First Slide Prayer Basics Ephesians 6:18

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1 First Slide Prayer Basics Ephesians 6:18 Please open your Bible to Ephesians 6. We should pray because prayer is the foundation of every successful Christian endeavor. Today, we ll look at a few prayer basics. For over a year, we ve asked God to make our church a house of prayer and us individual houses of prayer. Have you made progress in your prayer life? On a daily basis, have you gone to a quiet place and talked with God. Have you really prayed? We live in a world where prayer is a necessity. We face many difficulties. We make important decisions. Evil abounds. We have sinful tendencies to conquer. We have enemies, and some of them are spiritual. We need to pray fervently because we are in a war that is more crucial than all the wars in all the history books. 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 describes the war in which we are engaged. (3) For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. (4) The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. (5) We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. We re familiar with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The wars are about terrorism. Our military uses physical weapons to fight against physical enemies in wars that are physical in nature. The world wages war in a physical dimension. War is not limited to physical wars on foreign soil. War is spiritual, and it takes place on the turf of our lives. We are engaged in a spiritual war, as described in the verses I read from 2 Corinthians. Right now, A spiritual war is taking place all around us. Some of us may experience a spiritual war on the inside. If you struggle in your mind with the decision to accept Christ as your Savior, that s a spiritual war. If you fight an addiction, that s a spiritual war. If you wrestle with anger, greed, resentment, revenge, gossip, laziness, or lying, that may be a spiritual war.

2 None of us is exempt from spiritual warfare. The war is a battle between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. The verses we just read tell us the battle is against the knowledge of God. The battle is against the truth. The battle is personal. Satan wants to trap unbelievers in his kingdom of darkness. He wants to enslave people eternally. He doesn t want even one person to defect into God s kingdom. If you have escaped from the prison of Satan s kingdom, he still wants to destroy you. He wants to make you ineffective in God s kingdom. Always remember, the battle is personal. Satan wants you. If Satan keeps us from prayer, he will be successful in his bottom line objective. The objective of Satan's military strategy is ownership and control of humans. The battle is about personal domination. The ultimate battle is over the spirits of men and women. It may appear that Satan dabbles in other areas, but what he really wants are the spirits of people. He wants to determine their eternal destiny. Satan wants to make hell the final and eternal address for the spirits of people. The verses we just read tell us that our weapons are not the conventional weapons of the world. We don't fight Satan with tanks, fighter jets, bombs, grenades, rocket launchers, and aircraft carriers. Our weapons have divine power and their purpose is to demolish spiritual strongholds. Let's look at these weapons. Next slide. I m reading from Ephesians 6 beginning with verse 13. (13) Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. (14) Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled round your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, (15) and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. (16) In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. (17) Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (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 spiritual weapons are (1) The Word of God, (2) The power of the Holy Spirit,

3 and (3) Prayer. Prayer is the spiritual weapon we will discuss today. A professor conducted a study group and asked students to fill in the blank of this statement, When it comes to prayer, I. How would you complete the statement? Here are the top three answers. (1) I don't pray enough. (2) I don't know what to pray. (3) I don't know if prayer does any good. For most people, prayer isn t a priority. They don t pray enough. They don t know how or for what to pray. They lack faith to believe in the power of prayer. Most people do not know the basics of prayer. Next slide. Let s look at several Prayer Basics. What is prayer? Prayer is a two-way conversation with a loving God, knowing that he listens and answers. A six-year-old old girl was looking forward to the church picnic. She disobeyed her mother, so her mother told her she would not be able to go to the picnic. Her heart was broken. Because the mother could see her repentance, she changed her mind and told her daughter she could go to the picnic. The daughter still looked sad, so the mother asked her what was wrong. The daughter said, "I've already prayed for rain." The daughter had a two-way conversation with God, knowing that he listened to her. Prayer is a two-way conversation, where we believe God will listen and answer. Jeremiah 33:3 says, Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know. When we call to God, he answers. On a future Sunday, we ll talk about the ways God answers prayers. To pray to God, you must have a relationship with God. Romans 10:13 says. "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." To have a prayer conversation with God, you must call upon him and have a relationship with him. Do you have a relationship with God? Would you like to? Prayer isn t just one-way, with us talking to God. God wants to speak to us. John 10:27 reads, My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. God wants us, his sheep, to listen to his voice and follow his direction. Next slide. We just looked at the question, What is prayer? let s look at a second question related to Prayer Basics. Why should we pray? 1. Prayer is commanded in the Bible. Matthew 21:13 says, "It is written, he said to them, My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of rob-

