The Importance of Prayer in the Life of the Believer: Pray Without Ceasing

The following message from Pastor Greg Laurie is made possible by some special friends of this ministry.

Pastor Greg? I wanted to say a special word of thanks to the Harvest Partners who make this ministry possible. Next time you're online, check out Pastor Greg's personal blog at blog.GregLaurie.com You can pray at any time, anywhere. You can even pray while you're driving.

Just make sure you keep your eyes open. This is the day when the lost are found. This is the day for a new beginning. Amazing grace how sweet the sound.

Again you hear all the angels are singing. This is the day, the day where life begins. Great Christian writer and Pastor Andrew Murray said we must begin to believe that God, in the mystery of prayer, has entrusted us with a force that can move the heavenly world and can bring its power down to earth. And today on A New Beginning, we'll get some insights on how to put that power to work.

Pastor Greg Laurie helps us see how to model Jesus' example in praying as often as possible. We'll learn the value in staying connected to our all-powerful God. Glad you're along today. This is the day, the day where life begins. All right. Well let's grab our Bibles and turn to two passages.

You may be there already. Ephesians chapter 6 and Luke chapter 11. And the title of my message is, The Importance of Prayer in the Life of the Believer. This is a part of our series that we are calling, What Every Growing Christian Needs to Know. Now if you don't want to be a growing Christian, well I guess you don't need to know this.

But the fact of the matter is every believer should recognize that there is a long ways to go. I remember when I was a young believer and I met Pastor Chuck Smith. And I asked Chuck, how long have you been a Christian? And I think at that point I don't know how long it had been exactly. He may have said 30 years. Something like that.

And I was just like astounded. 30 years. I mean 30 years. I had been a Christian for like four months. And I am thinking, what is it like to be a Christian for 30 years?

You are almost like an apostle or something. Well let me tell you what it is like because I have been a Christian now over 40 years. And there is a lot of things that happen in your life.

A lot of changes that take place. But you want to know a little secret. The longer you have known the Lord the more you realize you need to keep growing spiritually. I know I have a long ways to go. Those of you that know me well are saying, Amen. You sure do. Yes and you do as well.

We all do. And so if you want to be a growing Christian there are certain principles that must be constantly in play in your life. Because we look at some who start what we might call the race of life. Some just take off with a burst of energy and they go across that finish line with flying colors. Others may take off. Maybe they stumble but they get up on their feet again and they finish.

And then some they get up and they take off with a burst of energy and they collapse and they never get up again. Why? Why do some make it? Why do some succeed?

Why do others fail? Answer. It comes down to choices. Choices.

Hundreds of choices. Thousands of choices that we make every day, every week, every month, every year. We make our choices and then our choices make us.

Then we repeat that again. We make our choices and then our choices make us. It comes down to discipline.

I know that is a word we don't like nowadays. You know discipline. You mean I have to actually deny myself. Yeah. There are certain things you don't want in your life if you are going to grow spiritually.

And there are other things you do want in your life if you are going to grow spiritually. You show me a person who is successful at anything and I will show you a person that applied discipline. I heard about a concert violinist in New York's Carnegie Hall. She was asked how she became so skilled.

I love her answer. She said it was planned neglect. Planned neglect. She said she planned to neglect everything that was not related to her goal. So in her case she wanted to be a great concert violinist. But in our case we want to be a strong and fruitful Christian. Right?

Ok. Then there is planned neglect. As we read earlier there in 2 Timothy 2.22, Run from anything that stimulates youthful lust. Run after anything that makes you want to do what is right. Pursue faith and love and peace and enjoy the companionship on those that call on the Lord with a pure heart. So follow those things that will build you up.

Run with those people that are running in the same direction. And run away from those things that will pull you down. So let's review what we have learned and then we will pick up. If you want to be a growing Christian number one you must read, study, and love the Word of God. If you want to be a growing Christian you must read, study, and love the Word of God. You will never reach a plateau in your life where you move beyond your need to study the Word of God.

Over in Joshua 1.8 we read these words, This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth. You shall meditate in it day and night. Observe to do all that is written in it. And then you will make your way prosperous and you will have good success.

So this is something we want to constantly keep in play. Now this brings us to principle number two and this is where we are going to focus on in our time together. To be a growing Christian you must have a prayer life. You know in the room where I was preparing for the study I get a little audio feed of the sanctuary. And a number of you were here in the church praying before the service. And I heard somebody praying for me by name. And that is just really humbling to be prayed for. And I listened to that prayer and I was so touched by that. And I just thought, God bless every one of these people who came to church early and they could be hanging out talking. But these people said, I am going to get into the sanctuary early and I am going to pray.

