Prayer

On the chair. There we go. Okay. Would you turn your Bibles over to Ephesians chapter 6? We'll be there for a little portion and a few other little places. We're going to primarily be in the Psalms quite a bit. Father, we ask that you would bless our time as we dip in your word this morning, as we talk about commitment to prayer, Lord, and the importance of prayer, and

just the blessing of prayer, Lord. Please speak to us by your Holy Spirit and help me share that which you have to be shared today. And we thank you in Jesus' name, amen. Probably toward the middle of July, I had shared a section from, I had taught from the section in Ephesians 6, and of course, you've got the whole armor there. That's being pointed out, which Ryan will teach more directly as he's going through Ephesians. But

the last time I was with you teaching, we looked at the portion, our offensive weapon, the sword of the Spirit, and we spoke how that that word was not logos, but referred to rhema, the spoken word. And we, of course, discussed as an example of how that word, the spoken word was used in, by Jesus in Matthew chapter 4, verses 1 through 11, as he had been led up by the Spirit to be tempted of the devil. Each time the devil would throw something at him, he would immediately quote the word. It is written, you see. And so, but as Paul then closes that section on the armor, he points out,

about, he talks about prayer. So we want to look at that second, some would call it the second offensive weapon, some may not, but prayer is one of our things that we have, that we use as we communicate with God. And of course, when you think of prayer, it is that opportunity we have to communicate with God, to, as we're reading the Word and studying the Word, as we're praying, get in tune with what God's will is. And so, we want to look at that second offensive weapon, you see. It's to draw close to Him and be in communion with Him, that ability we have to

communicate with God. And in all of our talking, to take time to, in all of our communicating and our praying, you know, communication goes both ways. You dialogue back and forth, which means we have to listen as well as share our hearts with God, you see. And so, he speaks to us by his still small voice. And so, we want to look at that second offensive weapon, which is to

and through his Word. Amen? And so, let's look at, we'll just look at Ephesians chapter 6 here, and we'll look at verse 18 through 21, just to kind of set the stage here. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance. I like that, watching. You know, as we pray, we also watch with all perseverance.

And supplication, that asking for all saints, he says. And then he points it personally, and for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds, that therein I may speak boldly, as I speak. I ought to speak, you see. And then verse 21, but that you also may know my affairs and how I do, you see. And then he says, of course, Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the

Lord shall make known to you all things, you see. And so, he's personalizing this also. And so, what I want to emphasize today is that I want to emphasize that I want to emphasize that I want to emphasize today is prayer. We're going to be in the, as I said earlier, we're going to be in the Psalms quite a bit. And you know, something I learned years ago, and I think it was one of the

fellows on the radio Bible class, the radio Bible church, I think it was called. And I remember listening one afternoon many years back, probably in the 90s, but I remember him pointing out that the middle verse of our Bible is Psalm 118. Verse 8, it is better to put your trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. What a middle verse. Because it all comes down to trusting

the Lord, doesn't it? Looking to the Lord, the author and finisher of our faith. And through the years, we've all, different ones of us, have used this, this acronym for prayer. And it's kind of for a guide in a sense. It isn't anything that's hard and fast, but it's a neat acronym to think about. And the acronym is ACTS, A-C-T-S. And the acronym itself would be standing for adoration. And now, these are things that can

go on in prayer. We're not saying that every time you pray, you're going to mention something. We're not saying that every time you pray, you're going to mention something. It's something to do with all these, obviously. But oftentimes in prayer, you know, we're adoring the Lord, we're worshiping, we're praising Him. There's confession. Oftentimes there are those

things that stand and are a wall that affects our ability to truly pray because we've got something in our life that maybe is hindering that. Whether it be sin, unconfessed sin, maybe bitterness, whatever it may be. And then there's also, then, we often have in prayer, thanksgiving. And then, of course, supplication. And when I think of supplication, I think of supply. In other words, we're asking

for, you know, for provision. We're praying for someone that the Lord would bless in some way, you see. And so that's what we're looking at as we think of that acronym. And again, it's a guide. It's a neat little guide to think about. And then, of course, there's also supplication. And sometimes when you just want to sit down and really think of those areas in our life to,

