John F. MacArthur - Ten Steps to Persistent Prayer

our text this morning is one verse chapter five and verse 17 first thessalonians 5:17 says pray without ceasing the Apostle Paul in this simple and specific command calls on Christians to pray basically as a way of life I used to say praying is like breathing it's just normal it's just natural it's just living for us we inhale we exhale the atmosphere of the presence and the power of God and while that is true it is also true that we who are dependent on God and who if genuinely Christians do commune with God do not pray as unceasingly as we ought to pray we are guilty I think of spiritually holding our breath while we would assume that the pressure of the very environment of God's presence would force us to pray even as air pressure forces us to breathe that's not necessarily the case and we as Christians restrict our intake of the very presence of God due to our own sinfulness and so comes the injunction of the Apostle Paul to pray without ceasing to pray at all times continual persistent incessant prayer is an essential part of Christian living and it flows out of dependence on God I want us to understand this principle of praying without ceasing and while just reading it gives you certain clear understanding there is much more to enhance the significance of that statement found in Scripture and I want to see if I can't give you some of the riches of what the word has to say a good starting point is to look at two parables that are in fact among the many parables of our Lord these two stand out as unique they are unique for a very simple and interesting reason all other parables relate to God by comparison all other parables relate to God by comparison in some way they are like God they are like God's kingdom they are like the way God operates these two parables relate to God by contrast they are not like God they're the only two parables Jesus ever gave that relate to God in a contrasting way these two parables show us illustrations of someone who is utterly unlike God and in so doing make a very very strong point about this matter of persistent praying without ceasing let's turn to these two parables the first one we find is in Luke chapter 11 it is called the parable of the reluctant friend Luke chapter 11 our Lord gave it in a context of Prayer in fact the disciples had come to him and they said Luke 11:1 Lord teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples and Jesus responded to them with the very familiar words when you pray say father hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us and lead us not into temptation the familiar Lord's Prayer or disciples prayer so in verses 2 to 4 Jesus taught them what to say he taught them basically the content of prayer when you pray you are to honor God and hallow his name you are to pray for those things that relate to his kingdom you are to seek the daily provision that he alone give you are to confess your sins and seek his forgiveness and you are to ask for his wisdom so as not to be led into temptation those are the component parts of prayer that's how to pray what to say when you pray but beyond that notice verse 10 he goes further he said to them suppose one of you shall have a friend and shall go to him at midnight and say to him friend lend me three loaves for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey and I have nothing to set before him and from inside he shall answer and say do not bother me the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed I cannot get up and give you anything you have to remember that in those days when it was cold the whole family got in the same bed for the sake of warmth and they were all tucked in and warm and it was midnight and this was not a time to get out of bed and get some bread for your friend verse 8 I tell you Jesus said even though he will not get up and give his friend anything because he is his friend yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs in other words what he wouldn't do for friendship he'll do for sleep because the guy won't go away until he gets his bread so Jesus is saying here is a man whose friendship will not allow him to make this gesture of sacrifice so the man just keeps irritating him until he finally has no choice this our Lord is saying should instruct us about the benefits of persistence but the point he is really making here is that when you consider how unlike the reluctant friend God is the parable becomes all the more striking if a reluctant friend will do something for you because you're persistent imagine what a God who is not reluctant will do if you're persistent that's the contrast and Jesus goes on to talk about a father who was asked by his son verse 11 for a fish he won't give him a snake Willie instead of a fish or if he asked for an egg he will not give him a scorpion Willie in other words an earthly father is not going to give something that will harm his child an earthly father will hear the cry of his child then in verse 13 if you then being evil that's the point know how to give good gifts to your children how much more shall your heavenly father implied who is not evil give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him God is so different but God responds to persistence if an unfaithful friend a reluctant friend an unsympathetic friend a friend who lacks