Prayer Life (Ephesians 6:18-24)

Ephesians chapter 6, starting in verse 18.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request.

And stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for the saints.

Pray also for me that the message may be given to me when I open my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel.

For this I am an ambassador in chains.

Pray that I might be bold enough to speak about it as I should.

Tychicus, our dearly beloved brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will tell you all the news about me so that you may be informed.

I am sending him to you for this very reason, to let you know how we are, and to encourage your hearts.

Peace to the brothers and sisters, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Grace be with all who have undying love for our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let's pray.

Lord, I thank you so much for today.

I thank you for your word.

I thank you for the blessing of your goodness in all things.

I thank you that you're a God who is not a far off, but one who is near and who hears and who knows.

And as we study your word, Lord, I ask you, as always, that you would fill me with your Spirit to rightly teach, that you would fill the hearers with your spirit, to rightly discern and divide what is of you, that they would grow closer to you above all else.

Be glorified in your name.

Amen.

Alright, go ahead and have a seat.

These passages are interesting when we're coming to the end of a book, because Paul never lacks for words.

He's got the speech patterns, if I can say this, of a stereotypical Midwesterner, to where we recently visited family in Ohio, and we visited friends, and we thought that we were going through like a one-hour meeting with a pastor friend of mine.

It was eight.

And it was wonderful, but it was like, okay, there we go.

And then you get the well, I should go, and you slap your legs and stand up, and it didn't work.

But with that in mind, Paul tends to do the same thing where he's like, I mean, we're gonna go into Philippians next, and he's gonna go, finally, in chapter three out of four.

So wrapping these things up, he slips in this last chunk here with some very important topics.

Now, what is the word that stands out repeatedly in this passage?

Pray.

Yes, prayer.

Prayer is weird.

Here's what I mean by that.

We are on earth as human beings with mortal ears and mortal mouths, talking to God, who is here, he is omnipresent, who is present, who hears us, but we cannot see him, we cannot audibly hear him, and so there is a strange navigation of prayer, and yet it's such a daily part of our Christian life that we can build things about what prayer looks like.

And it's it's almost like a trial by error in those things.

So uh, when we're kids, if we walk with the Lord, it's easy to have the Santa prayers.

God, I want a bike.

I want that bike.

My neighbor has that bike.

I want that bike.

That's not coveting, I want it.

Um and then it's one of those, how does that pertain to how have you got if I do or do not get that bike?

For those of you who have gone through a Christian um college ministry or a Bible college, you may have encountered a um it's a stereotypically young man who is convinced that the Lord has told him who he is to marry, who did not give that poor woman the same message.

And that is an interesting thing to navigate where you're like, God told me that we are soulmates.

It's like I don't have anything in the playbook for this.

So it is an odd thing in our culture, and then also as uh good, kind Christians, if we ask somebody to consider jumping into service, jumping into this, trying something out, what's the best way to say no?

I'll pray about it.

And that means basically that's that's Christianese for now, I ain't gonna do that.

So, with that in mind, prayer is a huge part of our life, but something that we are formed by and shaped by.

It's always also fun because we live in a body and we live in community and we serve together.

So you can have a prayer meeting, and you can have the super dense theological prayer who gives like a full exposition because that's what's in his heart, that's super deep, and go, cool.

And then you can have the prayer who preaches a sermon randomly, and like, okay, that's good too.

You can have the artist that is suddenly speaking with words they don't speak in normal ways, and they're preaching something that is very, very beautiful.

And I'm like, I don't even know if that's scriptural, but it was really well said.

And so we have to go, what did prayer look like?

How do we do that?

How do we navigate this?

Well, we're not gonna solve all those things today, but there are some really crucial things to go over.

So in verse 18, Paul says, pray at all times in the spirit with every pray, prayer, and request.

We'll pause there.

For those who are, like the very small subset who are like biblical language and errors, that first word pray is a participle, praying, it can connect it to the previous verses.

In some translations, it's actually part of the same sentence.

And so, but this idea of there's a connection to the armor of God in this praying at all times.

It's not just Paul is like going through his laundry list and he's like, oh yeah, that too, as well.

It is a part of standing there for and having being equipped in that.

If you missed the message last week, I really recommend that you take a listen to it on our podcast because it was really good as it went through that whole process.

And here, prayer is a big part of that.

How often, at all times?

By a show of hands, how many of you pray at all times?

