Pray Without Ceasing

Auto Transcript

Note: This rough transcript was automatically generated by YouTube’s AI algorithm. We provide it here for your convenience, but know it will surely contain errors as it has not been proofread or edited by a human.

welcome to sunday school we’re continuing through our study of the new testament especially the epistles and we’ve been examining some of the great themes that appear in the epistles and they really all flow into each other and you’ll begin to see that more as we look at today’s lesson we started by first looking at the relationship of faith and works we are indeed as believers saved by faith alone but that faith always produces a changed life it produces a life of good works we also talked about the concept of being children of god this was our most recent discussion we saw how we have been given the promise of fatherly care and of a future inheritance by way of adoption god has adopted us but we also saw that we’ve been given power to overcome sin by regeneration and the new birth we’re not just called children of god but we actually are children of god and as a result of our becoming children of god we do what really our class is about today we pray without ceasing one of the things that we looked at last time is that as children of god we cry out abba father and that’s really what we do in prayer just as a child constantly talks to and cries out for his parents so we cry out to god we pray to god now prayer should be one of the most central aspects of the christian life yet as you know it is often the most neglected the most underused there’s so much misunderstanding and confusion and even frustration when it comes to prayer thankfully the bible has much to say on the topic even in the epistles and so that’s what we want to do today here’s our agenda we want to look at two passages just small bits of the passages really we’re looking at philippians 4 6 and 7 and then first thessalonians 5 16 to 18.

we’ll talk about application and then we’ll consider some of the frequently asked questions when it comes to prayer we’ll see if we can answer them at least briefly let’s pray before we go further our lord and god our father i thank you for these people at calvary and i pray that you would grow them and that you would bless them i pray that this time now would be an edifying time for them that you would work in their hearts by your spirit encourage them convict them instruct them and form them help me to be able to speak well in jesus name amen so let’s take a look at these passages we’re going to start with philippians chapter 4. so please open your bibles there and let’s take a look philippians 4 6 and 7 is a pretty famous passage maybe even memorize these verses already but as always we don’t want to just be hearers or memorizers but actually doers of the word you may recall that the book of philippians is mostly a letter of commendation and encouragement to this faithful church and ministry partner to paul but there is one overriding concern that appears throughout the book of philippians what’s that concern that comes through in chapters two 3 and 4 in philippians do any of you do any of you know it’s the unity of the church in chapter 2 he talks about being humble having a regard for others as being more important than yourselves chapter three he talks about protecting against false teachers and following following the example of paul then when we get to chapter four he addresses a uh an item of contention in the church even more directly now we’re going to focus on just verses six and seven in this chapter but i want to read verses two to nine so you get some context and you see how this how this specific instruction about prayer fits into the larger purpose of the book so look at verse 2 or will we down to verse 9 of philippians 4.

paul the apostle writes here i urge eodia and i urge sintiki to live in harmony in the lord indeed true companion i ask you also to help these women who have shared my struggle in the cause of the gospel together with clement also and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life rejoice in the lord always again i will say rejoice let your gentle spirit be known to all men the lord is near be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to god and the peace of god which surpasses all comprehension will guard your hearts and your minds in christ jesus finally brethren whatever is true whatever is honorable whatever is right whatever is pure whatever is lovely whatever is of good repute if there’s any excellence and if anything worthy of praise dwell on these things the things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me practice these things and the god of peace will be with you all right let’s study through this passage using our three part method starting with observations notice verses two to nine feature various commands and applications but there is one concept that keeps getting repeated what concept is repeated throughout these commands it’s the idea of peace notice verse 2 he says i urge these two women to live in harmony they need to have peace in their relationship or verse 5 he talks about having a gentle spirit a gentle spirit is for promoting peace verse 7 refers specifically to the peace of god and verse 9 calls god the god of peace so peace really pervades all of these commands now let’s look more closely at verses 6 and 7.

