Ephesians 6:18-20
Pray For Me
Woodlawn Baptist Church
December 30, 2007
Introduction
“It takes prayer in the pulpit and prayer in the pew to make preaching arresting, life-giving, and soul-saving.” Those words were written by E.M. Bounds some 120 years ago in a chapter titled, The Preacher’s Cry: Pray for us! For the past year I have developed a greater conviction than ever before about our need for more prayer, and consequently, our lack of prayer for the things that matter most. As disciples of Christ we must be people of prayer. And today I want to make a simple appeal for you to pray for your preacher. The sermon I will preach today is one I have preached to you before on two other occasions. It is one I will preach again from time to time because I believe it is imperative that I remind you to pray for me. I still feel funny asking you to pray for me, but as I study the Scriptures, I find that the apostle Paul didn’t hesitate to ask people to pray for him. In Romans 15:30 he said,
“Now I beseech you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and for the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me.”
To the Colossian church he wrote,
“Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart. Pray for us, too, that God will give us many opportunities to speak about his mysterious plan concerning Christ. That is why I am here in chains. Pray that I will proclaim this message as clearly as I should.”
He said to the Thessalonian believers, “Dear brothers and sisters, pray for us.” To the Corinthians he said, “You are helping us by praying for us.” He wrote to others too, but today I want to draw your attention to Ephesians 6:18-20.
“Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; and for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel. For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.”
Today that is my cry to you – to pray for me. That you strive together with me in your prayers. That you devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind. That you pray God will give me opportunities to speak about Him. My plea today is for prayer: rich, regular, passionate pleading for the Spirit of God to energize and make fruitful my preaching and ministry. Somebody said that prayer is preparation for the battle. Prayer is not preparation for the battle – prayer is the battle.
There’s great spiritual warfare going on in our church: in your lives and in mine. Our adversary is alive and busy opposing our efforts day and night. He is at work this very moment, working to keep us from being the people, the families and the church God expects us to be. He is at work trying to prevent this message from entering a ready heart, trying to distract and disrupt. He is at work trying to convince us that prayer is not important, that prayer for your pastor is useless – but it’s a lie!
As you study the pages of Scripture and the history of the Lord’s churches through time, one thing is constant in the lives of God’s most effective saints…Prayer! If we are going to be the church God wills for us to be; if we are going to be as effective as we can be, then we must be a church…we must be a people that prays. There are countless people who say prayers, but are they really praying? We must be people of prayer! Think about it – we represent heaven on earth. We oppose Satan and the minions of hell! We labor for the hearts and souls of men – how can we set off without prayer?
In Ephesians 6:18, Paul says, “praying with all prayer and supplication in the spirit.” The word always means “in every situation, at all times.” It would be good to remember Jesus’ statement, “without me you can do nothing.” In every situation we need God, and it is through the vehicle of prayer that we access the person and power of God. It is through prayer and supplication, which simply means to plead with God for your needs.
Watching means to stay alert. It has the idea of vigilance. It means want or lack of sleep. Remember the disciples in the garden of Gethsemane on the night before our Lord was crucified. Matthew 26:38 records that Jesus told Peter, James and John to watch with him. He walked away from them and prayed a while and when we got back he found them asleep and said to them, “What, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray…”
Like Jesus and the disciples, Paul tells us to wake up! “Be watchful – do without some sleep, be vigilant in your prayers and supplications – pray with perseverance!” Why? Because you’re going to want to give up and go home. Prayer is too often the first thing we let go of in our spiritual walk. We lay prayer aside and begin to depend on the flesh, on what we can do and what we think and what we want. We depend on our abilities and our talents and our wisdom when all the while it is prayer that is needed the most.
Who should we pray for? Surely you will pray for yourselves, and Paul says in verse 18 to pray for all saints. Much prayer should be offered in order that we all might stand. Without prayer our armor and our swords mean nothing. A prayer list is helpful, but you don’t need a prayer list to pray for one another. All we need is to wake from our slumber, to consider one another and pray. As I look around the room I see many prayer requests. You don’t have to ask. Pray for this one as she works. Pray for that one to love her husband. Pray for him to be a good testimony. Pray for her to honor her father. Pray that we might stand against the wiles of the devil. Is it really so hard? No! But does it take some effort? Yes!
Then Paul moves on and gets more specific. Don’t just pray for all saints, “pray for me.” Yes, you must pray for yourselves and for one another, but today I am imploring you as Paul did of the Ephesians then to pray for me. That is, I beg of you to pray for your pastor. Some of you do. I have been greatly encouraged this week as I have begun to put together an Intercession Team for me. You should have found a note in your bulletin today to be part of that Intercession Team. I emailed that same note out on Wednesday to all the church and to many old friends. I emailed it to kids I used to teach, men I used to work for and several others. And in several cases people emailed me back saying that they already made it a habit to pray for me. When I know you are praying for me I find courage to do the difficult things I must do and I find great accountability to walk in holiness and purity.
