Pray Without Ceasing

Well, brother, for my sermon today, I want to begin a series of sermons. And they may not necessarily follow exactly one after another, but I maybe kind of like to keep a series of sermons running in the background and as events put themselves forward and other topics come to the forefront, maybe those will come in between. But just be aware, we're starting a series of sermons running in the background on the topic of our spiritual disciplines. Spiritual disciplines, such as we call them in the church, are those activities and behaviors that contribute to our overall spiritual growth and they contribute greatly to our relationship with God. Our disciplines, prayer, Bible study, fasting, meditation, those are the common four that we refer to and I'll likely add a fifth to the end of this as well, fellowship. They're important elements, again, to relationship, not only with one another, but first and foremost, primarily to our God in heaven. And so as we walk through the series, as I said, I'll take one discipline per sermon and we may come and go from that series, but I think it's important that we keep the forefront of our mind, these tools that God has given us that help to aid us in that relationship. Knowing God and ultimately drawing close to Him is about a relationship, developing a relationship, putting in the effort to maintain it. Knowing God is a relationship, and brethren, it shouldn't necessarily be confused with knowing about God. Now, those two things are two very important things. We need to know about God. That is the foundation. That's where the relationship starts to come to understand who God is, how He expresses Himself and has revealed Himself in the pages of Scripture and in our life. And we can know a lot about God, and we should. We should pursue those things and study those things, but let's be careful not to confuse knowing about God with knowing God. It is a process. We come to know about God, enter into this relationship, and as our understanding of Him grows continually over time, so does our relationship with Him and our ability to know Him on a more and more intimate level. If I said to you, Paul Moody, 44-year-old male, 5'11.5", tall, 185 pounds, church pastor, used to be a landscaper, spends a lot of time in the car and behind the desk, has a wife and two children, what could you say from that description? Well, you could say, well, I know about Him. Okay, here's things I've lined out to you. I know about Him. Here's identifying trademarks, but you couldn't necessarily say that you know Me until you actually met Me, and we engage in a relationship in that way. That's how you come to know somebody. Oftentimes, I'll get asked, do you know so-and-so? And I'll think, well, you know, the name is familiar. Maybe we're talking over 20 years ago, 25 years ago, from my days at college, and I say, you know, the name's familiar, and my friend will start to say, well, this is such and such. They worked on this department at college at AC, and they were from here, and they kind of go through and give some descriptors, and I'll say, you know, I think I do know that person. I know about that person and who they are, but I can't say that I really know them.

And such can be the case with our relationship with God if we're not careful. We can know God in terms of a number of things about God, but that's not where it ends. It continues on, as that is the foundation, but it leads to the relationship that we build with our Heavenly Father and these spiritual disciplines. Again, the prayer, the Bible study, the fasting, the meditation, and even what it is that we have to offer one another spiritually through the fellowship, leads to an expanding in a growth of that relationship. So today, the first part of this sermon series that I'd like to bring to you on the spiritual disciplines is titled, Pray Without Ceasing.

We're going to talk about prayer today. Spiritual Disciplines Part 1, Pray Without Ceasing. So I would ask, just beginning for us to think about, brethren, how important is prayer to our routine of our daily life? How much of a focus do we put on prayer? When you wake up in the morning, when you get ready to head out the door and go about the day, is prayer a central part of your focus? Is it a central part of your focus as you walk through the day, as you seek to accomplish what you have before you? Do you make that communication with God an essential part of what you're doing? I think the risk is sometimes we can tend to view prayer sort of like a life ring on a boat. You know, we've probably all been on a boat or a ship, and you can, here's the railing, and usually hanging on the side of the railings, this life ring, it's a flotation device. Or maybe it's hanging on the bulkhead. And if you're like me, I'm generally, whenever I'm on a boat, I'll glance around and say, okay, there's the life ring, good to know they have it, and then it doesn't really cross my mind again. And I think if we're not careful, we can begin to think of prayer as sort of this life ring, like, all right, we have this emergency lifeline to God, should it be necessary? You know, should walking through this life, should I fall overboard, and now I'm spiritually drowning, I can call out to God. Or even maybe if I have some physical distress. It's good to know it's there, but the rest of the time, if life is going well, and there's nothing turbulent going on, then maybe that's just hanging on the wall, and not really a part of our focus and our intention. I think the risk, brethren, is that we can view prayer very much in that way, as opposed to how God would have us view it. It's a lifeline that is consistent and ongoing. It's not just something you grab ahold of in the event of an emergency. Again, it's a relationship. We need to consider prayer that way. When we get down on our knees and pray to God, it's largely an expression of us. It's outgoing, outward focus. It's us to God. Now, God communicates back to us through His word, and we heard in the sermon today about wisdom. You want to come to understand wisdom. You study God's word. You have God's spirit of inspiration, helping to bring that to your mind and understanding as well. So, communication in prayer is to God, and through that we express in many times our desires, our hopes, our wish, and, frankly, in many cases, our will.

