All In Prayer (Eph 6:18-20)

All In Prayer – Ephesians 6:18-20 Prayer: Lord, we commit our hearts again to you to shape us for your glory. Give us ears to listen attentively so that we may make changes according to your truth. Specifically this morning, Lord, teach us from Paul’s instruction and example to pray as you deem best. Amen. Intro: In this section of Ephesians, near the close of his letter, the Apostle “Paul describes in cosmic terms believers’ responsibilities as they live in the world. Using the sustained imagery of a spiritual battle, he depicts the Christian life as a struggle against supernatural evil forces. […] In order to be strong against this supernatural, cunning, and powerful opposition, believers need divine protection and equipping.” (O’Brien) – so we studied the divine armor, leading up through the sword of the Spirit, and now praying in the Spirit Please open your Bibles with me to Eph. 6 so that we can Read the Passage to Explain & Apply: I. Looking at the Big Picture A. Even while is it listed after the spiritual armor, what is the spiritual weapon that Paul emphasizes most by both pattern and instruction to the Ephesian church for them in order to acquire the strength of God to grow to maturity and to stand? – Prayer. 1. What is the means to be strong in the Lord, to stand firm, to put on the whole armor of God? The means is crying out to God in prayer. Be strengthened in the Lord through prayer. Appropriate his divine armor through prayer. Stand firm in the cosmic spiritual struggle through prayer. 2. Just how vital is prayer to the growth of believers in the body of Christ, to strength for stability, and to the advancement of the gospel to the spiritually dead? – Like a mighty rushing river is the power of God at work through the prayers of his people. B. To that end, our prayers must be… 1. Varied & Urgent 2. Constant & Pure 3. Alert & Persistent 4. For God’s People  I do not believe this excludes the unsaved, because you are praying for them to become God’s saints. C. Paul immediately reinforces his instruction with application from his own life. By example Paul demonstrates that we NEED prayer to be empowered with the strength of God’s might.  Like a mighty rushing river is the power of God at work through the prayers of his people. D. What will you leave here today equipped to do differently in your prayer life or in assisting a brother or sister in Christ with his or her prayer life? II. A Praying People. (or Practicing Prayer) – accompanied by the example of praying for Paul A. Varied & Urgent – “with all (every kind of) prayer and supplication (earnest petition)” 1. Formal prayers and informal prayers. Public prayers and private prayers. Short prayers and long prayers. Prayers of praise and thanksgiving, prayers of begging for help. Prayers for forgiveness (confession) and prayers for comfort… and conviction… and commitment. Prayers where we blubber out our feelings, and prayers where we calmly sit quietly to listen. Prayers that quote scripture and prayers that come from our own vocabulary. With all kinds of prayers, Pray, Pray, Pray. 2. Supplication is our best English translation of the Greek word meaning earnestly requesting. We pray urgently, fervently when we believe it matters?  Your prayer is no drop in the bucket. It is a spirit-filled tributary that flows into the flood of God’s mighty working. 3. Speaking personally, would I be where I am today without the prayers of my parents? I’m convinced that the answer is no. Will I be able to make it through next week without the prayers of our people? Well, I wouldn’t have made it through this week. 4. What about you? Will you keep faithfully discipling the person you’ve been meeting with at work without prayer. I’m serious, no. Will you be able to choose purity over looking at pornography without praying desperately to God to make you treasure him more than the lust of your eyes.? Absolutely not. Will you be a humble Christian servant to those around you or (even quietly) a selfish king of your own universe if you aren’t smothering your life in prayer? Are you going to be discouraged and frustrated this week because you aren’t the perfect mom or are you going to remember that you are a chosen child of God by grace through faith. Well, that depends on you committing your heart to God in prayer. Will you be disgruntled at work and down on your church because you are just too mature for everybody? Are you praying for God to teach you who you are by showing you who he is? 5. In summary… Do you know why there are so many defeated Christians? Because there aren’t enough praying Christians.  “It is by prayer that we wait on the Lord and renew our strength. Without prayer we are much too feeble and flabby to stand against the might of the forces of evil.” (Stott, 284) B. Constant & Pure – “praying at all times in the Spirit” 1. Our prayers are continual, in all seasons and situations, because our struggle against the powers of darkness is never-ending in this life (the flesh within and Satan’s attacks without). 