Prayer

Would you open in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 6? We won't be there. We won't be there a whole lot, but we've got other places we're going to go.

Father, just bless our time again as we are in your Word. We thank you for it, that it's a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path, Lord. May we hide it in our hearts, Lord, that we might not sin against you. Jesus' name. Amen. Well, in Ephesians 6, probably 10 through 21, right in that vicinity, you see the armor that one is to wear, and it goes through all that.

As Ryan is going through Ephesians 6, he will be teaching on all that. But there are two areas there at the very last where he talks about the sword of the Spirit. And then sometime in probably the middle, the beginning of July, I had done a message on the sword of the Spirit, and we had discussed that and how that word, sword of the Spirit, there was not the Logos, but the Rhema, the spoken word. And we used Matthew 4, verses 1 through 11, where Jesus was led of the Spirit to be tempted or tested by the devil, and how that Jesus, in those times that Satan was tested, was being used to test him, Jesus referred to the Word of God.

You see, he declared the Word, you see, that Rhema. And then as you go further, then Paul then says prayer, and we'll be reading that. But what we're going to be looking at today is prayer a good deal. And what we're going to do, as we look at that, let's read Ephesians 6, 18 through 21. Okay. All right. Beginning in verse 18. Praying always with all prayer

and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. And then he says, 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, that I may speak, boldly as I ought to speak, that that ye also may know my affairs and how I do. And so, and he talks about how Tauchicus will let you be known, make known to you those things. And so Paul points out as, you know, the sword of the Spirit and how important that is, that I speak it, but he also points out the importance of prayer.

You know, through the years, we've been, we've seen used this acronym for prayer. Now, when I say this, and we use this acronym, I'm not saying this is, you know, this is hard and fast rule. You must use this acronym. No, but it's a neat kind of a guide in a sense, this acronym we're talking about for prayer that's been used as a guide. And the acronym is the word ACTS,

A-C-T-S. And so, I remember years ago, Pastor Mark bringing it out and different ones bringing this out. And I've always thought it's kind of a neat acronym to keep in mind as we pray, because these things do come out in our prayers oftentimes. And sometimes, you know, we pray short prayers, we pray long prayers, we pray short ones sometimes because that's the time we have.

And we'll talk about that as we go. But this ACTS, A-C-T-S, as far as the acronym is concerned, stands for Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. And so notice what we see here, Adoration, that praise to God. There are those times that we just, as we're praying, we just worship Him. Of course, we're always worshiping Him as we pray, but there are those times that a lot of adoration is expressed

as we consider the blessings of God. There's also Confession, that takes place. Oftentimes our prayers can be hindered because we maybe haven't taken time to confess, maybe something, a sin or something that is standing in the way of that fellowship. We still belong to Him, but that wall gets put up when we are harboring bitterness, and we're harboring something we haven't come to the Lord with, you see.

So Confession can be important. Thanksgiving, being thankful for that which He's done, being thankful in things. Oftentimes we're not thankful for something, but we can be thankful in it, knowing He's working in our lives to do of His good pleasure. And then, of course, Supplication. And you think of that Suppla, Supply, Supplication, you know, that times where we're expressing our hearts to pray for certain,

maybe pray for a certain need, or asking the Lord to supply something for somebody else, you know, that intercession. So that whole acronym there is, it's a neat kind of a guide. It's not something we're bound to, but I like the acronym and kind of as a guide. And so throughout the Word of God, we see an emphasis on prayer. Now we're going to be spending some time in Psalm,

Psalms quite a bit. And so, you know, it's interesting. Some of you probably know this and some may not, I don't know, but I remember hearing a message years, some years back, probably back in the 90s. And it was the fellow pointed out that the, actually the middle verse in our Bible is Psalm 118 verse 8. And I think it's a neat verse. It's better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.

Amen. It's a neat thing. But to begin with, as we look at prayer now, as we're, as we're going to, we're going to be going through some scriptures here together. And we're going to, we're going to, I'm going to comment on those in terms of prayer. Now, now stop and think about prayer. It's our opportunity to communicate with God, our opportunity, to express our hearts to God and whatever that may be.

And it's really to, to become in tune with his will, what he has in mind, you see. Now, obviously God knows all things. He's all powerful and he's all present, but you see, we don't. And so it's so important for us in order to be in tune with God's leading and his guiding, as we read his word, as we fellowship with God, as we pray, how important it is for us to communicate.

