August 23, 2009

Lesson: Ephesians 6.18-20

Sermon Title: Pray In the Spirit

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HUMOR

When a nightclub opened on Main Street, the only church in a small town organized an all-night prayer meeting. The members asked God to burn down the club. Within a few minutes, lightning struck the club, and it burned to the ground. The owner sued the church, which denied responsibility.

After hearing both sides, the judge said, "It seems that wherever the guilt may lie, the tavern keeper is the one who really believes in prayer, while the church doesn't." (1)

INTRODUCTION

Otto von Bismarck, Chancellor of Germany, was so enraged by the constant criticism of one particular courtier that he challenged the man to a duel.

As challenged party, the courtier had the choice of weapons, but the man knew that any conventional weapon he might choose meant either his death or that of Bismarck.

His solution? "As the challenged party, I have the choice of weapons, and I choose these two large sausages ... One is infected with deadly germs. The other is perfectly sound. Let His Excellency decide which he wishes to eat, and I shall eat the other."

The chancellor, informed of the stated conditions, called the duel off with a burst of laughter.

  1. We may not challenge anyone to a duel.

    1. We are Christians engages in a type of warfare.

    2. Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

      1. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh.

      2. Our struggle is described as against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

  2. We must make choices.

    1. We want the sausage that is not contaminated with deadly germs

    2. Prayer Helps us to choose safely, correctly, and constructively.

      1. James Montgomery wrote the words to a gospel song: Prayer Is the Soul's Sincere Desire

        2. Prayer is the soul's sincere desire,
        Unuttered or expressed;
        The motion of a hidden fire
        That trembles in the breast.

        Prayer is the burden of a sigh,
        The falling of a tear
        The upward glancing of an eye,

        Prayer is the simplest form of speech
        That infant lips can try;
        Prayer, the sublimest strains
        That reach The Majesty on high.
        When none but God is near.

        Prayer is the Christian's vital breath,
        The Christian's native air,
        His watchword at the gates of death;
        He enters Heav'n with prayer.

        Prayer is the contrite sinner's voice,
        Returning from his ways,
        While angels in their songs rejoice
        And cry, "Behold, he prays!"

        The saints in prayer appear as one
        In word, in deed, and mind,
        While with the Father and the Son
        Sweet fellowship they find.

        No prayer is made by man alone
        The Holy Spirit pleads,
        And Jesus, on th'eternal throne,
        For sinners intercedes.

        O Thou by Whom we come to God,
        The Life, the Truth, the Way,
        The path of prayer Thyself hast trod:
        Lord, teach us how to pray.

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MAIN BODY:

  1. We are to pray in the Spirit.

    1. Robert Farrar Capon in The Foolishness of Preaching, writes: (2)

      2. Prayer is not "going to God" (he's already in you), or "seeking God" (he's already found you), or "opening yourself to God" (you couldn't keep him out if you tried), or "becoming spiritual" (he's already sent you the Spirit -- who would rather show you Jesus than help you display your spiritual prowess). And it's certainly not buttering God up with abject apologies for your existence -- because in his Beloved Son, he already thinks you're dandy. Prayer is just talking with Someone who's already talking to you.

    1. We have the help of the Holy Spirit in different ways.

      1. 2 Peter 1.3-4, We are participants in the divine nature.

        2. His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Thus he has given us, through these things, his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust, and may become participants of the divine nature, (2 Peter 1:3-4, NRSVA).

      1. In 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, Paul writes that our bodies, minds, hearts are the temple of the Holy Spirit

        2. Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple, (1 Corinthians 3:16-17, NRSVA).

    1. We do not know how to pray as we ought to pray.

      1. This is the conclusion of Paul in Romans 8.26-27

        2. Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God, (Romans 8:26-27, NRSVA).

      1. This is why we need to pray in or with the Spirit.

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  1. We are to pray at all times.

    1. Or as Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 5.17-19

      2. ...pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit, (1 Thessalonians 5:17-19, NRSVA).