compassion a friend who has no mercy and feels no grace will because of your persistent asking respond what do you think a God who is loving gracious merciful compassionate and tender-hearted will do if you're persistent praying without ceasing moves the hand of God so first he told them what to say and then Jesus said now I want to remind you to keep saying it to say it with persistence because God who is good will hear and respond in Luke 18 there is another parable that follows the same contrastive style and verse 1 of Luke 18 Jesus again has been teaching about prayer and he was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not lose heart if you don't get an immediate answer if things aren't exactly the way you want them to be if things don't turn around as quickly as you might have planned don't lose heart you need to continue to pray you need to pray at all times incessantly continually without ceasing and then to illustrate this he says there wasn't a certain City a judge who didn't fear God and didn't respect man you'll have to figure out for yourself how he got to be a judge but he did and there was a widow in that city at least in this story and she kept coming to him this judge repeatedly saying give me legal protection from my opponent's opponent apparently someone was doing everything possible to take away her meager substance in life and she was pleading for justice at the court of this judge and for a while verse 4 says he was unwilling but afterward he said to himself even though I do not fear God no respect man yet because this Widow bothers me I will give her legal protection lest by continually coming she wear me out this woman is a pain what I will not do for love of God and what I will not do for love of humanity I will do for peace of mind he's saying I can't take this constant badgering then verse 6 and the Lord said hear what the unrighteous judge said thou shalt not God bring about justice for his elect who cry to him day and night and will he delay long over them I tell you he will bring about justice for them speedily you see God is different than an unjust judge God is different than a reluctant friend but if a reluctant friend and an unjust judge will do what is asked because of the continual pleading then certainly a compassionate loving gracious kind tender-hearted God will do more that's his point so Jesus is saying in effect pray pray like this pray persistently pray consistently pray at all times don't give up don't lose heart keep knocking keep asking keep seeking and good compassionate faithful loving gracious merciful Jehovah your God will hear and answer now some have imagined that such parables are contradictory to other things that Jesus taught for example back in Matthew chapter 6 he said something in me on the surface of pure contradictory and needs to be understood in Matthew 6 verse 7 Jesus said and when you are praying do not use meaningless repetition as the heathen do for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words therefore do not be like them where your father knows what you need before you ask him you say now isn't this contradictory is that he's saying don't be repetitious in your praying no he is saying don't be meaninglessly repetitious that's the key word what do you mean meaningless repetition well the kind of prayer is that the pagans pray they suppose they will be heard for their many words in other words it isn't that the deity cares about their heart it isn't that the god understands the compassion the passion the pain the longing the desire of the heart it is that there is some formula some religious ritual some ceremony some mantra some chant some something or other some sequence of beads some repetitious formula that's going to somehow make that God do something that otherwise wouldn't do Jesus was simply saying to them don't pray in that way he is not forbidding meaningful repetition he is not forbidding the pleading of the heart what he is forbidding is empty ritual heartless babble that flows only from the mouth and assumes that God will be responding because of the words rather than the heart so when Paul says pray without ceasing he's not in disagreement with Jesus he is simply supporting the principle taught in Luke 11 and Luke 18 that prayer is to be incessant we are not heard simply for our many words but we are heard for the cry of our heart the man who came to his friend's house and needed bread did not pray a formula ritual prayer he pleaded for something he needed the widow who came to the judge did not offer to the judge some mantra or some chant or some recitation of ritual prayer the woman gave the cry of her heart for protection from one who had the power to do that and such heart crying repetitious prayer is that which moves the heart of a compassionate loving God in fact we can even start to understand praying without ceasing by looking at the life of our Lord Himself since he did that he was obviously in constant communion with the father we see him in Scripture rising up early to pray we see him spending all night in prayer it must have been an unending and non-stop communion between himself and the father Hebrews tells us that he offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears that is a fascinating insight there was an intensity in the prayers of Jesus that is utterly unique that is