4 bers. Jesus didn t say, My house may be called a house of prayer. He didn t declare, You can pray in my house if you feel like it. Jesus commanded, My house will be called a house of prayer, because you will pray there. Colossians 4:2 says, Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, pray continually; Prayer is not optional. God expects us to pray devotedly and continually. Why should we pray? The Bible commands us to pray. There is a second reason we should pray. 2. Prayer allows us to know God. God wants to have an intimate relationship with each of us. The creator of the universe wants to talk with you, yes with you. The more we talk with God, the better we know him. How much do you talk to God? Think back to a time when you met someone and wanted to know more about that person. Did you go to the library to read about him or her? No. Did you search for info on the Internet? No, you talked to that person. Do you remember how much you talked in order to get to know each other? Conversation opened up the relationship between you and the person of your interest. It works the same way with God. You need to go beyond reading about God in a book or on the Internet. You need to do more than go to places where people talk about God. If you re interested in getting to know God better, you need to talk to him. Why should we pray? Prayer conversations with God allow us to know him better. There is a third reason we should pray. 3. Prayer helps us not to worry. Philippians 4:6-7 says, Do not worry about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 1 Peter 5:7 tells us to cast all our anxieties on God, because he cares for us. We cast our worries on God through prayer. In prayer, we can transfer our problems to the broad shoulders of God. We live in a worried world. Some people aren t satisfied unless they have something to worry about. Worry harms the body. Worry enslaves the mind. Worry is a disease. The disease is worry; the cure is prayer.

5 Why should we pray? Prayer helps us not to worry. It helps us to minimize anxiety. There is a fourth reason we should pray. 4. Prayer was modeled by Christ. Jesus prayed a lot. He prayed in the morning, evening, and throughout the day. Jesus told us that he only did what the Father told him to do. He talked and listened to God. That should speak volumes to us. It spoke volumes to the disciples. What did they ask of him? "Lord, will you teach us to pray?" The disciples observed Jesus devotion to prayer. They saw his commitment to be an individual house of prayer. Jesus gave them and us a model for praying. Here s the model from Matthew 6. Go to a quiet place, shut out the world, and talk to God. Jesus often went to a quiet place to pray. He got alone with God. That s our model. Jesus also modeled prayer in the prayer he gave to his disciples. We call it the Lord s Prayer. From the Lord s Prayer we get the ACTS model. Adore God. Confess your sins. Thank God. Offer supplication, which means to request things from God. Why should we pray? Prayer was modeled by Christ to his disciples and to us. There is a fifth reason to pray. 5. Prayer works. When we pray, things happen. When we don t pray, things don t happen. Pray big prayers. Don't limit God by not praying. God wants to bless you. He wants you to grow spiritually. He wants his kingdom to flourish. Jeremiah 29:11 states, For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. God has plans for your life. Prayer puts God s plans into action. John 15:7 reads, If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. Prayer is not a name it and claim it magic recipe. Prayer is a two-way conversation with a loving God. When we remain in him, which means live according to his will, and his words remain in us, which means we live by the Bible, we will ask for things that are God s will and God will provide. Prayer works. What happens if we don t pray? James 4: 2 says, "You do not have, because you do not ask." Let s live for God. Let s live by the Bible. Let s ask for things that are in God s will. Let s see results. Why should we pray? Prayer works. There is a sixth reason to pray.

6 6. Prayer shows our dependence on God. The purpose of prayer is not to get God to do what we want, but to get us to do what God wants. Through prayer, we depend on God to guide us to be what he wants us to be. Prayer transfers our trust from our abilities to God s ability. It s a very wise transfer of trust. Jeremiah 17:5 declares, This is what the LORD says: "Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD. When we trust in others or ourselves and leave God out, we re asking for trouble. Why would we settle for human strength when prayer secures God s strength? Trust in God. Proverbs 3:5-6 says, Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. I like a straight and smooth path in life, so I m going to trust in God. It isn t wise for us to depend on human strength. Depend on God in prayer. Why should we pray? Prayer shows our dependence on God. There is a seventh reason to pray. 7. Prayer is personally fulfilling. Philippians 1:4 says, In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy. When Paul prayed for the Christians in Philippi, he experienced fulfillment that produced joy. Paul found it fulfilling to pray for the Philippians. He experienced further fulfillment when God answered his prayers. Some of the most fulfilling times I have experienced, were prayer times. It s fulfilling to be in God s presence. It s fulfilling to talk to God about other people needs. It s fulfilling to praise God for who he is. It s fulfilling to thank God for what he has done. Regular, real conversation with God will enrich us and deepen our relationship with him. Confession will cleanse us. Praise and adoration will lift us up. Prayer will quiet our hearts and give us peace. There is great satisfaction in selfless prayer. Why should we pray? Prayer is personally fulfilling. Next Slide. Let s review. We are in a spiritual war, and prayer is our weapon. What is prayer? Prayer is a two-way conversation with a loving God, knowing he listens and answers. Why should we pray? We should pray because Jesus told us to pray, and prayer achieves results. In Matthew 6, Jesus said, Go to your room, shut the door, and pray to the Father. Will you do what Jesus said? Will you really pray?