Prayer

Well, if you have your Bibles, turn to Ephesians chapter six, and this is the conclusion of the series in Ephesians and of the series, Our Great Salvation.

And we're looking at verses 18 through 24 of Ephesians six. When I was a wee boy, there were no computers, no emails, no texts, no cell phones. In fact, when I grew up we didn't even have a telephone in the house, and we lived very happily without it.

Difficult to think of that. And you say, well, how on earth did you communicate? Well, we were trained to write, writing letters, writing at school, being able to compose a paragraph. There was a high value placed on that, so we were encouraged to write. I was encouraged by my mother to write every week to my grandmother. I kept a little diary and so on.

And you say, what about emergencies? Well, in these days, back in the dark ages, there were telegrams. And we rarely got a telegram to our house, but I do remember getting a telegram. My parents received it, and usually when they got a telegram in those days it was bad news, and it was.

One of my cousins, one of the sons of one of my uncles had been involved in an accident and was killed. And I remember looking at the telegram, it was very concise, very brief, and the last word was fatal. That was communication in those days. We have cell phones now, we have texting, we have emails, we have tweets, we have social media, but here's the question. Do you think as a society our communication skills have improved? Why is it that children have difficulty communicating with their parents? Why is it so many parents have difficulty communicating with their children?

Why do so many spouses, husbands and wives have difficulty in communicating? And perhaps, most distressing of all, many of us seem to have difficulty in communicating with God. As we conclude, our subject this morning is prayer. What is prayer? In its essence it's communicating with God.

When we love someone, we not only want to speak to them, we want to hear from them, we want to listen. And at the very center of our spiritual life is prayer. Prayer is the heartbeat of the Christian life.

I saw a cartoon of a man praying at his bed and saying to God, God is there some way you can help me, but make it look like my wife. You see, proud people don't pray. Prayer is a constant acknowledgement of our dependence upon God. Prayer is an expression of our surrender to God. Prayer is a barometer of our love for God. And without prayer, you will experience and I will experience spiritual despair and spiritual defeat. We thought last week and the last two weeks of the invisible war that we as followers of Christ are in a war.

We're in a battle. The problem is we don't see the enemy, and the enemy is there. It's the devil. He's very intelligent.

He's had a lot of experience, and he has innumerable forces. Paul refers to them here in Ephesians as the cosmic powers over this present darkness. He talks about the evil day that there is, that there are spiritual forces, demons that we don't see and yet are against us.

In screw tape letters, which I commend to you, C.S. Lewis writes, real prayer is lethal to Satan's cause. Real prayer is lethal to Satan's cause. And when we come to our text this morning dealing with the spiritual warfare and putting on the armor of God, more space is given in Ephesians 6 to prayer than to any of the weapons in the armor of God.

So let's read from Ephesians chapter 6, verses, first of all, verses 18 through 20. One of my heroes of faith is Robert Murray McShane, and he says, what a man is alone on his knees before God, that he is and no more. So my question to you is, what are you on your knees before God? Do you ever get on your knees before God? Do you ever actually pray? Or do you say, I pray when I have an emergency. I pray when things are difficult.

I understand that. But is prayer part of your life in this invisible war? We've learned that we are, verse 13, to take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all, to stand firm, stand therefore. So verse 18, praying, notice, at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints and also for me that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the Gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak.

Let's just stop there. I want us to think of some keys of prayer. First of all, to say the obvious, the need for prayer. In this battle, in spiritual warfare, prayer is not optional, it is absolutely essential. Now the armor of God is supplied by God. Think of it, it is the armor of God. God supplies it, but we must put it on.

We must appropriate ourselves of all of the resources that God gives to us. So don't think of prayer as an additional piece of armor, but rather think of it as being foundational to all of the armor. That is, as I put on the armor of God, I'm doing that with prayer.

From beginning to end, I am to pray. You may have a very good knowledge of Scripture. You may be able to impress your naive fellow participants of the life group of your knowledge of Scripture, because you can quote a verse here or there.

You may have a very good understanding of the pieces of armor, and yet you can still be devastated by the enemy. See, putting on the armor of God is not some mechanical exercise. It is appropriating all of the resources of God, as Paul says here in verse 18, praying at all times in the Spirit.

We'll think of that in a moment. Now at Calvary, we put a great emphasis on worship, which brings glory to God, and rightly so. We put a high premium on Biblical preaching and teaching, and rightly so.

