Sermon series: BEHAVING LIKE A CHRISTIAN
Subject: Steadfast in Prayer

Romans 12:12
"Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer."
"Look to the Lord and His strength; seek His face always." (1 Chronicles 16:11)
Matthew 7:7
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."
John 16:24
"Until now you have not asked for anything in My name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete."
Ephesians 6:18
"And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints."

Our subject today is PRAYER! It must have been a wonderful experience to listen to Paul, the Apostle, pray...and thank God, he recorded some of his prayers for us.
Listen to him pray...
Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him; the eyes of your understanding being enlightened: that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power." (Ephesians 1:15-19)
"For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height--to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

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Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen." (Ephesians 3:14-21)
Ah! What a prayer!
Prayer is personal communication with God. If we could only know and understand what happens when we pray, we might well have difficulty doing other things that now occupy our main attention.
Prayer is a miracle. It is a happening that is not governed by laws of time and space. Prayer is an invitation to experience the boundlessness of God. "Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not. (Jeremiah 33:3)
Who can assess the magnitude of these dimensions? We would make God a prisoner in His own universe, disallowing Him the prerogative of doing anything outside the boundaries of certain "fixed" laws. We do well to remember who "fixed" them!
Prayer...what is it?
Prayer is our need crying out for help.
Prayer is the voice of faith to the Father.
Prayer is the Living Word in lips of faith.
Prayer is the channel through which all good flows from God to man, and all good from men to men.
Prayer is a privilege, a sacred, princely privilege.
Prayer is a duty, an obligation most binding, and most imperative, which should hold us to it.
But prayer is more than a privilege, more than a duty. It is a means, an instrument, a condition. It is the appointed condition of getting God’s aid. It is the avenue through which God supplies man’s wants!
Prayer is not only a means of getting things from God, but is the means whereby we may come to know God. Prayer, in its primary essence, is worship. Worship is the recognition of worth, the fitting of God into the overall picture of our lives in His proper perspective. The very act of prayer, whether we kneel, sit, lie on our faces, or stand is an affirmation of the worthiness of God. Without prayer there is no worship. By prayer we enter into God’s holy temple, and penetrate at once to the throne of grace. Prayer is not only the shortest distance to God’s mighty throne; it is the only way in!
"Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh,

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and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful." (Hebrews 10:18-23)
The veil of sense and space that hides Him within His temple-universe is suddenly removed as we pray! We enter silently into His temple, and lo, suddenly we are before His throne. Only there do we discover the wonder of worship, that worship is before work, and that all His works are done in the spirit of worship. So as prayer looks toward God, it is worship!
There are only two ways by which we can get to know God--through His Word and through prayer. But the fact is that while the Word contains facts about God, only through prayer and prayerful use of the Word can we use it to get to know God.
What we call prayer includes prayers of request for ourselves and others, confession of sin, adoration, praise and thanksgiving, and also God communicating to us indications of His response.
Question! Has it ever occurred to you that the design of prayer in the divine plan for mankind is a fantastically puzzling mystery?
Prayer is not made so that God can find out what we need, because Jesus tells us, "Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him." (Matthew 6:8) Why should there be a system or plan of prayer at all? Could not He who spoke the worlds into existence and who holds them by that same word accomplish His purposes without the help of puny man with his prayers?
God wants us to pray because prayer expresses our trust in Him and is a means whereby our trust in Him can increase. That is why P
But God does not only want us to trust Him. He also wants us to love Him and have fellowship with Him. Prayer brings us into deeper fellowship with God, and He loves us and delights in our fellowship with Him. God wants us to pray, because in prayer, God allows us as creatures to be involved in activities that are eternally important. When we pray, the work of the kingdom is advanced, souls are saved, people are healed, our situations in life are transformed and God receives glory.
God invites us to pray! He not only invites us; He entreats, He importunes, He urges. He even begs us to exercise this blessed privilege of prayer!

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One translator has paraphrased Matthew 7:7 thus: "Ask, I ask you to ask; seek, I entreat you to seek; knock, I urge you to knock." God not only invites and exhorts us to pray, He also commands: "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth labourers into his harvest." (Matthew 9:33)
Through the plan of prayer God actually is inviting redeemed man into full partnership with Him, not in making divine decisions, but in implementing those decisions in the affairs of humankind!
Let’s ask the question...How does prayer work? Does prayer not only do us good but also affect God and the world around us? Prayer changes the way God works. James tells us, "You do not have, because you do not ask" (James 4:4). He implies that failure to ask deprives us of what God would otherwise have given us. When we ask, God responds.
If we were really convinced that prayer changes the way God acts, and that God does bring about remarkable changes in the world in response to prayer, as Scripture repeatedly teaches that He does, then we would pray much more than we do. If we pray little, it’s probably because we do not really believe that prayer accomplishes much at all.
Each Christian should evaluate his or her prayer life, correct it in needy areas, and continue developing a more effective prayer life. The Bible gives us principles, exhortations, and examples concerning prayer and an opportunity to improve our praying. Jesus said: "When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us day by day our daily bread, 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." (Luke 11:2-4) True praying is believer’s effective communication with God. The general New Testament formula for prayer is to pray in the Spirit (Ephesians 6:18), through (or in the name of) Jesus Christ (John 14:6, 13), and to the Father (Ephesians 2:18, 3:14).
Our prayer life is a good mirror of our spirituality. If our prayers are fresh, dynamic, and growing closer to the biblical pattern of prayer, then probably our spiritual life is dynamic. But if our prayers are stale, dull, and forced, then probably our spiritual life has similar negative qualities.
Scripture commands us to pray, and thus failure to pray is sin! "And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I

