Prayer

Well, Brethren, Ephesians 6 is well known as the Armor of God chapter.

Many of us are familiar with the Belt of Truth, the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, and the sword of the Spirit.

But there is another very important powerful spiritual weapon that is mentioned in Ephesians 6 that I think we often read over in this chapter. It doesn't have such a catchy name.

What is that other important and very powerful spiritual weapon that's also mentioned here?

Do you know what that is? Well, we're going to find out if you don't. So let's go to Ephesians chapter 6. Let's read it together. Verse 10 of Ephesians chapter 6.

Finally, my brethren, and whenever Paul says finally, it means something good is coming.

He's wrapping things up. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.

Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. And brethren, I'm sure that's still true today. We still battle the same enemy. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, and above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And what else are we to do? Notice verse 18. Praying always, with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end, with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints, and for me that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that in it I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. So Paul is saying that we should all be praying always, and sending up supplication to God, inspired by God's Holy Spirit, and be persevering in those prayers for our victory against Satan the Devil, but also for each other, praying for one another, that we may all have victory, and that we all may stand against Satan the Devil.

So have you considered prayer as an extremely powerful spiritual weapon in your spiritual arsenal? Have you been effectively using prayer to wage spiritual warfare, not only for yourself, but especially for others? Just how important and powerful is prayer? Well, we're going to talk about those things in the sermon today. Now, several years ago, I read an historical novel covering the time of the Civil War. Do you know why the Confederacy, why the South was so successful in the early years of the war? Primarily, it was because the South had the best generals.

I'm sure many of you have heard of that. They had the best generals, and they were well known for their offensive tactics. They were taking the fight to the north. They were always on the attack.

Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and Jeb Stuart were three of these generals that were all of the same ilk. They worked together as a team. When Stonewall Jackson lost use of his left arm in battle, General Lee wrote him and said, you lost your left arm, but I lost my right. He really relied on Stonewall Jackson to fight those battles, and it kept him out of the war for, I don't know if it was the the entire war after that or not, but certainly slowed him down. So they were all of the same ilk. They believed in attacking and being offensive in their warfare. Later, Abraham Lincoln and the north finally put some generals in charge that had the same attack mentality.

Namely, that was Ulysses S. Grant, who lived not too far from here, once upon a time, and also William Tecumseh Sherman. I'm sure you've heard of Sherman's march to the sea, and what a destructive march that was, but very effective. And only then did the superior forces of the north finally turn the tide and really begin to win the Civil War. And perhaps the greatest general of World War II was George Patton. Patton only seemed to know how to move ahead to attack. He was very brash, probably the most egotistical of the generals fighting World War II.

In fact, my wife's father had the dubious privilege of hearing him cuss out a fellow soldier.

I don't know that he was directing traffic, which, you know, you see that in the movie about Patton when he was, you know, there was a big log jam, and Patton gets in there and starts moving things around and getting things done. But he also had this offensive approach to fighting the battle. If you're going to be successful in waging spiritual battle, you must not only use defensive weapons, but you must also utilize offensive weapons. Now, of course, the sort of God Spirit is an offensive weapon. In fact, when Christ was being tempted by Satan the Devil, he quoted scriptures very effectively against Satan the Devil. So we should also learn some scriptures that come to mind when we're being tempted so that we can fight back when Satan is trying to get the best of us. Regular, consistent, fervent prayer is a very powerful offensive weapon. We should all be using prayer on a daily basis. Now, let's go to James 5, where it tells us to pray for one another. And specifically, this is in the context of when a person is sick, that they should certainly pray for healing, and they should go to the elders of the church and have them pray for them as well. So in James 5, again, we're all quite familiar, or many of us are familiar with these verses, because we've been anointed before. We've gone to the elders and asked them to anoint us because this is what it says we should do. In verse 13 of James 5, "...is anyone among you suffering, let him pray." If we're suffering, I guess that's when we typically do pray, isn't it? We're more inclined to go to God if we're suffering.

