“All Prayer”

Some people think of prayer as an open request line. From us to God. But the Bible describes prayer as an essential weapon in spiritual warfare.

So is there a way for us to pray that is most effective? We'll get guidance from the Apostle Paul today on Truth for Life. Alastair Begg is teaching from Chapter six in the book of Ephesians. We're looking at verse eighteen. Then, the spiritual battleground, prayer is absolutely essential.

And one of the ways in which we can gather that from Paul's letter here is simply in the amount of space he gives to this matter of prayer. You will notice, and you could some of you put together that way, may even count the number of words that we have in English, but it is clearly disproportionate. And it is also important for us, in recognizing that, to remind ourselves that he is not addressing this, first of all, to us as individuals. In fact, he's not writing to an individual, he's writing to a community of believers. He is writing to those whom he addresses at the very top of his letter as the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus.

Now when he uses that word saints, it's important for us to understand that what he's describing there is not some unique group of individuals separated from all the rest, but it is simply a New Testament word for all who have become the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they are saints. They are set apart as holy in Jesus.

So it is to these individuals that he issues this comprehensive call. A call that is as important for us today in twenty-first century Cleveland as it was for the first readers in first century Ephesus. Praying 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.

Those alls, and there are four of them, give to us the framework of this study. First of all, then, our praying is to be at all times, at all times. Whenever we are on the receiving end of an exhortation from someone, it's almost inevitable that we say, Well, I wonder if he or she is actually doing that herself. and we need be in no doubt in relationship to this concerning Paul, because we can go back through the letter and find him saying, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. In other words, he is absolutely true.

to what he is now urging upon his readers. He is praying. All the time. All the time. Now this whole matter of constancy or consistency Is something with which I think all of us, if we are prepared to be honest, wrestle.

Therefore, it is a quite remarkable thing, isn't it, when we come across somebody who is able to say to us, I will pray for you. And then does pray for you.

Now some of you are prayer partners to people. Do you realize what an amazing privilege that is? That you are able to go to the living God, the creator of the ends of the earth. And seek him. On behalf of a brother or a sister Or a place.

All the time. All the time. Continually. Not spasmodically. But you know, such a call makes perfect sense, doesn't it?

Because the battle. goes on continually. Why would you pray continually? Because we face the battle. continually.

Now it's important as well when we think about this that we don't imagine that Paul is suggesting that every so often, like every time they encounter something along the way, they stop and they have a sort of formal prayer meeting, you know, so that all these members of Ephesus are bringing everything to a crashing halt in their workplace or whatever it might be, because they have to engage in prayer in this way. No, I I don't believe that he has that in mind at all. I think probably what he is recognizing as the fact that the prayers of the faithful Maybe loud, they may be audible. But they often will be inaudible.

So, in short order, this call to all prayer. Is an expression of our dependence upon God. It's not optional, it is essential. Because actually, it is impossible for us to enjoy an intimate relationship with God. without it.

No more than No less than the fact that you can't enjoy an intimate relationship with your spouse. apart from the engagement of communication. N not necessarily Talking all the time. He can drive in the car for fifteen or twenty miles and never talk. But there is communion.

That's the first all. Then the second all, you will see is right there in the text as well. Praying at all times. And then With all prayer. What does that mean?

Well, the NIV translates it with all kinds of prayer and requests. That is helpful, and I think that is exactly what Paul is saying. He's talking about the way in which we come to God in prayer.

Some of us have learned through our years as Sunday school students and then in Bible classes the importance of acts. Helping us to remind ourselves that part of prayer is A for adoration. That we come to God, as it were, in the words of the popular song: I just called to say, I love you. Nothing more, nothing less. Were you ever worried by your children doing that?

Did you ever say, Oh, that's an irrelevancy? Not for a moment. They called you from college. I'm busy right now, but I just wanted to say We come to God like that. Adoration.

Sometimes we might write a poem and say it. C for confession. Recognizing that, as Luther says, repentance is not something that triggers off our Christian life, but the repentance is a daily experience. Saying to God in the course of a day, Catching ourselves. I confess to you, Father, that I am a man of unclean lips.

And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. Tea for Thanksgiving. Thanking God in our prayers, I will enter His gates with thanksgiving in my heart. I will enter his courts with praise. I will say, This is the day the Lord has made.

I will rejoice, for he has made me glad. What I find most helpful about that is entirely volitional. None of it is emotional.