And, you know, as we ask, and as we pray, as we, as we adore him, as we worship him, as we praise him, as we're confessing our hearts, you see, you see, God knows our hearts. It's not that he doesn't know them, but it is that opportunity for us to, to be honest before God and confess ourselves who we are to him. He knows it, but it's important for us to lay it out and just have those times of talking. So we're going to, we're going to be looking at different scriptures.

It's important, you know, as we, as we're thankful and as we ask for things, then to, as we're studying the word, see how he answers those, you see, see how he answers. One of the, one of the things, you know, that I think we just read is that, you know, the word watch, you see, is important word because as we pray, and as we're spending that time communicating with God, it's also important for us then to watch, let's watch and see what he's going to do. You see, let's look at Psalm 92 verses one and two. So if you want to kind of plant yourself in Psalms for a little bit, we'll have some other scripture, but it's kind of interesting to see what the, what word of God declares concerning Thanksgiving, concerning praise,

concerning various things concerning communicating with God. And it's interesting because very many of these that I'm going to be reading today have been put to music. In fact, Pastor Mark put these two verses to music years ago. Psalm 92 verses one and two says, it is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord and to sing praise unto thy name. Almost high in that.

Interesting. You see, so at the word of God declares, it's a good thing to give thanks to the Lord. And so I might, even as I'm reading that portion of scripture, I may stop and want to give thanks. I may want to just praise him. You see, to show forth. And I, I love, I love this, this section of this, these two verses right here to show forth thy loving kindness in the morning.

And so you see, as the morning, as we're up and going and, and, and the morning begins, we, we show forth his loving kindness as we're living that day. You see, but I love this portion right here and thy faithfulness every night. And so it's wonderful. Then as we've been through a day, you see the show to just to reflect on the faithfulness of God. Amen. Oh,

how wonderful to show forth thy loving kindness in the morning and thy faithfulness every night. And as we're walking this Christian walk, as we're in the word of God, as we're praying, you see, that puts us in tune with him and we see his loving kind. In fact, over in Psalm 63, you remember, we used to do a song, thy loving kindness is better than life. You see, in that whole section there, and it is important to reflect on his loving kindness and to remember his faithfulness.

Oh, that as, as we finish a day and you look back, Oh Lord, thank you for faithfully taking me through this day. Thank you through the hard times. You're, you're, you're so faithful and you're working in my heart. You're allowing me to go through maybe different tribute trials and tribulations in order to produce perseverance and an endurance that that then builds character in my life.

And then causes me to feel the assurance of the hope I have in Christ. That's kind of right from saw Rowan's five, their little portion. And now if you'll turn over to Psalm 117, this too has been put to music and, and it's, and I love this. These two verses is all, it's probably the shortest Psalm and Psalms, but notice what he says here. Oh, praise the Lord.

All you nations, praise him. All you people. Now, I think the new King James says, laud him, you see, and notice this wonderful little preposition for, here is it kind of tells us why it's really a blessing to praise, praise the Lord, all you nations and all you people for his mercy. Merciful kindness is great toward us. Isn't that neat? His merciful kindness is great toward us.

Oh, not giving us what we deserve. Amen. And the truth of the Lord endureth forever. And then it closes. Praise you, the Lord. And so, oh, praise the Lord. All you nations, that declaration of praising the Lord. We are to praise the Lord and we as people praise the Lord. Why? For his merciful kindness is great toward us. Oh, the importance of prayer, the importance of being in the scriptures and praying,

the importance of being in the Psalms. And, and, and I like to look at, different prayers as you're going through the word, pay attention to what is prayed by those that God is using to write a portion of scripture. His truth endureth forever. His word stands. It stands forever. In fact, he honors his word above his name. If you look over, I think it's in one Psalm 138,

I think around verse 20, maybe 22. Anyway, this old brain doesn't remember quite like it used to, but anyway, so how important it is as you're in the word of God, you know, we, and we spoke about the importance of being in the word of God and we'll always continue to speak, but it's very important to be in prayer. And as we read these prayers, as we read the Psalms, as we read different prayers, we see principles and those things we can pray as we seek to do. God's will, as we seek to be in tune with what he has in mind for his truth endureth forever.

Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the father, but by me, you see, over there in John 14, six and the boys, his disciples, his apostles. It kind of took them a while to get it really. And you know, it takes us a while to get it to sometime. But how important you see as they're you see, they're walking with Jesus at that time. They're they're spending direct time with him and there's things that that were was revealed to them later.