And that's not necessarily a bad thing. We'll talk about that as we go on, but hopefully we're doing it in a way that is humble and seeking a response that comes from God according to His will.

But when you talk about a relationship, I can't have a relationship with my wife apart from communication, apart from myself engaging with her and expressing thoughts to her and hearing her thoughts in return. But that's how this relationship builds and it grows. And as we understand, God's plan is bringing us along as part of His family. It's a family relationship that we establish. And we need to think of prayer very much in terms of establishing a family relationship with our Heavenly Father. When we think of prayer, sometimes we might consider the frequency. How often? Prayer often varies from person to person and circumstance to circumstance. But let's just look at a couple of general principles we have in the Bible. Let's begin today in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 16. 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 16. Again, how often? Is it like that life ring on the wall that you only grab when there's an emergency? 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 16. 2 Paul says, 3 Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. And everything give thanks, for this is the will of God and Christ Jesus for you. 4 Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things. Hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.

The verse I think clearly that I want to zero our attention in on here is verse 17. Paul says, to pray without ceasing. You might wonder what does that really mean?

Does that mean pray morning, noon, and night in every waking moment in between? Is that what he's saying? I say that would be the opposite extreme. You know, the life ring is on one extreme and constantly praying without ever a break would be the other. That's, I would say, certainly not what he's expressing. But what he is telling us through prayer without ceasing is that we need to be habitual prayers. We need to be in the regular habit of prayer. And morning, noon, night, it's not necessarily always exactly a schedule or the same schedule for everyone, but prayer needs to be on our lips. Communication with our heavenly Father needs to be as if we have a friend and a companion along with us because we do and we communicate throughout the day.

You know, for me, prayer oftentimes will come where I take a block of time where I get down on my knees and I pray to God and it's a block of time that I've taken for that and I've put everything else aside. But oftentimes, prayer as well can come through various other circumstances throughout the day that trigger that thought or that need to communicate with God.

Sometimes I'm sitting at my email, a prayer request comes through. There's the prayer request that comes through on, you know, probably three or four times a week we get prayer requests for various people around the United States and it's hard when you have such a list to take it, focus attention, and pray for each and every individual. But I try when the prayer request comes in to just take a moment and stop and pray for that person specifically when I see that. And that's generally, it pops up in my inbox. That wasn't my focused time of prayer, but it just kind of brings to mind, communicate with God and bring this before Him.

Other times, the phone might ring and somebody says, I'm having this problem. And I'll say a prayer to God in my head right then for wisdom, for understanding. And God, help me to give an answer that would be helpful here. So there's times where things just come about our day during the workday with the family that triggered us the need to involve God. And so when Paul says, to pray without ceasing, I believe it means don't ever step away from calling on God, being willing to communicate with Him.

He's your heavenly Father and He is there by your side. He walks with us each and every day. Last week, I was coming home from Oregon. I made the trip down to help the mover get started on disassembling manufactured home that's coming up. And I was on my way back. I was in my SUV. I was pulling our trailer and I was in the outside lane. I was passing a semi-truck. There was a line of cars that were passing the semi-truck. And I heard this odd noise and looked over.

