Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright.
And this is what Paul says the command is, if you want to be victorious in promised land, kingdom living, here's the exhortation, pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear today's message in the series called Praying with Power, as presented at Reynolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries.
As you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact us at pastoralan.org. That's pastoralan.org or call 877-544-4860.
That's 877-544-4860. More on that later in the program. But right now, let's get started with today's teaching in the series Praying with Power.
Here is Alan Wright. Nine in ten of us pray regularly and three out of four claim to pray every day. To get some idea of the interest in prayer, type prayer or pray in an internet search engine like Google and see how many millions of links pop up. Yet behind these impressive numbers lies a conundrum. I think that means something kind of confusing or puzzling.
It's a good word, conundrum. He talked about how he did a big extensive interview of people about prayer, a big survey. When I interviewed ordinary people about prayer, he said typically the results went like this. Is prayer important to you?
Oh yes. How often do you pray? Every day. Approximately how long?
Approximately how long? Five minutes? Well, maybe seven.
Well, just something just strange right there. There's part of the conundrum right there. Almost every American says prayer is really important and yet a grand total of about five minutes worth. Just about, you know, a good long prayer, three meals a day and a kind of a good night prayer or something and you've gotten your five minutes in there, I guess. Do you find prayer satisfying? Most people said not really. Do you sense the presence of God when you pray?
Most people said occasionally but not often. And it's been my experience also in talking to people what Phil Yancey says that many of those are taught to experience prayer more as a burden than as a pleasure, regarded as important, even paramount, and felt guilty about their failure, blaming themselves. And he asked this penetrating question. Why does prayer rank so high on surveys of theoretical importance and so low on surveys of actual satisfaction? I coupled that with a survey of the book of Acts to see what prayer placed, what place prayer had in the early church without even giving you the context but just they all joined constantly in prayer along with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus and his brothers. Here's Acts 1 24, then they prayed. Lord, you know everyone's heart.
Show us which of these two you've chosen. So there's discernment they're asking for. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. They devoted themselves as much to prayer as they did to teaching.
How different the modern church in America. Acts 3 1, one day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer. They had times of prayer.
Everybody knew it. It was part of the rhythm of life. When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer.
Sovereign Lord, you made the heaven and earth and sea. A constant turning to the Lord after they prayed. Things happened. The place where they were meeting was shaken. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
6 4, and we'll give our attention to prayer. There's the elders saying this is why we need deacons because you know the main focus of the elders is prayer and the ministry of the word. And while they were stoning Stephen, Stephen prayed. Here's Acts 8 15, they arrived and they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit.
Acts 10 2, I guess this is speaking of Cornelius, I think. He and all his family were devout and God-fearing. He gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. People that didn't know Jesus yet and God had heard the prayers of Cornelius, like an offering rising up to them. About noon the following days they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. When Peter was in prison, the church was earnestly praying to God for him.
That's Acts 12 5. When this had dawned on him, Acts 12 12, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. Acts 13 3, 16 13, on the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river where we expected to find a place of prayer. It was just expected they find people praying and places where people gathered to pray. About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God and the other prisoners were listening to them. When he said this, he knelt down with all of them and prayed. Acts 21 5, when our time was up we left and continued on our way. All the disciples and wives and children accompanied us out of the city and there on the beach we knelt to pray.
It's not something you see happening on our beach very often. And 22 17, when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple I fell into a trance. Oh I mean I just give you this as a as a a quick overview but I think by my account there's about well I can't remember at the moment I think it might have been 26 references to the church being at prayer in the opening 16 chapters of the book of Acts. The church that was born of the Spirit was a church that prayed. What's happened?
What's different? They loved to pray. It was like food to them. It was it was part of their daily rhythm. It was it was natural as breathing in the early church. What's happened where we still think it's important but not that many people pray very much and not that many people find it deeply satisfying or effective.
And I want to try to I want to address that. So turn with me to Ephesians chapter 6. For a long time I preached on Joshua and we talked about how when you when you go into the promised land it's not the place of ease it's the place where the battles are. That's where your Jericho walls are. That's where the Philistines are.
That's where the the ground is yours but has to be taken. And so you have to be prepared that if you're going to be dwelling in the promised land it's a spiritual battle. Now Paul understood this very well. In Ephesians chapter 6 he talks about the spiritual armor of God and he uses metaphor of the armor that would have been familiar in their day. I'm not going to take time to read that but as he comes to the end of Ephesians 6 the list of the armor look at verse 17. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God and pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests with this in mind be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Pray also for me that whenever I open my mouth words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains.
