When Do We Pray

Prayer • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

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Today we continue in our series on prayer

This is actually… week number 3, so if you’ve missed one of the previous studies, make sure to check out our YouTube channel and get caught up.

We started out two weeks ago with the more than obvious question:

“What is prayer?” - WE OFFERED THREE ANSWERS:

Prayer is communication with God

Prayer is a practice of listening and expectation

and = Prayer is a demonstration of relationship with God.

Last week we hit study number Two:

asking the question: ‘WHAT DOES PRAYER ACCOMPLISH?” - and again: We gave three answers…

PRAYER INITIATES AND MAINTAINS INTIMACY WITH GOD

PRAYER ASSISTS IN THE PRACTICE OF HOLY LIVING

and… PRAYER REMINDS US OF OUR POSITION WITH GOD.

Next week: We will ask one more final question:

HOW DO WE PRAY...

But first, today, we will be looking at our watches and our calendars and our daily schedules… and we will be asking:

WHEN DO WE PRAY?

Of course… the first answer is… - tonight at 6pm, and most every Sunday night after this… we will be getting together for one hour to pray as a family. And I want to encourage you to take part in that if you’re able…

But as far as todays message goes… we are going to answer this questions with five different answers:

Answer number One: WHEN DO WE PRAY?

I’m sure the answer automatically popped into some of your heads...

You know the passage… it only has three words, so it’s an easy one to remember…

WE PRAY, WITHOUT CEASING:

1 Thessalonians 5:17 ESV

17 pray without ceasing,

In fact, to get a better understanding of this short little Pauline command… let’s look at the verse before it, and after it…

1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 ESV

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Rejoicing, praying, and giving thanks…

All three of these, categorically, are expressions of prayer.

And, all three of these are being commanded, in a non stop, continual fashion.

When do we rejoice? - Always.

When do we pray? W/o ceasing.

When do we give thanks… - as long as there are circumstances in our lives… which is all the time.

In fact… we cannot truly understand these commands, unless we talk first about circumstances.

There are some things in life, that we do… because these things… just need to happen. - We eat, we breath, we sleep, we work, we rest, and we routinely bathe ourselves.

The circumstances of our lives are continually changing. Sometimes, circumstances encourage us… and sometimes… they discourage us.

But, we continue to do the things that need to happen, whether we are encouraged, or discouraged.

Responsibility… survival… basic human need… - these things happen… always, w/o ceasing, and no matter what the circumstance.

There are two ways to consider the topic of ‘praying w/o ceasing’

The old standby… which remains true and should not be discounted at all… is simply, the acknowledgment that God is always present with us.

If we are acknowledging God’s presence continually… involving Him in our conversations, our thoughts, our decisions… we are, in a way… praying w/o ceasing.

But, if we look at verses 16-18 together… another picture comes to light.

We see three things:

Always - W/o Ceasing - In every circumstance.

This is more than acknowledging God’s continual presence.

This is a lesson, on how vital prayer is in our life.

In 3 short verses, Paul is telling us… that our call to prayer, ranks up there with responsibility, survival, and basic human need.

Paul is tell us..

Prayer needs to happen.

It’s God’s will.

And just as we eat, and breath, and sleep, and go to work, and fulfill the mandatory responsibilities of daily living...

We also… need to be praying.

Not… because of some legalistic compulsion.

Not, because there’s a rule… saying that we have to meet a prayer quota.

Not because we are being pressured into it so we can feel like we are a better Christian.

We are called to pray, because our spiritual lives depend upon up it.

No one tells you to breath, or eat… under a legalistic compulsion.

No one tells you to sleep, or support your family… to meet some kind of quota.

N one tells you, that your daily physical needs are accomplished, so you can feel like a better human.

The things you do… ALWAYS, W/O CEASING, AND IN EVERY CIRCUMSTANCE… are the things you do to survive.

Paul reminds us… that prayer is this important.

Also, Paul show us a level of priority in our prayers..

In prayer, we communicate with God.

In God, we are given an opulence of grace.

In God, our life is spiritual, eternal, and so much bigger than the physical mire around us…

So… in spite of what’s going on in this physical mire.. - we truly, really do… have a reason to rejoice in God.

In spite of our circumstance… we truly do, have a reason to give thanks.