Let me assure you of this: if I am going to be the preacher and pastor God wants me to be and the preacher and pastor you need me to be, I must have your prayers. Paul asked, coveted, pleaded passionately for the prayers of others because there is strength in union, and God honors and answers those kinds of prayers. You may remember me quoting Jonathon Edwards, the great preacher of long ago, who said,
“If some Christians that have been complaining of their ministers had said and acted less before people and had applied themselves with all their might to cry to God for their ministers –had as it were, risen and stormed heaven with their humble, fervent, and incessant prayers for them – they would have been much more in the way of success.”
If you will pray for me, Paul gives you some ways you can pray.
Pray that God will give me the right words to say
In verse 19, the word utterance means a word. It means the right word for the right occasion. It means that when you pray, pray that God would give me the right words at the right times. Pray that I will be sensitive to the leadership of the Holy Spirit. God will supply the words, I must speak them as He leads. It is no good to say the right words at the wrong time or to say the wrong words at the right time.
The gospel is a glorious message. The story of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ to justify us, to declare us free from the penalty of sin…that God has provided a way where there is no condemnation, a way where we who are sinful are forgiven and made right with Him is a glorious message! Pray God would give me the right words to declare that message…to make known the mystery of the gospel. Not only can you pray that God will give me the right words, but you can also…
Pray that I will keep speaking boldly for Him
The apostle Paul had no desire to fall short of that most important quality in a preacher of the gospel, and that is boldness. He was no coward, no time-server or people-pleaser, but he needed prayer so that he might not fail to declare the whole truth of God, or through fear of the people, declare it in an apologetic, hesitating way.
We are all ambassadors for Christ, but God has called some to preach His Word, and any preacher who wants to please Christ wants to speak boldly. I want to speak boldly. I want to preach with courage, to be brave and true, a preacher who is not swayed by fear of you, reduced to apology or silence by fear of what you might say or do. And I believe this also, that’s how you really want me to preach. So pray for me.
No coward can preach God’s Word, and Satan hammers away at me all the time to compromise what the Bible says. You think about the things I know about you. I have the privilege of knowing your joys and victories, but I also get to know your weaknesses and in many cases, your struggles with sin. And here’s a thing that will plague me the longer I stay, not only will I know those things about you; you will know them about me. The great challenge in all of that is to stay fresh, to stay true to God’s Word, to say the right things at the right times, and to be bold and courageous all the while.
The greatest security I have is your prayers. Your prayers help me to be all God wants me to be. Your prayers help me to be loyal to God and to His Word. Your prayers make my preaching arresting, life-giving and soul-saving. How far does praying for me help my preaching? It helps me to maintain a righteous life. It helps me to prepare the message, and it helps the Word I preach to run to its intended goal. A praying church creates a spiritual atmosphere most favorable to preaching. You create the atmosphere, your prayers remove obstacles, and your prayers give God’s Word the right of way. There are times when it is most difficult to preach: times when the mood in this room is cold and indifferent. And yet there are times when you are warm and receptive to the Word. It is prayer that makes the difference.
Conclusion
There is a story in Exodus 17 that is a vivid picture of the need your pastor has for prayer and of what your prayers can do for me and for us collectively. Israel and Amalek were in battle, and the contest was severe and close. You may remember that Moses stood on top of the hill with his rod lifted high, a symbol of power and victory. As long as Moses held up the rod, Israel prevailed, but when he let down his hand with the rod, Amalek prevailed. When the contest was in the balance, Aaron and Hur came to help, for when Moses’ arms became so heavy that he couldn’t hold them up any longer, these two men held them up for him until the sun went down and Israel gained the victory. That incident is a striking illustration of how a church can sustain their pastor through prayer, and how the victory can come when the people are praying, holding their pastor up.
It has not been my intention this morning to lead you to believe that our church will fail without me or that God’s Word is totally dependent on me. It has also not been my intention to put undue attention on me. But we are naïve if we fail to see that one of Satan’s greatest strategies is to attack your pastor. He attacks me in my study. He attacks me on the road. He attacks me in my thought life. He attacks me in my desires. He speaks doubt and fear and frustration into my mind. He whispers lies and wickedness in my ears, and for all of that I need your prayers.
E.M. Bounds, in the same book I quoted from earlier, said…
“That the true apostolic preacher must have the prayers of others – good people to give his ministry its full quota of success, Paul is a preeminent example. He asks, he covets, he pleads in an impassionate way for the help of all God’s saints, He knew that in the spiritual realm as elsewhere, in union there is strength; that the consecration and aggregation of faith, desire, and prayer increased the volume of spiritual force until it became overwhelming and irresistible in its power. Units of prayer combined, like drops of water, make an ocean that defies resistance.”
Think about that…prayer, like drops of water, make an ocean that defies resistance. Will you pray for me? Whether you want to be a part of that Intercession Team or not, will you pray for your pastor? Will you pray for one another? Will you be watchful? Vigilant? Pleading to God for our church?