Pray that I may declare it fearlessly as I should. Look back at verse 17. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God. I want you just to notice the inseparable connection between spirit and word. The sword of the spirit, the means by which the spirit penetrates, accomplishes, the work of the spirit is through the word proceeding like a sword. There is no separation of spirit and word.
They're inseparable. And this is what Paul says the command is if you want to be victorious in promised land, kingdom living. Here's the exhortation. Pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.
That's in the new international version. Maybe you have that in front of you. Read it out loud with me. If you do verse 18 and pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. Now I want to talk to you today about not just prayer, but I want to talk to you about spiritual prayer. Because it's my conviction after watching Christians and watching myself, you know, over the years go from where praying was like a chore to where praying became a joy and yet being honest with where I am still in the journey and wondering why I don't know if in 10 years here I've preached a series on prayer. I can't remember that I did. And so I had to be honest and go where is that? There have been some great theologians that have written entire theological treatises and like Hans Kung and he got to the end of the 700 page volume and somebody said where's the chapter on prayer and he said I forgot.
That's Alan Wright and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. Prayer as a Christian you know it's important and you want to make it a priority. But if you're like most your prayer life can slip so easily into routine lacking fervor and passion. Maybe you're wondering what is the key to praying with real power. In Ephesians chapter 6 the Apostle Paul has a clear answer pray in the spirit. But what does it mean to pray in the spirit?
Some would say that Paul is referring only to the spiritual gift of a supernatural prayer language. But in Alan Wright's unique series praying with power Pastor Alan reveals five different ways of praying in the spirit. Discover how praying God's word is praying in the spirit. Learn how to listen to the spirit as you pray. Come to see Jesus as your prayer partner. It's practical.
It's powerful. Get Pastor Alan Wright's praying with power and discover the power of praying in the spirit. Change your prayer life and you'll change the world. When you make your gift to Alan Wright Ministries today we'll send you Pastor Alan's messages through digital download as our way of saying thanks for your partnership. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you give today we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860 or come to our website pastoralan.org. Today's teaching now continues.
Here once again is Alan Wright. We have to be honest also about where we are and yet I want to share also with my experience because prayer has turned from what years ago was a chore to now what is a joy but I want to keep growing and I want to invite you along in that journey and and I think it's something that's important for us as we've talked about living in the promised land but I want to talk about effective living victorious living in the promised land and the role of spiritual prayer. Now to explain this I need to first just start with a basic assumption that I make from the scripture.
It's contrary to what I grew up thinking. I used to think that I had a body and I had a soul but it seems to me clear from the scriptures that we are tripartite and that we born again Christians are our spirit soul and body. Here's one evidence that Paul writing to the Thessalonians when he says may God himself the God of peace sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. There is a distinction that's made in the writer of Hebrews when he says the word of God is living and active sharper than any double-edged sword it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit joints and marrow. You see what what he's saying here is that while joint and marrow of the bone are so closely related they are not the same thing they're something that is different and that even as the marrow is the deeper part that there is a separate identity to soul and spirit and that there can be a discerning between the difference of those two things. Here is an instance in which you see the three words spirit soul and body recur within several short verses in the garden of Gethsemane Jesus said to his disciples my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death stay here and keep watch with me going a little further he fell with his face to the ground and prayed my father if it is possible may this cup be taken from me yet not as I will but as you will then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping could you men not keep watch with me for an hour he asked Peter I don't I don't think that this is Jesus shaming the disciples like I'm so disgusted with you I think it's more like there are instances where the Son of God marvels at the at the priority and the domination of the flesh over the spirit I think he just sometimes amazed at how fleshly we are and he saw that he's like wow he's like I'm at the at the eve of of all of the weight of the world coming upon me and you can't stay awake and so he exhorts him he says watch and pray please notice the Son of God has his soul so sorrowful that he's asking for these disciples that are so frail themselves to pray for him and then he says this the spirit is willing but the flesh or the body is weak so there you see it my soul is sorrow to the point of death then he mentions the spirit is willing the body is weak here's a good picture of it the body gets exhausted and wants to please itself with sleep the body gets hungry wants to please itself with food the body has all of its various appetites that are always making their demand the body's not bad God made this body it's good but it's it's it's at a low level of priority of what should rule our life if you let your flesh rule your life there won't be much victorious living well there in fact in the worst case scenario if you let your flesh rule your life then you just watch anything on tv you'll just respond to any old lust that comes up you'll just respond to any old appetite that you crave any old thing like that and at some point in a Christian's life you got to get kind of got to fed up with the whole thing and say I'm not going to waste my life being ruled by my flesh I you know I just got to a point where I just and don't don't hear me saying I'm perfect and I never given I I don't I mean my flesh is just as fleshy as your