2. Praying “in the Spirit” as connected to the sword of the Spirit, the word of God… - I wonder how often we struggle with how to pray because we don’t LISTEN intently and ‘applicationally’ to God’s word (being taught). (they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer – Acts 2:42) 3. It means too that you can pray NOT in the Spirit, not according to God’s will, as you SHOULD. You can pray selfishly. You can pray ignorantly. You can pray without confessing your sin. You can pray without actually trusting/depending on God. You can pray things that are not according God’s will revealed in his word.  Is prayer simply talking to God? Or is prayer communication in a trust relationship in which you pour out your heart to God, and praise Him, and petition Him in a way that commits everything to His will and empowerment to accomplish His good purposes for His glory? [That also solves the problem of “why pray?”] – Consider the example of Paul’s prayers and how he asks them to pray for him!!! C. Alert & Persistent – “toward that end keeping alert with all perseverance”  “keeping alert” is the second participle in this verse, after “praying,” and like it ties back to stand firm. 1. Vigilant – Being awake/alert ties back into the military metaphor, like a lookout on duty  be vigilant b/c of temptation, Mk. 14:38-To Peter, and James and John with him. (“Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”) & to be alert in prayer is also to be expectant of the Lord’s coming – And you are vigilant to pray accordingly not only for yourself, but for God’s people everywhere (particularly those of whom you have first-hand knowledge) 2. Perseverant – Perseverance in prayer is to not give up when you don’t see immediate results because you trust in God’s goodness and in his timing.  (The point of the parable of the widow in Luke 18 who continues to plead with the hard-hearted judge is not that God is tough and wants you to beg him really hard before he answers or concedes, but the point is simply what is stated in verse 1: “to show that at all times [we] ought to pray and not to lose heart.”) Why? To be persistent in prayer is extremely difficult. One huge help to us that God has provided in the family of God is that we might be PRAYING TOGETHER – Small groups, discipleship relationships, families. D. Praying for those who make up the community of God’s people. – “making urgent request for all the saints”  You are not a soldier in isolation, but on a team of individuals members making up the entire community of Christ, his church. You pray for your fellow soldiers because they fight for God by your side. – And from the example Paul gives from his own life, I think it is safe to say that we ought to pray especially for those fighting on the front lines of ministry. This is not at all to belittle the gospel ministry of every believer. There is certainly one sense in which we perhaps need to all see ourselves as if we are on the front lines of ministry. But even still, if the enemy can make headway against evangelists, pastors, missionaries, and other spiritual leaders, to him that is great gain. And you yourself have probably felt the pain of it particularly when a fellow Christian of some consequence has allowed sin to become a pattern again in his or her life and eventually it is found out. And some simply aren’t faithfully (clearly and boldly) proclaiming the gospel as they ought to speak as an ambassador, God’s mouthpiece. E. Again notice Paul stressing the emphatic significance of prayer with fourfold ‘all.’  Being constant in prayer helps us to avoid complacency & stagnancy, fatigue & discouragement – And it appears to be perhaps the most critical weapon for us to stand fast in the gospel against the devil as we trust in our God’s timing and wisdom to finish what he has started. Other thoughts on Praying for Paul: - (God’s answer to their prayers) 2 Tim. 4:17 But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message would be fully proclaimed, and all the Gentiles would hear it. So I was delivered from the mouth of the lion. - Do you see yourself as one to whom the mystery of the gospel has been made known? Do you pray for and plan for opportunities to make it known? – Who is beyond the scope of God’s power?  So pray for yourself, “that you would be bold and clear in your witness for Christ!” (Steve Cole) Do you pray like God is mighty to save? To deliver on his promises? To teach you to grow in Him and desire him? To grant you and other believers strength to stand firm? Do you pray as one who is utterly dependent on God? Do you pray because you love him and trust him, and want to know him more and have your heart grow in closeness to his heart? Psalm 86:1-12 (read through, then pray it aloud together)