utterly amazing when he prayed on a number of occasions there was a great agonizing and we can assume that even though the scripture does not Chronicle for us all the details of all of his praying that it had much of the same kind of intensity as those prayers that we do see and have revealed to us in the text when the Bible tells us that he went into the Mount of Olives and prayed all night there was no doubt an intensity in that kind of praying that we know very little about if anything the one great classic illustration we have of the intensity of his praying comes in the garden prior to his death where we see him praying there and sweat in an agony of blood he is kneeling down and praying Luke writes in chapter 22 saying father if thou be willing remove this cup from me nevertheless not my will but thine be done and Luke writes and being in an agony he prayed more earnestly and his sweat became as it were great drops of blood falling to the ground there is an agonizing intense kind of experience here that causes the Lord Jesus Christ to sweat and then to begin to bleed in that very environment of Prayer that strikes me it also strikes me that in Matthew chapter 26 verses 38 to 46 it tells us that Jesus repeated the process of his pleading in the garden for three consecutive times this was a prolonged prayer experience in fact we know well that it was prolonged so long that the disciples fell asleep on several occasions and so in this prolonged agony of Prayer we get an insight into the life of our Lord Jesus Christ which is quite unique let me tell you what I mean by that the Lord Jesus Christ wrought many mighty works when he was on earth in none of them is there any apparent expenditure of energy though the scripture says virtue went out of him there is nothing that he does in all of the holy scriptures in terms of the record of the New Testament which would indicate that there was any agonizing in the process of performing that miracle whether it would be giving sight to the blind or hearing to the deaf or speech to the dumb or giving health to the sick body or giving walking capability to a lame person or whether it was raising someone from the dead or whether it was feeding 5,000 men plus women plus children 20,000 people by the seaside or whether it was calming a storm or whether it was walking on water it didn't matter what it was there is no record that there was any apparent expenditure of energy any toil any sweat and he drops of blood in some kind of agonizing to make that thing happen there seemed have been no weariness involved no toil involved no strain involved no travail involved until it came to prayer and when he prayed there was an agony there was a wrenching of his heart his very being that showed up in his physical body he prayed in an agony unto blood a level of intensity that certainly speaks of the persistence that Jesus indicated in Luke 11 and 18 and what Paul had in mind when he said pray without ceasing the early church was marked by this kind of continual passionate unceasing prayer from the very start even before the day of Pentecost in acts 1:14 all the believers were one it says one mind and continually devoting themselves to prayer incessant prayer constant prayer persistent prayer marked the early church when the apostles were structuring the church so that all the ministry could be accomplished they themselves said we can't do all of these routine things but we will devote ourselves to prayer we will devote ourselves to prayer and the Ministry of the word in Acts chapter 12 again we see the early church Peter was kept in prison but prayer for him was being made by the Church of God fervent prayer incessant prayer persistent prayer marked the early church when you come into the epistles whether you're reading Romans ephesians philippians colossians whether you're reading first thessalonians you hear paul exhorting believers to prayer in fact perhaps as significantly as any of those epistles is Ephesians in marking out the importance of prayer he says in Ephesians 6:18 with all prayer and petition pray at all times it's the same idea pray at all times in the very Epistle we're currently studying 1st Thessalonians 3 verse 10 he gives his own example we night and day keep praying most earnestly just a way of life incessant unending ceaseless prayer Colossians I love the testimony of a Patras a bond slave of Jesus Christ always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers a man of Prayer and in chapter 4 verse 2 of Colossians he says devote yourselves to prayer keeping alert in it with an attitude of Thanksgiving unceasing prevailing persistent insistent incessant prayer is so essential maybe maybe Coleridge was right when he said prayer is the highest energy of which the human heart is capable and the Christians greatest achievement on earth but I fear that if we if we conceive of prayer as some high energy Noble glorious achievement will isolate it to a few grand moments in life it is that but it is also an incessant kind of communion that should make up the very fabric of our everyday existence it does involve intensity that is the sense of prayer God is found you remember by those who seek him with all their heart wrestling in prayer prevails with God the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much said James so while there are those great