And I will tell you what. If this church is blessed one of the main reasons for it is because of people like you that pray like that. So thank you for that.

And I hope others will join their ranks. But if you want to be a growing Christian you must have a prayer life. That brings us to our first passage. Ephesians 6.18. There are different kinds of prayer identified in the Bible. Ephesians 6.18 says we should pray always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. Notice it says pray always with all prayer.

So the southern translation is all y'all ought to be praying. All kinds of prayer all the time by all kinds of people y'all. And there is a lot of ways and there is a lot of places you can pray. You can pray publicly. You can pray privately. You can pray verbally. You can pray silently. You can pray kneeling down. Standing up. Sitting.

Laying down. You can even pray while you are driving. Just make sure you keep your eyes open. And by the way in the Bible we have people praying with their eyes closed and open.

Did you know that? I think sometimes you think if you open your eyes your prayer doesn't work. Like if I am praying with my eyes closed the moment I open the prayer stops.

It says it doesn't work anymore. No. No. You can pray with your eyes open. We read that Jesus lifted up His eyes to heaven and prayed.

Do you see? Now why do we close our eyes? Well it is a good way to sort of block things out as we are concentrating on what we are saying. We have been being with our grandchildren and we only have them pray before the meal and it is always hilarious to get kids to pray you know.

Because they are so honest. Who wants to pray? No one's hand goes up or you know you can't understand them half the time. But when they pray a beautiful prayer just touches your heart. So the other day we were having a meal and who wants to pray? And so I decided I would pray. And as I was praying I opened my eyes and I looked and my granddaughter Stella was eating her french fry with her eyes closed.

She said, it is ok as long as your eyes are closed. Have you ever been praying with some people? Maybe you are in a little circle.

You are praying about something. And after a while goes by you open your eyes and you see somebody else with their eyes open and you make eye contact. And it is a really awkward moment.

Like you are both cheating. You are like oh. It is ok. It is ok. You can pray with your eyes open. The main thing is pray. You can pray in any position at any time anywhere. Sometimes we may feel as though God hears our prayer more in the sanctuary than He hears them in the mall or at the beach or walking down the street. Well God is not anymore in a place where we gather for worship than He is in any other place. God is omnipresent, which means present everywhere. But at the same time there is no question when God's people gather together for worship and prayer the Lord manifests His presence in a special way.

Right? Don't you sense His presence when you are worshiping with other believers? Well God says He inhabits the praises of His people.

That is why that is. And Jesus said, when two or more are gathered together in My name I am there in the midst of them. So when we pray together, when we pray as a body there is power in that prayer. But having said that God will hear you any place. In the Bible we find people praying in all kinds of places. Daniel prayed in a lion's den. David prayed in a field. Peter prayed on the water and under the water.

Remember? Jesus said come and He came and then He was on the water and He was under the water. He went under. How about Jonah? He prayed from the belly of a great fish or a whale. God will hear your prayer wherever it is. The main thing as Paul says is praying always. By the way the word all here speaks of the frequency of prayer. The frequency of prayer. That means you pray in the morning. You pray in the afternoon. And you pray in the evening. The Bible says pray without ceasing.

For this is the will of God and Jesus Christ can turn in you. God bless you. Are you being impacted by the teaching here on a new beginning? If so why not drop Pastor Greg an email and let him know. Send it to Greg at harvest dot org.

Do it today while you're thinking about it. Again that's Greg at harvest dot o-r-g. Well we're getting good insights on the value of prayer today. From Pastor Greg's message The Importance of Prayer in the Life of the Believer.

Available at harvest dot org. Pastor Greg continues now. We all know the story of Daniel the prophet. And he was elevated to a place of great influence in the kingdom there of Babylon. And the king trusted his words. King Darius. And Daniel had enemies.

Political opponents. And they wanted him out of his place of authority. But the problem with Daniel was well there were no skeletons in his closet.

There were no scandals. The guy just was godly. They said, well the only way we are going to nail this guy is if we find something to do with him and his God. They knew Daniel had a habit of praying three times a day. He would go into his house. He would open up the windows. He would get down on his knees.

He would face Jerusalem. And he would pray. Everyone knew that about him. So of course you know the law was passed that no one could pray to any god except the king.

And that law was signed. And Daniel heard about it. And he went to his house. And he closed all of his windows. And he went into a closet. And he turned off the lights. And he prayed silently. Is that what we read?

No. We read that Daniel went into his house as he always did every day. He opened up his windows and he knelt down and he prayed. But here is what is significant. It says he prayed as he always had done.

Listen. Giving thanks to his God. Is that what you would have done under those circumstances? Or would you have prayed God help? A law has been passed that it is illegal to pray.