"...let him pray, is anyone cheerful, let him sing psalms, is anyone among you sick, let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick." So it is very important that ministers have faith, that they truly believe that God will intervene, that God will heal the sick, and the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. Now, he may not do it immediately, but have faith and believe that God is going to heal when you're anointed. And sometimes he does it immediately, and that's what I always pray for. That's certainly my desire when I anoint someone, is that God would intervene speedily for them. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven those sins. So confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. So it's clear that God is instructing us to be praying for one another, that you may be healed, but also that others may be healed. We should pray for one another, and I've stressed that before. We have a lot of prayer requests, and there's plenty to pray about, so I hope we do take those emails that are sent to you seriously, and that we don't just skip over them without taking the time to read them and to pray about them. You know, it's very important that we follow through on what God instructs us to do. He says, the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man, and I will add, a righteous woman. That's what it means. All mankind. The effective fervent prayer of a righteous person avails much. And it gives us an example here of Elijah. It says, Elijah was a man with a nature like ours. You know, Elijah was no different from you and me in the sense that he was flesh and blood. He was a human being. Yes, God had chosen him to be a prophet. He sent him forth to prophesy and to do his work and his will in a great way, but nevertheless, he was very much like you and like me. He was flesh and blood.

He says he has a nature like ours, verse 17, and he prayed earnestly that it would not reign.

Now, certainly, this was within God's will to stop the reign.

But Elijah must have prayed really earnestly for that to happen. He was a man like us, though, and he prayed earnestly that it would not reign, and it did not reign on the land for three and a half years. So I guess we wouldn't want too many people praying that prayer unless it was really for our good, which I'm sure it was. You know, there were lessons that needed to be learned at this particular time. So he prayed, and for three and a half years it did not reign, and he prayed again, and the heaven gave reign, and the earth produced its fruit.

He says, Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the air of his ways will save a soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

So here we see again that prayer is very effective, that God does hear our prayers, that God does listen to us, that our prayers do make a difference. Never think your prayers are in vain because God will hear your prayers. And I know that there are times when we're closer to God than at other times, and perhaps if we're just going through the motions, God may not hear those prayers all that much. They may not go much further than the ceiling, but when we're really pouring our hearts out to God and we're striving to obey Him and serve Him and be like Him, and we ask God to forgive us our sins and to hear our prayers and to answer our prayers, undoubtedly God does hear those prayers. The Bible says it's a sweet-smelling savor that goes up to God, like an incense that goes up to God. Our prayers are like that, and God takes note of your prayers and my prayers. So prayer is something that you can and should be doing on a daily basis, even a number of times each day, according to the Scriptures. Psalm 55 clearly points out that certain men of God, anyway, set an example for us of praying three times a day.

Certainly a person could pray more than that, but this was the example that David set, and that we'll see Daniel also set this type of an example. Psalm 55, or Psalm 55, not necessarily chapter, but Psalm 55 and then verse 16.

David says, As for me, I will call upon God, this was a psalm of David, I will call upon God, and the Eternal shall save me, evening and morning and at noon. So the day began in the evening.

That's when the day typically began, in the evening and the morning were the first day, and the evening and the morning were the second day, and the third day, and so forth. So evening and morning and at noon I will pray and cry aloud, and he shall hear my voice. So David was one who was a man after God's own heart. He did have faith in God. He trusted in God. He believed in God, far from perfect. And I'm sure there were times when God was not hearing his prayers nearly as much as he did at other times, because David did sin grievously. But when he repented, no doubt that restored that relationship between him and God, and his prayers were certainly more effective at that point.

So evening, morning, and at noon I will pray, I will cry aloud. So a fervent prayer is what we're talking about here. I will cry aloud, and he shall hear my voice. Now let's go to Daniel 6 and see the example of Daniel and the lion's den. Now I'm not going to take a lot of time on this particular story. Most of us are somewhat familiar anyway with Daniel chapter 6. But you may recall that certain people in the realm were very jealous of Daniel and the position that he had with Darius, the king, because Darius did rely on Daniel a great deal. And they wanted some way to get back at Daniel. And so they scrutinized everything that he did. They watched him closely, and they noticed that he prayed every day. And so they take this decree before Darius, and they have him sign it. And basically it says that for the next 30 days, anyone who prays to anyone beyond, except for Darius, you know, they would be thrown in the lion's den. So in verse 10 it says, now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, Darius was not thinking when he signed this because he really loved Daniel. When Daniel knew that the writing was signed, what did he do? Did he just say, well, I can't pray for a month. I'm not going to pray to Darius, but I'm not going to pray at all. No, he didn't do that. He went home, and in his upper room with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days, probably since he was a child. He would go to God three times a day and pray faithfully to God.

Now, of course, they used this against him, so it was prayer that got him thrown into the lion's den.

But it was also prayer that surely got him out, because I believe that he was certainly praying faithfully and fervently when he was tossed into the lion's den. I can't imagine a man of God not crying out to God at that point. God saved me. God protect me. God deliver me from this.