you know, it kind of gives us something as an acronym to think about. Now, as we're going to look at some different verses here, one of the things we want to point out, there are long prayers, there are short prayers. We'll look at Peter giving probably the shortest prayer of the Bible, but. There are, you know, there are different times where we're praying, different circumstances, you see. And so throughout the Word of God, we're going to see an emphasis on prayer. And that is,

that is. And so what we want to do, as I said, we're going to be in Psalms quite a bit. We've got some other places we're going to be. And I'll see what I, you know, I'm just going to let it flow as it will. But I got a little long winded first service, I'm afraid. So hang in there, guys. Hang in. Hang in there. And here we go. Let's turn to Psalm 92. Now, many of these Psalms,

different ones. In fact, Pastor Mark put these two verses to music years ago. We used to sing this and I've sang this in VBS sessions before. In fact, one time up in Wichita, we were doing the kids praise and there were some kids out there dancing to this. I'll tell you, they were going at it. But anyway, Psalm 92, verse one and two says this. And so let's look at these different things that are

declared from the Psalms. It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord and to sing praise unto thy name, O Most High, to show forth thy loving kindness in the morning, thy faithfulness every night. And I love, as we break this down, just a little bit, notice, it's a good thing to give thanks, you see, to the Lord. How important. Thanks unto the Lord. And oftentimes we, you know, we'll thank Him for various things. Sometimes

we, you know, when a rough time comes in, we're not wanting to thank Him for it, but we can thank Him in it, through it, right? That He's working in us both to will and do of His good pleasure, you know. But we know He is faithful, but we're thankful to Him and His provision. We're thankful for His love and all those things. And so it's a good thing to give

thanks unto the Lord and to sing praise, you see. That's a way, you know, singing praise is that which is a way of, many of our songs, our prayers, we're singing, O Lord, give me strength or whatever it may, you know, I'll abide in you. Those different words we sing, sing praise or declare praise unto thy name. O Most High. And I love this last section, to show forth thy loving kindness in the morning.

And so as we're up and going, to show forth thy loving kindness in the morning. As we're walking through the day, thy loving kindness is better than life, you see, all that. And it's expressed, really, and it can be expressed in our worship to the Lord, our lives as we live. For the Lord. And then I love this last section, and thy faithfulness every night. And as we've

gone through a day, as we're looking to the Lord, as we've trusted Him, we can reflect on His faithfulness. You see, He's always faithful. And as He's faithful in the big things, the small things, whatever it may be, as I think and reflect toward the end of the day, I can just recognize that I recognize His faithfulness. And how important it is, you see. Psalm 117. It's only two verses.

But I like the way it's laid out here. And He says, He begins by saying, O praise the Lord, all ye nations. Praise Him, all ye people. And then I love this this preposition here, for, which is, such a connector, in a sense. And because, for, what's it there for? His mercy, His merciful kindness is great toward us. And then, He says, the truth of the Lord endureth

forever. Praise ye the Lord. And so, you see, as we, as we praise the Lord, all ye nations, as we praise, you know, and the actual, the new King James in that second part, there's law to Him, all ye people. You know, it's another word for praise. And then, why? For His merciful kindness is great toward us. Isn't it? Reflect on that merciful kindness. Isn't it wonderful that He doesn't give us what we deserve as we come to Him?

And then that His grace, that unmerited favor that He gives us as we turn our hearts over to Him. And His truth, and the truth of the Lord, is great toward us. And then, He says, He begins by saying, the truth of the Lord endures forever. God's truth. For those who would, for those who would use this, this frame of mind of what is truth, truth is what you think it is. Well, if you're

simply saying truth is what you think it is, is declaring that there's a truth of some sort, right? There's always absolute. The true absolute is His truth endureth forever. He is truth, you see. You want truth? Jesus said, as the boys over there in John 14, as He begins, He said, let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's

house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for it. If I go, I will bring you unto Myself, and where I am, you may be also, you know, and all that. And then, I believe it's, it's Philip, or one of them, or Thomas, you know, I think both those boys have some questions. I think both of those boys have some questions. I think both of

those boys have some questions as you go through that chapter. But how do we know the way in all this? They're asking. And, you know, the boys are kind of like us. They didn't always get it. You see? It takes us a while to get it sometime. And, you know, we kind of can look at those guys and say, why are they asking that? I think we might have asked the same question if we were