And what it was, was a vehicle flying across the rumble strips on the opposite shoulder. There was a car that had come flying up from behind so quickly I didn't even notice it. And it passed the semi on the right-hand side, you know, on the shoulder. So these car goes flying across these rumble strips.

He zips back onto the highway and we could just kind of watch him. He's zipping in and out of traffic and off on the shoulder as he goes. And judging by the speed that we were at, he had to be at least 100 miles an hour. And, you know, you could get angry. I was a little frustrated when I saw that, but honestly I have no desire to see anybody splattered on the road. And I prayed to God. It just, I said, God protect that young man and everyone around him. It just, you know, came to my mind instantly to send up a prayer in that way. So we're heading down the road three or four miles down the road.

Here come the police up behind. Everybody gets over. The police go flying by. Another three or four miles down the road come upon a long strip of black rubber that's been laid on the highway. Semi-truck breaking marks and you could smell the rubber in the air. Now all the traffic's slowing down and everybody's merging into one lane. And here's this car and it's off the side of the road and it's rolled multiple times off the highway and there's glass and taillight lenses and everything else. And here's this young man, about 100 feet away, sitting on the shoulder of the road and there's a police officer there and a couple of bystanders that had stopped to help.

And I don't know ultimately what his condition at the end of the day was, but he was sitting up, he was talking, he was a little bit bruised and cut up but didn't look severe. Yet his car, if there was a passenger, I don't know how they would have made it.

It was crushed and there was just this area on the driver's side that maybe someone could have survived. It was a small, like a Toyota Corolla type car. So I just use that as an example of what came out in my life here in the last week, where I'm going about my business during the day, something occurs and you just involve God. And I'm trying to get more in the habit of that, that we need to keep our communication with God. We need to keep our focus on Him such that He is with us.

We have His Spirit. He dwells in us each and every day and we need to be accustomed to calling out on Him and evolving Him in our life in a very personal and very direct way.

Again, brethren, this is a relationship. Paul uses similar language to pray without ceasing in Ephesians chapter 6. Let's go there next. Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 17. Here we're wrapping up the description of the whole armor of God. In Ephesians 6 and verse 17, Paul says, take the helmet of salvation in the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. So again, this concept of praying always with all prayer and supplication. That's not something that happens just simply within a confined block of time. That is something that happens ongoing throughout the day and throughout our life. It's a building of a relationship. I think what Paul is telling us is that as God's people, we need to always be in a prayerful mood. We always need to be willing to communicate with that being who has invested himself in our lives and whom we have submitted ourselves to as well. We won't turn there, but King David states in Psalm 55 verse 17, he says, evening and morning and at noon I will pray and cry aloud and he shall hear my voice.

Morning, noon, evening, it's a pattern of habitual prayer communication with God. And I do suspect David probably got down on his knees three times a day and prayed to God, but I don't suspect that means he forgot about God in between those times. Again, a relationship with our Father who accompanies us each and every day. Daniel chapter 6, I do want to turn there, just to one verse, Daniel chapter 6 and verse 10.

Daniel 6, 10, we know the story of Daniel. King Darius had agreed to this decree that said, if anybody petitions a God or a man besides you, King, for 30 days they'll be thrown into the den of lions. You know, if you ever thought of what would be a pretty compelling reason to alter your prayer life, or maybe take it behind closed doors, a threat of being thrown to the lions may be something that would give a person pause. But let's look at Daniel's response in Daniel chapter 6 and verse 10. He says, Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home, and in his upper room with his windows opened towards Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and he prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days. Again, if you're going to look for an excuse to maybe modify your prayer, there's persecution coming. Daniel's tradition was to kneel down towards Jerusalem. And if you go back and look in terms of the temple, the point was people prayed towards the temple because that's where God's presence was, and that's where they directed their prayers. This is the captivity. The temple is no longer standing. Jerusalem's been destroyed, and yet Daniel still, as his custom, prays in that direction in terms of, I would suppose in his mind, is connecting with God most directly. But again, three times in a day, he was not deterred, and he prayed without ceasing.