So it talks about how Darius was torn up so much so that he fasted. He could not sleep during the night. He really wanted Daniel to survive this. And, of course, God protected him. No doubt, Darius even prayed for Daniel. Now, I don't know if he understood who the true God. He probably did to some degree because he knew Daniel. And no doubt, Daniel had shared much of what he believed with Darius. But regardless, Daniel would have prayed and Darius most likely prayed.

And so the lions had no effect on him. You know, hungry lions. They were quite hungry. How do we know that? Because they tossed in the bad guys. And what did the lions do but break their bones before they even hit the ground? You know, they ate them up. So, again, prayer was what got him in there because he was faithful in prayer. But no doubt, prayer got him out as well because he went to God for that deliverance. In 1 Thessalonians 5, and you don't need to take the time to move to go there because it's just three words. Basically, pray without ceasing. That's part of the instruction that Paul gives us. And that should be our goal. We should have a goal to have a prayerful mindset. As we go throughout our day, we should have a prayerful mindset. We should pray without ceasing. I'm sure God doesn't expect us to get down on our knees and pray all day long.

He knows we have other things to do, and we can't pray all day long. So Paul didn't mean that, but he did mean that we should pray without ceasing. That we should have a prayerful approach, a prayerful mindset. As we go about our day, we should bring God into essentially all that we do and make sure that we're staying close to God and praying about the things, the choices that come up, thousands of choices, maybe not thousands, but hundreds probably every day that we make. And we want God to be a part of those choices so that we will have His blessing and so that we will do the right thing. So now, Christ's disciples didn't necessarily have a prayerful mindset right away, did they? It took a while to develop a prayerful mindset, so it would take us a while too. So we should be patient as we learn to be more prayerful in our thoughts and in the way that we approach life. I can assure you that God does answer prayers. In fact, in the Garden of Gethsemane, you remember when Peter, well for one thing, the disciples fell asleep. Jesus was praying faithfully all night long, but the disciples were human, and of course Christ was human, but He had added strength and added motivation, I'm sure. Whereas the disciples, they were all falling asleep, and I guess we can't necessarily throw any stones at them, can we?

Perhaps some of us have had issues with falling asleep even when we've prayed before.

But when Peter struck out at the servant of the high priest, Malchus was his name, he cut off his ear. And I have a feeling that he was probably aiming for something rather than the ear, probably the neck. You know, he's probably essentially trying to cut his head off.

Christ said that, you know, that's not the way we live, and He basically said that He could pray, and His Father would send 12 legions of angels to take care of Him, to deliver Him. So you don't need to strike back, you don't need to do anything like that, because I've got it handled.

All I have to do is pray, and things will happen. It's powerful to pray to our Heavenly Father, who has all power. And Jesus Christ sits at the right hand of the Father, and we pray in Jesus' name. But certainly Jesus is worthy of our worship, and He's worthy of our prayers and our praise.

So the point is, we all need to take prayer very seriously, because it is very, very important.

And it's easy in this life to neglect prayer. At least I found it to be easy to neglect.

We get very busy with life. Life crowds in, there's so many things, so many distractions, and it's easy to let down in our prayers. It's easy not to spend the kind of time that we should in our prayers, or the kind of fervent prayers that we should have. Remember, Christ prayed very intensely when He was in the Garden of Gethsemane. We should strive to pray intensely as well.

Fervently. It does say the fervent prayer of a righteous man or woman avails much, so we should strive to put some fervency and persistence in our prayers.

Now, in 1 Peter chapter 3, let's go ahead and go there.

Peter talks about how God does see and hear the prayers of the righteous. 1 Peter chapter 3. Now, Peter had grown a lot by the time he wrote this.

1 Peter chapter 3.

I think we're going to start reading in verse 7. 1 Peter chapter 3.

In verse 7.

It says, Husbands likewise dwell with them, with your wives, with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel. It's not talking about weaker spiritually or weaker mentally.

It may be speaking more about the physical aspects because typically men are stronger, as a general rule, than most women. Perhaps they get more tired, they tire more easily.

But he says to give honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered. So men, we should take this seriously and go to God and treat our wives with honor and with respect and with love.

And know that our prayers will not be hindered when we show that kind of love and respect to our wives. Finally, all of you be of one mind having compassion for one another. Love as brothers, be tender-hearted, be courteous. This is God's instruction to you and to me that we are to be compassionate, that we are to love each other, that we are to be tender-hearted, that we are to be courteous. This is just the way that we're supposed to live. And really, there's very little excuse for not being this way. We need to become like Jesus Christ and like the Father, who are all of these things, not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling. Now, Christ set the perfect example. He did not revile while he was being crucified. But on the contrary, blessing, knowing that you were called to this, knowing that you may inherit a blessing for he who would love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil. You know, if you really want to prosper in life, then refrain from evil. Refrain from going there, speaking evil, doing evil, and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it.