walking with Him, possibly. Because they were seeing it all take place before their very eyes. And He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, you see. No man comes to the Father but by Me. And so, it's, Jesus is the way. He's the truth. Now, and so, both of the scriptures we just previously read have both been put to music. And this next one is a, just a, I want you to turn

over to Psalm 34. And we're going to be looking at verses one through four. And David, if I'm remembering correctly, David wrote this, you know, after he had changed his behavior there before the leader and over there and Felicia, you know, the Philistines and all those folks, he had ended up, you remember, during that interim, when Saul was told by Saul, Samuel that, you know, the kingdom was going to be taken away from him and all, and he had not been obedient and all. And David had been anointed as king. But there was a period of time before David actually becomes

king. And so, because of the condition of Saul's heart, one who was jealous and, you know, David, of course, the women saying how, you know, what was it, Saul had killed his thousands and David his ten thousands and all. And so David had some, Saul had some real issues with David. Actually, the issues were his, his, with himself and his rebellion and his heart not choosing to be sold out to God. David was always

on the run from Saul. You know, he would, and Saul was so fickle, he would be okay with David for a little bit. And then something happened. He, you know, he had, you know, he had, you know, he had, you know, he had, you know, he had, you know, he had, you know, he had, you know, he tried to throw a javelin at him or something and he hit the wall and David would have to run.

And it's, so it, it came to the point where David ended up over with the Philistines there a little bit and fighting with them and for them and all in a sense. And, but, but the king's leaders there, you know, were concerned about David and, and didn't think he should be doing that. Of course, then David was kind of asked to leave. And so David, in, in response and his, his response, you remember, he changed his behavior, you know, and his beard was all slobbery and all, you know, and acting like he was, you know, a crazy man, you know. But it was after this that he wrote this psalm,

and we're just going to look at the first four verses, and it's just kind of interesting. But he says this, in all that he was going through and the things he was facing, he was a man after God's heart, really. And he says this, I will bless the Lord at all times. You see, he's making a choice. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul will make its boast in the Lord. You see,

it's neat, that blessing, he says, I'll bless the Lord. And I said in the first service, and this is probably what makes me go a little longer than I should, but as I think of that, I will bless the Lord at all times. I didn't look the word up, bless, but I know over in Ephesians 1, as Ryan has been teaching through you, remember, in Ephesians 1, after the greeting,

you'll see this word, blessed be the Lord, blessed be the Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who is blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places, or the heavenlies. And that word, blessed, that's there, it's not the, oh, I'm happy one, blessed one, word, that means that, but it puts you in mind of eulogy. We're going to praise the Lord, we, oh, bless the Lord, we praise the Lord. You think of a funeral setting, and when usually eulogy takes place, there is that recognizing an individual and just really expressing your appreciation or whatever, and that's the same kind of thought over there in Ephesians.

And so in this, he's saying, you know, bless the Lord, oh my soul, you see, his praise shall continually be in my mouth, my soul will make its boast in the Lord, you see. Better to boast in the Lord than yourselves, huh? Yeah? Ourselves? He says the humble will hear it and rejoice. You know, that word humble and humility is kind of interesting to me, and I didn't,

I looked this word up, humble, but I was thinking of a very simple definition that C.S. Lewis gave that I think is neat, as far as humility, and he puts it this way. He says, don't think less of yourself, but just think of yourself less. Amen? You see, don't start this false stuff and, you know, putting yourself down. We are a mess. We know that without the Lord.

But don't think that way so much. Don't think of less of yourself, but think of yourself less. And that puts me in mind to that little song we used to sing that is such a good definition. J-O-Y, you see. Jesus first, yourself last, others in between. Yeah? And then he says, oh magnify the Lord with me. You see, his desire is to magnify the Lord. And in doing so, let us exalt his name together.