flesh is flesh I mean it's just flesh and and it's it's there it doesn't matter who you are but at some point in your life you go you know what this is a promised land and this thing of just living by my flesh ain't gonna work when he when he says the spirit's willing and the body's weak he is acknowledging the reality of the situation the spirit is willing another word for that is desiring could be translated desiring could be translated desiring now here's what I believe I believe that my body has its appetites and it grows tired for example and hungry and so forth and so because of my flesh when I woke up this morning I stayed up very late last night because when I got home from verge it was about 11 15 I'd had great conversations but I should have left a little earlier because I still had some work to do so I go to bed very late and I'm just can I just be honest I did not want to get out of bed this morning I got up I that alarm went off I said that that doesn't even qualify as a night's sleep and I sit over on the edge of the bed and my wife said are you okay and I said huh now thankfully between that time and the time that I show up to preach at nine o'clock there's somewhat of a transformation that goes on but that's just my flesh now if I were to go by my flesh there would have been no nine o'clock message this morning pastor jim would have jumped up and given a glorious message I'm sure but or somebody an elder or somebody would but I would not have been delivering a message had I been going by my flesh that's just a little example right now my flesh was really not desiring to to be here now that's I'm just being honest okay but my spirit I guarantee you my spirit was desiring the spirit within the born-again christian is always desiring to worship commune with god and pray it's always my spirit's always now here's the way here's the way I see it if I am spirit soul and body you could think of it this way that another word you see often in the scripture for the spirit is the heart and the spirit is that that has been in a sense resurrected or born anew within every believer when paul says I was dead in my sin what he's saying is not that my mind was totally dead or I didn't have any feelings and he wasn't saying my body was dead obviously he's talking about something else that was dead to god and what he's talking about is that my spirit was dead to god when sin entered the world death entered the world and the spirit was totally shut off from god but when you become a christian whether you're four years old 40 years old or 94 years old there is a mystery that takes place in which god allows there to be this tremendous unbelievable exchange so that no longer is your sin held against you but you become like the righteousness of god himself and so fellowship is restored and there is an act of regenerative power the same power that raised the lord jesus from the dead gives new life to your mortal body because of the spirit that is made alive within you and quickened under god and you become a spiritual being unto god so whereas before you were shut off from communication and shut off from understanding and discernment of god you are now alive to god i don't have time to go into all it but but don't turn there but i'll tell you quickly first corinthians chapter 2 is a good place to look at this where paul is saying the spirit searches all things even the deep things of god for who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him in the same way no one knows the thoughts of god except the spirit of god we have not received the spirit of the world but the spirit who is from god that we may understand what god has freely given us this is see this is the thing that happens it's so incredible you get the spirit of god communing with your spirit and you're like wow oh that's what it means i'm a child of god and he begins to bear witness to your spirit that you're a child of god and he'll bear witness to you about things that are wrong with your soul that need to be changed and that's the conviction of the holy spirit which is a wonderful gift and on and on he begins to teach you so he says this is what we speak not in words taught by human wisdom but in words taught by the spirit expressing spiritual truths and spiritual words the man without the spirit does not accept the things that come from the spirit of god for their foolishness to him and he cannot understand them because they're spiritually discerned so here's what happened you became a believer and your spirit is made new and you are now alive unto god the soul when a person becomes a christian the soul the mind the will the emotions it doesn't become instantly and totally new does it alan wright and today's teaching on what it means to pray in the spirit prayer as a christian you know it's important and you want to make it a priority but if you're like most your prayer life can slip so easily into routine lacking fervor and passion maybe you're wondering what is the key to praying with real power in ephesians chapter 6 the apostle paul has a clear answer pray in the spirit discover how praying god's word is praying in the spirit learn how to listen to the spirit as you pray come to see jesus as your prayer partner it's practical it's powerful get pastor alan wright's praying with power and discover the power of praying in the spirit change your prayer life and you'll change the world when you make your gift to Alan Wright Ministries today we'll send you pastor alan's messages through digital download as our way of saying thanks for your partnership this broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support when you give today we will send you today's special offer we are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries call us at 877-544-4860 that's 877-544-4860 or come to our website pastor alan.org alan this is a great series on prayer but not just any prayer this is powerful prayer right well daniel when we hear paul's words to us to pray in the spirit it raises uh in some people's mind the image of does that just mean the spiritual gift of a prayer language does that what is paul talking about here and what we're going to be showing is very exciting really in coming weeks we're going to show the really five different ways that you pray in the spirit and we're going to differentiate this from just praying out of our own thoughts or our own little desires there's something much deeper that goes on in prayer and when we discover what it really means to pray in the spirit that's when we begin to pray with real power today's good news message is a listener-supported production of Alan Wright Ministries
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