For the eyes of the Eternal, the Lord, are on the righteous. God sees the righteous as they go about their day, their week, their month, their years. The eyes of the Eternal are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayers. Now, God hears our prayers. So does it matter what how you live your life? Does it matter what decisions you make? Does it matter what kind of conduct you have? Of course, it matters a great deal, and his ears are open to your prayers when you're walking with God. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. So if we're engaged in doing something wrong or evil, then we really should not expect God to pay that much attention to our prayers. It does matter how we live our lives, and it does matter how we go before God.

In Matthew 4, it records the greatest spiritual battle of all time. What weapons did Jesus use in waging spiritual battle with Satan? Undoubtedly, he used all the weapons in his spiritual arsenal.

He certainly used the truth. Righteousness, because he was perfect, he had never sinned.

So he had that breastplate of righteousness, that shield of faith. Christ had all faith in his Father.

But also, he prepared for this battle with 40 days of fasting accompanied with prayer.

So he did prepare by going to God through fasting and prayer. And we know the Scripture tells us that some things just don't happen except by prayer and fasting. So if we really want to be effective in our prayers from time to time, we should fast and draw near to God. I gave a sermon not too long ago about the importance of fasting and how we should even fast for one another and pray for one another while we do so. So Christ knew how to battle and he knew how to win those spiritual battles.

And prayer was one of those weapons that he used and wielded against Satan the devil.

Again, the disciples took them a while to learn, but they got better and better as they drew closer and closer to God. Peter denied Christ three times, but it wasn't long before he was preaching a very powerful sermon on the day of Pentecost. And he continued to do so. And the Apostle Paul, very faithful in serving God. So, brethren, let us all pray for strength to resist Satan the devil.

Let us pray for strength to overcome Satan, to overcome evil in our lives, and not to allow Satan to weigh us down with his ways of distracting us and moving us away from the prayer and the fasting and the other signs of devotion that we really get it. Do you get it?

Is this the most important thing in your life? Are you really seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness? Or is something else more important? We should analyze how we spend our time. You know, if we're not spending much time in prayer, then perhaps we're not using our time effectively. Maybe something has become more important than it should be. And we're going to talk about some prayer killers later on in the sermon. And you can ask yourself whether or not you've allowed any of those prayer killers to find their way into your life and to keep you from praying in the manner that you should. Now, let's go to Acts 12. This was at the time when James was killed.

The apostle James was killed. Acts 12.

Verse 1. Acts 12.

Now, about that time Herod the king stressed out his hand to harass some from the church.

Then he killed James, the brother of John, with a sword. And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also. So his plan was to kill Peter as well.

Now, it was during the days of 11 bread. So when he had arrested him, he put him in prison and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before the people after Passover, because it was not considered cool to kill someone during the Holy Days.

So they were going to wait until this was until after Passover. So Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church.

So there was a lot of praying going on by the church. No doubt in various homes, as people knew about Paul or Peter being in prison, people prayed and got together and prayed.

So there's nothing wrong with people deciding to get together and to pray for someone, especially under these types of circumstances. There may be times when you might get together with some friends and pray about certain things. That's certainly acceptable. That's something that we see in the Bible taking place. Now, of course, I mean, everything needs to be done decently and in order. I don't think an elder would have to be present to have an opportunity to pray for one another, surely. Or, you know, converted people can get together and pray for one another without having that restriction. That's my belief on that. Obviously, things need to be done properly, and we need to be doing God's will as we go about our lives. So in Acts chapter 12, it shows that Peter is in prison. And when Herod was about to bring him out, that night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers, and the guards before the door were keeping the prison. Now, behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him and a light shone in the prison, and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, Arise quickly. Now, I find it interesting that Peter's asleep. People are praying for him fervently. He's sleeping, but it's probably because he already prayed a lot and was tired.

You know, he wore himself out praying would be my guess. So anyway, he's, and it also shows a measure of faith. You know, he was able to sleep. He trusted in God and believed that God would deliver him, but if not, like Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego, he was willing to die for the cause of Christ. So the guards were, it says, keeping the prison, because the guards, if, you know, if someone escapes, then the guards get the punishment that was intended for the prisoner.