And there are those things that as Jesus was talking to them and you know, it's kind of neat. You don't ever see Jesus saying, duh, didn't you get it? No, no, he just shared with them. Now, here's another Psalm Psalm 34. You know, David, and it's going to be saw verses one through four. And I love this song, this portion. And again, obviously, we're not reading the whole song,

but we're giving you portions here. But Psalm 34. This is he had done this after you remember he had been over in Phyllis, Philistia and and kind of got involved at helping out the leader over there. It could be because Saul was, it's during the time that Saul King Saul was after him all the time, you know, well, you know, that only lasted so long and the leader, the leader of the Philistine there, a Philistine was, you know, his his his boys were saying, you know, this is David and it was being heard.

Don't don't send him over here to do with the fighting against them, you know, and all and so David kind of thought I think he was going to be in some problems there and he kind of changed his behavior, you know, and all and it's you know, and this song comes kind of as a result or later after that, but notice what he has to say in in this these first four verses and he declares this and I think this is something we can do. We can decide to say I will bless the Lord at all times. This is what David said. I'll bless the Lord at all times.

And as and you know what the scripture that came to my mind as I as I as I started reading this over in Ephesians, chapter one after the greeting that Paul gives in Ephesians chapter one. He says I will bless doodle doodle doodle. Blessed be the father and God of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places and that blessing there that I will bless the Lord that it that is. Kind of puts you in mind about, you know, at a funeral setting, there'll be a eulogy and that word blessed.

There is that in that form of eulogizing the Lord in that I will bless the Lord and me because he's blessed us with all this and declare who he is, you know, because you know, when a eulogy is done, there's there they're talking about knowing this person and and how he or he she was such an influence. Some or whatever and it's the same kind of principle as he said, blessed be the God and father. He's he's worthy of our praise, you see, and so he says I will bless the Lord at all times. How's he going to do that?

His praise shall continually be in my mouth. And then as his praise is in his mouth, he says my soul will make its boast in the Lord. If we're going to boast, that's where we want it. Amen in the Lord. He said the humble will hear it and rejoice, you know that word humble and and and I didn't look this word humble up. But as I thought of the word humble and humility,

I believe and maybe I've shared this but but CS Lewis to me gives probably the shortest and neatest little, definitions of humility that's out there. And it goes like this. He says don't think less of yourself. But think of yourself less. See what I mean? Don't be putting yourself down this false stuff. Oh, I know I'm such a well, we're all just a mess, you know without God,

but he said don't think less of yourself. But just think of yourself less. In other words, Jesus first yourself last and others in between. Amen. And so he says the humble will hear it and rejoice and notice what he says now. Then he says Oh magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together. He wants to he wants the Lord to be magnified. He wants to he wants to let us exalt his name together.

And then what is he saying? It say next. I sought the Lord. He says he's praying and all he's been praising and he's boasting in the Lord. He wants to be the Lord that he wants the Lord to be magnified in him and all he says I sought the Lord. And he answered me and delivered me. From all my fears. Amen. You see you seek the Lord. You are you afraid? Seek the Lord seek him while he may be found.

Let him let him put things in perspective. Greater is he who is in us than he who is in the world. You see and now we want to look over here at Psalm 95. And I and it's we're going to be in verse 6 and 7 and let's reflect now on what the psalmist says here. It's a wonderful Psalm. And we've sang. This one before too. And actually Psalm 34 1 through 4 has been put to music and some of these we haven't done for a while.

We probably need to do some of these. But it begins like this. And so now let me pause. Notice how you really see in as we're reading these these these declarations and Psalms about prayer and I'll notice the emphasis on those things. We talked about in that acronym. Adoration confession. You see Thanksgiving supplication. You kind of see that come out in a lot of these.

But now as we look at verse 6 and 7 here out of Psalm 95. Let's look here. Come let us worship and bow down. And then he says as we're doing that. He says he says let us kneel before the Lord our maker notice how he's wanting. He's a piece. Come let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel. That's a particular position. You can take don't have to let us kneel before the Lord and notice what he says our maker.

You see recognizing who God is our Creator you see. And then again you see that preposition for again. And it's it connects it connects. You see he's a he is our maker. He says come let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our God and why for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture. So he and how and it's it's kind of neat as we pray.

