Sermon Tone Analysis

*Prayer** As* *a Way of Life* \\ \\

Ephesians 6:18

 

February 12, 2006

 

*Opening*

General Stonewall Jackson was one of America's truly great military leaders.

General Jackson earned his nickname "Stonewall" at the first battle of Manassas.

At a moment in the battle when his soldiers were being badly beaten, Jackson's strong words and unyield­ing determination to stand firm and win the battle caused one of his generals to call him a "stonewall."

One of the secrets of his strength was his prayer life.

Stonewall Jackson was a man for whom prayer was a way of life.

In speaking of his prayer habits, Jackson said, "I have so fixed the habit in my mind that I never raise a glass of water to my lips without asking God's blessing, never seal a letter without putting a word of prayer under the seal, never take a letter from the post without a brief sending of my thoughts heavenward, never change classes in the lecture room without a minute's petition for the cadets who co out and for those who come in."

And it is in the context of battle that the apostle Paul urges us to make prayer a way of life.

Having warned us in the sixth chapter of Ephesians that the battle we wage is "against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil" (Eph.

6:12), he then encourages us to "be strong in the Lord" and to "stand firm" (6:10, 14).

Four times between Ephesians 6:10-14 he challenges us to "stand," to be as stonewalls in the face of the devil's schemes.

His challenge is really a challenge to make prayer a way of life.

*Scripture – please turn with me to Ephesians, chapter six.

Verse 18 is our key verse for today’s message*

\\ /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.

Ephesians 6:18/

 

*Topic Sentence*

Constant, many - faceted, wide - ranging prayer in the power of the Holy Spirit is key to spiritual strength and victory.

Before starting my message on Ephesians 6:18, I’d like to share with you some words of wisdom from R. C. Sproul.

I’m quoting from his book :”The Place of Prayer”

“What is the goal of the Christian life?

Godliness born of obedience to Christ.

Obedience unlocks the riches of the Christian experience.

Prayer is what prompts and nurtures obedience, putting the heart into the proper “frame of mind” to desire obedience.

Of course, knowledge is also important because without it, we cannot know what God requires.

However, knowledge and truth will remain abstract unless we commune with God in prayer.

It is the Holy Spirit who teaches, inspires, and illumines God’s Word to us.

He mediates the Word of God and assists us in responding to the Father in prayer.

Prayer has a vital place in the life of the Christian.

First, it is an absolute prerequisite for salvation.

Salvation through the atoning death and resurrection of Jesus Christ—will come from one source or another, but in the final analysis, a person must humbly pray to God for salvation.

The prayer of salvation is the one prayer of the non-believer God has said he will hear.

What do those in heaven have in common?

Several things.

They have all been justified, having put their faith in the atonement of Christ.

They are all praising God.

And they have all prayed for salvation.

To be without prayer is to be without God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the hope and reality of heaven.

So the first sign, according to Sproul, that you are a Christian is prayer.

You prayed to be saved and invited Jesus into your life.

Second, Sproul continues, one of the surest marks of the Christian is his prayer life.

One might pray and not be a Christian, but one could not possibly be a Christian and not pray.

Romans 8:15 tells us that the spiritual adoption that has made us sons of God causes us to cry out in verbal expressions: “Abba!

Father.”

Prayer is to the Christian what breath is to life, yet no duty of the Christian is so neglected.

Then Sproul adds, prayer, at least private prayer, is difficult to do out of a false motive.

One might preach out of a false motive, as do the false prophets; one might be involved in Christian activities out of false motives.

Many of the externals of religion might be done from false motives (we call these externals “Christian service”), but it is highly unlikely that anyone would commune with God out of some improper motive.

Matthew 7 tells us that in the “last day,” many will stand at the Judgment and tell Christ of their great and noble deeds done in his name, but his response will be that he does not know them.

What Sproul is saying is that private, closet prayer is not practiced by the non-believer.

It is the mark of a true believer.

Sproul adds, we are invited, even commanded, to pray.

Prayer is both a privilege and a duty, and any duty can become laborious.

Prayer, like any means of growth for the Christian, requires work.

In a sense, prayer is unnatural to us.

Though we were created for fellowship and communion with God, the effects of the Fall have left most of us lazy and indifferent toward something as important as prayer.

Rebirth quickens a new desire for communion with God, but sin resists the Spirit.

We can take comfort from the fact that God knows our hearts and hears our unspoken petitions more than the words that emanate from our lips.

Whenever we are unable to express the deep feelings and emotions of our souls or when we are completely unclear about what it is for which we ought to be praying, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us.

A couple of weeks ago our message revolved around Romans 8:26-27 which says, “the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.

And he who searches the hearts of men knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”

When we don’t know how to pray or what to pray for, the Holy Spirit assists us.

Sproul ventures to conjecture that there is reason to believe from the text that if we pray incorrectly, the Holy Spirit corrects the error in our prayers before he takes them before the Father, for verse 27 tells us that he “intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”

Sproul also says prayer is the secret of holiness—if holiness, indeed, has anything secretive about it.

If we examine the lives of the great saints of the church, we find that they were great people of prayer.

John Wesley once remarked that he didn’t think much of ministers who didn’t spend at least four hours per day in prayer.

Luther said that he prayed regularly for an hour every day except when he experienced a particularly busy day.

Then he prayed for two hours.

As Sproul has already mentioned, prayer is neglected by many Christians, and he goes on to say the neglect of prayer is a major cause of stagnation in the Christian life.

Consider the example of Peter in Luke 22:39-62.

Jesus went to the Mount of Olives to pray as was his custom and told his disciples, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.”

The disciples fell asleep instead.

The next thing Peter did was try to take on the Roman army with a sword; then he denied Christ.

Peter did not pray and as a result fell into temptation.

What is true of Peter is also true of all of us: we fall in private before we ever fall in public.

Sproul asks is there a right and wrong time for prayer?

Isaiah 50:4 talks about the morning as the time when God gives the desire to pray on a daily basis and about renewed confidence in God.

But there are other passages that give times of prayer during all times of the day.

No part of the day is set apart as being more sanctified than another.

Jesus prayed in the morning, during the day, and sometimes all night long.

There is evidence that he had a time set aside for prayer; however, considering the relationship Jesus had with the Father, we know that communion between them never stopped.

First Thessalonians 5:17 commands us to pray without ceasing.

It means that we are to be in a continual state of communion with our Father.”

I hope this lengthy passage, in some way, clarifies what a life of prayer is all about.

Now let’s move on to our message for today:

 

* *

*1.   **Praying "In the Spirit"*

* *

Our key verse again is:  /“And pray in the Spirit with all kinds of prayers and requests.

With this in mind be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.”/

/ /

·          Ephesians 6:18 tells us to pray in the Spirit.

To pray "in the Spirit" means to pray /as enabled /by the Holy Spirit.

-        Remember what Romans 8:26 says, “Since we do not know what to pray for, the Father gives the Holy Spirit to help us in our weakness”

 

-        The Spirit, from his position within our hearts, gives birth to prayers in our hearts.

He teaches us both what to pray and how to pray.

True prayer is always prayer enabled by the Spirit.

·          Improving our prayer lives is not simply a matter of trying /harder./

-      Better praying does not simply mean better methods, longer lists, or spend­ing more time in prayer.