noble moments of energized energetic agonizing prayer prayer also for us is a very very evident daily way of life sometimes it just gets more intense than others pray without ceasing then is the mandate of God to us the word pray here is just the general word Prosecco my the most common New Testament word for pray it could be praise it could be thanks it could be confession it could be petition it could be intercession it could be submission it's just pray in general without ceasing is a word that basically means recurring it doesn't mean nonstop talking it means recurring prayer as I said just a way of life we're to be continually in prayer continually in an attitude of Prayer you're probably like I am I I rarely ever fall asleep at night other than in the middle of a prayer I rarely ever wake up in the morning other than praying it's so much the fabric of my life to be in an open state of communion with God sometimes more intense than others but always conscious of his presence that I find myself going to sleep in the middle of my prayers and waking back up in the middle of them again scripture gives example of people who pray in the morning people who pray at noon people to pray at night people who pray seven times a day people who pray at midnight people who pray all night people who pray before dawn people who pray for days people who pray for weeks some who prayed long some prayed short some prayed kneeling some prayed standing some prayed laying on a bed some trade lying face-down on the ground some trade hands up some trade hands down some parade hands out some prayed face down some prayed face up at cetera et cetera every way everywhere prayer pray unceasingly now if you look at our text again you see this is kind of a companion to verse 16 verse 16 says rejoice always verse 17 says pray always really there partners in spiritual life and they have a beautiful balance the believer all through his Christian life feels his insufficiency so he lives in total dependence on God as long as you feel your insufficiency and you feel your dependence you're going to pray without ceasing at the same time while feeling insufficient and dependent you also know that you are the beneficiary of stupendous blessing from God so on the one hand you are praying in dependency on the other hand you are rejoicing in the reception of the multiple blessing of God so we rejoice always because God is pouring out blessing in answer to our unceasing prayer if I as a Christian live in a perpetual state of personal insufficiency a perpetual state of recognizing my dependency on God if I live continually thankful for everything he does for me continually repentant over my sin continually expressing my love for others that's going to flow an unspoken prayer to God and it's also going to cause God to open the sluice gates of blessing which will result in my joyful response and so we are not just to rejoice always but we are to take the path to that rejoicing which is the path of unceasing prayer which results in blessing which results in joy now how does this verse 17 fit into the whole context here Paul as he closes this letter to the Thessalonians it wants to help them set their church on the right course for the future it's a good church a great church a noble Church of spiritual church but he wants to remind them about how to grow into a healthy mature flock it's a young church a baby church only a few months old and he's got a growth plan for them in verses 12 and 13 growing a healthy flock involved the right relationship between the Shepherd's and the sheep and the sheep and the Shepherd's in verses 14 and 15 growing a healthy flock demanded the right relationship between the sheep and the sheep and here in verse 16 through verse 22 a healthy flock demands a right relationship between the sheep and the great Shepherd so the church is made up of those relationships leadership to people people to leadership people to people people to God and no church can rise higher than the spiritual life of its own people so your relationship to the great Shepherd is crucial and the first thing you need to do is to be rejoicing always and the second thing to be praying to him always that's how you keep that relationship what it ought to be and that's essential for a growing church for a healthy church if we are to be a healthy church we must be praying unceasingly we must be tapping the divine resource we must be knocking on the door seeking the loaves of bread we must be bowing the knee at the foot of divine justice pleading for our case to be resolved with equity and justice we must be going before God on behalf of ourselves and others praying without ceasing for therein do we release the greatness of the power and blessing of God now there's nothing more really to be said about the verse you understand what it means but I want to go behind it a little bit and I want to give you a little list of things that I'm going to call motives to prayer because I know something is true about your life because it's true about my life no matter how much I pray I always feel like I don't pray enough do you feel that way I have a sort of continual state of guilt about a lack of prayerfulness it doesn't matter how much i pray i always feel like i haven't prayed enough and that is partly due to the fact that i haven't prayed enough and partly due to the