Praying At All Times
6:18-20
Paul instructs us to pray at all times because that is the key to being strong in the Lord. (18) He said this several times in his writings. He instructed the Thessalonians to “pray without ceasing”. (1 Thessalonians 5:17) Temptation is best fought in prayer. When you are tempted, pray. When you have a problem to solve, pray. Trials are best endured when we are in constant prayer, depending on the Lord and trusting in him, asking him for strength and wisdom. Prayer keeps us close to God and keeps us from sinning.
Paul practiced constant prayer. He wrote to Timothy that he remembered him constantly in his prayers night and day”. (2 Timothy 1:3) He told the Ephesians he did not cease to give thank for them, remembering them in his prayers. (Ephesians 1:16) He wrote the church at Philippi that he thanks God for them in every prayer with joy because of their partnership with him in the gospel.
How do we pray at all times? We cannot sit in our closet all day and pray. But, we can pray throughout the day. Paul says to keep alert, that is to be aware of the needs around you and pray. When you see a person hurting, pray for them. When you see something bad going on, pray that God will stop it. When you see something good, thank God for it.
We are to pray in the Spirit. This means praying under the Spirit’s control or influence and with his assistance. We believers have the Holy Spirit within us. 1 Corinthians 3:16 says “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?”. 1 Corinthians 6:19 says “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?”.
Paul instructed Timothy: “By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you”. (2 Timothy 1:14)
Paul wrote to the Galatians “God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying ‘Abba! Father!” Galatians 4:6. He gives us a sense of God’s presence and our relationship to him as his children.
It is the Holy Spirit who, along with Christ gives us access to God the Father. Ephesians 2:18 says “For through him [Jesus] we both [Jews & Gentiles] have access in one Spirit to the Father”.
We depend on him and he helps us to pray. Romans 8:26 says:
“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groaning too deep for words…the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God”.
Sometimes it is difficult to know what to pray for. But, we express what we can to God and the Spirit intercedes to help us.
The Spirit also prompts us to pray. We have all had moments when a friend comes to mind unexpectedly. When that happens, stop and pray for them. I had a friend, Ernie Beshears, who practiced this. He told me he often woke up in the night. He believed it was God calling him to pray. So he would pray until he fell asleep again, indicating he had prayed for the things God had awakened him to pray for.
When we feel the Spirit’s prompting, we should pray right then and there. Do not postpone it, as you are likely to forget. “We should not quench the Spirit.” (1 Thessalonians 5:19)
We are to keep alert as we pray for each other. (18) We need to be aware of the spiritual warfare around us, as Paul has said. (12) We need to be aware of the struggles of our fellow believers. We cannot pray effectively if we are not aware and alert. And we do this with perseverance. (18) We keep at it. Do not let days go by with no prayer.
We are to pray for all the saints. “Supplication” means to ask, or even beg, earnestly. We should pray for those we know and those we do not know personally, but are persecuted or having difficulties.
309 million Christians live in places with very high or extreme levels of persecution, up from 260 million in last year’s list. Another 31 million live in places with significant persecution. 1 in 8 Christians worldwide face persecution.
Finally, Paul sought prayer for himself, that he might be able to boldly proclaim the gospel (19) We should pray for our preachers and teachers in the same way.
So, pray hard and pray often!
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