We have many programs for different ages, and rightly so. We strongly believe in understanding doctrine, and rightly so. We believe in taking the message of the Gospel to all of the nations throughout the world, and rightly so. But all of that is not sufficient in the spiritual warfare. How are we to prepare for the spiritual warfare? A reminder, first, verse 10, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. My strength comes from God, not myself, not my education, not my gifts, not my experience, not some title that I have. My strength comes from the Lord.

Second, I'm to put on the whole armor of God. Third, I'm to stand firm. Stand firm. How am I to stand? Verse 18, we have two participles.

I looked at different translations yesterday on this, and some of them translate the participles as imperatives, but they are two participles, and I believe they're going back to verse 14 of standing. How am I to stand? In what way am I to stand? I'm to do so with prayer, and I'm to do so being alert. So when I stand against the enemy, I must do so praying in the Spirit. I must do so keeping alert.

Think of this. This is very encouraging, isn't it? In the invisible war against the spiritual forces of darkness and evil, supernatural help comes as we pray in the Spirit. We thought of the need of physical protection. As you walk your streets, and you're home at night, as a church, as a school, we come and we ask God for His protection. Yes, we are thankful for security. We're thankful for all the sensible precautions we take.

But you know the invisible enemy can penetrate any defense that you can make, other than the defense that comes from the Lord. We are to pray in the Spirit. The great need for prayer. Fathers, I hope you pray for your family. Mothers, I hope you pray for your children. Elders, deacons, I hope you pray for this flock.

Members, we've got some new members this morning. When we met in the cafe, I reminded them that they are to pray. We are to pray. The need for prayer. Now Paul gives us a wonderful pattern for prayer. So first of all, the need for prayer. Secondly, the pattern for prayer. He says in verse 18, praying at all times. That is, there is to be persistent and constant prayer.

In verse 18, all is mentioned four times. That is in every situation, at every opportunity, we're to give ourselves to prayer. Why pray at all times?

I think you know. Because the spiritual battle never ends. Have you ever thought — you think back in your spiritual life, when you think you're on a spiritual high, and things are going so well, spiritually speaking, in your life, and you're singing the praises of God, and all of a sudden, almost in a moment, the enemy attacks.

It was after our Lord's baptism, as He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, that the devil attacked him. No, I'm to pray at all times. I'm to pray without ceasing, because I never know when the devil may attack. So first, I pray at all times. Secondly, verse 18, I pray in the Spirit.

Very, very important. This is not mechanically saying a prayer. This is not going through some liturgy. Not that there's anything wrong with reading a prayer, provided it's reflecting our heart, but this is a prayer in the Spirit. At the moment of conversion — Paul has talked about this in chapter one — at the moment of conversion, we receive the Holy Spirit. And now, as I pray — this is not mechanical — I am to pray in the power of the Holy Spirit. No, Paul is not speaking, referring to speaking in tongues.

That's totally contrary to the, to the context. But you know and I know the difference between merely saying a prayer and praying. You have prayed at times when there's an awareness of the presence of God, haven't you? You're broken before God. You cry out to God. You need His help. You need His power. And you, you are truly praying as opposed to merely going through the routine.

That is to be disciplined, that is true. But I am to pray in the Spirit. I need the Spirit. And Paul also tells us, as he writes in Romans 8, he says — and I love this — in Romans 8 verse 26, he says, likewise the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses. For we do not know what to pray as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

Here is something marvelous. We've all found ourselves in situations — I certainly have — when I am so weak, I'm so distraught that I can't articulate a prayer. I really don't know what to pray.

Have you ever been like that? You're broken, and your world seems to be unfolding in front of you, and your lies are to pray. But you're so upset, there's such deep anguish, you don't know what to pray. Here's a wonderful thing. The Spirit takes that and intercedes for us to the Father. We normally think of the God, the Son, who's advocating interceding for us as our great high priest, and He does that, but the Holy Spirit also has a role that in our weakness — this is not, I don't think, a daily experience, at least it's not been in my life — but from time to time, the Holy Spirit takes that, that brokenness, that weakness, that anguish, and interprets, as it were, to our Heavenly Father. It's not wonderful.

It's very encouraging, isn't it? As a boy, every summer we would go to my mother's hometown, a little village in the northeast of Scotland where my grandparents lived. And every morning, other than the Lord's Day, they had a paper delivered to their home. And it was delivered by a young man, probably in his 30s or 40s, and he was called Paper John, because he delivered the newspaper. Now this is a small village of about 300, 400 people, and everyone knew Peter, everyone knew Paper John. He was special needs, he was down syndrome. And he would come, he'd gone through the village, picked up some village gossip which was always there, so amazing what can happen in a small village.