No. He gave thanks to God. Because you see Daniel understood that God was in control.

We call this the sovereignty of God. The Bible tells us to give thanks unto the Lord for He is good and His mercy endures forever. You see I don't give thanks because I feel good. I don't give thanks because things are always good. I give thanks to the Lord for He is good.

It makes all the difference in the world. It is a good reminder that our sovereign powerful good God is always in control. So we give thanks to the Lord. And that is exactly what he did as he offered his prayer.

We need to always be praying. The Bible tells the story of Nehemiah. He was the cup bearer of the king.

What does that mean? It means that his job was to taste the king's food before the king ate it. So basically if someone gave the king a burger and he took a bite and died the king would not eat the burger. And then he would also look for a new cup bearer. That was the job of the cup bearer.

But it wasn't only that. The cup bearer because the king would eat often had to be in close proximity to the king. So it was more than just a guy who tasted his food. In time he would become the king's confidant. He would become the king's advisor.

He would become the king's friend. And Nehemiah a Jew was in a position of great influence with the king. And one day he was down a bit because he was thinking about the plight of his fellow Jews in Jerusalem and how the walls of the city lie in ruin. And the king came in and said, Hey why is your faith so long Nehemiah? Why are you so sad?

Which would say to me most of the time Nehemiah was a joyful guy. I have a friend. His name is Ricky. He lives in Hawaii. And he is always smiling. Maybe it is because he lives in Hawaii. I don't know. He is a pastor there.

Ricky Ryan. One of the happiest guys I have ever met. Always joyful. Always smiling. Always upbeat. In fact I saw him one day and he wasn't smiling and he looked strange. Because he smiles that much.

That was probably Nehemiah. Always smiling. Always happy. Always upbeat. But not this day.

Why are you so sad? And so Nehemiah told the king about the plight of his people. But I love what it says. It says, Before he said anything to the king, Nehemiah 2.5, with a prayer to the God of heaven.

He said, If it pleases your majesty and you are pleased with me, your servant, send me to Judah to rebuild the city where my ancestors are buried. Sometimes we have the luxury of time in prayer. Sometimes we just throw up a quick prayer to the God of heaven. Because you might be called to the principal's office. Or you might be called to the boss's office. Or you might be called to the oval office.

I don't care where it is. But it is a situation that comes up and you are saying, Now Lord give me wisdom. Father give me the right words at the right moment.

Maybe it is an opportunity. We are sharing the gospel and they are asking you all these questions and as they are talking you are just praying, God I actually don't know the answer to any of these questions. And I need help right now. And I have seen the Lord answer those prayers haven't you? So you pray all the time everywhere. Ok.

So let's answer question number one. Why should I pray? Why should I pray? Simple answer. Because Jesus told you to. You really don't need any more answer than that.

But I will give you a few more reasons. But Jesus said in Luke 18 one, men are always to pray and not give up. And by the way Christ Himself was a model of prayer.

He was always praying. And the Garden of Gethsemane as He is contemplating the horrors of the cross He is praying, Father if it is possible let this cup pass from Me. On the cross He is praying for His enemies saying, Father forgive them for they know not what they do. Before He raised Lazarus from the dead we read in John chapter 11, He looked up to heaven and prayed, Father thank You that You hear Me. And then He shouted, Lazarus come forth. Before Jesus fed the 5,000 we read, He looked up to heaven and asked God's blessing on the food.

Mothers would bring their children to Jesus so He would lay His hands on them and pray for them. Now listen, if Jesus felt the need to pray, how much more should we feel? Pastor Greg Laurie with great insights on prayer today, it's a fundamental part of his series what every growing Christian needs to know. And Pastor Greg has another thought from today's study before this edition of A New Beginning concludes and he'll have a word about a new book we're making available called Turn Your Season Around. Now were you able to hear all of Pastor Greg's study today? If not you can hear what you missed online at harvest.org. Look for the message called The Importance of Prayer in the Life of the Believer or get a CD copy by calling 1-800-821-3300.

We can take your call anytime or on the clock again at 1-800-821-3300. Pastor Greg? Hey everybody I'm here in studio with my friend Darryl Strawberry. Now most of you have heard of Darryl and he's obviously a great athlete, a well-known celebrity.

But what I love about Darryl is he takes the platform that God has given him to share the gospel and I've seen Darryl in action. So Darryl thank you for just being who you are and thank you for writing this brand new book Turn Your Season Around. You know one of the things you talk about in this book is you talk about how we have seasons in life. The Bible says to everything there is a season in Ecclesiastes. You say there are seasons of sufferings, heartache and despair that can serve as God's batting cage for teaching you how to persevere, endure and wait for his healing and deliverance. So you know a little bit about batting cages. Tell us how that works and maybe there's someone listening right now who is in a season of suffering or a season of difficulty or some other challenge. So tell us about what it's like to be in God's batting cage.