That's how it worked. And they were planning to kill Peter. So I'm sure the guards were watching closely, doing their job. But behold, an angel of the Lord, verse 7, stood by him, a light shone, struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, Arise quickly, and his chains fell off his hand. So obviously, miracles are being performed. The angel is doing these things with God's help, of course. And the angel said to him, Gird yourself and tie on your sandals. And so he did. And he said to him, Put on your garment and follow me. So he's half asleep, but he's doing what he's told to do.

So he went out and followed him and did not know that what was done by the angel was real, but thought that he was seeing a vision. When they were passed, when they were passed the first and the second guard post, they came to the iron gate that leads to the city, which opened to them on its own accord. And they went out and went down one street and immediately the angel departed from him. So poof! The angel's gone. I don't know if poof is the right word to use, but you know what I mean. He's gone. And so Peter comes to himself and says, Hey, this was for real. I'm out here on this street. And the gate really did open. And here I am. So he came to understand that it was not a vision. So it says, and after he came to himself, I know for certain that the Lord has sent his angel, verse 11, and has delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the Jewish people. So when he had considered this, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose surname was Mark. Mark was the one who wrote the Gospel of Mark and was the one that there was conflict between Paul and others about Barnabas, about whether they wanted him on a journey.

So they were at his mother's home, and they were gathered together praying. And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a girl named Rhoda came to answer. When she recognized Peter's voice, because of her gladness, you can't blame her. I mean, you know, this girl is excited because she realizes that Peter is at the door. But instead of letting him in, which was probably what she should have first done, she goes back and tells everyone. And even though they've been praying for his release, humanly they doubt. They doubt, don't they? I mean, we can also be that way.

We should believe and expect and anticipate God's positive answer to our prayers.

So, so it says she ran in and announced that Peter stood before the gate.

But they said to her, You are beside yourself. You're acting a little crazy right now.

Yet she kept insisting that it was so. So they said, It is his angel. Now, there was some belief, and even Jesus mentions something about children and having an angel. Whether or not there's, that we all have a guardian angel, the Bible doesn't really speak to that. So I don't believe it would be appropriate to say that that's the case. But certainly there are times when angels are looking out for you and looking out for me. And they were, they were thinking that, well, maybe it's his angels that showed up here at the door. So why would, if they thought it was an angel, why would they not think it could be Peter? That's another question that we might ask ourselves. Again, they've been praying that Peter would be released from prison. Well, Peter continued knocking, and when they opened the door, they saw him and they were astonished. Again, they could have said, Well, Peter, we're sure glad you're here. We were a little surprised it took you this long.

You know, we've been praying for you, and we certainly expected you to show up. So we're glad you're here. No, they were astonished, and I'm sure we would be astonished to some degree as well.

But motioning to them with his hand to keep silent, he declared to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, Go tell these things to James and to the brethren.

And he departed and went to another place. He probably thought, Well, they may come here looking for me. You know, the word was probably out that John Mark, his, you know, may have been a gathering at this home, you know, they, he probably left because playing it safe. He didn't want them to come there looking for him. So it's interesting, this story, but it does show the power of prayer. They were praying for him. God heard their prayers. God intervened for them. God miraculously got him out of prison. I do feel somewhat badly for the guards.

I mean, you know, if you were one of the guards, and this happened, you would no doubt lose your life over, over this happening. But I'm sure they deserved it, you know, in some ways.

The wages of sin is death, undoubtedly. Well, we all deserve death, don't we?

So, nevertheless, we can feel a little bit badly for the guards.

In Acts chapter 10, there's another powerful account of someone who prayed fervently. And it wasn't long ago that I went through this in some detail. I think it was during the sermon that I gave on fasting. But in verse 1 of chapter 10, there was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian regiment. He was a devout man, one who feared God with all of his household and who gave alms generously to the people and prayed to God always. So this was a man who really took prayer seriously. He prayed to God always. In about the ninth hour of the day, around 3 p.m., he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, Cornelius. And when he observed him, he was afraid and said, What is it, Lord? So he said to him, Your prayers and your alms, your generosity, have come up for a memorial before God. So I would certainly hope that God could say that about you and me, that our prayers are going up as a memorial, because we do take prayer seriously and that we are a praying people and that we do have faith, we do trust that God will hear our prayers. That was the type of man that Cornelius was, and God used him. He was a gentile God-ferer, that God poured his Holy Spirit out upon and upon his household and gave him his Holy Spirit. So he was used in a very powerful way and undoubtedly one of the main reasons, because he was a praying man. And he prayed fervently and faithfully and continually.

And he wasn't one to give up in prayer. So what about you? Do you ever give up in prayer or do you consistently continue to pray until God gives a definitive answer? Or do you grow weary in well- doing? Sometimes it gets difficult to continue to pray for people that God hasn't yet healed. It doesn't mean that God won't heal them, though.