No email, but you didn't need email. But the problem was Paper John, I couldn't understand what he was saying. He seemed to have a very thick tongue, and he talked, and he talked very quickly. And he would communicate something, and we didn't know what he, I didn't know what he was saying, but my grandmother had grown up with him. She had known him as a little boy, and my grandmother loved him. And he would come right into the house, doors weren't locked in those days, put down the paper, begin to speak, and my grandmother would listen to him and interpret to us what Paper John was saying.

We wanted to know the local gossip as well. Think of this, you come and you can't speak, you can't articulate, you've got some burden and you're pouring your heart out. Here is the Holy Spirit who intercedes with the Father. I must pray at all times, I must pray in the Spirit. I must pray keeping alert. To that end, keep alert. You see, if you're not alert, you won't see the dangers. Peter says, be watchful.

Why? Your adversary goes around like a roaring lion. If we knew that someone was going to cause trouble at Calvary Church, someone had made some threat, what would we be? We would be on alert. We would be vigilant. We wouldn't all be falling asleep.

We wouldn't all be looking at each other. We would be alert. That's the point, be alert. Be aware of your own vulnerabilities. How has Satan got you in the past?

What's your, what's your weaknesses? You know that surely. You know what temptations are real in your life. Be on the alert. Don't be ignorant of the devil. Don't be outwitted by the devil. Jesus said to His disciples in the garden of Gethsemane not only to pray, He says watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. As you pray, you're watching.

You're alert. What's going on in my life? What are the temptations?

What's happening in our society? There is an alertness and with every temptation God provides a way of escape. But if you're not alert, you're not aware of it. That's 1 Corinthians 10, isn't it?

13. With every temptation, God's faithful. He always provides a way of escape. But you will not see it unless you're spiritually alert. So I'm praying at all times. I'm to pray in the Spirit.

I'm to keep alert. And then says Paul here in verse 18, keeping alert with all perseverance. That is difficult, isn't it? It's very easy, you find it easy to get discouraged in the spiritual battle. You want to give up, you think living for Christ is too hard. Here I am at Ardrey High School and I'm trying to be a faithful follower of Jesus Christ and it's very, very hard.

Here I am and I'm working at the Bank of America with all of the corporate edicts that come out. It's very difficult to live for Christ, yes it is. Here you are, a young mother with young children, trying to live for the glory of God.

You sometimes feel isolated and lonely. It's not easy, is it? See the spiritual warfare is not some skirmish. It's not something that we can say, OK, between 1 and 2 p.m. the devil's going to attack me and I can deal with it then and then I'll get on with life.

It's not that way at all, isn't it? It's a prolonged and sometimes a very tough battle. Now it's true in spiritual warfare, sometimes the devil is particularly attacking us.

And other times, as it were, he leaves us alone a little bit. But those who are going to be strong in the Lord, those who are going to be spiritually victorious are those who persevere in prayer. Those who are alert, those who don't give up. Remember Isaiah says, who are the ones who will mount up with wings like eagles? Who are the ones who will walk, who will run and not walk? Those who wait for the Lord.

That's it. This waiting for the Lord. I'm persevering in prayer and it is as I wait for the Lord that I will be renewed in strength. I'll not be weak. I'll be renewed in strength. And he uses this beautiful imagery of flying high like an eagle above our circumstances rather than under the circumstances where we get so discouraged. Persevere in prayer. And then he says, keeping alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.

Don't you wish he missed out that he deleted the word all? That's a big request, isn't it? Praying for all the saints? Now the point is that in the spiritual war, we need to support one another. We need one another. There are people right now at Calvary, we prayed for some who are going through very difficult circumstances. There are some here, there are people here who failed. Spiritually speaking, they've messed up and they need to be restored.

There are some here who are very fiercely tempted and they need to be encouraged. There are those who are ill, there are those who are lonely, there are those who are discouraged. There are those who are depressed.

There are those who feel disillusioned with the Christian life. Those who are bereaved. Pray for all the saints. You see, I think we are so, so small in our prayers. We get together as staff, we ask for prayers.

No one wants the prayer request done. It's for ourselves, my ministry, what I'm doing, my needs, my mother, my father. That's appropriate, but think of all the saints. You say, well I can't pray for everyone, that's true.