it says there two commands be anxious for nothing and let your request be made known to god now notice that these commands are contrasting but also complementary the first command is stated very emphatically be anxious for nothing in other words when you think about the category of what what oughts concern you make you fearful make you anxious there’s only one thing that should be in that category and that is nothing nothing should make you anxious now how’s that possible and there are plenty of things in life that we could think of that could make us anxious both in the short and long term but paul says you shouldn’t be anxious for anything the only thing you’re allowed to be anxious for is nothing and then notice the connection of this command with the next command and we’ll see it bit by bit it says but in everything but as a strong contrasting word and then everything is in direct contrast to the nothing at the beginning of the verse be anxious for nothing but in everything so if nothing is allowed to cause you anxiety what other whatever might have caused you anxiety is instead to be included in this category of everything what are we to do in this everything in every circumstance every concern every trouble every trial or situation we are to exercise certain means and notice what comes next in the verse by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving now these terms are all pretty related but they have different emphases prayer as a general word for communication to god supplication refers to a specific kind of prayer that is making requests letting your needs be known speaking in an urgent way please meet these needs that’s supplication and paul often uses these two terms together in his letters prayer and supplication and then thanksgiving thanksgiving is another kind of prayer refers to expressions of gratitude and praise for what someone has done or will do of course that someone in this case is god so paul says in everything in contrast to being anxious in everything we are to be exercising the means of prayer and supplication along with thanksgiving but what are we to do in utilizing all those things and we see that at the end of this command let your requests be made known to god instead of worrying believers are to make the request known to god in prayers and supplications with thanksgiving that’s pretty straightforward right no anxiety just asking god in every circumstance bring your request to god letting your request to god be known in every circumstance now verse 7 describes the results of such action the peace of god will guard your hearts and your minds now recall that heart and mind are essentially synonyms referring to the inner person he’s not making division between heart and mind it’s just a way of emphasizing your inner person the totality of you on the inside it will be guarded as a result of your not worrying but instead asking god your soul will be protected by god’s peace and notice the astounding nature of this peace as described by paul this piece not only surpasses comprehension it surpasses all comprehension no one anywhere at any time is able to fully understand or comprehend this peace it goes beyond the power of the human mind and then notice the final phrase in christ jesus this guarding of peace only comes through jesus well guard your hearts and your minds in christ jesus there is no peace and this is often that said there is no true peace outside the prince of peace now while this is pretty straightforward this is going to generate some questions so let’s move to the interpretation step we’ve made our observations looked at the basic facts of what’s presented here the details and now let’s see if we can answer some questions about it now our passage clearly presents prayer as a counter to anxiety why should prayer eliminate anxiety is that a hand wing i don’t know if you said anything i didn’t hear anything in response but why should prayer eliminate anxiety yes steve yeah absolutely this goes right back to the relationship that we have with god if god is our father and he is well we believe in jesus then when we pray to him we don’t have anything to worry about anymore it’s just like what jesus says in matthew 6 you remember he very emphatically deals with the issue of worry he says do not worry about your life what you will put on what you will eat or what you would drink because your father in heaven knows your needs and he will meet your needs so don’t worry it’s the same thing here because of our relationship with god because of what we’ve become in christ jesus we have no need to worry we can pray god is wise enough he’s loving enough and powerful enough to meet our needs perfectly and to answer all our requests the children of god ought to be anxious for nothing but christian experience shows us that though children of god may often pray to him they can remain anxious in heart christians can still be anxious even after they pray now why is that if this passage says don’t be anxious but let your request be made known to god i think i saw a hand behind steve but i can’t quite see who that is so i can only partially hear what you’re saying can you say that again just a little bit louder right i think you’ve hit on a major aspect of it and that is in many cases we remain anxious because we don’t actually believe god just as you were saying we go through the form of prayer we say words but we’re not actually exercising belief we’re double-minded as james says we’re honestly not sure whether god will take care of what we have presented to him we feel the need to continue to think through and ponder over all of our anxious thoughts we aren’t willing to let that issue go not willing to leave it with god and focus on something else we remain an unbelief now this is unnecessary as children of god and it dishonors our father we have every reason to trust the lord trust our father so that is one reason why we remain anxious even after we pray because we don’t really believe we are doubting the lord but another reason i think that we sometimes remain anxious is because we have idols still in our hearts we have these certain lusts these certain idols in our hearts because god has promised to meet all our needs but sometimes we think we need a certain thing in a certain way at a certain time we become obsessed with obtaining this thing and the prospect of not receiving it fills us with dread this is really what the bible calls an idol now god doesn’t promise to meet our idols doesn’t promise to meet our every desire and even those things he has promised to me he hasn’t promised to meet them