Sometimes it's good to just God knows he's our God. We know that but always we declare that in prayer. It just encourages us. It reminds us of who he is and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. Now that notice that sheep thing boy. We're compared to sheep all the time. Aren't we she bah? And it's it's just a fact. And there's some things we know about sheep.

In fact, isn't it? You know Psalm 23 really lay some of that out. The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want he makes me to lie down in green pastures. You see he said he's he's our provider. He leads me by outside the still waters. You see if you sheep don't like they don't like that trouble water stuff. And they're not you know, and they're they're being they need to eat but he's our sustainer you see,

but we as sheep. I like the sheep in that we have short attention spans. And sometimes we you know, we kind of we kind of butt heads. We kind of. Find ourselves getting distracted the sheep get us get distracted. In fact, they will end up wandering off by themselves. You see. We need we need corrected we get. We want to turn in some time instead of turning out and reaching out.

How do we respond when times are hard? Do we reach in? And we do need to we need to reach into the point of coming to the Lord and being real with him about what we're facing, but we also need that reaching out and fellowship one with another as we're looking to the Lord. You see, we are the sheep of his pasture. You see we are the people of his pastor the sheep with his hand.

There's another neat Psalm over a verse. So and I hope I remember this. It's over in a Isaiah 11. And it was also a song and I'm going to attempt to I'm not going to sing the song, but I'm going to attempt to remember the verse. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He shall lead the land son of a gun. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs in his arms

and carry them in his bosom. And generally lead those who are with young. Thank you. That's a neat verse. And that was also put in a song. It's over. It's over in Isaiah 11 on neat Psalm. Oh to remember where his where his sheep. I want you to go over to Psalm 5 1 through 3. And as we're looking at these you're thinking, you know, we're just reading script.

Well, we're reading and commenting. We're looking at his word. We're reminding ourselves of prayer and I like to look at the Psalms. And one of the things you might years ago, Pastor Mark on a Wednesday, Wednesday evening and think we were in Psalm of one of the Psalms or something, but whatever but he had read in his reading had read how that. There was a there was a period of time

when there was a lot of those that would do what was called a concert of prayer. And they would take a Psalm. And as we begin to read through that Psalm, maybe a verse at a time and take time and pray. The principles from that Psalm. And I think Ryan kind of pointed this out, you know, the other night you remember Ryan was using Psalm 1 in his in his discussion and teaching on studying.

The Bible and how to go about that. And I and I can tell you that I like to do that. I like to as I'm reading the Psalm a Psalm. I may stop and for example, Psalm 1. Blesses the man who walks not in the council of the ungodly nor stands in the way of sinners or sits in the seat of the scornful you see and as I read that I may say I may I may just stop and say Lord.

Help me not. You know do those different areas. Help me not walk in the council or the advice of the ungodly. Help me not stand in the way of sinners Lord and may I not join with and be seated with those who are scornful of you. But oh Lord help me delight myself in you. And I in your law of art and may I meditate it on a day and night you see and encourage me to be like a tree.

Planted by the rivers of water. And you might you know, there are those times I might pray those things and ask the Lord to work that in my life and then watch and see what he does. In Psalm 5 verses 1 through 3. Now, this is one we've that we've sang before. This is in the New King James is not the union. We sing it. We sang we sing it and have sung it in the new course.

The King James when Bill Sprouse, put music to this. We weren't using a lot of the other translations. I don't think you know, of course Pastor Chuck taught out of the King James a lot. And anyway, here we go. Let's just look at this and notice what he's doing. He's talking to the Lord and he begins by saying give ear to my words. Oh Lord. Always you see he's he's pouring his heart out now and he say the Lord give ear to my word of Lord.

And then he's asking the Lord to consider. My groaning. In other translations may say meditation, but there are times we do groan in prayer. He says he the sound of my cry for help. Oh, there's those times we ask for help, you know, and then he says and then he's declaring who he's praying to. He first starts. He declares at the beginning of my Lord, but didn't notice.

He says my king and my God. You know, we're not just throwing out words to mid-air and and to whatever you think God is now. We're taught we're praying to the king of Kings. Our God. For to you. I pray you see he's pouring out his heart. He's laying it out in the morning. Oh Lord, you will hear my voice. Oh, how important do you remember best Chuck saying this one day?