Now, I threw that in doing so, but you see what I mean. He said, and then we see him saying he sought the Lord. He said, I sought the Lord. And he answered me. And he delivered me from all my fears. What a beautiful picture there in that, those four verses. You really see adoration, and you see supplication, you see thanksgiving, and you know, I mean, it's just kind of neat. Now, if you look over at Psalm

95, and we're going to look at verse 6 and 7. And it's kind of interesting because I shared a verse earlier that over in Isaiah 11, and again, it's kind of neat, and I may go ahead and show it, but let's look at this first, and then we'll see how this goes. Now, over in 6 and 7, notice what he says out of Psalm 95. He says, come, let us worship and bow down. You know,

there were different ways that people, you know, you see it in the Old Testament, they would bow down. Sometimes they'd just be prostrated right on their face, you see. But he said, come, let us worship and bow down. But he kind of clarifies in that he says, let us kneel before the Lord, our maker. And so, he's declaring to the people, come, let us worship and bow down. Let us

kneel, you know, and that's the position he's saying. And you can do, you know, obviously you can pray in any position, but this is, you know, a declaration he's making here. And notice what he says, the Lord, our maker. He's recognizing who created us, you see. It's God who is over all. And then he says, for he is our God. Our maker, he's our God. And you see that

again, that word for, that serves such as a, you know, it kind of connects and makes you kind of think of all of it coming together. And we are the people of this pasture. And then he clarifies what kind of people we are. He uses the word pasture first, and then he says, and the sheep of his hand. We like sheep. We have gone astray. We've turned into one of his own, but

you see, God took care of us, didn't he? He drew us back. He, we like sheep have gone astray, but the Lord has laid upon the iniquities of Saul. He took care of it. We go astray. We have that tendency. That's why it's so important to be in the word. We are like sheep. Bah. You see, we get distracted.

We butt heads. You know, the sheep would do that too. I think that may have been part of what the oil helped with, you know, when they were getting anointed. You know, that way those heads would be slipping from one another. You see, but we do that and we get, we can go astray. The shepherd would have to pull those sheep back in. And in those days, sheep weren't herded. They were led, you see. And so we have a

shepherd, a great shepherd that leads us. And he has to direct us. He has to pull us back in. His rod and his staff, they comfort me. You know, you think of Psalm 23 there that we read in unison. And it talks about how, you know, he leads me in green pastures, you know. He's our sustenance. He's our provision. We have what we need. He leads me beside the still water. The sheep do not like troubled water.

And we're not crazy about troubled stuff either, are we? But he brings us through. We're so much like sheep. And I want you now to turn to Psalm 5. We're going to look at verses 1 through 3. And see, we're reflecting in these different portions of Scripture as we look at prayer and we see how important prayer was to those in the Old Testament and the New Testament. You know, Pastor Mark

shared with us that he said, he said, with us many years ago, he had been reading some church history, some different history, and he had come across how that it was very common at one time to have what they called concerts of prayer. And in those concerts of prayer, oftentimes there would be a psalm read, and the one leading would read a psalm. And so, in reading the psalm, there was a time with a group of people gathered together where, as they would read the psalm, maybe a verse at a time or a phrase at a time, and there was that time of just prayer and praying through the psalm. Which I thought was kind of interesting. And just praying

Scripture is such a blessing. And I know for myself, Pastor Ryan, you saw him one the other night, you know, the last three nights. Because he was teaching on studying the Word of God. And that was such a good psalm to use. But I can remember different times when I've read Psalm 1 where it says, Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands

in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. You know, there may be a time I say, Lord, help me not walk in the counsel or the advice of the ungodly. Because, see, our eye and ear gate and all the senses are hit with the things of the world all the time. There's those things that plaster us right in the face, right in the eyes, right in the ears. And we have to

so often pray, Lord, let me not be, fall into that kind of advice. Let me not get settled standing with sinners. And please let me not get so comfortable with the things of the world all the time. It's terrible that I'm seated with the scornful. But, oh, Lord, help me delight in your law, you see. Oh, how much of a blessing it is just to pray the Scripture sometime. Psalm 5, 1-3, I'll

kind of see if I can't move along here, guys. Notice 1-3, give ear to my words, oh, Lord. You see, he's asking the Lord to listen. And what is he asking him to do? Consider, my groaning. Some translation, I think King James would say meditation. And then he says, heed the sound of my cry. You see how he's appealing to the Lord? He's pouring his heart out. And it's for help, he's

asking, you see. And then again, he's recognizing who he's praying to, my King and my God, he says. For to you, I pray. Oh, he's just, and he's doing this in the morning. He's starting his morning this way. Because he says, in the morning, oh, Lord, you will hear my voice. We can count on that. In the morning, I will order my prayer to you. And what's he going to do? He's going to