according to the way we think immediately or in a certain way so when we pray about something that we think is a supposed need but is not guaranteed by god we know that there’s there’s a chance we might not get it and therefore our hearts continue to be anxious god hasn’t guaranteed it we think we need it we don’t know if we’ll get it and so we remain anxious the solution of course in such situations is to let go of our idols to let go of these strong desires and let god have his perfect way if god hasn’t specifically promised it we can’t cling to it but if he has promised it we got to let him do it in his way in his time because otherwise we will remain anxious so unbelief and idols they will continue to plague us with anxiety even after we go through the form of prayer now the direct opposite to anxiety is peace but in what sense is the peace that is described here the peace of god you may have noticed phrases that use of appear frequently in the bible they’re usually what’s called genitives in greek or hebrew and they can be understood in different ways depending on the context here this idea of the peace of god it certainly indicates to us the idea of source this is the peace that comes from god the origin is with god but there’s also the sense of possession here this is the peace that belongs to god it’s his peace it’s his unique powerful peace this may bring back to mind the words of jesus john 14 27 jesus says this to his disciples john 14 27 peace i leave with you my peace i give to you not as the world gives do i give to you do not let your heart be troubled nor let it be fearful so this is the peace from god it is god’s own peace but there’s also the idea of action in this phrase this is the peace that god makes where god brings about that god puts into somebody he brings this peace about he makes his people to be at peace in their hearts and minds through christ so this not only comes from god and is his but it is what he actively produces in someone and this is of course just as jesus says in john 14 a a kind of peace that is very different from the world’s peace this peace cannot be taken away though it can be given up through sin and unbelief and it also surpasses comprehension now in what sense does god’s peace surpass all comprehension there are at least two ways first of all because of what this piece is and where it comes from this piece is of such a magnitude that no person could ever fully imagine it or comprehend it the peace we have from god our father means we are ridiculously well provided for loved and secure other people in the world might experience certain measures of peace but nothing like the peace of god god’s peace is a soul peace a soul invading and filling peace that stretches into eternity and lifts up the soul no matter the circumstance such peace is incredible in our world which is so filled with art or with fallenness with tragedy and with confusion in one sense it’s not surprising that god’s peace should so surpass understanding because he himself surpasses all understanding it’s his peace that he’s given to us but there’s another sense here that that makes this peace go beyond comprehension and that this peace of god does not fully rely on man’s understanding one might expect that one could only be at peace in this world if a person knows exactly what’s going to happen in his life and how specifically god will protect and provide through every circumstance but the peace of god does not work this way how many godly men and women have testified across time i don’t know how god will provide but i know he will provide you see this is the peace of god it is a peace that does not rely on an exact understanding of circumstances or of god’s plans rather it relies on a simple understanding of who god is as heavenly father this may remind you of those verses and proverbs right do not lean on your own understanding but in all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths this is also the incomprehensible nature of the peace of god and again the people of the world cannot know this peace because they do not know the god of this peace but we as children of god we know this peace even if we don’t fully comprehend it in all its magnitude now we noted that verses two to nine they discussed peace got to put that one up verses two to nine discuss peace both within a person and within the church what is the relationship between the believers inward peace and the peace with the brethren there is a strong connection right one leads to the other when people are at peace within there will be peace without and this is reflected very well in james 4 verse 1.

james asks there what is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you that is among you believers is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members that’s very interesting james says where did these quarrels and conflicts come in the church they come from the wars that rage within yourselves in the flesh overcoming the spirit you see experiencing the righteous peace and contentment of god in the heart is vital for securing harmony in relationships especially in the church consequently anyone who is caught in the grip of worry or who anxiously seeks after an idol he not only hurts himself but he hurts the whole church if there is no peace within how can there be maintained peace without of course god has given us the remedy for this pray to your father let your request be made known to god and believe in his good provision we are to do as hannah does in first samuel chapter one you may remember she was severely distressed she was barren but being provoked by her husband’s other wife she wasn’t even able to eat but says she prayed to god and then she went away and ate no longer sad she had not yet received the lord’s provision she didn’t know exactly what the lord would do but she prayed to god about it and trusted that god would provide an answer we ought to do the same so in summary when it comes to prayer in philippians 4 6-7 we we see that as god’s children we are never to be anxious instead we are to make our requests known to god by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving and being secured holy by the peace of god through christ this peace does not need to see with the eyes in order to wait confidently on god’s provision now from this teaching from paul it is implied that we will pray a lot i mean if we’re tempted to worry a lot and we’re instead to instead of worrying pray to god then we’re gonna be praying pretty frequently but how frequently let’s turn over to our other passage now turn over to first thessalonians 5.