If they're still living, if they're still breathing, we should likely continue to pray for them. Pray that God would be gracious and merciful and restore their health. So God wants us to be persistent in our prayers. And if we go to Luke 11, we'll see this clearly from the Scripture, that God does want us to be persistent in our prayers. Luke 11. We're going to read verse 5, then we'll go back to verse 1. But let's start in verse 5, because there's a little story here that's given. Luke 11, beginning in verse 5. And this is about persistent prayer and about not giving up and continuing to persist.

So Luke 11, verse 5, And he, Christ, said to them, Which of you shall have a friend and go to him at midnight, and say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves. Okay, so it's midnight. The guy's in bed. He's in bed with his family. The kids are there. But some friend shows up, and he wants bread. He says, For a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I've nothing to set before him. He probably didn't tell him. He was coming. And he wasn't prepared. He wasn't ready.

Verse 7, And he will answer from within and say, Do not trouble me. Maybe he wasn't the best friend. He was a friend, but perhaps not the very best friend, because he said, Don't trouble me. The door's shut. The children are with me in bed. Maybe he was afraid the kids would wake up. And, you know, that wouldn't be a good scene. My children are with me in bed. I cannot rise and give to you. Verse 8, I say to you, Though he will not rise—this is Christ—he says, Though he will not rise and give to him, because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence, he will rise and give him as many as he needs.

So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find, Knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, it will be opened. And if a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he give him a scorpion? If you, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give the Spirit to those who ask him, or also use the Spirit of God to answer other prayers that you go to God with earnestly and in faith?

So clearly, God is showing that he wants us to be persistent in our prayers. He doesn't want us to give up quickly, keep knocking, be persistent. You can't wear God out. I don't think that's possible. You know, you can't wear him out. So keep going to God and asking him to intervene, because this happens right after the sample prayer that's given.

So it is all in the context of prayer. So let's go to verse 1, chapter 11 in the book of Luke. Now, it came to pass as he was praying in a certain place when he ceased that one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. So Jesus said to them, when you pray, say, our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. So you start out praising God, worshiping him, talking about his greatness, his love, those types of things, his mercy.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. That's also good to talk about. We want God's kingdom to come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us day by day our daily bread. You know, so this is something that you go to God each day. Give us day by day our daily bread and forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. Remember, we will be forgiven in the same manner that we forgive others. So we should take that to heart and be willing to forgive others and make amends, go to our brother, reconcile.

These are important admonitions that God gives to each and every one of us. He says, and forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Deliver us from Satan the devil.

And then he tells the story about his friend and the persistence that is needed in our prayers.

Now also, notice that this sample prayer does not use the word I anywhere.

He's not praying, God, I need this. God, I need that. I need this. I need that. Please give me this. Give me that. That's not the prayer that we see here. It is a prayer for us. Include others as you pray. Think of the needs of others as you pray. Don't be so self-centered and so self-focused, self-absorbed in your prayers, but really do pray for one another.

Intercessory prayer, that's interceding on the behalf of others, is an extremely powerful weapon that helps God's church come closer to being a church without spot or wrinkle.

When we pray for one another, we grow in love for one another. It's axiomatic. If you're praying for one another, you're going to learn to love them more. You know, if you go to God and you pray about someone who is blind and ask that God would intervene and restore their eyesight, or their hearing, or a crippled arm, or a crippled leg, or a bad heart, whatever it is, it draws you closer to that person. There's a certain empathy that is developed when we pray for each other, and we're genuine in those prayers for one another. So interceding is a very powerful weapon that helps God's church come closer to being a church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. God is looking at us. You know, so I'm sorry, the what's the scripture I'm thinking of?

Judgment has come upon the house of God. You know, God is looking at us. He's judging us. He's judging whether or not we truly love each other. Do we show that we are Christ's disciples by loving each other, by caring for each other, by protecting one another, by helping each other? This is how we show that we are truly the church of the living God, because we have the love of God, and we show that toward one another. And we become more and more like Christ and like the church that Christ is the head of. Christ is the head of this church. We should reflect His character and how we're willing to lay our lives down for each other. So it is something to consider, something to pray about.

When we pray for one another, we again will grow in love for each other. A spiritual bond is established and nourished as we express love and concern for others in our prayers for them. When we unselfishly pray for others, we get our minds off ourselves and upon other people. There's a unique kind of unity that is developed in the church and among brethren. This congregation can be stronger if we truly love each other and are really praying to God about each other.