The things we rejoice in, and give thanks for.. are not temporary, like our troubles… they are eternal. They are not physical, like our hardship, they are spiritual. They are not worked for, sometimes in vain… like the fruits of physical labor… - they are given freely… unearned… with mercy and grace… from God.

When do we pray? Always, w/o ceasing, and in every circumstance.

NUMBER TWO:

WHEN HEALING AND FORGIVENESS ARE NEEDED (2 Chron 7:1)

2 Chronicles 7:1 ESV

1 As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple.

This verse represents God’s response to Solomon’s prayer.

In chapter 6… he prayed a prayer of dedication for the temple…

And in that prayer… he expressed how the people of Israel would come to this temple.

They would come and pray at this temple… because they had sinned against God, and the enemies were defeating them.

They would come and pray at this temple.. when, because of their sin… no rain was falling on their land.

They would come and pray at this temple, when, because of their sin… famine would be upon the land.

When, because of their sin, they are defeated and carried away as captives… if they plead with God from the land of their captivity… if they repent with all their heart and soul… and pray towards this temple… God would hear them.

It’s a pretty incredible prayer… jot it down. 2 Chron. 6… - Solomon’s prayer, about the way people should be praying.. teaches us A LOT… about prayer.

When we sin… when we rebel…

There are going to be circumstances.

Often times, we look at those circumstances, and they drive us into seclusion and separation. We embrace he shame of it all, and declare ourselves unworthy to come before God.

We have sinned… and now… we suffer some form of drought, or famine, or captivity…

In that time… do we pray?

No.. instead, we succumb to guilt… we succumb to shame… and we separate.

This natural, psychological response… is a lie from hell.

Solomon said… that God’s temple was there, so that people could come to it… when they are experiencing drought, famine and captivity. - Not, separate from it in shame and guilt...

but come to it, in prayer.

In fact, we can come with confidence…

Hebrews 4:16 ESV

16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

When do we come, with Confidence, before Gods throne of grace?

When we need mercy… when we need grace..

When we need… healing and forgiveness.

number three:

WHEN WE ARE IN TROUBLE (James 5:13)

James 5:13 ESV

13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.

Is there trouble?

Is there suffering?

Here’s what the scriptures say.

Let that person pray.

The cheerful one should also pray… - To praise God when things are good comes natural. I watched a show Friday where a guy caught the biggest red fish of his life… and he kept saying, “Praise The Lord”.

He was cheerful… so he praised God.

I think these two lessons on prayer are tied together for a reason.

The instinctive response to cheer… should be praise.

In the same way...

The instinctive response to trouble and suffering… should be prayer.

when you are sick… when the bad news drops… when you are in a panic.

You instinctively pray… - Lord, help me. Lord, heal me.

This should be our first ‘go to’… w/o thinking.

What do I do?

Hopefully… before we even get to that point, we have already cried out, in desperation to God.

Number 4.. - when do we pray?

WHEN WE FACE TEMPTATION (Matt 26.41)

Matthew 26:41 ESV

41 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Jesus stayed up all night, agonizing before His Father about the events of the next day.

We only know of a few words that were spoken...

This prayer time… probably had hours of unbroken silence… just offering up, His condition… his agony… His anticipation… to God.

At the same time, He wanted a few of His disciples to watch and pray with Him.

The watching part… meant - Be awake, and be aware.

Keep watch… keep your eyes open… remain alert… Be zealous… be on guard.

In addition to zealous awareness… they are also told to pray.

Why? Because the flesh will be tempted.

The events of the next few days, were going to be hard for them also.

Their Lord was going to be made out to be an enemy… a criminal… -hated by the masses…

It was cool to be on Jesus’ team when everyone was throwing down palm fromms and crying out Hosanna.

But it would not be so cool.... to be on Jesus’ team, when the masses were crying out… ‘Crucify Him’.

Public sentiment towards Jesus was very volatile.

One minute, the masses were ok with you, if you were on Jesus’ team… because Jesus was very entertaining… He was performing miracles… He was drawing a crowd… He was feeding people…

But, the next moment… the narrative would turn. And being a follower of Jesus would become scandalous.

Many of those who cry out, ‘crucify Him’…were probably following Him just one week previous..

There would be temptations…

And to be equipped to face those temptations, the disciples were told, ‘to watch and pray’.

James chapter 1 tells us what temptation is, and how it works:

James 1:13–15 ESV

13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

temptation starts with desire.