first thessalonians chapter 5 and we’re looking at verses 16 to 18.

so just a little bit further forward in the new testament let’s recall briefly the context of this next set of verses first thessalonians paul is urging this church of believers to persevere in holiness through suffering in light of christ’s imminent return crisis is going to come back so keep going church in first thessalonians 5 12 to 21 we see a final quick series of applications and exhortations from paul to the church kind of like the the lightning round of the letter as it were we’re going to be focusing on verses 16 to 18 but as before i want to read some of the surrounding verses so you can see the context look at verses 14 to 24 and first thessalonians 5.

paul writes again this is paul we urge you brethren admonish the unruly encourage the faint-hearted help the weak be patient with everyone see that no one repays another with evil for evil but always seek after that which is good for another and for all people rejoice always pray without ceasing in everything give thanks for this is god’s will for you in christ jesus do not quench the spirit do not despise prophetic utterances but examine everything carefully hold fast to that which is good abstain from every form of evil now may the god of peace himself sanctify you entirely and may your spirit and soul be preserved complete without blame at the coming of the lord jesus christ faithful is he who calls you and he will also or he also will bring it to pass let’s observe these verses you may notice we could make a number of parallels from this passage to the philippians passage we just read i also notice that there is a repetition in both passages of the idea of peace not just inner peace but peace in the church this idea of gentleness and doing good to others in the body let’s focus on verses 16 to 18.

notice in these verses we have three commands given in quick succession rejoice pray and give thanks and notice how inclusive these commands are when are we to rejoice always why don’t we to pray without ceasing or without stopping without gaps why don’t we to give thanks in everything those are very striking commands the implication is that there is no situation in which rejoicing praying and giving thanks are not appropriate or necessary things are going well rejoice pray and give thanks things are not going well rejoice pray and give thanks and notice the reason given for what for fulfilling these commands verse 18 for this is god’s will for you in christ jesus god’s will god’s desire god’s plan for you if you are in christ and if you’re a believer you are in christ you’re in union with christ you’re attached to him god’s will for you is that you continually rejoice pray and give thanks so whatever situation you find yourself you not only know what to do but why you ought to do it rejoice pray give thanks because such is the will of god your father for all of those who are in christ okay again this is pretty straightforward but let’s ask some interpretation questions how literally should we understand these terms always without ceasing and in everything well common sense would tell us that these do not apply to every nanosecond of our lives after all you can’t do all of these things while you’re sleeping and even if you do try to maintain all these things while you’re awake well you’re going to neglect other commands of god and for for life and ministry because if you’re praying and you and you’re praising god in your prayer and you are um you’re filled with joy and thanksgiving you’re not able to rebuke others who are in sin or you’re not able to teach others about various things the bible because you’re off praying so we know that there is a limit to understanding the continual nature of these commands but paul is clearly emphatic about the constant nature of these activities each of them is to be unceasing these are not things that you and i can merely get around to every once in a while so how are we to understand this i think one way to help us is to consider our own lord’s life on the earth consider on the one hand though jesus was not doing each of these things visibly every moment they were the constant beating of his heart jesus always loved and delighted to do the father’s will he was in a constant state of communion with his god and he was constantly living in thankfulness to the father we could say jesus heart was continually rejoicing in praying to and giving thanks to god this was his unending heart attitude on the other hand though jesus had these constant hard attitudes he also frequently to the point of it being very noticeable even a habit of jesus he engaged in the activities of rejoicing praying and giving thanks listen to a few scriptures that describe jesus’s life luke 10 21 a at that very time he as jesus rejoiced greatly in the holy spirit and said i praise you o father lord of heaven and earth or john 15 11.