Right, exactly.

So that is intentional and exaggeration, of course, but with that, it shows the this is a lifestyle, this is a daily thing, this isn't a one thing.

So um, we tend to pray before meals.

That's okay.

No, there's no scripture reference for that.

Do we want to give God gratitude for the food that he's provided for us?

Yeah, absolutely.

Nothing wrong with that whatsoever.

We tend to pray before we go to bed, also a good thing.

Um, all the things in between, all the little connective tissue.

Paul is saying, pray at all times.

In the spirit.

So praying always, praying in the spirit.

So he is qualifying a specific kind of prayer, not necessarily pray whatever, pray your truth.

And it's it is pray in the spirit, according to the spirit, which we saw mentioned in the previous verse, the sort of the spirit, but that idea of praying at all times.

In the spirit, with every prayer and request.

So, prayer with every prayer, that's the same word as prayer, as pray.

So, if you say, pray with prayer, yes.

And request, a supplication, an intercession, a request.

Is it okay to ask God for things?

Yeah, absolutely.

So, we're not bugging him.

He already knows what we think before we say it, it's already there.

So asking is fine, but praying at all times in the prayer, in the spirit, with every prayer and request.

And stay alert.

I love this word because it is the negative particle a, ah in Greek, and hypnos, which is sleep, like where we get the word hypnosis.

No sleep.

So, how do we prayer?

Pray, no sleep.

And I am here to tell you if you are going to preach on prayer, you're probably not getting any sleep.

Because God wants actually inside of you.

And so, with that in mind, pray active with that.

He Paul is encouraging the Ephesians to get off the bench, for lack of a better way to say it, to stay active in prayer.

Stay alert with what?

With all perseverance and intercession, which is request for yourself.

No, for all the saints.

This is interesting.

Prayer goes beyond just ourselves.

It includes ourselves, certainly, but he's asking to stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints.

I get this picture with the armor of God, with that awesome imagery we had last week, with a soldier staying awake, staying alert with his fellow soldiers.

If he's off by himself, just hanging out, ready to go, he's probably the first one who's gonna die.

But, or just wander off.

Here it's stay with your regiment and have each other's back.

Okay, lots of words there, but let's get some examples.

If we want to look at praying at all times and staying alert, I want to look back at the descriptive things we see in the Gospels about what Jesus did.

How did Jesus do this?

Good thing to look back to.

What would Jesus do?

Catchy.

So we have some slides for this.

I'm gonna read through these passages.

Okay, starting in Mark 1.35.

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he got up, went out, and made his way to a deserted place, and there he was praying.

Luke 5 16.

Yet often he withdrew to deserted places and prayed.

Luke 6 12.

During those days he went out to the mountain to pray, and spent all night in prayer to God.

Matthew 14 23, and also Mark 6 46.

After he dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray.

Well into the night he was there alone.

Luke 9 28.

About eight days after this conversation, he took Peter, James, and John.

He went up on the mountain to pray.

So he wasn't alone for that one.

Luke 11 1.

He was praying in a certain place.

When he finished, one of his disciples said, Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.

John 12, 27 through 28.

Jesus praying.

Now my soul is troubled.

What should I say?

Father, save me from this hour, but this is why I came.

Father, glorify your name.

And a voice came from heaven.

I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.

John 17, 1.

Jesus spoke these things.

He looked up to heaven and said, The Father, the hour has come.

Gly your Son, so the Son may glorify you.

And then finally, Matthew 26, 36, and also in Mark 14, 32 and Luke 22, 41.

Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane.

He told the disciples, Sit here while I go over there and pray.

I didn't fully grasp how much time Jesus spends alone in prayer for long periods of time.

But it's interesting to see that, because Jesus is God.

And I like to say this, I'm the only one who likes to say this, but how could God in the flesh be praying to God?

That's a good question for Pastor Chris.

So punt.

But with that whole idea in mind, Jesus is a great example of praying at all times, in the spirit, staying alert with perseverance.

He is praying, he's getting up, he's going, he's praying, he's intentional about it, is the punchline in that.

The thing I take away from these historical passages in description is that Jesus was very intentional, and also there was a discipline involved in that, and also it wasn't just two seconds.

If you are anything like me, I am really good at praying for about 90 seconds.

And then five minutes later, I have no idea what I was thinking about, but it wasn't that anymore.

And my brain went like with that.