fact that i'm in a position to be inundated with so many prayer requests that it's impossible for me as a human being to even attempt to keep up with all of them which makes my burden heavier i have to go back then and ask myself if I'm really motivated to pray when I don't pray as I ought and I want to help you to get a grip on some motives for prayer I want to give you ten of them just a little grocery list here ten motives for prayer that I believe produce an unceasing prayer life number one is a desire for the Lord's glory a desire for the Lord's glory prayer Jesus said should start this way our Father who art in heaven what hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done now what you're praying when you pray there is that God would be glorified that God's purposes would be accomplished that God's name would be exalted that God's Will would be done that's what you're praying you're not praying for yourself you're praying for him when Daniel set out to pray in Chapter nine of Daniel that great model prayer of the Old Testament it was the longing for God's glory that made him pray he prayed that God would forgive the people that God would forgive their sin and he prayed that God would accomplish his promise God had said I'm going to keep you in captivity only so many years and then I'm going to free you and he was reading Jeremiah Daniel was and he found that and he said God I want you to do that I want your kingdom to come if you will your will to be done your promise to be fulfilled and I want you to forgive your people I want you to do it he says in verse 19 for your sake oh my god because your city and your people are called by your name and what he's saying is God if you do this it will enhance your reputation it will exalt your name it will glorify you do it for your sake and I believe that that may be the supreme motive of all motives in prayer is a desire for the Lord's glory and when you pray that Jesus be lifted up and that God be exalted and glorified you're doing it because that's a burden on your heart because you care you're like David who said zeal for your house has eaten me up the reproaches that are falling on you are hurting me and he cried out for the Lord to be lifted up yes the first motive for prayer is a desire for the Lord's glory when your heart longs that God be glorified you're going to find yourself praying to that end you're going to find yourself in an unceasing cry to God be exalted be glorified be lifted up accomplish your purpose build your kingdom do your will secondly a second motive to prayer is a desire for fellowship with God a desire for fellowship with God the psalmist so beautifully gave words to this truth in psalm 42 verse 1 as the deer pants for the water Brooks so my soul pants for the old God my soul thirsts for God for the Living God when shall I come and appear before God my tears have been my food day and night now there is a longing for God there is a heart crying out for fellowship the feeling of being estranged from God the feeling of being cut off the feeling of loneliness that reaches out and says God I want your your fellowship I want your company I want your presence Psalm 63 more magnificent words O God thou art my god I shall seek the earnestly my soul thirsts for the my flesh yearns for the in a dry and weary land where there is no water thus I have beheld e in the sanctuary to see thy power and thy glory I just want to see you I just want to be with you I just want to experience your wonder in Psalm 84 the first two verses there again how lovely are thy dwelling places o Lord of hosts my soul longed and even yearn for the courts of the Lord my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the Living God how blessed are those who dwell in thy house the longing to be in the presence of God and maybe most magnificently of all Psalm 27 just listen to these wonderful words the Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear the Lord is the defence of my life whom shall I dread one thing I have asked from the Lord that I shall seek that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in his temple I just want to be where he is you have that you're that longing for fellowship sweet communion there's a third prompter to prayer to incessant unceasing prayer and that's a desire for needs to be met a desire for needs to be met not only ours but those around us give us this day our daily bread Jesus taught us to say in Matthew six eleven it is right to pray that our needs would be met it is right to ask God for the basic things of life that's a prompter to prayer few of us however are prompted in that way because we have so much so much but there are across this world many folks who pray to God regularly just for their daily needs to be met we don't understand that in this affluent culture but it is the way of life for many of our brothers and sisters in Christ in fact we have a dear brother who's come from Africa Sam and his wife Nora were in our church for six years maybe before they went back to minister in Africa he has come from Africa because he cannot feed his family it is not like it is here around the world because he cannot get medicine for his diabetes we live in a world we live in a environment where asking God for our daily needs is pretty foreign but we should not be so foolish as to assume that because God