So don't take this lightly. This is a very important message that God wants us all to hear. And we should consider each other as we go about our day praying for one another.

So this unique kind of unity can be developed in the church and among brethren when we show outgoing concern, when we show love for each other. Again, God the Father and Jesus Christ have shown this outgoing love for us. Greater love has no man than this than to lay his life down for his friends. And Christ certainly wants us to understand that for God so loved the world that he gave his only Son. And Christ being human said, let this cup pass for me, but nevertheless not my will. Humanly not my will be done, but your will be done. And of course Christ also had that same will that he was willing to lay his life down for us.

And remember, brethren, when one member suffers, we should all suffer.

You know, when we hear about others that are suffering, that should have an impact on us.

It is something that we should take very seriously in our prayers toward God. How would we like to be in that situation? Unable to come to church? Blind? Deaf? Crippled?

So it is important that we do pray for each other, and I want you to understand that it is possible that you may be sinning if you're neglecting to pray.

Scriptures, did you know there's a scripture that says you could be sinning by neglecting to pray for each other?

Do you know where that verse is? Where that scripture is? That says essentially that when we neglect to pray for one another, we could even be sinning against God. It's a sin of omission.

When we omit to do the things that God wants us to do and expects us to do, it is a sin. And it's very clear in 1 Samuel 12. So let's go there and let's see this powerful message. This was after they asked for a king. The people, the children of Israel, wanted a king. Now God was their king. They had the very best king anyone could ever possibly have.

But they wanted a human king. They wanted a king who had some flesh on his body.

So in 1 Samuel 12, we'll see that Samuel the prophet wasn't happy about that. You might remember 1 Samuel chapter 8. I think it's verse 7. It says, they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me. This is God telling Samuel, they have not rejected you, Samuel, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.

So to continue with that story in 1 Samuel 12, we'll start reading in verse 13. 1 Samuel 12.

Now therefore, here is the king whom you have chosen. King Saul, here is the king whom you have chosen and whom you have desired. And take note, the eternal has set a king over you. Yes, God did get involved in the selection of a human king once the people made it clear that's what they wanted. You know, God gave them what they wanted. He says, verse 14, if you fear the eternal and serve him and obey his voice and do not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then both you and the king who reigns over you will continue following the Lord your God. So if the king is a righteous king, and if he sets the right example and you follow that example, and all of you are working together, then I will continue to bless you.

Even though you've rejected me as your king, this can still work.

However, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord will be against you as it was against your fathers.

Now therefore, stand and see this great thing which the Lord will do before your eyes, is today not the wheat harvest. I will call to the Lord the Eternal, and he will send thunder and rain that you may perceive and see that your wickedness is great. So Samuel wanted them to understand that their wickedness was great, desiring a king. They rejected God, which you have done in the sight of the Lord, and asking a king for yourselves. Verse 18, so Samuel called to the Lord the Eternal, and the Eternal sent thunder and rain that day, and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel, Samuel who spoke for the Eternal, the prophet.

And all the people said to Samuel, Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins the evil of asking a king for ourselves.

Notice verse 20. Then Samuel said to the people, Do not fear, you have done all this wickedness, yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all of your heart, and do not turn aside, for then you would go after empty things which cannot profit or deliver, for they are nothing. For the Lord will not forsake his people for his great name's sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you his people. And then notice verse 23. Moreover, ask for me, far be it from me, that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you.

Samuel understood that if he did not pray for the people, then he would be sinning against God. We can be sinning if we cease to pray for one another. If we neglect to pray for one another, we can be sinning. God wants us to take this seriously. Do not sin by ceasing to pray for one another. Christ does expect more of his converted disciples who ought not to be so quick to fall asleep while praying. Peter grew in courage and strength spiritually. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we may overcome the weakness of the flesh in large part. God will give us the strength. I can do all things. You can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. We should believe that. We should exercise that. We should put it into practice. God's Holy Spirit is powerful. Even though the flesh is weak, the Spirit is powerful. We're capable of being more diligent in our prayers. I know I'm capable. I will confess before you that I have neglected at times, in the many years I've been in God's church, to pray as faithfully as I should. If you are in the same boat, then let us all repent of that sin of not taking these prayers as seriously as we ought to. And now let us talk about some prayer killers. I see I've gone a little over time, so I hope you will forgive me for that.

But I'll go through these quickly. What are some prayer killers that we need to avoid?

Have you been allowing some of these prayer killers to get into your life?