There's a discipline aspect to prayer, to reaching out to the Lord in supplication with that.

Now, I want to read Luke 18, 1 through 8 as well.

There's no slide for this because it's too long.

But this idea of perseverance, how is this for a strange passage?

He told them a parable, Luke 18, 1 through 8, on the need for them to pray always and not give up.

There was a judge in a certain town who didn't fear God or respect people, and a widow in that town kept coming to him, saying, Give me justice against my adversary.

For a while he was unwilling, but later he said to himself, Even though I don't fear God or respect people, yet because this widow keeps pasturing me, I will give her justice so that she doesn't wear me out by her persistent coming.

Then the Lord said, Listen to what the unjust judge says.

Will not God grant justice to his elect who cry out to him day and night?

Will he delay helping him?

I tell you, he will swiftly grant them justice.

Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?

It's an interesting ending to that parable.

But he is contrasting a earthly, unjust judge to a heavenly, righteous father.

And so even the unrighteous judge, if he's asking enough, is gonna get fed up and go, like, I'm just gonna solve the issue by giving you the justice that you deserve.

Notice that she's asking for justice.

She's not asking for this or that, her own thing, her own advantage.

She's asking for justice in a situation.

And so that persistence.

So why did Jesus tell that parable?

In Luke 18, 1.

He told them that on the need for them to pray always and not give up.

So do we have all of us an opportunity to grow more in our prayer life?

Yes.

Should that lead us to condemnation that we haven't prayed enough?

No.

No, no, no, no, no, no, not at all.

With that.

That is not the aspect.

It turns out we are not handing out charts to chart how often we are praying for how long and how that went.

If we ever do that, that's creepy, and please leave.

So but it really does give this aspect of I think our culture, I think our environment has turned prayer into a text to God.

Not even a phone call at this point, but basically like, here's what I need, here's what I think, amen.

Now we're gonna move on.

Rather than communion, dwelling with, staying with, wrestling with.

Is God threatened by our prayers?

No.

If we pray some outlandish things, is God going to go, well, I didn't know you were gonna say that?

I'm out of here.

No.

He already, here's spoiler alert, he already knows.

He already knows what is inside of our hearts.

Isn't it kind of freeing to let that out to him in a constructive way?

So, how not to pray, we see in Matthew 6, 5 through 13.

We're very text-heavy at the beginning, and it will pick up, but we have a slide for that.

Matthew 6, 5 through 13.

Whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by people.

Truly I tell you, they have their reward.

But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, pray to your father who is in secret, and your father who sees in secret will reward you.

Also, when you pray, don't babble like the Gentiles, since they imagine they will be heard for their many words.

Don't be like them, because your father knows the things you need before you ask him.

So, number one, prayer is not a show.

It is not for the purpose of demonstrating how righteous we are, and it is not for the purpose of demonstrating how we are more righteous than the person next to us who maybe prayed like a C- prayer.

Number two, prayer is not an act of pulling the levers of God's power in our favor.

The Gentiles babbling forth their prayers in quantity for the goal of God, their God noticing them and being willing to lend them their power or act on their behalf.

It's very transactional.

If I do this, I give you this many prayers, it reaches a certain point, and then and then their God in their imagination is, therefore I will act.

God is not like that.

So that's how not to pray.

Well, how do we pray?

We have a slide for that as well.

Continuing that same passage.

Therefore, you should pray like this our Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Don't bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

The Lord's Prayer, right?

We've heard this, we understand this.

This is not an incantation that brings about the results that we want.

This is a model of pointing to the Lord.

How much of that beginning is the word you're in?

Your name be honored, your kingdom come, your will be done.

And then there is supplication.

Give us our daily bread, provide for us, forgive us our debts, forgive us as we forgive our debtors.

Don't bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil.

Protect us.

Requests for sustenance, requests for forgiveness, requests for protection.

In general, it's a back and forth, it's an ebb and flow in these things.

And so there is communion with God to be had in that.

So what's the difference?

What's the difference between the one side where you have the Pharisees or the Gentiles, and then here when he's saying, hey, this is how you should pray?

Here's what I would say: when we come to God, is our cup full?

And here's what I mean by that.

There is the whole little uh parable that could be said many different ways or whatever, but there's a it's like the idea of a martial arts master, and he has a student and he wants to learn from this master, and he takes the cup, the master, he's like, We're having tea.