eagerly, he's going to eagerly watch. Oh, how important it is to watch. He waits on the Lord. You see, as he's praying, then he's going to watch and see how the Lord answers. Amen? You see, you'll go through the day there, and you're asking the Lord to order and bless your day. You're asking him in whatever way you've prayed. And then you watch. You see, the Lord does supernatural

things in our lives through natural activity, natural events. As you get up and start your day, are you saying, good morning, Lord? Are you saying, how are you facing it? Are you saying, good Lord, it's morning. You know. Because there's different ways we can face that, isn't there? Good morning, Lord. Oh, good Lord, it's morning. You know. Oh, my. But as we're going through that day, you see,

he may lead us in a place, and we don't even realize in his providence as he works in the affairs of man, he's using us in a way that we don't even realize. And as we talked about Psalm 92 there, you know, show forth his loving kindness in the morning and all those activities through the day. Am I faithfulness every night? Sometimes we look back and we say, oh, God, I see why you sent me that direction. I see why you put me in

the situation. I see why you put me in the situation where I ended up talking to this person because you wanted us both to be ministered to. You see? And as I said, you know, David was on the run a lot, and I think this was the case in Psalm 27, 4, as he's probably reflecting wherever he is, maybe running from Saul, he says one thing. He says, one thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek.

And what does he seek? That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. And to what? To behold the beauty of the Lord. You see, just adore the Lord. And to meditate in his temple. Oh, you see, we've gathered today here. And remember, guys, now our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, huh? We can pray to him. He's, the Holy Spirit is dwelling within us.

We can, he's working in us. He's doing a work in our lives. But as a corporate group of people, we can gather in a fellowship together to behold the beauty of the Lord. To inquire, to meditate, you see, to learn of him. What a beautiful thing. Psalm 32, 5, if you want to look at that, and of course this is a neat Psalm. And of course, as you look at the beginning of the Psalm, and as David is kind of,

you know, after his affair with Bathsheba and all, and then putting, having Joab put Uriah, Bathsheba's husband, in the line of battle and all, and he dies. And for so long, David is not really confessing his sin, but he comes to that point, you see. God used the, the prophet Nathan to use that, that beautiful little story about a ewe lamb and how that, and of course, David being a compassionate man and all, and, and in this, in this, and I'm not going to relate the whole story, but you can, it's in Samuel there. But when David, when, when Nathan said what he said, you know, about the ewe lamb and how the one guy had the one, and you had all kinds of them, and you took that ewe lamb from him.

And of course, David's ready to, you know, put that guy to death. And Nathan says, David, you're that man. And oh, David, oh gosh, then he said, I've sinned against God. He confessed, you see, and healing began to take place. And when you look in the verse five, and see there, you notice what he does here. He says, I acknowledge, oh, how important it is to acknowledge our, who we are in Christ. Also acknowledge,

he said, I acknowledge my sin to you. Oh, how important it is to, to acknowledge that before the Lord. That's, that clears the way for, for, for closer fellowship, right? And my iniquity, he said, I did not hide. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord. And you forgave the guilt of my sin. Oh, to experience the forgiveness of God. Amen? You know, over in

1 John 1, 9, and you know, it, it, and we're not, I, it says, if you confess, he says, if you confess your sins before God, he is faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. And that, that cleansing there is a continuous thing of continually cleansing us, you see. And he says in verse 10, if we, if we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and the truth isn't, of God isn't in us, basically. I didn't turn to those, but I suggest you look at that. Peter probably

said the shortest prayer in the Bible, as I talked about earlier, and it's over in Matthew chapter 14, verse 30. And before I share that prayer, I, I'm reminded of, of Corrie Ten Boom. And when I, when I think of her, emotion wells up sometimes within me. And when I think of what she and her sister went through, and her dad and her brother and all those, when, when they were, you know, because they, they, they hid the Jews, you see.

And the hiding place is quite a book. And there was, of course, a movie put out about it and all. But I also read this in another book she wrote called In My Father's House. And, and you really get a beautiful record of her childhood growing up. And, and when she would, as she was writing this book, she would reflect on something that happened later during that time of, of persecution

when, when the Jews were being persecuted and they were being, hiding the Jews and they got found. And, and one of the, one of those leaders from Germany was there and, and was getting kind of, I think, hitting, kind of wanting to slap at her. And her immediate prayer was short. And she said, Jesus, cover me.