Brethren, I would say that needs to be very much our concept of how we think of prayer, and how it is that we approach God. When Jesus Christ walked the earth, his disciples asked him to teach them to pray as well. Jesus Christ prayed, and John prayed, and John taught his disciples to pray, and Christ's disciples said, Lord, teach us to pray as well. So let's take a look at that. Christ's instructions in Luke 11.

Luke 11. Because, you know, there are spontaneous prayers, brethren, that we perhaps pray at times.

And yet there is to be a time of focused and directed prayer to God as well. And Christ gives an outline for how that should be. Luke 11, beginning in verse 1, says, Now it came to pass as he was praying in a certain place, when he had ceased that one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples. So we see right off the bat that Jesus Christ prayed. And he prayed a lot. There were times where Christ went off on his own to pray. You know, he needed to withdraw to separate himself so he could have quiet time communicating with his father. It wasn't like he could give, give, give, give, and not need an ability to reconnect in that way. Jesus Christ was Emmanuel. He was God with us. He is the closest person in the flesh in terms of a direct and close relationship to God in heaven. And he prayed.

And he did it often. And his disciples said, Lord, teach us to pray. Verse 2, he said to them, when you pray, say, Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. And so with this prayer, it starts out instantly with a recognition of the father-child relationship. In fact, that God is our father. We are his children. We are his sons that he is bringing to glory. And I don't want us to think of prayer as sort of this, this exact formality of somebody that, you know, you quake and tremble to come before. You know, we do honor and reverence God and respect him. He is the highest authority. He is our creator. And yet he also wants us to think of him in terms of this family relationship. He is our father by which we cry out, Abba, Father. Again, that's a familial relationship. And Christ is showing here that when we pray, we recognize that God is our father. Hallowed be your name. We recognize who the father is and who we are by comparison, and that the glory belongs to him. And that the prayer as well is directed to our Father in heaven. Verse 2 continuing, he says, Your kingdom come, your will be done, and earth as it is in heaven. So we notice the emphasis here on the prayer also, starting out, isn't, God, here's what I'm after. The emphasis is on seeking God's will. Your kingdom come, your will be done. That it's not only in terms of when you send your kingdom, that's in terms of your will being done in my life. God's created us for a purpose, and he has a will by which he works in our lives, and we need to seek to submit to God's will.

Again, prayer isn't just, God, here's what I'm looking for today.

That may be involved in the process, and incorrectly done, that is not a problem. But the point is, this is establishing a relationship, not on our terms, per se, but I would say most directly, on the terms of God who called us and gave us his spirit. So we pray for his will and his direction in those things. Verse 3, give us this day our daily bread. It includes our physical needs and those things that God would provide. And forgive us our sins, as we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. Another passage on this in one of the other parallel accounts says, forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who have sinned against us.

Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

So again, the point is, this is on building a spiritual relationship. God, bring us out of sin, deliver us from those things, keep Satan from us, give us, by your power, the ability to resist those things so that we can be on a good spiritual standing in this relationship with you.

Think of prayer in terms of seeking God's assistance in building this relationship into something that is spiritually strong and a connection that leads to growth in our life. There is room, and there is time, and other scriptures tell us to lay your petition before God, make your requests of Him. But prayer should not be maybe a spiritual ATM.

I think you know what I mean, a spiritual ATM. We just come up to God and make withdrawals. God, today, here's my request today. Here's what I need. Withdrawal, withdrawal. As a parent, think of the relationship you have with your children. Think if every time your children came to you, it was, you know, Dad, I need $10. Dad, I need to borrow the car. Mom, here's what I want for my birthday. That's not very fulfilling in terms of the relationship, and we need to be careful how we approach God, recognizing that the primary purpose of prayer is for building a solid spiritual relationship with Him.

Now, this prayer, we call it the model prayer. Sometimes it's referred to as the Lord's Prayer, but Christ would never have offered this prayer such as it is given exactly, because Christ would never have needed to seek forgiveness for sin in that way.

But He lines out for us the foundation of what we need to do in terms of how we communicate with our Heavenly Father. If you want to look at what we could call a true Lord's Prayer, go to John 17.

