The Key to Intimacy with God
1 Thessalonians 5:14-17
Introduction: The importance of this letter and its companion from Paul cannot be over overstated. We do not know for certain that the Apostle was ever able to visit them personally. He intended for it to be read by the churches and individuals. These believers were dealing with several issues relating to the second coming and Paul seeks to encourage and build them up. Let’s read our text:
14 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. 15 See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men. 16 Rejoice evermore. 17 Pray without ceasing.
Someone said, “Prayer is the best way to meet God.” That is certainly true in salvation for a sinner must pray a prayer of confession, repentance and faith in Jesus as his/her Lord and Savior. But what about after we become Christians? What does the Bible say to us about the subject? I’ve selected one of the shortest statements about prayer found anywhere in God’s Word. It is short but powerful! Paul admonishes these believers in several areas of Christian conduct but none is more important the what we find in verse 17. How important is prayer in the life of a believer? Prayer is the secret to intimacy with God. Sadly many Christians never know this kind of relationship. Many never pray unless they are in a crisis. Others pray when they want something. Others have never developed the discipline of prayer. Prayer is life changing but it is also challenging.
I. The Exhortation to Prayer
a. The Scriptural Imperative
The first good reason for doing anything is that God has commanded it. And God has commanded us to pray. Throughout the Bible there are Scriptures with the imperative command to pray.
Matthew 7:7 “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”
Luke 18:1 says, “And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint.” This is a statement, not that some men should pray, but that men, mankind, everywhere and in all times, should pray. It is an impelling duty which Jesus taught.
b. The Scope of Intercession
Philippians 4:6 “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” A Christian is to pray literally about everything.
1 Timothy 2:1 says, “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men.” We are commanded to pray not only at all times, but for all men.
c. The Saints Inclusion
Ephesians 6:18-19 “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.”
Prayer, then, is a duty expressly commanded for every Christian, all the time, and about everybody and everything. Not to pray is a sin, the sin of disobedience to the plain and often repeated command of God! Lack of prayer is a sin. Doubtless all of our sins and mistakes and failures are prayer sins, prayer mistakes, and prayer failures. Samuel said to the people of Israel in 1 Samuel 12:23, “God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you.” Christians ought to pray because it is so strictly commanded in the Bible.
The Gospel Light Society Podcast
II. The Explanation of Prayer
It is interesting that the disciples never did ask Jesus to teach them to preach but they did ask Him to teach them to pray. I believe that they heard the Lord in prayer to the Father many times and that they were impressed with the intimacy of the Lord’s prayers.
Luke 11:11 And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray…
Matthew 6:5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. 7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. 8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. 9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. What can we learn about prayer based on the Lord’s teaching?
a. The Essence of Prayer
Billy Graham quote: “Prayer is simply talking to God—and the most important thing I can say about this is that God wants you to talk to Him! He loves us and He has promised to hear us when we pray. How can you learn to pray? First, understand why prayer is possible.
Prayer is possible because Jesus Christ has removed the barrier between us and God—a barrier caused by our sins. You see, sin separates us from God, and because of that we have no right to come before Him. But by His death on the cross, Christ paid the penalty for our sins and removed the barrier. God then gives us the privilege of coming into His presence when we commit our lives to Christ. The Bible says, “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” (Hebrews 4:16). If you have never done so, ask Christ to come into your life today. Then understand that God now welcomes you into His presence and promises to hear you—and He cannot lie. The Bible says, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us” (1 John 5:14). Trust His promises and learn to bring every concern to Him in prayer.”
b. The Elements of Prayer
The elements of prayer can be summed in four words: First, is adoration; second is petition; next is repentance and finally there is thanksgiving or I have used the acronym ACTS to teach about prayer. It stands for adoration, confession, thanksgiving and supplication. These are the elements of prayer and we should learn them and intentionally use them when we pray.
c. The Enduement in Prayer
When we pray we do not pray alone. We have a helper in our prayers…and He helps us in our prayers…even when we do not know how to frame the words.
John Bunyan – “The best prayers often have more groans than words.”
Romans 8:26, 27. “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: hut the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”
III. The Execution of Prayer
Now we come to the last point in our little verse. What does it mean to pray “without ceasing?” It does not mean that we enter into a monastic life in a convent or that we lay aside every other aspect of life. It means that we develop our prayer life to the degree that it becomes the natural outflow of our spiritual life. It becomes the first resort instead of the last resort. What is required to develop the prayer consciousness?