And of course, the fellow, the fellow told her not to, to do, to speak that name or anything. That didn't stop her. But, you know, he didn't hit her anymore that particular time. He didn't, he didn't, he didn't hit her. He didn't, he wasn't abusive to her at that particular time. She just responded. How many times do we, in some situations, I've, I've said many times, something comes to my mind that I think, oh my gosh.

Or, or I'm really, you know, having some difficulty with something. Or I'm, whatever it may be. And sometimes I just say, Jesus, help. Jesus, help me. You know? And this is what basically Peter did. He says, and it says in verse, 30 here in chapter 14 of Matthew. But seeing the wind, he became frightened. And beginning to sink, he cried out. He didn't take a lot of time.

This time he didn't say, Lord, I know your God and I know all this. He just said, Lord, save me. Amen. You see, those, those times, like I said earlier, there are short prayers. There are long prayers. There are in-between prayers. The important thing is we're praying. Yes. You know, we get the beautiful model of prayer over in Matthew 6. It is called the Lord's Prayer.

And of course, it's, it's good. It's really good. It's a really good model of prayer. And it's, it's a good prayer, prayer to pray also. But as you look at that, it's over in, John, Matthew 6, beginning of verse 9. But really, it's more of a model for prayer. Probably the actual Lord's Prayer is probably John 17. What a beautiful prayer it is. As he, as he prays.

And we won't read through that, of course, because we'd be here till 1, you know. And you guys would say, uh-uh, I'm hungry, you know. But anyway, it's a neat prayer where he, you know, he asks, you know, he's talking to, you know, about, you know, all that's going on. And, and the fact that, you know, praying about returning him to the glory he had before the world was and all.

And then he prays for the disciples, you know. He prays, as the prayer goes on, he also prays for us because he prays for those that will, that will, you know, come to know him later, you see. But as you look at the, the, the Lord's Prayer, which it is, uh, he says pray then in this way. And so it's a beautiful model. Our Father, who is in heaven, so you recognize who you're praying to,

hallowed be your name. We're recognizing he is, hallowed is his name. He's, he's holy, he's wonderful. He said, and notice the, in this part, in this part of the, the prayer, there is, there is a thought of submission to God's will. He says, your kingdom come, your will be done, you see, on earth as it is in heaven. See, as we come to the Lord, we come to him to, to,

to definitely recognize who we're praying to. But in, when it's all said and done, we want his will. Because that's what's going to be the best. Your, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And then, of course, there is that supplication. Give us this day, our daily bread. And then he said, then, and then there's this confession that takes place. And forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors, you see.

And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil, you see. And then he closes with, for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. You see, a neat, a neat model of prayer. And so as we pray, and again, it isn't, I'm not telling you how to pray here. We're giving you examples of prayer and thoughts and comments on them. You pray as the Lord leads.

And it may be short, it may be long. It may be tearful. It may be whatever God, there may be real heavy-duty praise in it, you see. Now, I want us to look over at this prayer in Acts 4. I love this prayer. And I'm trying to not be too long here, but I'm going to give you a little background. Because in chapter 3 of Acts, after the Holy Spirit has been given and all,

and in chapter 3, as Peter and John are going to prayer, there's a fellow there, probably in his 40s, who's lame. And it was very typical that they, he would, what he did, he was laid there very often. And how long, how many times, how long, how many years. But in God's providence and timing in working in the affairs of man,

I think Peter and John had seen him there before, as they've gone to prayer. But you see, in the providence of God, and in the will of God, and what God is doing at this time, in the hearts of people, and the effect that he'll have on the Pharisees, who aren't Pharisees, you see, and the Sadducees, who were Sadducee, it's going to have an effect on them. But the effect it has on them will also have an effect on Peter and John and the apostles, you see, because Jesus upset the status quo. This Jesus, who these fellows had seen risen from the dead and all, were proclaiming salvation through Jesus Christ.

And the religious leaders didn't like it. Because it affected the status quo, and where they stood as leaders, you see, and all. And so by this time, as they're praying, they're beginning to get persecution, you know, and they're asked not to speak in this name anymore. And Peter points out, you know, you can decide for yourselves about that, but as for us, they can't but do that, but they have to preach the name of Jesus.