these things i have spoken to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be made full mark 1 35 in the early morning while it was still dark jesus got up left the house and went away to a secluded place and was praying there luke 5 16 but jesus himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray and luke 6 12 it was at this time that he went off to the mountain to pray and he spent the whole night in prayer to god john 11 41 so they removed the stone then jesus raised his eyes and said father i thank you that you have heard me and then john 6 11 a jesus then took the loaves and having given thanks he distributed to those who are seated so we can see from even this smattering of verses the jesus joy his prayer his thanksgiving they were not merely heart attitudes but they were constant actions typifying his life in every circumstance every situation jesus rejoiced jesus prayed and he gave thanks to their father we ought to do the same jesus has left us a pattern our hearts are to be in a continued attitude of joy communion and thankfulness to god but that heart attitude ought to manifest itself in habitual acts of rejoicing praying and giving of thanks no matter the circumstance no matter the situation in our lives now this of course raises a question how can we rejoice and give thanks even in the difficult times in the face of sorrow pain or even evil things happening to us well this again goes back to what we have become in salvation we are children of god this is god’s will these things rejoicing praying giving thanks this is god’s will for those who are in christ now if you encounter sorrow pain and hardship you encounter no more than your lord jesus did and yet his joy his peace his gratitude did not diminish in the slightest through these things he entrusted himself to his heavenly father and he knew that god completely understood his pain would meet his needs and would work all for the son’s good and the father’s glory the trinity’s glory really we have the same father if we are in christ therefore we have the same good hope christians will and they have and they do experience great pain and sorrow in the world such is our lives but we can and we must rejoice pray and give thanks even through these circumstances god in christ makes this possible for us it is god’s will that we will always do ourselves this good and do him give him the glory in each situation it is possible it has become necessary because of what we have become in christ we are the children of god he is still working good even through every hard situation so in some when it comes to first thessalonians 5 16-18 we can see that because we are children of god through christ we are not only to have continual heart attitudes of joy communion thankfulness but we are to actually do those things rejoice pray and give thanks in each circumstance of our lives right so we hear the teaching of the apostle what’s our application well we have to ask ourselves how does your life compare to the apostles teaching and jesus’s example when it comes to prayer are you given to faith-filled prayer instead of anxiety do you both have an attitude of prayer to god constant communion and the frequent habit of prayer in your life even through every circumstance now undoubtedly you realize that based on what we talked about today you do not pray as you should i think this is what we always realize as christians when we encounter the bible teaching our prayer we realize we’re not we’re not where we should be we don’t pray as we should so the more important question for us is what are you going to do about it do not merely tell yourself you know what you’re right i should pray more i’m going to try to do that no as in this area as in every other area of biblical application you need to get specific you need to be purposeful in your application you need to even ask yourself how am i going to bring this about what steps am i going to take being empowered by the spirit and being armed by the truth of scripture what specific steps am i going to take to make this a reality or more of a reality in my life what changes am i going to make you should ask yourself this question when it comes to prayer ask yourself the following even write down answers when it comes to these questions how can i cultivate a attitude a heart attitude of dependence on and communion with god my father how can i make my response to stressful situations to engage in believing prayer rather than anxiety how can i make prayer my habit when can i pray jesus carved out time from his busy life and ministry to pray what about you what will work for you maybe early in the morning maybe in the evening before you get too tired maybe when you’re driving on a long commute or when you have other regular wait times or maybe there’s some leisure activity that you currently have in your life that could be partly or wholly replaced by time in prayer each of us will come up with different answers these questions based on our differing life circumstances but it’s clear from the scriptures we must make prayer a priority and above all i urge you my brothers and sisters at calvary i urge you not to settle for oh i just talked to god throughout the day that is good if you do that but you need more than that you need a time of focused and disciplined communion with god just like your lord jesus you think jesus wasn’t in constant communion with god yet he’s still withdrew to be by himself and to speak to god without distraction if he needed and he desired to do this how much more you and i my brothers and sisters prayer is one of the easiest and hardest aspects of the christian life so frequently neglected to our own hurt do you want to be free from anxiety do you want to have your requests heard and granted by god do you want to have peace in your heart and peace in your relationships then do what is necessary to make the habit of prayer a reality in your life make those changes put a plan into place now perhaps all this talk about prayer has provoked a number of questions in your mind maybe you’re thinking to yourself i’d be more excited to pray if i just understood a little bit more of how to pray so with the rest of our time today i want to focus on some