That was Christ's Prayer before He was delivered up after that final passover with His disciples. It's prayer before He was delivered up for crucifixion. See how He communicated with His Father, what it is that He prayed for, and how it is He was seeking to yield to the will of God. Those things are important, brethren.

Now, as this passage carries on, it transitions now into a parable as well. Christ is using it to illustrate some important aspects of prayer. Verse 5, He said to them, Which of you shall have a friend, and say to him at midnight, a friend will come to him at midnight, and say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves. So you have some friends that come to visit you. They come late at night. You don't have anything to feed them. So now you go to your friend at midnight and say, I need something to feed those friends who are with me. Verse 6, For a friend of mine has come to me on his journey. I have nothing to set before him. And he will answer from within and say, Do not trouble me. The door is now shut, and my children are in bed with me. I cannot rise and give to you. I say to you, though he will not rise to give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs. Verse 9 says, So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find, and knock, and it will be open to you. And if you go and look at the Greek in this passage here, verse 9 of Ask, Ask, Seek, and Knock, the manner in which the Greek is used is present progressive. And it fits with the context of persistence that Christ is talking about. It's knock and keep on knocking, seek and keep on seeking, ask and keep on asking. It's persistence in prayer before God. Verse 10, For everyone who asks receives, he who seeks finds, and to him do knocks, it will be opened. He says, If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? You know, I don't think any father would do that to a child who had need, basic necessity of life. Say, well, you know, here's a cruel joke as opposed to what it is that you really need. Christ says, verse 13, If then you, then being evil, carnal, fleshly, if you know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? I'm a father. I have children. If my children ever came to me at any point in need of the basic necessities, obviously I'm going to help and provide. And what parent wouldn't? And the point is, you know, if as a parent you would do that out of the love for your children, consider the love of God to pour out his Holy Spirit upon those who ask. What is the Holy Spirit of God? Well, it's the necessity that we need for this spiritual life. Just like you need physical food for sustenance to live physically, we cannot make it in this calling of God's apart from his Spirit. It is a necessity of this way of life. And God says, I'm your Father. You call on me for that. I will lovingly pour that out upon you.

But again, this comes through prayer. And Christ says, be persistent. Be continuing in your prayers. And I would say persistence isn't just asking for the exact same thing over and over and over until it comes, although that can be part of it. Sometimes we might think, well, I ask God once. He has a perfect memory. I don't need to bring it to him again. But I think that through this account we understand that persistence. God wants to know, maybe in some cases, how determined are we? How important is it to us? Or maybe the fact that God says, now is not the time, but when the time does come, are you still seeking? Are you still faithfully waiting and looking on God?

Again, we need to be persistent in our prayer, both in repetitive of, thy kingdom come, and those important things, as well as continuing in prayer, pray without ceasing.

Another passage pertaining to consistency and persistence in prayer is Luke chapter 18, another parable of Jesus Christ. Luke 18 and verse 1. He then spoke a parable to them that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, saying there was a certain city, a judge, who did not fear God nor regard men. But there was a widow in that city, and she came to him, saying, get justice for me from my adversary. And he would not for a while, but afterward he said within himself, though I do not fear God nor regard men, yet because of this widow, this widow troubles me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And she didn't ask just once. It was repeated and persistent. Verse 6, and the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge said, And shall God not avenge his own elect, who cry out day and night to him, though he bears long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he really find faith on the earth? When Jesus Christ comes, will he find this kind of faith? Persistent, continual, constantly seeking God. If we pray, Thy kingdom come, and Thy kingdom does not come in the timing that we would like to see it come, do we lose faith? Do we tire? Do we get worn down by the world and just sort of evaporate? Our faith evaporates, and we head back into what everybody else is doing because it's the easy way and it's the good way in this society by those standards.

Or, are we focused, seeking God's kingdom according to His will, in His timing, and maintaining that level of faith until that is fulfilled?

Again, this follows up the parable of the persistence of this woman, and the question is, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?