But as the persecution and those things are going on, and as they return and speak with the people, they pray. And here's how, let's look at this. And when they hear this, what did they do? They didn't complain. They didn't go, wah. But they lifted their voices to God with one accord. You see, there's those times we individually pray on our own, or we pray with another person or so,

but then there's those corporate times we gather together and pray, amen? Like as we gather here and we have prayer, you see. And so they, with one accord, and said, now this is one of those longer prayers, and as they recognize, and they actually are referring to the Word of God here, so how neat it is. But we can refer to the Word of God. And just, you know, they're saying,

Lord, it is you who made the heaven and the earth, and the sea and all that is in them, who by the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of our father David, your servant, see they're referring back to the Word here, said, why did the Gentiles rage? Why did the Gentiles rage? And the people, the Gentiles devised futile things, you see. The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ.

For truly in this city, they were gathered, let me turn this page here,

together against your holy spirit, your servant, Jesus, whom you anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel. And notice how this goes. To do whatever, not their hand, their hand was in it all right, but notice, whatever your hand and your purpose predestined to occur. Stop and think of the reality, of that right there.

You see, they see the hand of God. You see, nothing happens really, ultimately, that God doesn't allow. God's in total control.

In Job's life. When Satan comes to accuse, you know, and talk to the Lord, and say, yeah, what about Job? Yeah, but you protect him. So God allowed certain things, which showed Satan, that God was in control, as well as Job gained something out of that he wouldn't have had had he not gone through it. Because he really, he had religiously lived out all that.

He loved the Lord. But oh, how the Lord brought him even closer and caused him to reflect as you get toward the end of the book of Job. Amen? And he really experienced a, you know, God, more personally in a way that he probably hadn't before. But anyway, I'm interrupting the prayer. Whatever your hand, your purpose predestined to occur, and now, Lord, take note of their threats.

So he's asking them to take note. Lord, you know, take note and grant that your bondservants may speak your word. See, they wanted to continue to speak to speak the word. They weren't running from it, but they were facing it. But they wanted his help. May speak your word with all confidence. Sometimes you'll see the word boldness like in the King James, I think.

But it's really confidence or freedom while you extend your hand to heal and signs and wonders take place. Take place. Take place. Take place. Take place. Take place. Take place. Through the name of your holy servant, Jesus. Oh, isn't that wonderful? And you see, that's what took place. As you read through the book of Acts, you see how God worked in the hearts of the people

and how the move of God took place, you see. And they're just pouring out their hearts before God. So there are times we stop and remind ourselves as we pray of who God is. And we remember, and we sometimes will say, God, just as you led Moses through the wilderness and the children of Israel, we know you can lead us through these lives in which we're living here on earth.

Romans 8.26 is this. You know, there's times we don't really know what to pray. And sometimes we're in such deep agony that sometimes we just kind of groan sometime. But notice what Paul says here in Romans 8.26. He says, In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weakness. For we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us.

Amen? With groanings too deep for words. How wonderful. And so, there are those times. We don't know. And sometimes we're just going, Oh, Lord.

There may be someone sometimes that don't have the strength to speak. But in their hearts, in their groans, the Spirit makes intercession, you see, and speaks. Amen? So in closing, I would like to, we're just going to look at a prayer of maybe of Paul and another thing. We want to turn, of course, Ryan did an excellent job of taking us through that, those two.

Prayers in Ephesians, starting in Ephesians 1.15 and Ephesians 3.14. But I would like to at least look at maybe Colossians beginning in chapter 1, verse 9. And so let's see if we will. I know we're probably starting to get a little late here, so I'll try to get us through here. Philippians, Colossians here. Okay? So we want to look over in chapter, chapter 1.

And we want to look at verse 9. And it starts like this. And as he's talking to the Colossians, as he's writing here, he begins a prayer for them. And he says, For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that you might be, okay, he starts with, and these are things you can pray for yourself and family and friends.

That you might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom. Similar to Ephesians 1.15. And spiritual understanding.

And so you can pray that, you know, Lord, I would ask that I would be filled. You see. That you might, walk worthy. And see that walking is, is in tune with, as we walk this Christian walk, that we would walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing. You see. And that's a desire that we have. And we can pray that for one another. Being fruitful in every good work.