So do you get up and say good morning Lord or harp? How do you approach and I'm thinking how he said that? Say good morning Lord or good Lord is morning, you know, you know what I mean? And that kind of tells us how we start our day sometime, right? But he says he the sound of my cry. For help. My king and my God. And he says for to you. I pray and in the morning.

Oh Lord, you will hear my voice. Oh, he always hears us. He says in the morning. I will order my prayer to you and eagerly. Watch. Oh, isn't that a neat ending to that little portion of Scripture there? As he's praying. So what is he going to do? He's going to eagerly watch. And God will answer our prayer. You can always count on an answer. You may need to wait and that's hard to do is to wait on the Lord.

But as we wait and watch, we see what how he, you know, answers the prayer. Sometimes this, wait. You see, sometimes it's no. Sometimes it's yes. Sometimes it's. Be patient. Whatever it might be. We watch, you see, we watch and we want to see, you know, always really, you know, so often you see God in his Providence is working in the affairs of man doing what he does.

And he will use. He will do supernatural things. As you've, as we've said before, in natural ways, as you're going about your daily life, as you're seeking him, you will make a decision. And it'll be actually God moving on your heart to go a certain direction. Sometime that you maybe didn't even plan to go. And in doing so, God will use you in a situation. And you're not even always,

realizing that. And then as you, as you reflect on his faithfulness, you see how, oh God, I see why you, I see why you had me go that direction. I see why you had me. Talk to that individual. Because he's done something supernatural as he's ministered to you and someone else, or a certain circumstance or situation in a natural way. Amen. It happens so often.

Over in Psalm 27, verse 4, David is, he's pouring out his heart. He's, he's, so often David was on the run, you know, there for many years before he actually became king. What's interesting is David, once, once the, the mantle basically was taken away from Saul. There was that period and, and, and was really put upon David. He was going to be the king. There was that,

that period of years where the jealousy of Saul stood out because deep down, Saul, Samuel had declared to Saul that what would, what had taken place as far as it being taken from him. But he was, he's, you know, was king for a long time there. And, and God would bless David and David would do mighty things. And Saul would get jealous and seek to kill him. And so David was on the run.

A great deal. But in Psalm 27, four, he says this, and I, I love this verse. And this is another one that's been put to, to music. He says, one thing I have asked from the Lord that I shall seek. And he's probably reflecting on this. You see, while he's out there that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold. You see that? Beholding the beauty that get that adoration,

behold, the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in his temple. And so you see, as we gather together, as we gather as believers to behold the beauty of the Lord, to worship the Lord and to, to inquire, you see, to meditate and, and, and spend that time in word. And fellowship, you see, it's a wonderful thing. Now over in Psalm 32, and it's, it's an interesting, an interesting Psalm, because as you, when you first begin the Psalm, David is really pouring out his heart and he's reflecting on this.

As we get to verse five, as you remember what he had, he in his sin with Bathsheba, and his attempt to hide it. And of course, having Uriah put in the battle, and he was killed in battle and all, and trying to hide all that, it tore him up inside because he, he really didn't confess to the Lord. It didn't appear for quite some time. And the Lord used Nathan, the prophet to confront him, which was, that was quite a step of faith, on Nathan's part, because he was going to be talking to the king.

But of course, David, after he realized all of a sudden that, that little, that little story that, because he, David was such a compassionate man, and really did love people. That particular little story about the ewe lamb that, that Nathan used, you see, boom, it hit him right in the gut. David said it, he, he recognized he had sinned against the Lord. And so you see that beautiful picture here in Psalm 32, as he talks about how the Lord covered his sin, you know, and, and they went, he went through the process of confession and all, and the animal sacrifice and all that was done.

But in Psalm 32, five, he says this, he said, I acknowledged my sin. You see, he came to that point of acknowledges. I acknowledge my sin to you and my iniquity. I did not hide. You see, he said, he says, I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord. And you forgave the guilt of my sins. Oh, how heavy duty that is. You see, when David come to that point,

do you know, we, we have to come to that point sometime too. You may be at that point right today. Only you and God know where you are right now. But I want to tell you, if you'll confess, in fact, over here in first John, let's just, let's just jump over there real quick. First John and we'll read one, nine and 10. See if what I can do to get over there. First John.