Well, the question is answered with a yes. Yes, He will. There will be a sliver. There will be a remnant of the faithful on the earth, but the brethren, the question comes, is it going to be of us? Will you and I be there? Will we be the long-suffering, faithful people who are persistent, waiting on God until the coming of His Son, Jesus Christ? Only you and I can answer that.

But again, this concept is tied in with the persistence we are to have in our communication with God and the relationship that we build.

When we pray to God, our prayers must be offered up in faith.

It's another element to prayer. It must be offered up in faith. Let's go to James chapter 1 and verse 5.

James 1 verse 5. We were here during the sermonette.

James chapter 1 verse 5. James says, If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

Without reproach means God's not going to rebuke you for asking. We need to seek wisdom from God. He desires to give it to us, but we need to ask. We need to seek it, and he will give it to you without reproach. Verse 6. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting. For he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

So here we're given the principle by which we need to ask in faith, all right? Our prayers in faith without doubting. What does James here mean when he says, no doubting? What does he mean, no doubting? Does he mean if we just have enough faith? If we just believe enough, then whatever it is we ask of God will be fulfilled. Is that what he's saying?

Again, let him ask in faith with no doubting. He who doubts is like a wave driven of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. Let not that man suppose he will receive anything from the Lord.

You know, if I asked God for something that was apart from his will, was maybe something that was not for my good, ultimately, if I had just enough faith, would he grant it? Well, maybe he would give me what I've asked for, for I could realize that maybe I shouldn't have asked for it. But if I asked God for 10 million dollars and I just had enough faith, would I receive it by the level of faith, whether it was God's will or not?

I actually tried something similar to that one time. It's the only lottery ticket I ever bought in my life. Going back probably 20 years ago, it was the Powerball lottery, and it was at some hundreds of millions of dollars. It was a record at that time, and I bought one lottery ticket. I said, God, if you let me win this, I will give 50% to the church. I mean, how's that for a bargaining chip? You know, I mean, certainly the church could use a little money. 50% of 500 million dollars is a pretty good chunk, but maybe God says, you don't need that, and maybe it wouldn't be so helpful for the church to receive that in such a windfall, either. God knows. But again, if I had just enough faith, maybe I didn't receive that because I didn't have enough faith. Or was it not in God's will for my own good, perhaps, even to extend that? James says we need to pray in faith without doubting. When we come to God in prayer, we need to have complete faith without doubt that God can and will intervene according to His perfect will.

When I anoint somebody who's ill, I do not doubt God's power and God's ability to intervene. So I lay hands upon them. I pray to God, laying hands of the ministry as to setting them apart before God. I set them apart, asking Him to recognize them and their plight, and we lay our petition before God. We say, God, we desire, I desire, this person desires, that they would be healed. And that is our will. That is our petition that we're bringing before you. And the prayer needs to be made in faith and without doubt that God can indeed and will be healed. And will indeed intervene according to His perfect will. And we submit to that. And there can be no doubt as to what God can do in God's love and care for us. Sometimes we ask, is a lack of faith, is that going to lead to a lack of healing? Well, yes, it can at times. If our faith is lacking, that could lead to a lack of healing. But does an abundance of faith guarantee God's intervention in the way that we desire? That's no guarantee either. We need to have an abundance of faith.

An ask in faith. An ask that God would, according to His wisdom, fulfill what is in His power and His ability to do. And as God's people, we need to submit ourselves to those things.

I would submit to you that it can take more faith to carry on apart from the intervention.

I've seen people that have struggled with health issues for years ongoing. And you pray to God, you plead with God, and God pulls them back from the brink. You know, they're right on the edge, and God pulls them back from the brink. And you wonder, well, why isn't everything removed? They still struggle. They still walk through these things. And yet, we've seen God's hand clearly and directly. I would submit that, in many cases, from my perception, that person has an abundance of faith by the fact that they are walking through this trial, still trusting in God, still looking to Him. He is my Creator, my Deliverer, my Sustainer.

Even if the answer is no, we're not right now. To continue on is an incredible level of faith.