prayer faq some frequently asked questions when it comes to prayer and we’ll use the bible as our guide in answer and i won’t be mentioning specific scriptures for each one of these answers but this is based on the bible’s teaching and examples when it comes to prayer as a whole we’ll go through maybe eight or so questions first what is the physical form what is the external form that i should take when i pray what should be my posture well the traditional form in western christianity is kneeling with your hands folded head bowed eyes closed you might be surprised however to learn that this specific form is never mentioned in the bible rather this posture appears to have come down to us from medieval times or maybe even classical times as an expression of submission or surrender you see the folded hands that we have come to associate with prayer they signify a person’s readiness to have a rope or chains put around those hands by the hand of his lord so by assuming this posture when you pray you are supposedly communicating to god that you are completely submitting to him and to his will now if you wish to pray that way that’s totally fine but be aware the bible describes many variant forms external forms when it comes to prayer i mean people pray kneeling sitting standing bowing or even laying prostrate in the bible this is of course also one of my favorite positions you know say favorite because i use it frequently but just because it’s awesome first kings 1842 this is the elijah position it says but elijah went up to the top of carmel and he crouched down on the earth and he put his face between his knees that’s a prayer position so people they do all these different things they also pray with their arms spread out their arms lifted up to god or even their arms pounding the chest in contrition people pray with their heads bowed people pray with their eyes lifted up to god people pray with their face directed towards jerusalem people pray with their eyes open they pray with their eyes closed they usually pray aloud in the bible but sometimes they move only their lips or even pray silently in their hearts people pray secretly in a in a room of the house people pray in church people pray outside and people pray in public there’s all sorts of variation so what form should you take when you pray whatever form you wants but remember a few things the external form itself does not commend you to god god does not regard the prayer of somebody who’s prostrate more than the person who’s sitting now it’s not about the external form really the form is for you to communicate better what you feel to god be mindful then of what your form is communicating or what you intend it to communicate maybe you feel that you just really want to lie prostrate because you’re so overwhelmed by a certain thing or you you want to stand because you’re so filled with joy and you want to lift up your hands to god in prayer that’s fine you’ll probably find that different forms when it comes to your external posture they most capture what you’re feeling at a particular time use that to your advantage to help you focus to help you really get into what you’re saying that’s for you that’s an advantage to you but do keep in mind overall you want to use a form that helps you focus if you find for example that closing your eyes when you pray makes your mind wander don’t do that keep your eyes open now usually we close our eyes to help us focus but sometimes it works the opposite way so do what helps you but more important than any external form is the posture of your heart what is to characterize my heart when it comes to prayer you won’t be surprised at the answers here but things like the following belief and trust in god humility and submission sincerity and thoughtfulness joy and gratitude reverence and awe repentance purity forgiveness of others peace in relationship with others obedience and persistence in short the posture of our hearts is to be one of genuine worship to god this is far more important than any external posture you take in prayer now as a corollary to this if this inner posture is important for prayer does god then hear or hearken to the prayers of unbelievers if this inner posture is important does he hear the prayers of unbelievers well god is god he’s omniscient there’s nothing he doesn’t know there’s nothing he doesn’t hear when it comes to what people say on earth and god may for his own purposes grant what an unbeliever prays for but he is by no means obligated in fact the prayers and the supposed worship of an unbeliever or an evildoer according to the scriptures is offensive to god the prayers of an unbeliever are actually offensive to god because consider what proverbs 15 8 and proverbs 15 29 say proverbs 15 8 says the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to yahweh but the prayer of the upright is his delight for proverbs 15 29 yahweh is far from the wicked but he hears the prayer of the righteous the only prayer of an unbeliever that god enjoys and always regards is the prayer of repentance in faith that inner posture is of course critical for god hearing our prayers so we know a little bit about the form posture of our prayers but what should we actually say in our prayers well when we examine the bible as a whole when we look at the example prayers in the bible we can group the content of biblical prayers into four basic categories these categories follow an acronym the acronym is acts a-c-t-s what do these letters stand for you probably heard this before a is for adoration this is the kind of prayer that is simply meditating on god and praising god for who he is adoration the c refers to confession this refers to a kind of prayer that is characterized by a confession of sin asking god for forgiveness and expressing repentance toward god the t is for thanksgiving this is a prayer that thanks god for what he has done or what he will do and then the s is for supplication that’s a term we’ve already looked at today supplication is making requests to god based on his promises based on his character so a adoration c confession t thanksgiving s supplication now these four categories they don’t need to be in any particular order in your prayers it’s not like oh gotta