So the real test of our thankful hearts is when there doesn't really appear to be very much for which to be thankful. When it was like uh you know, when it it was raining like Glasgow. Your immediate reaction, at least mine, is not the goal. This is the day the Lord has made. It's to go, man, I hate this day.

This is what it used to be like.

Now you see it is an expression of who God is. And what really is. supplication, ask for supplication or petition. or expression of needs. Coming to God and acknowledging that it is entirely legitimate to ask.

To knock To seek. Indeed, he bids us do this. He bids us come. And tell him exactly what's going on and where our concern lies and what we're really interested in. And sometimes they're big things, and other times they're small things.

Daniel in chapter nine. Comes to God, he says, Oh my God, incline your ear and hear my prayer. Delay not. For your own sake. Because your city And your people are called by your name.

You see the significance of that? He's not concerned about himself. He's concerned about God and His glory. How vastly different. from most of my prayers.

How vastly different from the average time of prayer when a small group gets together and says, Now let's pray. Learning to pray. enabled by the Holy Spirit. and guided by the scriptures. will inevitably focus our eyes on the gospel, And the glory of God And the purpose of the church.

It is a real tragedy, isn't it, when in conversation with those whom we love. It has become entirely perfunctory. Saying the same things over and over again. In fact, instead of it being marked by variety. It is marked by Monotony.

And so I said to myself this week, I need to learn to pray. And said with the disciples, I'm sure you've done in the week that has passed, Lord, teach us how to pray. Teach me to pray when I walk along the road, when I lie down, when I get up. Teach me to pray formally and structured. prayers as I have to.

Teach me to pray standing or kneeling. audibly or inaudibly. publicly or privately. Teach me to pray groaning. Teach me to pray crying.

Teach me to pray. You see, often prayer is actually in the groaning and in the crying. You know, it's true that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. You remember when Isaiah, in the midst of his circumstances, he says, Oh, Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down There's a ton just in the all. Oh.

God lets us do our o's. He listens to our groans. In fact, we know that the Holy Spirit actually make sense of our groans.

So that we pray. constantly We pray variously. And thirdly, We pray perseveringly. All perseverance to that alert, that end, keep alert with all perseverance. In other words, we dare not be overcome by dreamy carelessness.

The way in which the disciples were overcome by a kind of dreamy carelessness. Jesus had said to them, You remember, in the prospect of his death, watch and pray so that you do not enter into temptation. And they did neither. and they find themselves in real difficulty. In many ways, what you have here is an echo of the words of Jesus.

And also, it is in keeping with what Paul said to the Ephesian elders, which is recorded for us in Acts chapter 20, before he took his leave of them. He said to them, After my departure, there will arise fierce wolves who will seek to draw away people. After them, and draw them away from all that I have taught you about Jesus and about the gospel. And so he says, keep alert. Keep alert.

Stay awake. Be watchful. And it is the watchfulness which then is the key to the perseverance. Sinkler Ferguson, helpful as ever, says, Christ is building his church on territory that has been occupied by an enemy. Alertness is always essential.

when living in a war zone.

Now, in this matter of perseverance, and I think persevering in prayer is very, very difficult. It's very easy for me. It's a bit like an exercise program. When you go for your physical, the fellow says to you, or doctor says to you, and how are you doing with the exercise? I say, well, I have uh bursts of uh bursts of enthusiasm followed by periods of chronic inertia.

And um And he said, okay, I get that. I'd have to say that uh that That would be true in terms of prayer. Bursts of enthusiasm. followed by periods of chronic inertia. You see One of the reasons that we are tempted to quit to give up.

is because we see no immediate response. And in our Atomized world. our instantaneous world This is a real difficulty. When You used to write letters across the Atlantic Ocean. It took five days to get there.

a few days to be re read and absorbed, and then a while before it came back to you.

Well, you learn to wait. But now you want to see on your phone that it says delivered. And then now you want to know why it is. that since it was delivered, You don't have any kind of answer. Surely, this is why in part Jesus said to his disciples, I'm going to tell you a parable to help you with this.

to make sure that you understand that you should always pray. And not give up. And the temptation to give up. often combines with the gap that exists between the prayer or the Continual prayer. and the period of time that is represented in the journey of our lives where we don't see an answer.

Have you never prayed with the psalmist in Psalm thirteen? How long will you forget me, O Lord? Forever? How long must I have sorrow? In my heart, all the day, how long are you going to hide your face from me?