Think of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

The idols set up, the music plays. If you don't fall down in worship, you're going into the fiery furnace. So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they're brought in, brought before Nebuchadnezzar, and they refused to submit to that. And the point was, don't you know you're going to burn up? You're going in there? And the answer was, our God is able to save us. You know, no king, we don't bow to you. Our God, who we serve, is able to save us. But if not, so, but if not, no king, that we do not serve you, we serve God. And I would submit that, even had they been thrown in there and consumed, their faith was perfected in that way. They said, but if not, it's not our will, it is the will of God, and we trust in Him. Jesus Christ, prior to being delivered up and crucified, prayed to His Father, if there was any way, let this cup pass from me. The torture, the bloodshed, the death, if there's any way that this could pass, you know, it would be very much nice. It'd be my will and desire if there was some other way that I would not have to go through this, but I submit to your will. He said, not my will, but your will be done.

So when we come to God in prayer, needs to be in faith without doubting, trusting that God is there, that He hears our prayer, and He has full ability to intervene, and that we submit ourself in full assurance to His perfect will, even if we don't always understand why, or the timing, or the outcome of what His decision is. James says, pray without doubting, and we submit ourselves to God. He says, one that does not do this is double-minded, and in the Greek that means twice-mind.

And James is using the illustration to describe someone who is divided in his interests, in his loyalties, in his focus. Here's a person that wavers back and forth. He says he's driven to and fro like the wave of a sea, driven by the wind. I don't know what to believe. I don't know if God will hear me. I don't know if God will do anything. I don't know if God's all-powerful. That is a double-minded person, brethren, and that cannot be the focus as we come before God in prayer. James continues on with healing and prayer in James chapter 5, verse 13.

James 5, 13, he says, is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing songs. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church. Let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. This is the instruction by which we get the anointing. Verse 15, in the prayer of the faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Confess your trespasses one to another and pray for one another that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. So the instruction here, brethren, is that we remember one another as well in our prayers. That your relationship with God is an opportunity to lift somebody else up before him, to seek his intervention and his will and his purpose in their life. Prayer is a way that we can serve one another. It's a way that we can call on God on behalf of one another. The prayer, the fervent prayer, and the effective prayer of a righteous man avails much. Verse 17, Elijah was a man within nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit. So clearly, brethren, the power to perform these things isn't of us. It is of God. And yet he gives us our part to play as we come before him in faith, and we submit ourselves to him and to his perfect will. He said, Elijah was a man like us in the nature and a character like us. He was physical. He had weaknesses. God was working with them. God's spirit was guiding and directing him. But James is saying, don't think that somehow you're all that different. Submit to God. Trust in him. Lift your prayers up to God. Know that his will is perfect and receive the outcome. 1 Peter 3, verse 12, says, the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry. God listens to us when we pray. When we get down on our knees, when we come before the throne of grace, we must have faith without doubting that God hears our prayer. And that he responds perfectly, again, according to his will. We remain persistent, remain dedicated, and we pray without ceasing. Also, when we pray to God, our prayers should be specific. There's times we may be praying in generalizations, but we need to pray specifically and in detail. Take the time to lay the case out before God. Explain to him why you're bringing him the prayer. What is the benefit of his answer to this prayer? Why it is he needs to intervene in this situation? Again, be specific in these things. It's what Moses did with God. Let's go to Numbers chapter 14, verse 11. Final passage we'll turn to today. Numbers chapter 14, verse 11. The context here is Israel. They've come up to the brink of the promised land. They've seen the giants. They've seen the obstacles. Cities walled up to heaven, and now they want to tuck tail and run back to Egypt.

Numbers chapter 14 and verse 11. Then the Lord said to Moses, How long will these people reject me?