has graciously provided our daily needs without asking should we become indifferent to him they might not be taken away from us forth motive for persistent prayer is a desire for wisdom a desire for wisdom James put it this way if any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God who gives to all men liberally and holds back nothing if you are under the illusion that you don't need the wisdom of God you are really deceived are you not when Jesus taught us to pray he said this pray like this do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from evil I really do believe that that is a prayer for spiritual discernment that is a prayer for spiritual wisdom Lord please by your spirit give me the ability to discern when I am facing a temptation give me the wisdom to discern when I am being led into something which is evil we need to be incessantly praying that we need to be praying all the days of our lives lord please deliver me from temptation and do not lead me in an evil way give me the wisdom and the discernment and the insight and the scriptural sensitivity and the leading of the Spirit of God so as not to allow me to fall into Satan's traps in the traps of the flesh and the world what prompts prayer incessant prayer a desire for the glory of God a desire for fellowship with him a desire for needs to be met in a desire for wisdom in walking through the minefield that is this world number five prayer is prompted by a desire for deliverance from trouble a desire for deliverance from trouble there are so many texts in the Psalms that speak of this let me sum them up in one that says it all Psalm 20 verse 1 may the Lord answer you in the day of trouble and surely he will surely he will when we come to those times of great distress they tend to prompt our unceasing prayer don't they and the greater the trouble and the greater the distressed that we have found ourselves in very often it's because we fail to ask for wisdom and so we fell in the trap in our ignorance and now we need to be delivered from it and there is no human way out we cry out to God for deliverance it's reminiscent of Jonah who by the way had a very specific prayer life he found himself in the belly of a great fish and says in Jonah 2:1 Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the stomach of the fish and I'll tell you what he didn't pray for all the missionaries first he said get me out in so many words and the Lord did it the Lord delivered him he said I called out of my distress to the Lord to the Lord thou has brought me up from the pit Oh Lord my god he said I was down there and I remember the Lord and I cried out and he delivered me we come to God in those times of tremendous trouble pressure stress pain affliction and we need his deliverance that prompts our unceasing prayer 6 a desire for relief from fear and worry a desire for relief from fear and worry that will make us pray if we are wise and spiritually minded in Philippians chapter 4 we need so often to be reminded of this it says be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God in the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus when you are in fear and anxiety and worry you are in distress you're in depression what should you do very simply stop being anxious and go to prayer and pray with a thankful heart and the peace of God which surpasses all human comprehension will protect your heart and mind what does it mean guard it from anxiety guard it from depression distress fear worry if you want a comprehensible humanly comprehensible solution go to a person if you want a humanly incomprehensible solution go to God in the time of fear in the time of worry in the time of anxiety in the time of emotional distress and pain thus the formula is simple just go to the Lord in persistent continual unceasing prayer with Thanksgiving and the peace of God promised will guard your heart and mind why do people go to other sources than that when you want that relief from fear and worry our God has promised it is yours through prayer psalmist wrote in Psalm 4 answer me when I call O God of my righteousness thou hast relieved me in my distress be gracious to me and hear my prayer you did it in the past would you please relieve me again number 7 another motive to prayer is a desire to offer thanks for past blessing a desire to offer thanks for past blessing if you have a thankful heart if you're a thankful person and if you remember all that God has done in all his goodness it'll make you pray if for no other reason than just to say thanks in Psalm 44 we read the psalmist says O God we have heard with our ears our fathers have told us the work that thou didst in their days in the days of old thou with thine own hand it's drive out the nation's then that it's plant them then thou didst afflict the people's then that it spread them abroad for by their own sword they did not possess the land and their own arm did not save them but thy right hand and thine arm and the light of thy presence for thou didst favor them thou art my king o God that's just praise and that's not praise for anything God had done for him that's praise for what God had done for others in the past learning to be thankful to God for all that he has done throughout redemptive history having a grateful heart on behalf of all the good things God has done not just for you the Apostle