We're about there. Yes. Come on there. Here we go. I'm being slower than a seven year itch here. I think. All right. One. Okay, here we go. All right. So verse nine and 10, we want to look at here. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And then notice what he says in first 10. If we say that we have not sinned,

we make him a liar. And his word is not in us. Oh, how heavy duty, how important and see, David came to that point. You see, he came to that point. How important in prayer and in our, in our daily walk with, with God that we're honest and we're real that we don't put on, but we're real before God. You see, God, God knows our hearts right out. Anyway, it's what would,

when we confess to him, and that word confess really means to agree. You're agreeing with what God has shown you in your heart. You see now, Peter said, probably the shortest prayer in the Bible over there in Matthew chapter 14, verse 30. And you know, there are times that we, we, I know for myself. Sometimes I just go, I just said, help me, Jesus. And I, and,

and, and it's, it's hard for me. And when I think of Corrie ten Boom emotion wells up inside some time with what that lady went through. I don't know if any of you have read the hiding place or saw the movie, but her family, the ten booms hid the Jews during the, the uproar of Hitler persecuting the Jews, the Nazis and all. And, and when, and, and I was reading, and there's another book that she has out called in my father's house, which is another neat book that took place really before as she's growing up.

And, and, and what she, the many things she went through as she was growing up and, and, and becoming a young adult. But one of the things she reflects on in, in my father's house is she, she will kind of, as you're reading a book, she'll, she'll kind of reflect on something that happened ahead during that period of time that, that she was beaten, you know, that they got caught, that they were, that, and one of the, one of the Germans came to the house and, and he was kind of hitting at her or something. And her quick prayer was, Cover me, Jesus. Amen.

Cover me, Jesus. And this, and the guy said, don't, you know, told her not to be saying that, that or anything, but you know, he didn't hit at her again. Cover me, Jesus. Well, in this situation with Peter, how many times, you know, I, I can think of those times. You just say, help, Lord, I need your strength or whatever it might be. But gee, here's what Peter said.

And here's verse 4, 30 and verse 14. He says, but seeing the wind, you remember, he's walking on the water. It's a, everything's so neat, you know, he's walked out there and whoo, but seeing the wind, he became frightened and beginning to sink. He cried out, Lord, save me. You see, there are short prayers. Sometimes there's long prayers. There's, there's reflective prayers.

There's prayers as you're reading the scripture and you see a prayer that moves your heart and you, you ask the Lord to work those principles in your life. And pastor Ryan, has shared two prayers with us in Ephesians 1, 15, beginning of verse 15. And then of course, last week in chapter three, verse 14 and through. And, and, and as many times, I pray the prayer in, in Ephesians 1, beginning in 15.

And I'll ask the Lord to impart his spirit of wisdom to me in the revelation of the knowledge of him, that even, and light in the eyes of my understanding, that I may know the hope of the calling I have in that inheritance we have in Christ, you see. Now over in Matthew, really chapter six, nine through 13, we have what is called the Lord's prayer. It is really probably a model for prayer. And it's good.

It's good to pray. Also, we always talk about the actual Lord's prayer being over in John 17. John 17. John 17. John 17. And, and it's a knee. Oh, and if it's really one, we should probably review every once in a while. The Lord's John 17, where he is asking the Lord to return him to the glory. He had with him before the before he, you know, the world began and all in you and and he's he's praying to the Lord and,

and all he prays. He prays for his disciples not to take them out of the world, but help him as there, in the world. And it's before the prayers done. He's praying for all of us too, because those who will who will come to know the Lord later, you see wonderful prayer, but over in chapter six here, the disciples are at talking Jesus and asking him about prayer and, you know, and all and Jesus gives them a model, you see, and he says, pray, then in this way, our father who is in heaven, you say, so he's, he's, you know, as you kind of break it down, he's, you're, you're, you're recognizing who you're praying to and that he, and, and, and he deserves glory and honor because he says, hallowed be your name.

And then notice what he says that we see the supplication. We see the, we see the, the, the heart that is wanting God's will, wanting to be, in submission to what God has in mind. Cause notice what he says, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. You see, we want his will done. Amen. He says, give us this day, our daily bread. He, you know,

there's that asking, there's that supplication. You see, there's that submission to God and your, your will be done. There's that supplication of asking for provision. And he says, forgive us our debts. See the confession as we also have forgiven though our debtors, you see, and then he says, and do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. See that continued prayer.