This word ‘desire’ would have meant something specific to the Greek reader. Context is brought to this word in the stoic writers that many of these folks grew up with.

Plato, and the other stoics used this word… desire… to mean something specific. It referred to the impulses to engage in reprehensible activity.

This teaches something about God. He is not tempted. He does not have reprehensible desire.

And… He doesn’t provoke reprehensible desire in His followers.

But people do have such desires. People are broken and naturally given to sin… so people will desire things that are not profitable.

When that desire seeks to be fulfilled… it creates temptation.

The days after jesus’ arrest could create in His followers, a desire to disassociate with Him. A desire to deny Him.

Peter himself, would allow that desire to conceive, and it would give birth to sin.

This is where the ‘watching part’ becomes very important.

The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak .

the weak flesh… is always watching. It’s always on the lookout for things that might fulfill its desire.

But the spirit is not always on the lookout…

We need to make that commitment… we need to attain that awareness.

The flesh is watching...

The spirit needs to watch too.

Where do we watch?

Well… if there is one door in the wall, where in the enemy might enter… then that is the door where you will watch.

You know you.

You know your desire.

That desire… is the place where you have been lured away and enticed before.

That desire, is the source of past temptation...

And those past temptations have led to sin.

If you know where that door is… you know where to watch and pray.

When do we pray?

w/o ceasing

When healing and forgiveness are needed

When we are in trouble

When we are tempted…

and finally… POINT 5

WHEN WE ARE WEAK, DISTRESSED AND W/O WORDS (Rom 8.26 , 1 Pet 5.7)

Romans 8:26 ESV

26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

This… might speak in reference to the gift of tongues..

In tongues, a person speaks to God, not man… his understanding is unfruitful, but in the spirit he speaks mysteries..

When the believers in Acts 2 spoke in tongues… the people of the nations looked on in wonder as Galileans spoke their languages… and declared the wonders of God.

Tongues is one of the miraculous spirituals that Paul describes to the Corinthian church… a miraculous practice, along with prophecy, miracles and knowledge, that happens under the gumption and empowering of the Holy Spirit.

So… Rom. 8:26, might be about tongues.

But Paul doesn’t make that clarification here. He is abundantly clear as he teaches on the topic to the Corinthians… but this passage is vague.

The gift of tongues is described as ‘tongues of men and angels’… - it is the spiritually empowered gift, under the gumption of the spirit, to pray in a real language… to God.

But this passage speaks of ‘groanings too deep for words’.

So… this passage might be about tongues.

But I don’t think it is.

This is something similar.

In both cases… the HS is involved in our prayers… inspiring them, and empowering them.

But in this case… it appears as if our tongue is still

There are no languages.

There are no words.

Sometimes… when we are weak… we don’t know what to pray.

But.. we still know, that we should.

And this isn’t an easy thing to describe.

Practicing this… will look different for all of us.

For me… it’s just a matter of telling the Lord, I don’t have words… but I’m distressed… and sitting, in silence in His presence.

I think of this passage… like a person getting a scan or an xray..

We just put ourselves in a place of openness and vulnerability to the Lord..

And we know, that nothing is hidden from Him..

and we trust… that our hearts are being searched… and the Spirit is interceding for us.

These prayers are quiet… they are still… they are more about opening the doors and turning on the lights in our hearts and minds… than they are about saying the right words…

1 Peter 5:7 ESV

7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

The anxieties… are the things that you are ‘caring about’… the things that matter most to you.

This isn’t about our social disorders… or about us being neurotic about order, or crowds, or germs…

This is about the things that we care about… the things that are important to us. The things that we embrace and pour ourselves into.

God wants us to cast… literally.. hurl, these things upon Him.

Because He cares for us.

And because He cares for us… He cares about the things we care about…

We get distressed about the things we care about..

We get burdened by these things…

We are crushed under the weight of these things…

And when this happens… and when we don’t even have words…

We should pray.

Get that?

You don’t even have to have words… to pray.

You can come and join us tonight… and never once, open your mouth and say an audible word.

Not all prayers, require words.

Especially… when we are weak and distressed.

CONCLUSION.

SO… - we have talked about..

Why We should Pray

What does prayer accomplish..

When should we pray...

and next week.

one more..

How Do We Pray…

band / communion / close.

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