it, the reason basically that we don't pray is there is a lack of desire. We have no will. We have no appetite. We have no hunger.

Come up close, I'm going to tell you something. The reason you don't pray more than you pray is because you don't want to. People do what they want to do.

People do what they want to do. But there's a part of us called the flesh. Now, he's not talking about your hide, your hair, your skin, the bones, the flesh, the meat on those bones. That's not what the Bible means when it says flesh. When the Bible uses the word flesh, in this instance anyway, it's talking about your old nature, that predisposition to sin, that part of you that doesn't love God.

You were born with it. Let's see how the Bible describes it. Look, if you will, here in verse 5. You're in chapter 8. Look in verse 5.

Watch it. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh. And some of you right now have already checked me out on this sermon. I mean, your mind right now, you're thinking about business, you're thinking about a movie, you're thinking about sports, you're thinking about your lawn or something right now.

You don't have an appetite even to hear about prayer. You are in the flesh and you are minding the things of the flesh. But they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded, the word carnally is just another way of saying fleshly minded, to be carnally minded is death. He's not talking here about physical death only. He's talking about spiritual death. He's talking about death to goodness, purity, power, prayer.

It's death. But to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Now, you have a carnal mind or a spiritual mind. You are hungry to know more or you probably are bored.

It all depends on what your mind is set on. Now, look, if you will, at the explanation of that in verse 7 because the carnal mind is enmity against God. Whatever enmity means, it means warfare. It is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So, you have to be filled with the Holy Spirit to desire to pray because if you're not filled with the Holy Spirit, the flesh in you says, hey, I don't care about that. I am not interested in that.

I don't want to know about that. You see, we do what we want to do. Now, how does the Holy Spirit of God activate our wills? Now, this is beautiful.

This is wonderful. You see, look, if you will, in verse 15 of this same chapter, Romans chapter 8 and verse 15. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Now, there's the spirit of bondage. That's the old devil. He wants to keep you in bondage.

He wants to keep you down. That's the spirit that motivates the children of this world, but he's saying when you get saved, you have received the spirit of adoption. Now, what is adoption? Well, we are born into the family of God spiritually. We're adopted into the family of God legally, and the spirit of adoption means that we are heirs of God, and once we are adopted into the family of God, God puts his Holy Spirit into us, and the Holy Spirit in us just loves the Father. The Holy Spirit says, Abba, Father. It's as normal and natural to pray when you're spirit-filled. God has taken away the spirit of bondage that keeps you from praying. God puts the Holy Spirit of God in your heart and in your life, and says, Father, did you know that you don't have to be a junior-sized Shakespeare in order to pray? Sometimes you'll ask a person to pray in public. They say, well, I can't pray.

What they mean is I can't rattle off some poetical phrases. Jesus said, we're not heard from much speaking. He says, here is Abba, Father. That's the most primary speech that a child can make. That's the counterpart of Daddy, Father. Suppose when my girls were growing up, one of my teenage daughters would say to me, hail yon, eminent pastor of Bellevue, didst thou have a wonderful sojourn down Interstate 40 coming to our domicile? Thy daughter, thy second daughter, Janice, would request of her father that thou wouldst grant thy daughter, Janice, a dollar or two for my sojourn to yonder apothecary and procure some necessities for my cosmological appearance. It would be a lot better to say, Daddy, hey, I love you, Papa. Good to have you home. Here's a kiss, Daddy.

Daddy, I need some things down at the drugstore. You got a couple of bucks? Wouldn't it be better?

Wouldn't it be better? God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father, it is as natural for you to pray as it would be to speak to your own Daddy when you're filled with the Holy Spirit. Because, you see, look, if you will, in verse 9 of this same chapter. The Bible calls the Holy Spirit the Spirit of Christ. You see that?

Look, if you will. But you're not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, and so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. So when you're filled with the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is just Christ in the Christian. Well, what was the prayer life of Jesus like? His prayer life was so wonderful when the disciples saw him praying, they said, Lord, teach us to pray.

After they heard him pray and saw him pray. Well, the Spirit of Christ is in you. You have the Spirit of adoption. It is normal, it is natural, it is easy to pray when you're in the Spirit. But I'm telling you to be carnally minded is death. The carnal mind is enmity against God. There is a part of you that does not want to pray. That is your old nature.

Now, you know it is true. And, friend, if you don't have a desire to pray, it's because you're not filled with the Holy Spirit. The first thing the Holy Spirit of God does to help us to pray is that the Holy Spirit of God activates our will. And for it is God that worketh in you, the Bible says in Philippians 2, verse 13, both to will and to do of his good pleasure. God works in you. He activates your will.

Listen to that verse again. For it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do his good pleasure. So you have to let the Holy Spirit of God come in you and activate your will. But not only will the Holy Spirit of God activate your will, I'll tell you what else the Holy Spirit of God will do. He will animate your body. It's not only the activation of your will, but the atomation of your body. Now, what does that mean? It means it makes your body alive.

Now, look, if you will. Look in verses 10 and 11 of this same chapter. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, that is, the wages of sin is death, and because of our sin, Jesus died for us. We died with him.

