October 20, 2019

All Scripture from NIV unless otherwise documented.

Ephesians 6: 18 – 20 18And 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. 19Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.”
Last week began a series on prayer based on the book, “How to Pray” by R. A. Torrey. And in last week’s message, we looked at the first five of ten reasons that Torrey gave as important reasons that we should pray.

Reason number one was because of the devil. We talked about the fact that the Scriptures teach us that there is a spiritual battle going on in our lives, a battle not against flesh and blood, but a battle between the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Reason number two was that “Prayer is God’s appointed way for obtaining things.” James said you have not because you ask not and Jesus said, Ask and you shall receive. How many of you have tried specific prayer requests this past week and have seen God’s answer? Reason number three was that it is the most important work of the church leaders, especially the elders. Reason number four had to do with the importance of prayer in Jesus personal life when He was on earth, and reason five, had to do with his ministry of intercession at the right hand of God, both examples to us of why we should pray, to be in the presence of our best friend and to intercede on the behalf of others. Today I want to take a brief look at the remaining five reasons that Torrey said that prayer is important.

Reason number six, Prayer is the way we obtain mercy and grace to help overcome temptation. Don’t raise your hands, but I want you to think about this question. Do you struggle with temptation? I’m not just talking about sexual temptation, but temptation of any kind. Temptation to lie. Temptation to gossip. Temptation to steal. Temptation to cheat. Temptation to, well, you can fill in the blank with whatever temptation that you have trouble with. I know that you struggle with some form of temptation, but I also want you to understand that Jesus is there to help you get through it. Hebrews 4: 16 states: “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Jesus was tempted in every way, (with every temptation that you and I could ever face) yet He was without sin. And although it doesn’t specifically state it, could it be that one of the ways that Jesus was able to overcome sin in His life was because of His prayer life? Some have suggested that in the Garden, when Jesus asked the Father to take the cup away, that it was a cup of temptation to forgo the cross. How did He gain the strength to go through with the cross? By praying to the Father, “Not my will but yours”.

I wonder how it would go if when we were tempted to sin, we prayed, “God, not my will but yours”? I don’t know about you, but when I’m tempted, the last thing I really want to do is to pray. Why? Because the power of temptation to sin is strong. But you and I need to fight that pull of temptation toward sin, and one method that God has given us to fight temptation is to pray.
Torrey’s seventh reason that we need to pray is that prayer in Jesus name is His appointed way for us to obtain fullness of joy. Jesus said to his disciples: “Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.”
Has someone or something ever stolen the joy from your life? Have you ever been having a great day, and then someone came along and just ruined it because of something they said or did? Have you ever gotten up and been having a great morning, and then went out to start your car and the battery was dead or one of your tires was flat?

There are so many things that can rob us of our joy. A flat tire or a dead battery are just little things, but they can sure rob us of our joy. What about a diagnosis of cancer, or an announcement from a spouse that they want a divorce, or a notice in the mail that your car is being repossessed or you let go from your job? What can we do when someone or something robs us of our joy? Pray. Pray in Jesus name. It is times like these that our faith really comes under a test, and it is times like these that we will find out how much joy we really have in our relationship with Jesus. When we pray in Jesus name we come into His presence and the psalmist said, “you will fill me with joy in your presence.” Related to the seventh reason to pray we find that the eighth reason we need to pray is to help overcome worry. To help overcome worry. Do any of you struggle with worry or anxiety? Paul wrote in Philippians 4: 6 & 7, “6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Prayer helps relieve anxiety. Prayer overcomes worry. Prayer brings peace of mind.”

Everyone deals with anxiety in one form or another from time to time. Some people can keep it in check, but others allow it to overcome them. No one needs to be overcome by worry and anxiety, because God has given us prayer for the express purpose of dealing with it. Paul said through prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, you can have a peace that transcends all understanding. Instead of anxiety, peace. That’s what I want, and how can I achieve
It? Prayer. What a novel idea when worry comes into your life, pray.

Number nine on Torrey’s list of why prayer is important is that it helps one to keep his life from spiraling downward. Luke 21: 34 says, “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap.” The word dissipation is related to the concept of the 2nd law of thermodynamics, which states that things tend to go from order to disorder. In the bible it is used of intemperate living and self-indulgence. If you take that definition and add to it drunkenness and anxiety, you can see where I come up with downward
spiral of life.

Prayer can help turn things around when nothing else seems to work. Prayer can halt this downward spiral into self-indulgence by turning your thoughts and actions outward and not just inward and upward, not downward. When you begin to pray, and especially if you focus on Christ and on others, it helps take away the focus on your own troubles. That takes us back once again to Philippians 4 where Paul said not to worry, but to pray.
Finally, reason number ten why we need to pray is because of what prayer accomplishes. According to Torrey, among other things, prayer accomplishes the following things:

First, prayer promotes spiritual growth. While Bible study can give us a lot of head knowledge, prayer is what changes the head knowledge into heart knowledge. Before we ever pick up the Bible to study, we should pray that God will prepare our hearts and minds to be able to understand and apply the things that it teaches us. How does God prepare our hearts and minds? One way is by revealing to us un-confessed sin that might hinder our spiritual growth. Psalm 139: 23 – 24 “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.” We all ought to memorize that verse and repeat it every time we sit down to study our Bibles.

Prayer also brings power into our work. Last week I said that prayer is the most important part of Jesus present day ministry. I also told you that when Jesus had offered up His sacrifice, He sat down at the right hand of God. The significant thing about that is that the right hand of God is a symbol of power that has been granted to Jesus. When we ask Jesus to bless our work, through prayer, we receive power to do that work.
Jesus said: “Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” John 14: 11 – 14
If you want to have power to do God’s work, pray in Jesus name. Prayer also helps accomplish the conversion of non-Christians. In many, many testimonies that I have heard or read, someone was praying for that person’s salvation. Some people do not see their need for salvation. They think that they are fine without God in their lives, but Jesus said that there is only one way to God, and that is through Him. You and I need to pray for those in our
families, our neighbors, our co-workers, and our friends, that they would come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

And finally, prayer brings blessings to the church. The devil hates the church and will do all he can to disrupt and bring division and false doctrine into the church. Disharmony in the church is not of God. Paul wrote in Ephesians 4: 3 – 6, “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” As we pray for each other and for the programs of the church, and as we work together in the unity of the Spirit, God will bless the church. But we must be committed to praying for the church. It is my hope, my desire, my prayer, that each one of you will begin to use the powerful means of prayer in your lives, to develop a deeper, closer and more abiding relationship with God, and to find His help and power to do His work in the church and in the world.