      1. If we neglect our own spiritual health, our spirits will wither and decay much like the poor soul described in John Steinbeck's, East of Eden. (3)

        2. "... a tight hard little woman humorless as a chicken ... with a dour Presbyterian mind and a code of morals that pinned down and beat the brains out of nearly everything that was pleasant to do."

      1. Pray without ceasing is praying without stopping.

    1. Prayer helps us to be able to ask the right questions.

      1. Elie Wiesel in his novel Night tells how a rabbi taught him how to pray. (4)

        1. The rabbi explained to him that in every question there is a power beyond the obvious answer.

          "Man raises himself toward God," he says "by the questions he asks Him. Man questions and God answers. But we do not understand those answers."

          "I pray to the God within me," says the Rabbi, "that he will give me the strength to ask Him the right questions."

        1. For us the god within is the presence of the Holy Spirit

      1. Prayer can be simple and direct.

        1. There is a poster popular in church offices that counsels how to pray under certain circumstances.

          A prayer to be said
          When the world has gotten you down,
          And you feel rotten,
          And you're too doggone tired for words,
          And you're in a big hurry,
          And besides, you're mad at everybody,
          And you feel like only a miracle can save you . . .
          "HELP! "

        1. This helps us to understand how we can pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication.

    1. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints.

      1. Prayer is by all and for all.

      2. We have a prayer list in the Sunday Bulletin that you might use to help you establish supplication for all the saints.

        1. I have my own personal prayer list.

          1. Family.

          2. Friends.

          3. Colleagues, both in this area and in Wisconsin.

          4. Each of you.

          5. The folks at Greenway Manor

        2. In and email dated June 10 I wrote to a friend who was experiencing serious illness.

          I have a personal prayer list that I use morning and evening. I would like to put you on it, but I do not know exactly what to pray for. My June 7 sermon text was from Ephesians 3.13-31. It contains this prayer of Paul.

          I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God, (Ephesians 3.16-19, NRSVA).

          I thought that if it is appropriate that I would pray this prayer. I would also pray that your faith is adequate to overcome the challenges that you face; your courage is strong enough to meet the test of strength; that you have a sense of humor that enables you to laugh even in the midst of the deepest darkness.

      1. So what do you pray for?

        1. Understanding

        2. Wisdom

        3. Insight

        4. Sensitivity

        5. Knowledge

        6. Safety is not a good prayer.

          1. For instance, keep our military personal safe.

          2. Do I dare to suggest that God will not change the course of a bullet.

          3. God will not prevent a roadside bomb from going off.

          4. A better prayer is alertness to danger and the developed ability to sense and prepare for it.

      2. At the same time let people know that you are praying for them.

        1. In one church we sent out a card to the people on our prayer list that said, "We prayed for you today."

        2. It went out on a rotating basis.

        3. The people on the prayer list received one about every two months.

        4. Unfortunately, it was a practice that could not sustain itself.

    1. Paul seek prayer so that he will have the courage, wisdom and understanding to keep preaching in spite of his chains.

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CONCLUSION

    1. This about wraps it up.

      1. Here is a pray of St. Francis of Assisi

        Our Father, each day is a little life, each night a tiny death; help us to live with faith and hope and love. Lift our duty above drudgery; let not our strength fail, or the vision fade, in the heat and burden of the day. O God, make us patient and pitiful one with another in the fret and jar of life, remembering that each fights a hard fight and walks a lonely way. Forgive us, Lord, if we hurt our fellow souls; teach us a gentler tone, a sweeter charity of words, and a more healing touch. Sustain us, O God, when we must face sorrow; give us courage for the day and hope for the morrow. Day unto day may we lay hold of thy hand and look up into thy face, whatever befall, until our work is finished and the day is done. Amen. (5)

    1. Herb Miller, Connecting With God: 14 Ways Churches Can Help People Grow Spiritually (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995), 67-68.

    2. Robert Farrar Capon, The Foolishness of Preaching (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1998), 68.

    3. John Steinbeck, East of Eden, (New York: Viking Press, 1970), 9.

    4. Wiesel, Night, in his Night, Dawn, The Accident: Three Tales (New York: Hill and Wang, 1972), 15.

    5. Francis of Assisi, 1181-1226.

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