Number one, a lack of spiritual focus. If you have a lack of spiritual focus, I guarantee you are neglecting to pray the way you should. You know, if you are letting more important things come into your life more important than prayer, then your spiritual focus is not what it ought to be.

We are told to have our minds not so much on earthly things, but on heavenly things. We're to store up treasures in heaven, not so much here on the earth. So a lack of spiritual focus will make a big difference. Also, bad habits of rushing off to work without praying or watching too much TV. If you're spending a lot of time watching TV and very little time praying, then you should ask, are my priorities the way they ought to be?

You know, is it that important to watch hours of movies when you neglect to pray? Maybe you should pray first. You know, people that rush off to work without even five minutes on their knees, I question whether they're really thinking that through carefully. Is that the way we should start our day? By bounding out of bed, throwing our clothes on, and rushing off to work? Or should we take a little time to pray in the morning? Of course, you have to go to bed at a decent hour. We have to get a good night's sleep. That's important, but bad habits can certainly kill our prayers. Watching too much TV or playing too many video games or whatever it is that you really like to do instead of pray. The third thing, and this goes right along with number two, too much work, too much work or too much entertainment. They both have the same result.

You don't have time for prayer because maybe you're working too many hours. Maybe you're playing too much. Whatever has a holic on the end. A workaholic is not a good thing. Some people think that being a workaholic is really a wonderful thing, but it isn't. That's why I take vacations, and I think you should take vacations. You should take some time to unwind and de-stress. So too much work, too much entertainment. Number four, lacking faith, that your prayers are going to make any difference. You know, if you lack faith that your prayers will make any difference, will you pray? I doubt it. If you don't think it's making any difference, why would you pray? Again, you're just going through the motions. Trust that God will hear your prayers. Number five, if you have a lack of love and concern for others, then you will likely neglect your prayers. You know, if you really have an outgoing love, then perhaps you'll spend a little more time praying for people. Or maybe you just need to be stirred up to do this. You know, that's one of the purposes of this sermon today. And these sermons I give largely to myself, because this is something that I know I need, and I need to be more spiritually focused. I need to have fewer bad habits. I need to, you know, have a higher priority on prayer.

And I need to love more, and I need to have more concern for all of you. Becoming weary and well- doing is another one of these things that after 40 or 50 years, it's somewhat easy to think, well, I've done enough. You know, I'm done praying. Now, I don't know that any of us would ever come to that point. I would hope not, but no, we're told not to become weary and well-doing. Just because you've been around for 40 or 50 years, doesn't mean you have a pass to stop praying. Just because you've prayed for a long time, doesn't mean you get to stop. You know, you need to keep persisting.

And then lastly, becoming spiritually discouraged can be a real deterrent. If you're discouraged, if you're despondent, if you're depressed, it will affect your prayers. And so you should pray that God will grant you more faith, that God will help you give more effective prayers, and that it will be easier for you to do this. And basically, whenever someone is discouraged or depressed or despondent and doesn't want to do something, that is exactly what they need to do.

And it's not easy, but if you don't want to work, you should work. If you don't want to eat, for some reason, you might have to force yourself to eat. You know, depending on what's going on in your life, if you need to stop eating, then you know, that's another thing. If you're eating way too much, then you need to practice that self-control. But whatever it is we don't want to do is typically what we need to do. So if you don't really want to pray that much, then do it anyway. And it will get easier. It will become easier.

So, brethren, Satan would prefer that we allow these prayer killers to completely kill our prayers.

That's what he would like to see happen in our lives. He would like to see us stop praying altogether. What would happen to God's church if we all stop praying?

That's right. It would not be, it would be ugly, wouldn't it? Satan would have his way with us.

Now, I wonder if there was a specific reason why Paul didn't compare prayer to a particular physical weapon, like a sword, a helmet, a belt, a breastplate, or a shield. Well, dynamite wasn't yet invented. It was 1867 when dynamite was invented. The atomic bomb, the nuclear bomb, the hydrogen bomb, they all came later. Look, prayers can be very effective. They can be like dynamite. They can be like hydrogen bombs. If we send those up to God, they can make a difference. So let's be encouraged to pray more faithfully and more fervently in the future.

Brethren, expect God to answer your prayers. Knock. The door will be opened. Seek. You will find. Ask. You will receive. Are your prayers accompanied with the shield of faith, the breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God? Are you studying the Word of God? You know, the armor won't fit properly unless it's also accompanied by fervent prayer. I think prayer really makes all this work. It is a very important spiritual weapon. So one of our greatest and most powerful spiritual weapons is prayer. So, brethren, use it often. Use it well. Use this spiritual weapon and let us all pray without ceasing.