Paul writes the Philippians and he says I thank my god in all my remembrance of you my prayer is always offered with joy in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now I just can't help but pray all the time thanking God for what he's doing in your life but what he has done and is doing if you if you really are grateful to God for all that he has done it's going to prompt you to pray a prayer of thanksgiving number eight here is a very important motive to prayer and that is a desire to be freed from the guilt of sin a desire to be freed from the guilt of sin that classic penitential psalm psalm 32 speaks to this and I'm only giving you select scriptures out of many that could be used in these points but listen to psalm 32 and hear this starting in verse three just to give you the flow when I kept silent about my sin David says my body wasted away I had psychosomatic illness as a result of guilt I was groaning all day long day and night your hand was heavy upon me my vitality my life juices were drained away as with the fever heat of summer I was a mess I was a mess the life juices have through the blood flow system saliva system the nervous system which is conducted by fluid all my life juices were dried up saliva was dried up the flow of blood wasn't right therefore I had physiological problems my nervous system was haywire I was a wreck I had a fever I was moaning verse five he says then I acknowledged my sin to thee my iniquity I didn't hide I said I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and thou didst forgive the guilt of my sin I I confessed and you forgave then back to the beginning of the psalm he says this how blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered how blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity and in whose spirit there is no deceit the deceit is over you're not covering the sin you've opened it up you confessed it and now you're forgiven and now you're blessed yes prayer incessant unceasing penitential confession is prompted by a desire to be freed from the guilt of sin number nine another motive to prayer is a desire for the salvation of the Lost a desire for the salvation of the Lost you will be moved to persistent prayer when you are compassionately concerned about loss people they're all around us they're all around us and if you care about their salvation there'll be an almost unceasing commitment to pray as they cross your path and your mind listen to Romans 10:1 brethren says Paul my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation Paul says I'm praying for their salvation I cannot see unsaved people and not pray for their salvation Timothy and first Timothy chapter 2 is told by Paul that God will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth and then he says now I want men to lift up holy hands praying always and what are they praying for the salvation of the Lost people for whom God has provided a salvation desire for the salvation of the Lost prompts prayer if you don't pray unceasingly then something is wrong with your compassion for the lost and number-10 incessant ceaseless prayer is prompted by a desire for the spiritual growth of believers a desire for the spiritual growth of believers in Ephesians 4 example chapter 1 verse 15 Paul says to the Ephesians verse 15 for this reason I to having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ which exists among you and your love for all the saints do not cease giving thanks for you while making mention of you in my prayers and what are you praying for Paul that the god of our Lord Jesus Christ the father of glory may give you a spirit of wisdom and of Revelation in the knowledge of him I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so you may know what is the hope of his calling and what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints and what is the surpassing greatness of his power toward us who believe I'm praying for you what were you praying for your wisdom your knowledge your enlightenment your hope I'm praying for the power of God to be releasing I'm praying for your spiritual growth on chapter 3 verse 14 he says I bow my knees before the father and I'm praying for you what are you praying verse 16 that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through the spirit in the inner man and praying for spiritual power verse 17 I'm praying that Christ may settle down in your hearts and that you would be rooted and grounded in love and that you would understand that love that surpasses knowledge verse 19 that you would be filled with the fullness of God and verse 20 that you would do exceeding abundantly above all you can ask or think I'm praying for your spiritual growth we have a lot to pray for don't we what Moe moves you to pray when you desire the Lord's glory when you desire fellowship with him when you desire needs be met by the one who alone has the resources when you desire wisdom and discernment when you desire deliverance from the troubles of life when you desire relief from fear anxiety and worry when you desire to offer thanks for all its past and present blessings when you desire to be freed from guilt and sin when you desire the salvation of others and when you desire the development the growth of the believers there should be in your life enough reminders of these things to keep your praying all the time