Praying Like We Mean It, Part 1

On the road toward maturity in the Christian life is one of the last disciplines we seem to master. Early on we learn to study your Bible.

We listen to sermons and we know what it means to cultivate friendships with other believers. But when it comes to praying, whether in public or private talking to God doesn't seem to come naturally today on Insight for living. Chuck Swindoll presents practical instruction on prayer squarely founded on this study. In Ephesians 115 19 to title today's message praying like we mean one thing to sit in here. Our choir say it but to say it personally is the searching question if ever I love the my Jesus 'tis now now around 11 o'clock in the morning. Now, now there are so many things that draw us away from this life of love, everything in our nature works against it.

The world around us.

The culture in which we have been thrown pulls at us and pushes us in another direction.

The currents of majority opinion pressures at work struggles at home, but if ever we love you Lord, we do want it to be. Now, thank you for wearing the thorns on your brow, thank you for planning for those mansions of glory endless delight will ever adore you in heaven so bright but now that's where the rub is helpless to learn how to swim upstream, rather than with the current help us to know how to be Christ like. Not abrasive and ugly in our faith not fanatically out of touch with our times deeply entrenched in another citizenship based on another set of standards for values are not related to cost and were life is eternal in dimension if ever we love you.

Help us to love you now like that helpless, helpless, and the deer name of Christ, of whom we sing, to whom we pray. I want to read for you from five verses out of Ephesians chapter 1. To the surprise of no one who has been coming for some time. We are in the letter to the Ephesians and we are working our way through the thoughts of the apostle and we find him. In verse 15 through 19, on his knees, if you will remember he is chained to this Roman guard. He is under house arrest, and yet he writes these words that describe his prayer for his friends while he is in Rome.

His heart is in Ephesus 115. For this reason I to having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints do not cease giving thanks for you while making mention of you in my prayers that God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of his power toward us who believe now you keep your Bible open there.

I've pulled a page from Eugene Peterson's paraphrase, the message want to read the same section through these words listen. Maybe it will help some of it come alive in your mind. That's why when I heard of the solid trust you have in the master Jesus and your outpouring of love to all the Christians I couldn't stop thinking God for you every time I prayed I think of you and give thanks, but I do more than think I ask ask that the God of our master Jesus Christ, the God of glory might make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally your eyes focused and clear so that you see exactly what it is he is calling you to do grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for Christians. All the other extravagance of his work in us who trust him endless energy, boundless strength, endless energy, boundless strength, that's the way I want to live the way I want to die. That's the way I want all of us to participate in our worship, endless energy, boundless strength before we expressed to him our worship and our offerings gifts. Let's bow again for prayer our father not only do we learn to love you through what you have said to us in your word, we learn how to pray and what a prayer this is. I ask for you to give us enlightenment and understanding as you illumine our minds with the truth. Enable us to filter from the cares of our lives. The things that have been dragging us down so that we might focus fully on you are God, your son Jesus as your spirit works in among us in this place, on this cold day. Thank you for now for the privilege of continuing in worship through our expressions in a tangible way our gifts we give them again because you love us and it's how we express our love to you in return. In Jesus name God's people said a it seemed as though one of the last disciplines we master in the Christian life is praying, praying, you're probably much more comfortable, even sharing your faith in public, then you are praying in public. Most people I know live under the dread of being called on to pray in public and I can tell you from having done it for years. It is hard work. It is difficult. In fact, it's hard to pray alone.

It's a discipline that we all work at and labor over and sometimes we feel like we have just struggled and not really been able to say what was on our heart.

Praying is hard work. Bible study is is more delightful and it seems rewarding than praying some of you have studied the Scriptures long enough to not be a teacher of the Scriptures in your pretty effective at it in your grateful for the gift and that seems to flow even more easily than praying. I read somewhere that Martin Luther reserved three of the best hours every day for prayer.

Three of the best hours every day I prayed for three minutes and thought it was an hour and I can't imagine setting aside three hours for prayer. Why is it such work.