Okay, that's weird.

I don't want to have tea, I want to learn how to master this.

And they sit down and then he brings forth a full cup and sits it down.

And then he pours the tea into the cup.

What happens?

Spills all over the place.

And he's like, What are you doing?

Why would you do that?

It's like, this is you.

I can't pour into you if your cup is already full.

Take the empty cup, pour the tea into it, and it's being filled.

And that's how I see the difference between uh the how not to pray and how to pray is how do we come to the Lord?

Do we come with dependency?

Do we come with vulnerability?

Do we come with expectancy that not only will he act, but he will change us and shape us and work?

Uh do we come?

This is the hard part.

Going, how sh how do I do this right?

How do I do this so that I check off all the boxes so that prayer is done correctly, so that I am a good Christian?

I think that that is one of the biggest tactics of the enemy when it comes to prayer.

Is he likes to sit there and go, you're doing it wrong.

You're doing it wrong.

You're doing it wrong.

You're bugging him.

That's not right.

And so the voice, the accuser of the brethren of the brethren, of the enemy, how do we turn that off and know that that is never the voice of the Father?

So three things that I believe are true about prayer with this topic.

Number one, I'm going to slide for this.

Number one, prayer does not contradict the word of God or replace healthy relationships.

So when we pray, if what we have arrived at, if what we believe the Lord is telling us, is contrary to the word of God, I say this with gentleness, we're wrong, the Bible is not.

So there should always be a check and a balance with that.

It does not replace that.

Second, we are designed to live in healthy community as believers and followers of Jesus.

So prayer should not isolate us.

Prayer should not bring us away from healthy fellowship.

It should not bring us away from having face-to-face conversations with people that we know and love.

Now, why do I say that?

Because it can become a holy workaround to what God has designed as healthy when we go, well, I'm just going to go to prayer.

God's going to download the answer to me, and I'm going to impart that to you.

There's a really important part of that equation, which is, hi, how are you doing?

What's going on?

How are you feeling?

Different things like that.

Now, there are times where the Lord will reveal things in situations to you, to somebody else potentially, those are called words of knowledge, which is a spiritual gift.

Could be called prophecy in that way.

That's not the rule, that is the exception.

So with that in mind, if our prayer life basically precludes us from checking against the word of God or from actually talking to that person that we're praying about, that's something we should check on.

It is a part of healthy church life in Acts 114, 242, and 431.

They prayed together.

They gathered together and they prayed.

Number two, prayer realigns our focus and dependency off of ourselves and onto the Lord.

Philippians 4, 6 through 7.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything with prayer and supplication, make your request be known to God, and God will give you what you ask for.

No.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will rule over your hearts and minds.

Think about that.

Prayer, supplication, bringing your request, known, making that known to God.

He changes our heart when we do that.

We may not get an answer, but the goal is for him to refine us in that process.

Here's a scary one.

How many times do we say, Lord, show me how I'm wrong?

Lord, make me teachable.

Lord, refine me.

That's a scary prayer.

Because he might do it.

But with that in mind, if our desire is to know him more and grow him more, there's safety in that.

Because there's a quote, I don't even know who to attribute it to, but God uses a scalpel, not a sledgehammer.

So with that in mind, we can feel safe asking him for that.

So just know that we think about prayer, and we think about there is, I want to ask for what I want, or I want to ask about this, or I want to pray for somebody to encourage them, or in precatory prayer, yeah, that's a real thing.

But does our prayer change us?

Is that a part of sanctification in that?

And then the effective prayer of a righteous person accomplishes much, according to James 5, 16.

Prayer is real, prayer works.

I do not want to say, yeah, well, it's really just about how it changes our hearts and makes us more like this.

He wants us to pray for things and be persistent and not give up.

He wants us to do that, and there is power in prayer.

But it is his power, not our power.

And so if our goal is to harness his power for our agenda, uh that's where the refining comes in.

If our goal is saying, your kingdom come, your will be done, or I really want this to be a part of that, I want this, um, pray that.

God's not threatened by that.

But there is power in prayer.

I am really encouraged that we look at, and this is a big topic, but in Revelation 5, 8, 8, 3, 8, 4, the prayers of the saints are seen as a sacrifice with incense before the Lord.

Isn't that cool?

That is valuable and good smelling and precious.