You see, that's the cry. of a persevering prayer. It's the cry of an honest prayer.

Well, you say to me, well, what are we supposed to do? How are we supposed to explain the fact that God doesn't seem to answer? What are you doing that? Situation.

Well, you can either just give up completely. Or we can persevere. Persevere in the knowledge. That God loves me? That God reigns over the affairs of the universe.

and that God and his way are always best. Spurgeon, in his own inimitable way, says, Some blessings are like ripe fruit in autumn, which falls readily into our hands. But for some blessings, You need to give the tree A good shaking.

Some of us have been shaking some of these branches for a while, have we not?

Some of us are going to have to be content To trust God that He will fulfill His covenant promises, and that should we not see it this sight of eternity, we will on the far side. Realize. that a God who loves us A god who reigns, A God whose will is best. will fulfill His promises. And then that.

We continue. That brings us to the fourth and final all. All times, constantly. All prayer variously. all perseverance.

Unstintingly, All the saints. Expansively. or globally. Making supplication for all the saints.

Now, I looked at this again and again. I said it would have been so much easier if it had said some instead of all. Because then we could all have relaxed, you know. Praying sometimes. Oh, yes, I do, sometimes.

And uh And uh some Uh some perseverance, yes. Uh and for some of the saints. Because there's a number of them I don't want to pray for. You see, it's natural. And it's entirely legitimate for us to pray about our own personal needs.

The Bible encourages us to do that. To bring the concerns of our own hearts and our own homes to Him. But when we do so, and when we see prayer only, if you like, in that limited way. When we see prayer providing for, if you like, our personal benefit. Then, what we need to realize is that that is exactly the way the non-Christian views the notion of prayer.

Unbelieving people, if they have any idea of prayer at all, they view it in those terms. It's it's something that's like a divine ATM. that you you can get stuff for yourself. If you if you just go about it the right way.

So it's all self-oriented.

So, when the Christian population appears only to be preoccupied in a very Uh isolated way. Even a church concerned only for itself. then we're not much different from those who have got no idea. about the things that Paul is teaching us here. No, what Paul is calling for his readers to do, and we're his readers, is to look beyond themselves.

to the needs of all the saints, all the saints. And so I think it is legitimate to segue from there to say this. that our prayers individually and corporately. will always languish. and will finally stutter To a halt.

without two things. Number one. A God-centered perspective. And number two, a God-centered trust.

So, in other words, we are asking ourselves: what is God's plan for the world? What has God promised to do?

Well, he has promised to put together a people that are his very own from every tribe and nation and language and tongue and so on. Therefore, we can legitimately pray to the end. That many people from many places, both in our own immediate area and throughout the entire globe. will become the committed followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why is it that in certain periods of history Certain areas of the world have been singularly blessed.

Why is it that New England prospered as it did in an earlier part of our history? Why is it that Jonathan Edwards is buried over there on the East Coast? Why is it that so many influential people were there? And there was such a pulsating power of the gospel via Whitfield and the rest? And yet today There is no very little evidence of it at all.

Why is it? that mainland China has known such a significant growth Under persecution.

Well, why is it? that around here, as I drive back and forth, some fields are fallow. and some fields are already reseeded. I don't know. But I can find out.

If I ask the farmer. Because the farmer knows exactly what he's doing with his fields. And he has a plan. that the average bystander will not be able to lay hold on. without checking.

So what is God doing in the world? We will have to ask him. We will have to acknowledge That if we're going to pray for all the saints, It's gonna force us to a radical shift In perspective. It's going to address us As Americans To stop seeing the world As spinning outwards, From Washington, DC. Or as Brits from still clinging to some strange notion that we have an empire.

and that it is entirely legitimate that this tiny cluster of islands known as the United Kingdom should be in the very middle of any map of the world. Thereby suggesting What it was planned to suggest. We are the center. of the world. Didn't you know?

Now the application is clear. At least to me. The task assigned is unfinished. To reach the world for Jesus Christ. And the unfinished task will never be accomplished.

Absent God-centered praying. Without sincere, sensible, spirit-filled. Outpouring of our souls to God, asking him For such things As He has promised. We will remain. in the doldrums.

It's a challenge, isn't it? I find it such. You're listening to Truth for Life? Alistair Begg is teaching on the importance of God-centered, persevering prayer. Here at Truth for Life, we teach the Bible every day to help you maximize the effectiveness of your prayers as you understand and apply God's Word.

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