E. M. Bounds said, "Prayer is not learned in a classroom but in the closet."
a. The Discipline of Prayer
E. M. Bounds - Perhaps little praying is worse than no praying. Little praying is a kind of make-believe, a salve for the conscience, a farce and a delusion.
Intimacy in a relationship takes time. This is certainly true where prayer is concerned. We must be committed to “asking, seeking and knocking,’ not just occasionally but consistently, persistently. Intimacy in prayer takes perseverance. Listen to this story Jesus tells His disciples…
Luke 18: 3-5 And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. 4And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; 5Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. The point here is that to achieve intimacy in prayer we must discipline ourselves to spend time in prayer. All believers have the opportunity to pray but not many pray with importunity!
b. The Design of Prayer
God has designed prayer for us, for our benefit, not His. He already knows everything there is to know about us and as a matter of Scripture He knows what we are going to ask Him for before we ask it. Prayer is designed so that we can communicate with Him, to get closer to Him, to develop intimacy with Him. Our relationship with Him needs constant attention.
Soren Kierkegaard Quotes
The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays. Prayer changes us, not God, who cannot change. When we come into His presence in prayer we are on “holy ground” and like Isiah of old we are transformed by our nearness to Him.
c. The Distinctive’s of Prayer
Finally, a healthy well developed prayer life will deliver us from the kind of superficial, shallow version of Christianity that is so prevalent in the church today. I heard an old preacher say that the Christians of today are “a mile wide and an inch deep!” I think that I know what he meant. These “inch deep” believers don’t develop that depth of intimacy that is needed to an ever challenging cultural environment. There are two measureables where prayer is concerned. There is quantity (time) and quality (intimacy). How is your relationship with God? What would characterize your prayer life? Are you praying without ceasing?
Conclusion: Billy Graham quote: “First, remember that we have the privilege of coming to God only because Jesus Christ died for our sins. Have you given your life to Him? If not, let your first prayer be one of confession and faith, asking Him to come into your life as your Lord and Savior.
Second, realize that sometimes God is actually answering our prayers when we don’t realize it—and the reason is because His answer may be “No” or “Wait.” Yes, we think we know what’s best for us—but God sees the whole picture, and sometimes He lovingly refuses to give us what we request, because He knows it isn’t according to His perfect plan.”
Samuel Pepys was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament in the seventeenth century, who is now most famous for his diary. "Prayer is not a lazy substitute for work. It is not a shortcut to skill or knowledge. And sometimes God delays the answer to our prayer in final form until we have time to build up the strength, accumulate the knowledge, or fashion the character that would make it possible for him to say yes to what we ask." (1633--1703)
William Carey quote: "Prayer - secret, fervent, believing prayer - lies at the root of all personal godliness."
Edwin Keith - Prayer is exhaling the spirit of man and inhaling the Spirit of God.
ILL - There is a vast difference between saying prayers and praying. Eloquence isn’t necessarily flowery language so much as heartfelt expression. Consider this prayer of a country preacher in Red Rock, Mississippi:
"O Lord, give Thy servant this mornin’ the eyes of the eagle and the wisdom of the owl; connect his soul with the gospel telephone in the central skies; ’luminate his brow with the Sun of Heaven; possess his mind with love for the people; turpentine his imagination; grease his lips with ’possum oil; loosen his tongue with the sledge hammer of Thy power; ’lectrify his brain with the lightnin’ of the word; put ’petual motion on his arms, fill him plum full of the dynamite of Thy glory; ’noint him all over with the kerosene oil of Thy salvation and set him on the fire. Amen!"
ILL - Three ministers were talking about prayer in general and the appropriate and effective positions for prayer. As they were talking, a telephone repairman was working on the phone system in the background.
One minister shared that he felt the key was in the hands. He always held his hands together and pointed them upward as a form of symbolic worship. The second suggested that real prayer was conducted on your knees. The third suggested that they both had it wrong--the only position worth its salt was to pray while stretched out flat on your face.
By this time the phone man couldn’t stay out of the conversation any longer. He interjected, "I found that the most powerful prayer I ever made was while I was dangling upside down by my heels from a power pole, suspended forty feet above the ground."
(From a sermon by Bobby Scobey, "Essentials #4-When You Pray-Part 2" 2/25/2009)