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say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full." (John 16:23-24) "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) "Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin." (James 4:17) "Moreover, as for we, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you; but I will teach you the good and the right way. Only fear the Lord, and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you." (1 Samuel 12:23-24)
Remember our text...continue steadfastly in prayer!
Other people can pray for us, but they cannot pray in our place. There are no subs or pinch hitters in this matter of personal prayer! The newest and most immature Christian can and should pray. God wants each Christian to pray to Him and no one else’s prayers can substitute.
Prayer requires human decision and initiative. And when we do not know how to pray, the indwelling Spirit of God will help us.
"Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God." (Romans 8:26-27)
Interpreters differ on whether the "sighs too deep for words" (as indicated in another version of the Scriptures) are the sighs the Holy Spirit Himself makes or our own sighs and groans in prayer, which the Holy Spirit makes into effective prayer before God. The version to which I have just referred is the King James text and it reads as follows: "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings (sighs) which cannot be uttered (too deep for words)." The word does not indicate that the Holy Spirit prays instead of us, but that the Holy Spirit takes part with us and makes our weak prayers effective.
Related to this matter is the question of what it means to pray "in the Spirit." Paul says, "Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication." (Ephesians 6:18) "But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on

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your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." (Jude 20-21). In order to understand this phrased..."in the Holy Spirit," we should realize that the New Testament tells us that many different activities can be done "in the Holy Spirit." It is possible just to be "in the Spirit" as John was on the Lord’s Day (Revelation 1:10). And it is possible to rejoice in the Holy Spirit (Luke 10:21), to resolve or decide something in the Holy Spirit (Acts 19:21), to have one’s conscience bear witness in the Holy Spirit (Romans 9:1), to have access to God in the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 2:18), and to love in the Holy Spirit (Colossians 1:18). Thus, to pray "in the Holy Spirit," then, is to pray with the conscious awareness of God’s presence surrounding us and sanctifying both us and our prayers.
Jesus showed that prayer can involve agony and hard work: "And being in anguish, He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground." (Luke 22:44).
Prayer involves spiritual warfare which can require stupendous effort which Satan opposes just as gravity opposes us when we try to carry a heavy pack up a steep hill. Paul writes: "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 the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." (Ephesians 6:10-12)
"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints." (Ephesians 6:18)
Pastor S.D. Gordon says: "The greatest agency put into man’s hands is prayer. And to define prayer one must use the language of war. Peace language is not equal to the situation. The earth is in a state of spiritual war and Satan is doing his utmost to fight for his territory and subjects. We are aliens going through enemy territory and our prayers are our communication link with our Captain and King. True prayer moves in a circle. It begins with the heart of God and sweeps down into the human heart of God’s subjects here on earth, intersecting the circle of the earth, which is the battlefield of prayer, and then goes back again to its starting point, having accomplished its purpose on the downward swing. When we pray, we give God a footing in the battlefield."

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The weapons of our spiritual warfare are powerful! "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." (2 Corinthians 10:4-5)
As for the Christian, our warfare is spiritual, thus, the weapons which we fight with must be spiritual. Carnal weapons such as human cleverness or ingenuity, organizing ability, eloquent diatribe, powerful propaganda, or reliance on charm or forcefulness of personality, are all in themselves quite unavailing in the ceaseless task of pulling down the strongholds in which evil is entrenched. Such carnal weapons may win superficial or temporary victories, but it soon becomes evident that evil has not been driven from its fortress. The only weapons adequate for the struggle come from God through prayer and supplication and intercession. The Christian will always be fighting a losing battle against temptation and the onslaughts of the devil if we try to win in our own strength. "Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." (Zechariah 4:6)
Now there is another aspect of prayer which we should consider, and that is, the aspect of praying according to the will of God. "And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask any thing according to His will, He heareth us; and if we know that He hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him." (1 John 5:14-15)
Saving faith in Christ gives us access to our Heavenly Father, and praying according to His will assures us that He will answer our prayers.
To pray effectively we need to "call on the Lord from a pure heart." The Psalmist warns us: "If I regard iniquity (wickedness) in my heart, the Lord will not hear." (Psalm 66:18)
"Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness." (Isaiah 59:1-3)
We cannot expect God to hear our prayers and we need not expect Him to bless us with answers, if we are tolerating sin and iniquity in our lives!

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Sin acts like a pair of snips that severs our prayer line. Personal sin cuts off personal communication with God. God’s repair kit is given to us in 1 John 1:9: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Christians who desire a productive prayer life must keep a pure heart.
Christ promised that "all things you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive." (Matthew 21:22) Christ was not teaching a blank-check approach to prayer. Praying with faith is not a magical formula to satisfy our selfish desires. "From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss that ye may consume it upon your lusts." (James 4:1-3) True faith desires and discerns God’s will in prayer and faith assures us that when our prayers align with God’s purposes and promises, He answers our prayers.
God answers prayer in response to stable faith, as James emphasized: "But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, Who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." (James 1:5-8)
Stable faith is like an anchor firmly embedded in God’s promises. Of Abraham, it was written: "And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb: he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that, what He had promised, He was able also to perform." (Romans 4:19-21)
We pray according to the will of God when our prayer is for those things that will bring glory to God. We waste our breath and time praying for that which does not glorify God.
God wills that Christians grow in Christ, therefore praying in God’s will includes requests that will advance our spiritual growth.
A true Christian’s behavior will include a healthy, vibrant, consistent prayer life.