right so do a little spiritual inventory if you're not praying without ceasing it's because something is wrong at the desire level something is wrong in the underlying motivational level how do you prompt that from my own life years of experience I can only tell you that my prayer life is prompted by the Word of God it is my time in the discipline of the Word of God in the study of the word of God that prompts my prayer life oh there are other times when the Spirit of God moves upon me as I'm living in obedience to the Lord that I'm prompted to pray of course but if I want to develop a real longing for God to be glorified then I find that that longing is developed out of a study of his word as I see his word unfold and his marvelous plan I'm like Daniel once I read what God has planned for his own future glory then the longing begins to rise in my heart that he be glorified it is like John who at the end of the book of Revelation has just told all the glories that are going to come to Christ and he can't help but cry out o Lord come quickly and it's not for my sake it's for yours so as I gaze at the glorious plan of God out outlined in the Word of God I become consumed with his kingdom and his glory that prompts me to pray to that end as I study the Word of God and in it I fellowship with God as he reveals himself in the word as I learn more about his person and his character and the majesty of who he is I have a greater desire to fellowship with him as I study my Bible and find all his promises and all the things he longs to do for his children and how he will meet all of our needs and how he will provide everything I am therefore prompted to pray to that end as I read the scripture and study it and find his Majesty revealed in his wisdom his amazing discernment his perfect understanding of everything it causes me to longed for that same wisdom to be my wisdom so that I can work my way through this difficult world as I read the scripture and see the chronicle of the times he has delivered his people over and over and over and the promises that he has given that he will always do the same for his people it prompts me to pray for deliverance from the troubles of my own life and the lives of those around me and when I look at the scripture and find how many of his special beloved servants were delivered from fear and worry and anxiety how many of them sang hymns in jail and how many of them could stand on the edge of a fiery furnace and praise the God who had allowed them to come there because they so completely trusted him it allows me to be relieved from my own fear of my own worry as I realize that I can cast all my care on him knowing he perfectly cares for me I am delivered from anxiety as I study my Bible also and find the record of all his past blessings and his past deeds and the glories of all of redemptive history and all that he has done to bring redemptive history to where it is now that I might experience the glories of the gospel of Christ and the blessings of his indwelling Spirit and the treasure of his word it causes me to offer thanks for his blessings and as I look at the scripture and and I see the perfect forgiveness provided in Jesus Christ the majesty of the plan of atonement and how it has worked out by grace through faith in my own life and how that I have access to complete forgiveness and cleansing every moment of my life it leads me to confess my sins and as I see the tears of God in Jeremiah 13 and the tears of Jesus in Matthew's Gospel chapter 23 tears that are shed for those that refuse salvation and refuse the goodness of God it makes me desire the salvation of the lost even as God does and as I see the longing revealed in Scripture of God's heart for his people to grow spiritually the continual call from the beginning of the scripture to the end to his people to live in obedience and holiness it reminds me to pray for the spiritual growth of believers so if I want to have a persistent consistent prayer life I'm going to have to have certain desires in my heart that generate that that motivate that those desires become in my life the fruit of my faithful intense study of God's Word which reveals these things to me in fresh new ways every time I study it and therefore prompts my own prayer life rarely do I ever come out of a study time in the Word of God without a new kind of commitment to pray in one dimension or another more faithfully than I have pray without ceasing Paul said and saying it he said much it is to be our way of life let's bow together in prayer we thank you Father for the promise of first John 3:22 whatever we ask we receive from you because we keep your Commandments and do the things that are pleasing in your sight so we know we know our prayers are effective and powerful and that if we pray out of the context of keeping your Commandments and doing what is pleasing you're going to hear and you're going to answer our prayers and as you do that we're going to be blessed and then you're going to receive all the glory we know that's the plan to that end we pray for Jesus sake amen

Channel: bibelchannel

Views: 32,220

Keywords: John F. MacArthur, john macarthur preachings, bible, god, gods word, antichrist, antichrist bible, right prayer, praying bible

Id: k8tngNmMw3A

Length: 56min 47sec (3407 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 01 2016