Why is it we seem so seldom to connect in prayer. What is it about the apostles, great prayers and the and the prophets prayers and these characters in the Scriptures to pray in their prayers are recorded and made such a difference. Why was that and where are we missing it.

Well, you probably are answering. I really never heard a prayer that really made that much difference. Most of us could almost recite sermons that God used capture our attention and turn us in another direction. I know I can. I can give you almost word for word.

A few messages I've heard that turn my whole direction around or certainly the outline of the passages of Scripture that that the preacher used but can you remember a prayer that someone prayed that to three weeks later, you can still call them. I will I've come across one that made a difference it was. It was the prayer offered to the Kansas state Senate to three years ago by the Rev. Joel right, pastor of Central Christian Church in Wichita, Kansas.

He prayed this before the legislation before the legislators heavenly father we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know your word says woe to those who call evil good, but that is exactly what we have done we have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reverse our values. We confess we have ridiculed the absolute truth of your word and called it pluralism we have worshiped other gods and called it multiculturalism we have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle we have exploited the poor and called it the lottery we have killed our unborn and called the choice we have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem. We have abused power and called it politics. We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition, we have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.

We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment search us, O God, and know our hearts today.

Cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Guide us and bless these men and women who have been sent to direct us to the center of your will.

I ask in the name of your son, the living Savior Jesus Christ. A man is that a great prayer.

I'll tell you. I'll tell you two things. I'll tell you two things about that prayer.

First of all, will never forget it. Second, they'll never ask him back. Do you know that it was uttered several years ago and since then, some things have been written about it several legislators got up and walked out during the prayer in protest in six short weeks that followed his church was inundated with calls more than 5000 phone calls came only 47 of them negative. Less than 1% said we don't appreciate that, but the vast majority wanted to know can I have a copy of that prayer. What made the difference. He prayed like he meant it and he prayed to God rather than people and praise God it was not politically correct. I love it that he had the guts to say the truth to God as he poured out his heart in all sincerity, forgetting his title, forgetting his reputation forgetting what people would say, and forgetting the fact that you could hear the footsteps as one after another walked out on him who cares. They walked out of the prophets to they crucified. The only perfect one who ever lived, and to this day I will tell you a prayer that connects will have that kind of response.

It'll make you uneasy, he explosives that they wanted Covered and we want Covered.

He talked truth when everyone else was talking lie he called it what it was when everybody else was retitling things and God loves talk like that he prayed like he meant it. GK Chesterton once said of true Christianity, true Christianity has not been tried and found wanting.

It's been found difficult to not tried all say the same thing for prayer. Real prayer is not been tried and found wanting. It's been found difficult and not tried is the hardest work you will do if you ever called on to pray in public to say something rather than just have something to say. Prayer is come upon hard times. It has become a series of somewhat meaningless religious clichés words that well preachers and priests and rabbis understand but nobody else.

I think the problem happened when they turn prayer over to the ministers and they took it out of the pew. When it became a professional thing you say well I'm not sure that's true well stop and think you're ever in a group group at 2030 people. One is a minister and it's time to eat. Yes is called on to pray, I know more often that I'm ready. I'm asked to pray about something, and on occasion I've said you know I'm not the best one to pray right now I'm just not into it. I just can't do it.

They look at me, like I'm another individual, but I sometimes think of the roof refreshing of wood as one of the teenagers to pray.

Are you thinking, not mine. Please, not mine.

Why God why not you get something very refreshing, very different. God has been saved only one week than a truck driver. All of his life, or she's been a waitress most of her adult life or she hasn't learned the language, so outcome a few profane words that sort of spark up a conversation when it's over, you know what I think God finds that kind of thing refreshing and delightful because they pray like they mean it.

Not like you want to hear it. All of this brings us to a prayer that the more you study it, and I've been doing that now for hours and the deeper I dig into verses 15 to 19 of Ephesians 1.