So, things to think about because there's a whole lot of praying all the time with one another, and it is really easy to turn that into a checklist, and here's how you're supposed to do that, and the right words to say, and the wrong words to say, it does not work that way.

But I would say, um, honestly, honesty, vulnerability with God, prayer in community, checking against the word of God, having prayer in community and relationship, realizing how it might refine us, but then also realizing that you can pray in confidence and there's power in that, whether or not something happens.

I have never prayed for somebody to be healed and they get healed.

I'm still gonna try.

That's a like at no point in time that would be such a bummer to say, uh, it doesn't work, so I'm gonna try a different thing.

I'm still gonna pray for it, but that's God's power, not mine, and I have no ability to wield it.

So, with that in mind, Paul is telling them, pray, pray, pray, pray.

And then, what does this look like?

Here's the thing to pray, how do we increase our prayer life?

Because we see Jesus praying always, praying all the times.

Here's what I suggest.

I had no idea what Pastor Chris was gonna say before the sermon.

So here's what I suggest: turn off your phone.

Here's your challenge.

For two weeks, every time you reach for social media, don't and instead go to prayer.

One is engineered to stir up outrage and anxiety and narcissism.

One is engineered to come before God.

How many of you, this is a dangerous question, so please don't answer me and please don't throw a chair at me.

Uh, how many of you in this last week with life events have drawn, gone more towards the spirit from what you've seen on social media with the horrific things that have happened this week?

How many of you have gone, I've been more sanctified?

How many of you feel more outraged?

How many of you it's not with that in mind, I would just say, it's not a one-to-one, but you will not lack by turning this into prayer.

You're not gonna go, man, that was such a waste of time.

I missed out on that dog meme.

So, with that, that's my challenge to you for the next two weeks.

Try it.

Because at this point in time, many of us are now chemically conditioned to reach for our phone for a serotonin hit.

Take that and turn it to prayer.

Okay.

Nobody threw a chair.

That's good.

Continuing forward, Paul says, pray for me.

Isn't that cool?

He's Paul.

He's like, could you pray for me too?

But what I love is that he is praying that the message would be given when he opens his mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel.

He doesn't say, pray for me that I should know whether I should open my mouth.

I don't think he would stop Paul from opening his mouth, but pray that the message would be given to me when I open my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel.

For this, and I am I am an ambassador in chains.

Pray that I might be bold enough to speak about it as I should.

He is asking that when he speaks the gospel, the mystery of the gospel, the Gentiles, the Jews, in one body, under Jesus, a new creation, that he be given the words to do so.

He doesn't pray, pray whether or not I should do that.

He knows what his calling is, and he's walking in it, praying for the right words.

He's also asking for the the Ephesians to partner with him in this work through the gospel.

He doesn't say, hey, I'm gonna do this, and that's awesome.

He goes, hey, could you pray for me?

You pray with me, partner with me in that?

And then he asks for boldness, that he may make known with boldness, and that he might be bold enough to speak about it as I should.

I don't think of Paul as lacking boldness.

He asks for prayer for that.

So clearly that's not the case.

Isn't that cool?

Like there should be something encouraging that Paul, you know, the he he's in the pantheon of like the the BCU, the Bible cinematic universe, of superheroes, and he's asking for boldness.

That he would be bold in preaching the gospel.

The mystery of the gospel, which we saw in Ephesians 1.9, 3.3, 3.9.

Here's the irony.

He is an ambassador in chains.

When a messenger comes from a different kingdom, are you inclined to listen to him when he's in chains?

That's a weird look.

Paul doesn't seem concerned by that.

He is an ambassador in chains, but what he asks is that he may be bold enough to speak about it as he should.

One of the definitions for boldness is freedom and unfetteredness.

It's not a word, I don't care.

So, think about a guy in chains praying that his words would be unchained.

Isn't that cool?

That idea that he would be bold to speak.

And he continues here, a little housekeeping.

You have Ticekus.

Who the heck is Ticekus?

He's from Asia, according to Acts 20, 4.

He was a frequent messenger of Paul's.

We see that in Colossians 4.7, 2 Timothy 4.12, Titus 3.12.

And he's sending him a dearly beloved brother and a faithful servant in the Lord.

He'll tell you all the news about me so that you may be informed.

And I'm sending him to you with this reason, so that you may know how we are, and to encourage your hearts.

Paul's in prison.

It would be very easy to go, well, I guess that's it.

I am on ice until I get released, and until then I'm just gonna sit here.