They'll know us by our fruits for one thing. As, you know. And increasing in the knowledge, of God. You see. We want to continue to increase in the knowledge. How do we do that? As we study the word and as we pray. And then he's saying, strengthen with all might. Oh. I, I, I have to depend on his strength. Amen? We have to depend on his strength and his might.

And it's according to his glorious power. Not according to our power. His power. Unto all patience and long-suffering. Oh, that's, yeah. That's hard. But we, we have to trust him. With joyfulness. Oh, yeah. That's, that's the good one there. Can we do that with joyfulness? As we trust the Lord, he can give us joy. And he said, giving thanks. You see how all these things are brought out?

Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Who hath delivered us. What has he done? Who has delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son. Isn't that beautiful? Pay attention to the prayers, guys, as you go. As you're reading, pay attention to those prayers.

If you want to know how to pray sometime, look at those prayers in the Word of God. Because I want to tell you, there is a blessing in that. And there's a blessing in being able to pray those prayers for people. Those principles. It doesn't mean you necessarily have to pray it precisely. But as you think of those principles, how important prayer is. Now let's close with Jude verse 20.

Okay? Jude verse 20.

And I may read more than, just 20, but anyway. But he says here, But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith. And how are we going to do that? Praying in the Holy Ghost. Keep yourselves in the love of God. Of course, prayer in the Word of God. And what's he praying? What's he praying? Looking? For the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. Unto eternal life.

What a wonderful thing. That neat scripture. And so, in closing, as we've looked at this now, we've talked about the importance of prayer. And how that in our prayer, there can be all of these aspects in prayer. You know, adoration, praise, thanksgiving, confession, supplication. There may be short prayers, there may be long prayers. I just want to encourage us to pray.

Amen? Take time to pray. And that's where the battle will lie sometime because Satan doesn't want us praying. Or he doesn't want us in the Word. But how important. And I can't talk about prayer without talking about the Word, you see. And they go hand in hand. Oftentimes when you listen to somebody teaching the Word, you will see prayer mentioned, the Word,

the Word, fellowship. You see, there are those things that are so important as we live out this Christian life. As we seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things be added unto you. Well, that seeking is being in the Word. He speaks to us by His still small voice and confirms it through His Word. And as we pray, and as we fellowship one with another,

how important it is as we fellowship with Him, you see. Let our, you know, we want, there's joy in that, you see. There's peace, there's comfort as we spend that quality time in the Lord. Amen? Would you stand? And we're going to close in prayer and I'm just going to stay up here and join these guys as they close with the last song. Father, we thank You for this opportunity we have

as we gather as believers to study Your Word together. Father, Your Word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. May we hide in our hearts that we won't sit against You, Lord. And I'm reminded of that verse 9 there of Psalm 119. If any, wherewith shall a young man or anybody but cleanse thy way by taking heed to thy Word. And Your Word declares prayer to be important.

Your Word discusses praise and declares as David and the ones would say, I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall be in my mouth. My soul will make her boast in Thee. The humble shall hear thereof and be glad. And oh, we want to magnify You, Lord. Oh, we give You praise. Bless each of these folks as we depart now. Give us strength to live out this Christian walk

from day to day in Jesus' name. Amen. I'm fighting a battle Overcome Don't know what You'll do Cause I'm fighting This peace that outlasts darkness That's in the blood of grace That's mine today By Jesus Christ So I can face tomorrow Standing above Overcome Don't know what You'll do Mercy in its call And I know the sea is raging Overcome Spirit is my help It's my eyes on Jesus Oh, I know Your path No, I know this story Lord God, I just thank You for the day. God, I just thank You that You have already won the battle.

God, there's... In the end, You win. We know how this story ends, Lord. God, You win. So Lord, just help us. Help us to rest in that fact. Help us to rest in Your victory, Lord God. Your victory over death, over sin, over sickness and disease and sorrow, God. Help us just to rest in that fact and in Your victory, Lord God. As we leave here today, I pray that Your Holy Spirit go with us, Lord God.

Continue ministering to our hearts, God, as we continue throughout our week. Lord, we love You. We praise You and we thank You. And all God's people said? Amen. Amen. You guys have a wonderful week. God bless you.