And this is a model prayer, but you can certainly see how we can model prayer after this. He says, for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. You see, now I want to take you over to Acts chapter four. I love this prayer and I want you to recognize. Now, again, we've, we have short prayers. We have long ones. There's those times as we're reading the scripture,

you know, Pastor Ryan has encouraged us to pray, ask questions over and as you're going through, you will see prayers. You will see Daniel over in chapter nine of Daniel. Oh, what a time of, of laying his heart out to God interceding for, for his nation, you see, and all wonderful prayer. And, and, and, but as we look at Acts chapter four, now you remember, as we look at the context, beginning in chapter three in Acts, as the boys, John and Peter are going to prayer at the temple, this fellow's laid, laid there who was lame.

And he, you know, he, and I think he had been there a long time, but in God's providence, this was the time you see what I'm saying is they were going about their activities, daily life in the providence of God working in the affairs of men and man. This particular time as they're heading for prayer, God allows their eyes to really catch this fellow as he's reaching out. So he's sticking out his palm and reaching out for an alarm. And you remember the song, you know, silver and gold, have I not?

And that's what Paul Peter says. This was the timing, but he says, in the name of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk. Well, I want to tell you, this guy was in his forties and the religious leaders could not deny a miracle had been done. And they, it was upsetting the status quo. Because those Pharisees who weren't fair, you see, and those Sadducees who were sad,

you see, they had their apple cart upside down a little bit because they were always, they, they thought they were the authorities, you see, they could direct everything. And here this man is healed. Well, as a result of all this, you see, there, there, there's some persecution beginning to take place. And, and, and chapter three, they kind of get warned and, you know, and, and then chapter four kind of continues.

But let's look at the prayer they had when they went back to the believers in 24 through 30. And when they hear this, in other words, what had gone on, what did they do? Did they complain? Wah, wah, wah? Uh-uh. They didn't say, woe is me. They lifted their voices to God with one accord. And see, so this is a corporate prayer here. And then, you know, there's,

there's times where individuals like praying on our own, but there's, there's times we pray together. Amen. We spend that time together in prayer. They prayed to God with one accord and said, Oh Lord, it is you who made the heaven. Now this is where they're reflecting. Now, you know, they're not telling God anything. He doesn't know. And they really know this,

but, but, but they're pouring out their heart and just, just laying out. Oh Lord, it is you who made the heaven. So if he made the heaven and the earth, then he's in control of it all anyway. Amen. And the sea and all that is in them who, by the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of our father, David, your servants said, why did the, he, the Gentiles rage? I started to do King James there,

didn't I? I think they would have said heathen and King James, but why did the Gentiles rage? And then he, and they're referring back to scripture, you see, and the, and the fair and the, and the people's devise futile things. 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,

there were gathered more about there. They were gathered together against your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel to do whatever. Now notice they see the handmaid. The hand of God threw it in through it all. Whatever your hand, your purpose predestined to occur. And so you see,

they see the sovereignty of God here. They see the omnipotence of this, the presence of God, all this, you see, and now notice what they pray. They're reminding themselves of who God is and how that what took place with Jesus Christ, God allowed, but then they then they're saying now and now Lord. So you see, they've reflected now Lord. Take note of their threats.

Take note. We can ask the Lord to take note of what's going on today in this world. Amen. Take note of their threats and notice. They don't ask the Lord to take away all this. Notice what they say. They say and grant that your bondservants may speak your word with all confidence in some translations. You see boldness confidence or freedom while you extend your hand to heal and signs and wonders take place.

Through the name of your. Holy servant, Jesus. Amen. Isn't that neat? That's a deep, neat prayer. I love that prayer. Now over in Romans 8, I probably better me. I don't even know what time it is guys. Well, I won't make us late. But anyway, Romans 828, 826. Romans 8 is really the the the the the the high point as you're going through Romans. Romans 8 is really the the the the high point as you're going through Romans.

It's a very high point, you know, but anyway, Romans 826 says this in the same way. The spirit also helps our weaknesses. For we do not know how to pray as we should but the spirit himself intercedes for us. With groanings to deeper words. You see, groanings deeper to deep deep too deep for words. I'm I should say I'm sorry too deep for words and and and that's that's there.

Sometimes we don't know how to pray and we're and sometimes there's those times. We're just going. Oh Lord and we kind of groan as we're facing something you see. So in closing, we want to look at some prayers of Paul and encourage you in those prayers. And of course, I just went over. Ephesians 1 15 there and we talked about that and Ryan did. Really taught through those prayers,

which which we won't repeat right now, but over in Colossians chapter. One. And we want to look at beginning in verse 9. And as he's as he's writing to the Colossians there, he says in verse 9, he begins this way. He said for this cause. We also since the day we heard, we heard it do not cease to pray for you. And to desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of his will.