The old person is crucified. But the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, if the same... Who was it that brought Jesus out of that grave? Well, according to this verse, it's the Holy Spirit. Now, the Holy Spirit that brought Jesus actually literally, visibly, bodily out of that grave, he's the Holy Spirit that came into you when you got saved. Now, if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Jesus from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

You know what the word quicken means? It means give life, energy, to intimate. He gives you strength to pray. Did you know it takes energy to pray? Did you know I had rather preach for an hour than to pray for a half an hour, so far as energy is concerned? It takes great strength to pray. Paul talked about laboring with me in prayer.

The reason many of us don't pray is, very frankly, we're lazy, and we go to pray, our energy just drains out of us. Do you ever feel that? You get tired, you get sleepy, your head gets full of cobwebs?

Part of it's your fault. You get there in a big, overstuffed chair and put your face down in it. You smother, get your head up anyway, and breathe. Sometimes, you know, I'll just go for a walk and pray. That's a wonderful thing to do, walk and pray and breathe and so forth.

But I'm talking on top of that, that a part of the flesh, the old nature, the body, we just don't have the strength to pray. Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, and he was praying. And he wanted his disciples to pray. And he said, watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. And he came back, and what were they doing?

They were sleeping, sleeping. And what did Jesus say? Listen to this very carefully. He said, watch and pray. The Spirit is willing.

The flesh is weak. Had they been filled with the Spirit, they would have been praying. Many times, we're sleeping when we ought to be praying. And the reason we're sleeping when we ought to be praying is we're not praying in the Spirit. If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus Christ from the dead dwell in you, that Spirit will quicken your mortal bodies. There's something about the Holy Spirit that gives you energy.

You know, when the Spirit of God is there, joy is there, and the joy of the Lord is your strength. When Jesus was there, you read about it in the fourth chapter of John. Jesus was at Sychar in Samaria, and Jacob's well was there.

Jesus was weary. He was sitting on the rim of that well. I've been there many times. I've drunk water from that same well.

It's still there, a deep well. Jesus was sitting on the rim of that well. He was tired, and a woman of Samaria came, and Jesus began to witness to her, and she came to saving faith.

I don't want to digress and get into that too much. Many of you know the story, but the interesting thing is that Jesus was tired. He was sitting there, and he was hungry because the disciples had gone into town to get some food, and they come back, and Jesus is vibrant, and they say, here's some food. He said, hey, I've got food to eat you don't know anything about.

I have food to eat you don't know anything about. Jesus' actual body had been invigorated by the Holy Spirit of God, and when you're in the Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God will literally strengthen. He will animate your body as well as activate your will, and you can just say, Lord, I'm weak. I'm fading. I'm numb and sleepy, and my mind is gathering. Well, come Holy Spirit of God.

My flesh is weak. The Spirit is willing, okay? Now, let me tell you a third thing the Holy Spirit of God will do. Not only will He is there the activation of your will in prayer and the animation of our bodies in prayer, but number three, there's the adaptation of our requests in prayer. Now, look at this.

It's very interesting. Go, if you will, to verse 26. Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities. Now, let's just stop there for a moment and say that Paul includes himself. He doesn't say your weaknesses.

Now, Paul's the greatest Christian who ever lived, and he included himself. He says our infirmities. For we know not what we should pray for. He didn't say you bunch of carnal people don't know what you should pray for.

He said 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. Now, you ought to accept your weakness for two reasons. Reason number one, it's a fact. Paul said my infirmity, your infirmity, it's a fact.

Number two, it is an asset. You say, how could my weakness be an asset? Well, Paul learned that his weakness was an asset. Put this verse down in 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 9. Paul had a thorn in the flesh. He asked God to take it away from him, and God refused, and beginning in verse 9, and he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.

Isn't that great? You see, many of us think we're too weak. Maybe we haven't been weak enough. Maybe we haven't come to the place where we've said, Lord, I can't.

Have you ever done that? Lord, I just can't. So long as we're struggling, we don't cry out to him. But when we say, Lord, I can't, and you can, and then God says, all right, now that strength is a fact that's going to become an asset because my strength will be made perfect in your weakness. What God wants to do in prayer is to deliver us from self-sufficiency. He makes us perpetually weak that we might be perpetually dependent, that we might be perpetually powerful as we depend upon him. And so the Spirit helpeth our infirmities. You see, the Holy Spirit of God adapts our request in prayer.

When we pray in the Holy Spirit, we are face to face with him. There is that vital relationship, face to face with him. He with me and I with him, and together we do it. I cannot do it without him.

He will not do it without me. But together in prayer, the Holy Spirit of God helps us to pray. And coming up tomorrow, we'll pick up with part two of this important lesson at Love Worth Finding. One of our greatest honors is to come alongside you and pray with you and for you. If you can, go to our website homepage at lwf.org slash radio and scroll down to find our prayer wall. There you'll find the option to either submit a prayer request or pray for others. This resource is one of our favorite ways to keep the ministry and the community praying continually for one another's needs. Let us hear from you today. Go to lwf.org slash radio and go down to our prayer wall. Well, thanks for studying with us in God's Word today. Be sure to sign up for our daily heartbeat emails and you'll get daily devotions and message links sent straight to your inbox. Again, you can do that at the website lwf.org slash radio and tune in tomorrow for part two of prayer right here on Love Worth Finding.