Well it's a really good place when you finally get to God's batting cage. There are different seasons of life that we all go through, either you're in a storm or storm on the way or you're coming out of a storm and it's part of life and it's part of like just baseball. When you play baseball you go through a season and you have a high at the beginning, the first month, then you have a tail off in the middle and then you pick it up at the end of the year and you finish up strong, it depends on how you're going to finish.

And the reason for turning your season around was a lot of media used to write about me having the first half of the season, the first 82 games, I probably just had a third part season so far but they forgot that I had a second half of the season. And that's just the way it is with God in your life, is having a second half of your season where you can have the first tough six months and then you have another six months to go and God can turn things around within those next six months if you don't give up, if you don't quit. And it's just like baseball, you know, and the reason why I use this book so much like baseball, turn your season around nine in these nine chapters, is because you're going to have some struggles, you're going to have some valleys, you're going to have some difficult roads to get through and those that end up excelling at the highest level, they persevere, they don't quit, they continue to go and they continue to pursue and that's what it is the same with God. You have to continue to pursue after God even though it's been a hard time, even like this pandemic has been a hard time. People ask me, well, what did you do? Well, I just saturated myself again with God and got closer to God in the middle of the pandemic to keep me healthy.

You got to stay hungry for God and I think that's the real key for a lot of people. They say, well, what else did you do? I say I surrender myself every day and what do I do? I get up and I worship God and I thank God.

It's just like plant-based football. What did I do every day? I had to participate in doing something new every day when I was in a struggle. I had to go down to the batting cage, I didn't hit on the ball field and I would just have soft toss to me and I would hit the ball the other way, constantly over and over and over and my hitting coach would make me do that, just that one place until I actually get a hit and once I got a hit, boom, I would take off, I'd be back in another groove and it's the same way with your walk with God. That's so true, you know, the Apostle Paul seemed to be a bit of a sports fan too, Darrell, because he used sports analogies all the time, talked about running a race, wrestling in the spiritual battle that we're in and he said, you know, that when we're running a race, you need to put your eyes on Jesus and cast off the excess weight and persevere through it. So folks, if you're going through a storm right now, then you need to get a copy of Darrell Strawberry's new book, Turn Your Season Around, How God Transforms Your Life and we'd be happy to send this to you for your gift of any size to help us continue to teach the word of God and proclaim the gospel. So again, get your copy of Turn Your Season Around from Darrell Strawberry. Yeah, we have a copy ready for you, it's brand new and we'll send it to thank you for your investment in the work of evangelism. You know, through Harvest Ministries in the last year, more than 150,000 people made professions of faith in Christ and if you invested in that work, well that's fruit credited to your account.

You helped make that possible and with your investment right now, we want to say thanks with Darrell's new book, Turn Your Season Around. So write us at a new beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514 or call 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300 or go online to harvest.org. Hey everybody, Greg Laurie here, personally inviting you to join us for what we call Harvest at Home. It's a Bible study, it's a worship service, it's church in your home. Maybe you're not able to get out to your church right now. If so, join us for Harvest at Home. People are listening in from around the world and listen to this, we have seen thousands of people make a commitment to follow Christ. So join us this weekend for Harvest at Home at harvest.org. Next time, more valuable insight on the importance of prayer in the life of the healthy believer.

Be sure to tune in. But before we go, Pastor Greg has one final illustration from today's message. Now let's just say to make a point that prayer was the most painful thing you could do. Let's just say that every time you prayed, it was like getting a root canal. How many of you like to go to the dentist, do you enjoy going to, I didn't think so. There's always pain. I don't care what they say, there's pain. Whenever there are sharp objects going into your mouth, there's going to be pain.

And you know what they do for me is they clean my teeth, ok. So they're cleaning it. But first they start poking around with that little pick thing, you know, poking, poking, looking for trouble.

I just, oh don't find anything, don't find anything. And then the girl will say, oh doctor, I see something. And then the doctor comes in and he looks, oh no, no, no, don't say it. Well it may need a root, don't say, don't say root, root, root canal. Cause then the drill, you know that sound, you know that smell, you know it.

I hate it. Let's say every time you prayed it felt like a root canal. That's miserable. But because of the results that would come from prayer, you figured it was worth it. You'd probably still pray, wouldn't you? But yet is prayer like a root canal? No. Is prayer hard? No. Is prayer painful?

No. Then why do we not do it more? The preceding message from Greg Laurie was made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. Sign up for Pastor Greg's free daily email devotions at harvest.org.