start with a and go to c go to t you can do that but you’re not required to and these four categories don’t need to appear in every single prayer you make i mean they don’t in every biblical prayer but in general these four kinds of prayers should make up your prayers as a whole they should these different kinds of prayers should be in each one of your prayers and in your prayers in general because that’s that’s what biblical prayer looks like really every prayer of yours and mine should be a sincere act of worship expressing dependence to god this is an important thing for us to remember we must remember that prayer is worship has to be treated as such along these lines beware beware of praying formulaically supposing that god will hear you because you said all the right words and you fulfilled the correct ritual prayer is ultimately about your heart if you say all the right things but you have a distracted or sinful heart your prayer is at best meaningless and at worst it’s offensive to god so don’t do that instead pray mindfully think about what you’re saying and why you’re saying it for example when you call god by a particular title in your prayers when you call him lord when you call him father are you even thinking about it do you really mean it do you in that moment actually see god that way or when you say in your prayers in jesus name or amen do you really know what you’re saying do you really mean what you’re saying don’t just say words to god when you pray actually communicate your heart to god that may mean that you have to pray a little bit more slowly and it may mean you pray with fewer words but that’s better because then you actually mean what you say speaking of length how long should i pray how long should we pray well there’s no rule about this given in the bible and when we look at the example prayers in the bible we see great variance some prayers are quite long just look at some of the psalms and others including the model prayer that jesus gives for his disciples you know father who are in heaven hallowed be your name many prayers like that one are actually quite short more important than length is as i said your sincerity your mindfulness don’t do we’re specifically told don’t do as the pharisees did who prayed with long prayers supposing that by doing so they would force god’s hand they would earn god’s favor or they would impress other people don’t do that pray what’s on your heart regarding god regarding your circumstances regarding the needs of your brothers and sisters and a little more practical more specific piece of advice if you’ve not yet established a consistent pattern of prayer in your life start with a small and manageable goal when it comes to your prayers and then let your prayer times grow from there perhaps if you’ve not been engaging consistently in prayer you might set a goal for yourself of just five minutes of prayer at a particular time each day so you know i’ve not been really good at praying consistently but from now on at six o’clock or twelve o’clock or whatever time i’m gonna pray for five minutes i’m gonna pray for five minutes each day of course you can pray for more than one time a day and i hardly recommend you do so but if it hasn’t been your pattern just start with a small manageable goal or instead of a time time goal you might say i want to pray over a certain number of things i’ve written down these things that i want to pray for i’ve written down these characteristics of god i want to i want to think about i want to pray as long as it takes to pray through these things in a in a meaningful way that’s another good goal but start with something that doesn’t seem too intimidating and let it grow from there because we want to get as we’ve seen from the scriptures we’ve looked at today we want to get into a consistent habit of praying now should prayers be spontaneous that is not thought through beforehand until you actually pray them or should they be prepared oh really both are fine and we can see that prepared prayers they are totally consistent with scripture because some of the prayers of the bible are actually given to us as models and as prayers for us to use i mean again look at the songs these are prayer songs these are for us these for us to use ourselves to pray and sing to god so what’s the important part in terms of spontaneity or preparedness the important part is again that you mean what you pray spontaneous prayers can be very heartfelt and that’s why we tend to favor them i think as as baptist but prepared prayers are often very thought through and they are especially helpful for for declaring to god exactly what you mean and what is biblical and especially helpful for leading others in prayer so don’t say oh no if you prepare a prayer if you write down beforehand that’s evil no it’s quite good or can be quite good if you mean what you pray and even spontaneous prayers are not necessarily good if you don’t mean it both are fine both can be used but now two kind of bigger questions does prayer work does prayer work well it depends on what you mean plenty of people ignore prayer because they’ve tried prayer and it didn’t work but the bible actually gives a couple of reasons why prayer doesn’t work for people one you prayed for something outside of god’s will it’s not really that your prayer didn’t work it’s just that god answered your prayer in a way that you didn’t want that might be one reason why your prayer didn’t work another reason is that you prayed for something that was good but you prayed for it with evil motives james 4 3 makes it very clear that if your motives are impure then god is not going to listen to your prayer even if it’s for a good thing because he’s more interested in your heart and then number three sometimes your prayer doesn’t work because you prayed for something while you remain in sin remain in unbelief or remain in conflict with your brethren the bible makes very clear that these kinds of things will hinder or even wreck your prayers after all god’s a good father if he’s a good father how’s he gonna ignore all the disobedience and the barriers set up by his kids to a relationship with him or how’s he gonna ignore how one of his children is totally mistreating