And he actually has people going out, continuing to meet with people when he physically can't.

To connect with them, to bring word with them, to encourage them.

Why does he send Ticchus?

For the purposes of fellowship and encouragement and comfort.

Isn't that cool?

Think about Tychicus.

How many people do you think outside of the church world know who Tychicus is?

I really do.

A lot more people know who Paul is.

And yet Tychicus's ministry here is going where Paul can't, bringing a message where he's physically unable, and encouraging and comforting and fellowship.

That idea of encouraging your hearts is that word that we have for the Holy Spirit in Acts 14 through 16.

That comforter.

He is acting as a comforter for the Ephesians.

Such a cool thing.

Paul gets a lot of headlines, obviously.

He has a heck of a calling in that way that comes with a whole lot of beatings, and so I don't think I want that.

But Tychicus is a faithful minister in the things God has called him to, and he does it over and over and over again.

Isn't that cool?

There's some comfort in that.

I've said this before, but uh 10,000 people going one inch will get you farther than one person going 5,000.

With that in mind, never think that your calling, your gifting, the way the Lord uses you is insignificant.

In the kingdom of God, it is not.

And he is doing things that you may not see or know or understand.

So, finally, he gets a conclusion here.

Peace to the brothers and sisters, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Grace be with all who have undying love for our Lord Jesus Christ.

There are some words here.

Peace, such as the middle wall of separation that is broken down between Him and Gentile, which we saw earlier in the book.

Love.

Faith.

Grace.

So your challenge for this week, in addition to dedicating time to prayer, is find these words in Ephesians.

Grace.

Faith.

Love.

Peace.

See how they're used.

See what they were.

Spoiler alert, a lot of that's tied to the gospel, which is awesome.

But that's your challenge with that.

And then finally, just looking at this.

Everything this book centers on is what it ended with.

Because we talked at the beginning of how Paul gives a whole lot of this is what God has done for us, this is how rich we are in him, this is how blessed we are in him, this is how loaded we are in him.

And then he goes into this is what we do as a result.

This is how we grow, this is how we live, this is how we navigate life as a follower of Jesus in Ephesus.

Here, even in his greeting, he says, love from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

So that precedes everything.

God loved us when we were his enemies.

He loves us when we're his children.

That is non-negotiable.

And then he says, Grace be with all who have undying love for the Lord Jesus Christ.

That is reciprocal.

As a result of God's love, with which he already loved us, we love him.

And as a result, we follow him and we act and we grow in these things.

So it's a blessing to see that that whole challenge of that Colossians will mirror this book quite well.

So there's another challenge to read up on that as well.

So many of the different key points with that.

But let me ask you a question.

How would we pray if Jesus was physically in the room?

Jesus walked in, was sitting in the middle of your prayer meeting.

How would you pray?

Because he is.

That's the cool thing.

He already is.

He's here with us.

The Holy Spirit lives inside with us.

God is with us.

And so, with that in mind, think about that.

It's like, do we do we give this the time, the dedication, the seriousness that we ought without falling into rote legalism?

But then also, would that change what we say?

Would that change our posturing?

Would that change how much grace we give one another?

And then finally, we see in 1 Peter 4.7, the end of all things is near.

Therefore, be alert and sober-minded for prayer.

May we be followers of Jesus who are relentlessly devoted to him and relentlessly invested in one another for our well-being.

There's that idea throughout history of the people who do the shield wall, that big shield they have, is not for their own protection.

It's for the protection of the person next to them.

May we do that in prayer at all times.

And I just may it just challenge us to how do we use our time and how can we increase our prayer in easy ways that rewires our brain towards the Lord.

Let's pray.

Lord, I thank you so much for tonight.

Today, I thank you for the blessing of your word.

I thank you that you are here, that you are with us, that you are here and with us, not with a clipboard, looking to see if we said or did the right thing, but rather you're with us as the Savior, the one who shed his blood for us, so that we may be reconciled when we have nothing to offer.

And Lord, I ask that we would come to you in devotion, that we would come to you with dependency, that we would in all things submit to your word, seek to draw into fellowship, not to isolate, that we would be formed and shaped by your word and by prayer.

That we would know that you have all power and might and authority, and that we would ask for things in boldness without wavering, and yet submit our will to you as you did before the cross.

I pray, not my will, but yours be done.

Be glorified in your name.

Amen.