And how long will they not believe me with all the signs which I have performed among them? It says, I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them. I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they. It says, Moses, you're the man. Verse 13. And Moses said to the Lord, Then the Egyptians will hear of it. For by your might you brought these people up from among them. And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land, that they have heard that you, Lord, are among these people, and that you, Lord, are seen face to face, and that your cloud stands above them, and that you go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Now if you kill these people as one man, then the nations which have heard of your fame will speak and say, Because the Lord was not able to bring this people to the land which he swore to give them, therefore he killed them in the wilderness. And now I pray, let the power of my Lord be great just as you have spoken, saying, The Lord is long suffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgressions. But he by no means clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers and the children to the third and fourth generation. Pardon the iniquity of this people, I pray, according to the greatness of your mercy, just as you have forgiven this people from Egypt even until now. Verse 20, Then the Lord said, I have pardoned according to your word.

I have pardoned according to your word. There's a few principles that I think we need to clearly understand here by Moses and his pleading with God. Consider these for your prayers.

First point here is Moses prayed for others and not simply himself.

Moses prayed for others and not simply himself. His interests could have been on himself. God says, I'm going to wipe them out, Moses, and I'll start with a new nation from your body. Moses could have said, Well, you know, that sounds like a good idea to me. But again, he prayed on behalf of the nation and the people of God. Second thing to consider here is Moses had a relationship with God, and he approached God according to that relationship. He had a relationship with God, and he approached God according to that relationship. This is an example of the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man availing much. Finally, Moses provided detail and his plea to God. He provided detail. He pleaded for God's mercy, and he laid out a case. He said, God, by your power you brought these people out of Egypt. The nations have seen it. They know it. They know your name by the wondrous works that you've done. And if you wipe these people out, they're going to say, You cannot fulfill what you started. You know, the hand of the Lord is shortened, and he has not the power to do what he intended to do. And so Moses lays out this detail in this case before God. He says, God, show them your mercy. Show them your nature of long suffering instead.

You know, the Bible talks about prayer as being incense and the smoke of the incense that rise up before God, and that the prayers of the saints come to his throne in that way. Incense, scripturally, there was a holy incense, which was a special mixture that could only be used and not replicated in other ways. It could only be used in a specific manner. And it was a holy incense that Moses took into the tabernacle of meeting when he came before God. And when you read the description of that incense, it said it was to be beaten fine. And so if we use the comparison of our prayers being as incense before God, brethren, our prayers need to be beaten fine.

They need to be specific. They need to be in detail. And we need to lay out those things before God in such a specific way as we take the time on our knees in prayer. Consider the detail and the fine nature of the incense that rise before him.

Bible contains many types of prayer. And I encourage you to do a study in that you would examine prayer as you come across it. The Psalms are a great place to examine prayer, David, in his life as he fled from adversaries, as he repented of sin, as he sought to draw close to God. There's flavor of all different kinds of prayer in there. Study those things and learn how to implement those in your relationship with God as well. In the Bible, we find prayers of thanksgiving to God, prayers of worship, prayers of praise. We find prayers of confession and repentance, prayers of supplication, offering up to God what it is that we're requesting in terms of our needs, prayers of intercession for others, prayers for safety and protection.

There's prayer seeking answers both to physical things and spiritually. There's prayers for clarity before a major decision. Jesus Christ in Luke 6, 12 prayed all night before he picked the 12.

He could have said, well, he had clear understanding. He should have just gone out there. He could have picked the 12, no problem. He drew close to his father for inspiration and understanding before he picked the 12 from among his disciples. Psalm 63 is a prayer of David thirsting after God as in a desert, as in, you're out in a dry place and God, you hunger, you thirst for God.

Praying for God is in a desert. It's that relationship that he he craved and he yearned for. Brother and I encourage you to search scriptures again for those examples of prayer and see how you can pull aspects of those and implement them into your relationship with God as well.

Consider your prayer to be valuable time that you spend alone with your Father in heaven in order to strengthen your relationship. Every good relationship requires communication. Our prayers to God are from us to him, expressing ourself, our thoughts, seeking his will and his fulfillment in our life. The study of God's word, as we'll examine in a future message, is God's response to us in many ways. By his Spirit, he directs us to the answers. But I think we'll see, brother, in that all of these spiritual disciplines work together to form a framework that are the foundation of our relationship with God. Prayer is a form of worship before the greatest being in the universe. So, brother, let you and I put the time and the effort into learning to pray without ceasing.