the other children in his family he’s not gonna say hey i’m just gonna keep giving you what you want no he’s gonna say look i hear your prayers but we gotta talk about something else first we need to deal with the issues and then we’ll get back to your request the truth is that prayer does work when asked according to god’s will as expressed in the bible and according to god’s way his timing his choice this is why jesus is able to make the wild claim that he does in chapters 14 and 15 of the gospel of john jesus says there multiple times whatever you ask is speaking to his disciples his believing disciples whatever you ask the father in my name it will be done for you that’s quite a guarantee and that’s why prayer should be the antidote to all our worries you know that god will hear and god will act now again his answer might not come the way you think or in the timing that you think but it will come and it will be perfect such has been the testimony of believers in the scripture and across the centuries god hears the prayers of his people when they pray according to the way that the bible instructs god is real his word is true therefore prayer does work but is it necessary it’s the final question i want to bring up to you in this faq is prayer really necessary well yes it is it’s commanded by god and actually it’s for our benefit it is a mercy to us and we sometimes use god’s total omniscience for his total sovereignty as an excuse not to pray if god already knows everything and has everything decided then what’s the use why pray but the truth is and you won’t be surprised by this answer because i’ve said things like this before the truth is god has already decided that your prayer will be the means by which you will provide what he already knows and what he’s already planned the means of fulfilling god’s sovereign will is actually your prayers that’s why james says in a rebuke to his audience you don’t have because you don’t ask you’re not receiving because you’re not using the means that god has sovereignly designed for you to use to receive your request now you want to test the lord by not praying you want to test the lord’s sovereignty you won’t be surprising god but you will be experiencing the sovereign consequences until you repent god is sovereignly designed says this is where my child is going to be disobedient and not pray to me and i’m going to allow him to continue in that and suffer the consequences until his heart is moved to repentance and he prays just as i always meant him to so we can’t use god’s sovereignty as an excuse not to pray on the flip side we we sometimes ignore prayer because acting ourselves seems so much more practical we say why pray to god when i can just take care of it myself it is good for us to recognize that we have practical responsibilities to be wise and to be obedient even while we pray and trust god but we are foolishly proud if we ignore prayer for the sake of so-called practical action we forget that god because he is god is able to make all our actions useless if he so chooses and we also forget that god is able to totally accomplish whatever it is we wish or need without our doing anything i mean consider israel’s experience sometimes god totally destroys our enemies without the israelites even going to battle sometimes he lets him go to battle but he’s the one who actually causes the enemy to be put to flight you see prayer is a humbling acknowledgement about who god really is he’s god he’s the one with the control he’s the one with the power not us he’s the one who makes things happen in the world yes we are the ordained means so frequently but he’s the one with the power therefore we must pray and not rely on our own practical action now it’s again worth emphasizing that prayer is for our blessing it is not to be a burden to us god is not some loathe somewhere or lonesome rather or loathsome he’s not some lonesome or vain being who just says i really wish they would pray to me because otherwise i’m just not going to be happy no god doesn’t need our prayers in order to be happy in fact the person who needs prayer in order to be happy is us we were designed by our creator god and our father who has given us new birth to pray to him continually that’s what makes us filled with peace that’s what guards us that’s what fills us with happiness if you ignore that design or if you reject it you not only dishonor god but you hurt yourself you can’t go against god’s design and win that’s true not just a prayer but really with everything so brothers and sisters at calvary let us pray let us pray without ceasing just as the bible commands now that’s it for this week if you have more questions about prayer you can of course email me i know again we’ve only broached the topic you can email me or you can talk to one of the elders i’m sure they would be happy to talk with you more about prayer and especially a prayer has been a struggle for you speak with another believer who has a consistent habit of prayer and asked them hey how can i make prayer more of a reality in my life what is it that you do that might be a benefit to me or give me some advice give me some counsel that is how we can edify one another now next week we’re going to take one more general look at the new testament epistles as we consider further what it means to become like jesus so i look forward to talking with you about that then let’s close in prayer lord god we thank you for prayer but you know god that this is an area where we are weak in our faith we are anxious instead of praying or we rely on ourselves or we excuse ourselves by your sovereignty and we don’t pray and we only hurt ourselves god i pray that you’d work in work in us so that we delight in praying to you that that is not only our heart attitude but it is our constant habit lord i pray that you would cause the people to think through practically what steps they can take to make prayer a reality a habit a frequent action of their lives so they can see their requests granted by you so they can have your peace they can be at peace with one another and they can be a shining light to the world i pray that you would do this oh god by your spirit amen all right thank you guys i’ll see you next week hmm