But open your eyes. In this community at Calvary, you need to know others. You need to care for others. Pray for all the saints.

Paul says, Galatians 6 verse 2, bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. It's hard, we need one another. We need someone to come by our side. You see that in a football game, in a soccer game when the person misses the, drops the ball or misses the open goal.

What do the other players do? They get round, they encourage that person. They say it's all right, we're going to keep going. We need that, don't we? We need an arm around the shoulder. We need a note of encouragement. We need a visit in our home as we pray for all the saints. And then he says, verse 19, perhaps surprisingly, pray also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the Gospel for which I'm an ambassador in chains that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak.

Pray for your leaders. Paul, the great apostle, the mighty apostle is asking for prayer. He's a prisoner in chains but he still sees himself as an ambassador for Christ. He says pray that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the Gospel. You think Paul is a courageous man. You don't need to pray for boldness for Paul.

Yes, you do. He can have his weak moments. He can have his moments of self-doubt.

He can have his moments when he feels utterly useless in the Gospel. And so, as he writes in Ephesians, saying I want you to pray for me, that as I open my mouth I do it boldly for the mystery of the Gospel. If I could be personal for a moment, I'm very appreciative for many of you who pray for me.

Thank you so much. That's the best thing you can do for me. Pray that I will be bold, that I will speak with clarity, that I will speak with accuracy. Prayer is the greatest thing we can do for one another, for our leaders, for our pastors, our elders, our deacons, our life group leaders, for our Sunday school teachers, for our teachers that we are praying together in the Spirit for our leaders.

The need for prayer, the pattern for prayer, and then an encouragement for prayer very quickly. And to do that, I want to read the familiar words of our Lord, which to me are always encouraging and helping me to pray from Matthew chapter seven, part of the so-called Sermon on the Mount, and here's an encouragement to pray. I want to encourage you to pray. I'm encouraging you to read your Bibles 50 minutes every day, but I'm also encouraging you to pray. Notice what Jesus says, Matthew 7, 7, ask, and it will be given to you.

What an encouragement to pray. Seek, and you'll find. Knock, and it will be open to you. But you've got to ask, you've got to seek, you've got to knock. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

You say, well life isn't going very well. Have you ever asked God? Have you ever been seeking God's will?

Have you been knocking with perseverance? Or which one of you, verse nine, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? That's unthinkable, isn't it? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?

Who would do that? What kind of father, when the son asks him for something to eat, a piece of fish, gives him a serpent? Here's a beautiful verse, verse 11, if you then who are evil, meaning you're sinful people, you're not perfect, you're not perfect fathers, you're not perfect mothers, are you? But if you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more, argument from the lesser to the greater, how much more will your Father, who is in heaven, give good things to those who ask Him?

So what are you asking? He's my heavenly Father. He loves me. He cares for me. We're His children. We pray to this Father who loves us. We come as children to a loving Father, and if you're a father, if you're a mother, you love to give your children good things.

Not everything they ask for is not good for them, but you love to give them good things. We have our three grandchildren this weekend, and yesterday, I'm going to embarrass my son, my grandson, Alex. He says to me, Granddad, can we go and buy some iron brew? Now, probably none of you know what iron brew is. It's Scotland's other national drink. The main national drink, he doesn't drink. That's whiskey. No.

If you'd asked that, the answer would have been, absolutely not. But he said, can we get some iron brew? Which is a kind of pop. The joke is it's made from Scottish girders from iron brew. And the only place we find sells it is public, so we go and it's all gone. But Alex gets down and he goes behind the shelves and other bottles and extracts three bottles of iron brew, one for each one of them. Well done.

Buy some other things, and of course, he expects Granddad to pay. Is that a joy for me? That's a good request.

Nothing wrong with it. You know the point on you. Your children come, or grandchildren, and they ask you for something.

It's a good request. And with joy, you give it to them. If it's a bad request, obviously not.

That's the point, isn't it? Do you think you're a better father than your heavenly father? Do you think God loves you less than you love your children?

Of course not. My father's love for me is from everlasting to everlasting. My father loved me before I was even born. My heavenly father will love me for all of the countless ages of eternity. My heavenly father always wants the best for John Monroe.

Isn't that great to think? So ask, ask. And in our time of need, we have immediate access to our heavenly Father. Fathers, your children don't always have access to you. You're out of town. You're busy. You're unavailable. And they may want to speak to you.