The more I realize it says and you know this prayer is along you can read it easily in 90 seconds, maybe less, even pausing and letting the words sink in. It doesn't link the prayer makes prayer great. It isn't even using terms that are impressive, that make prayer great. Paul prayed like he meant it. Remember where he was under arrest. You tend to pray like you mean it when you're under arrest.

You tend to get specific when you're miles removed from someone you care about and you can't be there to help make it happen. You resort to prayer.

I'd venture to say that most of us know someone very well who lives miles and miles away and are closest connection is in prayer for them know what would Paul pray and mean so much in praying it. That would make such an impact that the spirit of God would ignite his words and drill them into the text of sacred Scripture. As you know he had many prayers that didn't find their way into the Scriptures, but this one did.

This is a prayer and if you hold their chapter 3 in this in a prayer C3 14 for this reason I bow my knees before the father. So, three, 14 to 21 is the second prayer, but the first prayer is not even that long.

115 to the. In the middle of the sentence in verse 19.

Please understand that the verses and the chapter breaks are added by the editors of our Bible centuries after the Bible was written originally it was one endless series of uncial's if you will, letter after letter letter after letter, not even a paragraph break in the original manuscript in the all-time, so there's no chapter break.

There's no there's no end of a paragraph in the beginning of a new one and in the study of the text scholars over the years have helped us paragraph it, if you will, and I think true. Verse 15 begins a fresh paragraph. He's had this grand doxology of praise. In verses 3 to 14 and now he turns to a meaningful intercession 15 to 19 are tendencies to go all the way to verse 23, but that's about Christ which we will consider next time, but this is the prayer for this reason I to having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints do not cease giving thanks for you that's the first part of the prayer while making mention of you in my prayers that and he goes on to the last part of the prayer. Now I don't know if you like marking your Bible, but let me tell you what, how I marked mine may want to do the same. I've underlined giving thanks and I put a little arrow pointing back up to verse 15 Sever 16 is, the hinge of this transition. 16 says giving thanks so that's because of what he just said in verse 15 making mentioned I've underlined and put an arrow down that 17 through 19. He gives thanks for what he has just set forth in verse 15 and then he makes mention of things about which he intercedes in verses 17 through 19. Let's look at the first part for what does he give thanks. 15 he has heard of their faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among them, and second, he gives thanks because of their love for all the saints learn to concentrate when you read your Bible, learn to divide the text.

Learn to separate words into meaningful chunks. I call it into meaningful lines that tied together. We're were sort of taking this apart and then working to put it back together. He says in 16. I do not cease giving thanks for you, what was it, for which he gave thanks first when he heard of their faith in the Lord Jesus which existed among them. He gave thanks and when he heard of their love for all the saints.

He gave thanks not faith in the Lord Jesus is not a reference to their conversion. That was earlier. That's chapter 1 verse 13 go back there in him meaning in Christ, 113, you also, after listening to the message of truth. That's the first step of salvation. You hear the truth, the gospel of your salvation having also believed, so you act on what you hear. You believe that Christ died for you and rose again. You believe that he forgives your sins. If you simply call on him in faith who are can worded verse 13 I got written in my margin conversion. By now you can see why Chuck Swindoll chose this bold title for today's message praying like we mean it. This is insight for living and there's much more of Paul's letter to the Ephesians we need to hear. So please keep listening as we present this comprehensive verse by verse study through Ephesians. It's a series we're calling becoming a people of grace. To learn more about this ministry. Be sure to visit us online@insightworld.org and here at Insight for living. We believe that some of your best learning happens when you have the privilege of sitting in a quiet spot along with your Bible and reliable study tools along these lines, we provided daily opportunity for you to search the Scriptures with Chuck Swindoll. Every message is complemented by hopeful study notes they give you an opportunity to follow along and take personal notes. You'll find the searching the Scripture study notes@insight.org/studies.

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Call 1-800-772-8888 or go to insight.org/monthly. Join us Friday when Chuck Swindoll continues his message called praying like we mean it right here on insight for living in the preceding message praying like we needed was copyrighted in 2000 2001 and 2009 and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2009 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. all rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited