Pray continually; pray without ceasing
Introduction:
A. My name is….
B. When I was asked to go to Mount Airy Church of Christ’s Wednesday night program and give devotion, I approached it like I was not going to get the position. In the past I had been to many interviews at churches and so I was skeptical. I was going to be myself. I talked about the following:
C. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.
D. These are my favorite verses, my life verses. Sums up the life and attitude of the Christian.
E. If I had one last sermon for Christian people, it would be this. Tonight, I want to pretend that I am dying tomorrow and these are my parting words.
WBTU:
A. Last week I took my children to a restaurant. My six-year-old son asked if he could say grace. As we bowed our heads he said, “God is good. God is great. Thank you for the food, and I would even thank you more if mom gets us ice cream for dessert. And Liberty and Justice for all! Amen!” Along with the laughter from the other customers nearby I heard a woman remark, “That’s what’s wrong with this country. Kids today don’t even know how to pray. Asking God for ice-cream! Why, I never!” Hearing this, my son burst into tears and asked me, “Did I do it wrong? Is God mad at me?” As I held him and assured him that he had done a terrific job and God was certainly not mad at him, an elderly gentleman approached the table. He winked at my son and said, “I happen to know that God thought that was a great prayer.” “Really?” my son asked. “Cross my heart.” Then in a theatrical whisper he added (indicating the woman whose remark had started the whole thing), “Too bad she never asks God for ice cream. A little ice cream is good for the soul sometimes.” Naturally, I bought my kid’s ice cream at the end of the meal. My son stared at his for a moment and then did something I will remember the rest of my life. He picked up his sundae and without a word walked over and placed it in front of the woman. With a big smile he told her, “Here, this is for you. Ice cream is good for the soul sometimes and my soul is good already.”
B. I see all three elements of our verses tonight in this story. Joyfulness, prayerfulness and thankfulness.
Thesis: Tonight we are going to discuss these three essentials of the Christian life.
For instances:
1. Start with prayer. I believe that prayer is the key to the other two.
A. We know that we cannot stay in prayer all day. However, we need to spend time in prayer and have a desire to pray.
B. A little boy was sitting next to an elderly Christian man beside a river. “Will you teach me to pray?” the boy asked. “Are you sure that you want to learn?” The Christian saint asked. “Yes, of course.” With that the holy man grabbed the boy’s neck and plunged his head into the water. He held his head under the water while the boy kicked and screamed and tried to get away. Finally, after a few minutes the elderly man let the boy out of the water. “What was that?” the boy asked spitting and fuming, “I could have drowned.” The Christian man said, “That was your first lesson in prayer. When you long for God the way that you longed to breathe, then you will be able to pray.”
C. How badly do we long for God? I need thee every hour! Many times we don’t live like it.
D. I can give you ways to pray, positions to pray, good times to pray, how to pray in a small group, how to pray in a large group, how to pray when you don’t feel like it, how to energize your prayer life, how to fast and pray, prayer examples like Martin Luther, how to study the Bible, devotional books, etc. This will do you no good if you have no desire to have a personal relationship with God.
E. (Psa 42:1 NIV) As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. (Psa 42:2 NIV) My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
F. We grow fat on food while our spirits are starving.
G. Luis Palau- You can read all the manuals on prayer and listen to other people pray, but until you begin to pray yourself you will never understand prayer. It’s like riding a bicycle or swimming: You learn by doing.
H. My friends, I have made it a priority in my life to pray. I believe that if I do not pray during the day then it is a day wasted.
I. It is difficult to pray. It is difficult to spend time with God and His Word. I know it is! But all of these difficulties can be overcome if we have a great desire to meet and commune with Jesus Christ. If we have a strong desire to pray, it will be done! I wish I could pray more. Not a strong desire.
J. Dwight Eisenhower- Personal prayer, it seems to me, is one of the simplest necessities of life, as basic to the individual as sunshine, food and water- and at times, of course, more so. By prayer I mean an effort to get in touch with the Infinite. We know that our prayers are imperfect. Of course they are. We are imperfect human beings. A thousand experiences have convinced me beyond room of doubt that prayer multiplies the strength of the individual and brings within the scope of his capabilities almost any conceivable objective.
K. Why pray continually? Maybe these reasons will give us a desire to seek God.
1. It keeps our priorities straight.
a. When I went to Bible College, the professors said if you would do this or do that, then your ministry will go well. Trash.
b. If your life is out of tune with God, you can forget it.
c. Even preachers do not have their priorities straight. Minister’s retreat in Charlotte, out of 15 ministers only 3 raised their hands and said that they spend 30 minutes a day in personal devotions.
d. I knew people in Bible College, had a lot of talents and gifts, no longer using them for the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. Some of them no longer go to church. Priorities all messed up.
e. If the church doesn’t teach people how to draw near to Jesus Christ, we are not doing our job.
f. During Freshman Fieldwork, had to go out and preach at local churches. I preached a 20 minutes sermon. The preacher there criticized me because I did not go 30 minutes. He gave the reason that they need 30 minutes because they are not getting any spiritual instruction anywhere else. Need to keep them as long as possible so that they can hear the Word because they don’t hear it any place else. What was this man preaching and teaching? What was that man expecting from the Christians he was preaching to?
g. If we expect to go to church on Sunday’s and live our Christian faith through someone else, we have missed the boat. Expect the preacher or some elder or some teacher to give us Christian instruction and that is our Christian faith, how sad! Cannot experience the Christian life that way!
h. Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God…” Our priorities are messed up!
i. #1- God; #2- Family; #3- Church; everything else should be on down the list.
j. I am too busy to pray. Might as well say I am too busy to be bothered with Jesus Christ.
k. What do friends do?
l. If we put God first, it will help us with our family life and our church life. If we don’t put God first, look out, the house comes tumbling down!
m. The devil will have a field day in our lives if we are not making a conscious effort to put God first. Great step in doing that is having a quiet time.
n. When we have a new Christian, this is the most important thing we can teach them. If we are not teaching this, nothing else will matter!
2. It helps us to be open and honest.
a. I grow sick and tired of all the fake masks that people put on in the church.
b. A daily prayer time will help us to be humble. Many people are pretending to be something they are not. Fake.
c. Had an elder come up to me… Finally started having a daily prayer time with his wife. The best decision we ever made. Open and honest. I dare say that a lot of that came from his devotional life.
d. A preacher friend of mine was trying to have the elders and deacons come together just for a time of prayer. One man, a long time elder, refused to come and said that he had more important things to do than to go to some kind of touchy feely meeting. Later if was found out that he had numerous family problems and that eventually that family broke up. I dare say that a lot of his problems came from a lack of taking his relationship with God and with others seriously.
e. If we are open and honest with God, it will help us to be open and honest with our family and with our church.
f. I used to journal my prayer time and I got away from it. Went back and read some of the prayers, and I was shocked at how open and honest I was with God. I shared feelings and thoughts with Him that some might consider blasphemous. I am still here. I feel that I am better off for it.
3. It will keep us from sinning.
a. If you have some bad habit or some habitual sin, to have a time of confession with God will do you a world of good. Either we will keep on praying and stop sinning, or we will keep on sinning and stop praying.
b. When I was a teenager and a 20 something, I had a bad habit, more than a bad habit it was habitual sin. Satan had set up a stronghold in my life. I prayed about it to the Lord. The Lord seemed to say, after you give into this sin, take 10 minutes and pray about it with me, just this issue. It changed me. I was so humiliated and embarrassed and so hurt, that I quit sinning. This problem I still wrestle with from time to time, but when I take it to the Lord and feel the guilt and displeasure of my best friend, Jesus Christ, I must stop.
c. Just notice when you go through a time of temptation and sin, how often you pray?
4. It will help us in our service.
a. I often grow frustrated when new Christians come in and I want them to get involved with some service with the community or church.
b. Again, we need to get them into the Word and into prayer. If we do that, we don’t have to worry about prodding them to get involved in some service. Most of the time, they will come to us. Cannot help but get involved.
c. The desire is there and also God will put them into an area of service that is best suited for them. Many times will not be the area we need them in, but God has a much better placement service than we do.
d. Joyful and satisfied in their service, and God will put them in the place that will be most effective for the church and the Kingdom!
e. My twin boys were born. Little time to visit…
f. Peter Marshall prayed, “Forgive us for thinking that prayer is a waste of time, and help us to see that without prayer, our work is a waste of time.”
L. It all begins with this one. Pray continually; pray without ceasing. Cannot do the other two without this one
2. Joyfulness.
A. I have to tell you of my grandfather, Ralph Hose. He died about 3 years ago. I miss him very much. From the time I was 6 months old until the age of 13, I saw him about every day.
B. Grandpa loved children. He loved me. He was a retired logger, he was a farmer, and he was an outdoorsman. He taught me how to fish. He helped to teach me to read.
C. I have never met and I do not believe that I will ever meet again, a man with so much joy in his life, so much fun. He really was a kid at heart himself.
D. He would take an ordinary circumstance and make it into the funniest situation you have ever imagined. He was a joy to be around because he was full of so much joy. I have never laughed so hard as when I was around grandpa.
E. We could say that his fun and joy came from genetics, from something special inside that he was born with. I don’t think so. I do remember going with my Uncle Harold and Grandpa one time fishing and I laughed so hard that I didn’t catch any fish but I almost fell out of the boat from laughing.
F. However, Grandpa had joy because He had Jesus Christ. I remember that every morning Grandpa would sit in his chair and read the Bible for at least 30 minutes and I don’t think that Grandpa was asleep that early in the morning. I believe that he was praying silently. In the afternoon, you knew that he was sleeping because he would snore and rattle the windows, but in the morning it was different.
G. I reflected on this at his funeral. I was asked to do a portion of his funeral and ended up doing most of it. Grandpa had Joy because Grandpa knew what joy was all about. J- Jesus; O- others; Y- yourself.
H. I believe that joy is the ability to laugh at yourself; to laugh with others; and to laugh at difficult situations in our world. Grandpa did all of these.
I. Some people take themselves way too seriously like the lady at the ice cream store with the little boy. A lot of these people I have found in the church. However, what would grandpa do with these people; he would try to make them laugh until they looked ridiculous. This is similar to what Jesus did with the Pharisees.
J. Recall the occasion when Paul and Silas were in a Roman jail. Despite the fact that they had been beaten with rods and their feet placed in stocks, they were joyful, singing hymns of prayer to God until the very foundations of the prison were shaken. These two were outwardly chained, but inwardly free and joyful.
K. For Grandpa- I am sure that all those who are at the wedding supper of the lamb, the ones around grandpa will choke, because that is what he tried to get us to do at the family table.
L. If it wasn’t for the ability to find joy in this world, I know that I would be in the phyc ward.
3. Thankfulness.
A. It is good to give thanks. It is good for the soul. Those who do not give thanks are bitter, negative and unpleasant to be around.
B. It is good to give thanks for good things. The 10 lepers.
C. It is good to give thanks for all things. All things?
1. What about my pain, sorrow and trails?
2. In her now classic book, The Hiding Place, Corrie Ten Boom tells about an incident that taught her the principle of giving thanks in all things. It was during WW 2. Corrie and her sister, Betsie, had been harboring Jewish people in their home, so they were arrested and finally imprisoned at Ravensbruck Camp. Their barrack was extremely crowded and infested with fleas. One morning they read in their tattered Bible from 1 Thessalonians 5 the reminder to give thanks in all things. Betsie said to Corrie, “Corrie, we’ve got to give thanks for these barracks and even for these fleas.” Corrie replied, “No way am I going to thank God for fleas.” But Betsie was persuasive, and they did thank God even for the fleas. During the months that followed, they found that their barrack was left relatively free, and they could do Bible study, talk openly, and even pray there. It was their only place of refuge. Several months later they learned that the guards never entered their barrack because of those blasted fleas. What are the fleas in your life right now? You can certainly whine and complain about whatever it is that’s driving you crazy- most people do. But if you take the time to consider what good God might bring from them, you’ll soon learn the value of giving thanks in all things.
3. There have been in my life, times of trials and troubles. Prolonged times of trials and troubles. While I did not give thanks at the time, I can give thanks now.
1. When I moved from the country to Indianapolis.
a. I became a Christian.
b. I was taught the value of prayer. My best friend, Jesus Christ. Richard Clark.
2. When I went to Bible College and my parents got a divorce.
a. Learned the value of friendship with Jesus Christ and more importantly with others.
b. I went into the ministry.
3. A difficult ministry I had in Virginia.
a. Learned the value of a dollar.
b. Learned the value of God’s strength.
c. Learned how to work as a team with my wife.
d. Learned how to deal with difficult people. Don’t let them get you down.
4. I thank God for these times in my life. (Rom 8:28 NIV) And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
5. Life’s unpleasantness can be stepping stones to a richer life. (James 1:2 NIV) Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, (James 1:3 NIV) because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. (James 1:4 NIV) Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
6. These things are put on us to make us, not break us. These things can make us better.
7. Without prayer, however, these things will make us bitter, not better.
Conclusion:
Pray without Ceasing by Jan McIntosh.
Pray without ceasing, Friend, don’t you stop;
The battle is raging, There’s a war to be fought.
The forces of evil are at work everywhere;
But the weapons of Satan are no match for prayer.
If you pray without ceasing your faith will increase;
And, in the thick of the battle, You’ll know God’s peace.