Now, this is something I will pray different times of for myself, for my family, for someone that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will. In all wisdom. It's kind of similar to 115 a little bit and spiritual understanding. Oh, don't we want to pray that that he might walk worthy? Of the Lord unto all pleasing. You see what worthy? Well, how are we going to do that?

We got to come to the Lord with that kind of a thing. As we're in his word, as we see the way in which were to walk, we want to pray and ask that he would help us walk worthy of the Lord unto all all pleasing. And then he says being fruitful because as we're walking worthy in the Lord, as we're walking in the Lord, we want to be fruitful in every good work, right? They'll know us by our fruits, right?

And increasing. In the knowledge of God. And then notice he says strengthen with all might according to his glorious power. Oh, we need that unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness giving thanks. Oh, you see how this is all this added that this whole thing of Thanksgiving convention unto the day which hath made us unto. Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light who have delivered us from the power of darkness.

Oh, in that that stop and think about that and have translated us into the kingdom of his dear son. Wow. Okay, so we wanted to look at that. And like I said, I won't go. I will encourage you to look at those prayers in Ephesians that because Ryan taught through those very nicely, but I wanted to read that one in Colossians. And then of course first first Thessalonians 517.

Pray without ceasing you see for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus. And then over in Jude 1 verse 20 and we're about to finish up guys here. Jude. So over we go. And then we're going to close up here pretty quickly. Okay, so we got Jude. Okay. And we said verse 20 and that is going to be right here. But ye beloved building up yourselves on your most holy faith praying in the spirit praying in the Holy Ghost will say Holy Spirit.

This is King James II. See, see, see, see, see, see, see, see, see, see, see, see, see, see, see, see, see, see, see, see, see, see, see, see, see, see, see, in the love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And I could just keep on going. I think I did 2021, but neat section of Scripture. And so what I what I what my encouragement is as we close this morning.

Is the importance of prayer and there'll be those times where your, you maybe will have a long prayer where all of a sudden you're just laying out your heart. Maybe you're reading the Psalms and God's moving your heart. And you just adore Him. You thank Him for all He's doing. And you'll take that time to confess. And as you're asking, sometimes it'll be a short prayer.

Maybe it'll just be helping. But I want to encourage you in prayer. And it goes hand in hand with reading the Word of God. And you'll find as you listen to folks teach the Word of God, so often you'll hear all these things brought out. The importance of reading the Word, being in prayer, fellowship with God and one another, sharing your faith with those around you.

And so in doing all that, as we do that, we read and we pray, we become in tune more and more with what His will is. You remember the model prayer, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen? Would you stand? And we'll close in prayer. Father, we thank You so much for this opportunity to have spent time in Your Word this morning. Father, would You cause us

to have a real hunger for Your Word and a desire for the things of You. I want to encourage each here today. If there be any here that don't know You, we pray that they would simply ask You into their heart to recognize their sinners. They've missed the mark. They've stepped over the line and ask for Your forgiveness and to come into their hearts and You will make them a new person.

And then may they tell someone here about it. We thank You in Jesus' name. Amen.

I want to do what You've done. I'm fighting a battle. You've always sat out last darkness and sin of love. Future grace that's mine today. Jesus Christ has won so I can provide. I'm fighting a battle. I'm fighting a battle. I'm fighting a battle. I'm fighting your battle, but God don't know what you're due to do, cause I'm fighting your battle, there's mercy in the waiting for today, it's gone, I know you're not, and when the sea is raging, your spirit's my eyes on Jesus Christ,

I'm fighting your battle, but God don't know what you're due to do, cause I'm fighting your battle, there's mercy in the waiting for today, it's gone, I know you're not, and when the sea is raging, your spirit's my eyes on Jesus Christ, I'm fighting your battle, but God don't know what you're due to do, cause I'm fighting your battle, there's mercy in the waiting for today, it's gone, I know you're not, and when the sea is raging, your spirit's my eyes on Jesus Christ, I'm fighting your battle, but God don't know what you're due to do, cause I'm fighting your battle, there's mercy in the waiting for today, it's gone, I know you're not, and when the sea is raging, your spirit's my eyes on Jesus Christ,