All Prayer (Part 2 of 2)

As Christians were commanded at all times in all ways. The problem is we want the answer to come in our time and in our way.

So what happens when God calls us to wait and then to wait some more today on Truth for Life. Alastair beg encourages us to persevere in prayer study continues in Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 18 supplication as first application or petition or expression of needs coming to God and acknowledging that it is entirely legitimate to ask to knock to see. Indeed, he bids is due this he bids us come and tell him exactly what's going on and where our concern lies in what we're really interested in, and sometimes they are big things and other times are small things Daniel in chapter 9 comes to God, he says oh my God.

Incline your ear, and hear my prayer.

Delay not for your own sake because your city and your people are called by your name. See the significance of that is not concerned about himself is concerned about God and his glory. Learning to pray, enabled by the Holy Spirit and guided by the Scriptures will inevitably focus our eyes on the gospel and the glory of God and the purpose of the church. It is a real tragedy is that when in conversation with those whom we love. It is become entirely perfunctory. In fact, instead of it being marred by variety. It is marked by monotony. So I said to myself this week I need to learn to pray Lord, teach us how to pray. Teach me to pray when I walk along the road when I lie down when I get. Teach me to pray groaning. Teach me to pray cry. Teach me to pray long time since we study and admire for the first time exactly 1983 and when we began to look at that book together, we realized that the immediate response of now Meyer to the condition of this of the people of God in Jerusalem was for them to sit down and to weep and then to pray in his opening prayers is fairly extensive, but as we began to work our way through the book, we realized that he didn't always pray such length.

In fact, some of his prayers.

We would regard as what we refer to as arrow prayers just fired it straight out immediately and for example he on one occasion confronted by the animosity of the folks who were against said so. We pray to our God and we posted a guard or when going to the king to make his request, he said, so I prayed to the God of heaven and I said to the king, there probably would be very much in that just a silent prayer will God help me easy. Often prayer is in is it is actually in the groaning and in the cry United is true that that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

Remember in Isaiah and in the midst of his circumstances, he says all all you would rend the heavens and come down there's a there's a ton just in the old all God listens to our rose� You are groans. In fact, we know that the Holy Spirit actually makes sense of our groans so that we pray constantly that we pray variously and thirdly, we pray, persevering the all perseverance. To that end keep alert with all perseverance. In other words, we dare not become overcome by dreamy carelessness.

The way in which the disciples were overcome by a can of dreamy carelessness. Jesus had said to them you remember in the prospect of his death watch and pray so that you do not enter into temptation. And they did neither and they find themselves in real difficulty in many ways what you have here is an echo of the words of Jesus and also it is in keeping with what what Paul said to the Ephesian elders which is recorded for as in acts chapter 20 before he took his leave of them. He said to them after my departure, there will arise fierce moves who will seek to draw away people after them and draw them away from all that I have taught you about Jesus and about the gospel and so he says keep alert keep alert stay awake, be watchful and it is the watchfulness which then is the key to the perseverance center Ferguson helpful as ever, says Christ is building his church on territory that is been occupied by an enemy. Alertness is always essential when living in a war zone. When this much of perseverance, and that I think I think persevering and prayer is very very difficult.

I it's very easy for me is a bit like an exercise program. When you go for your physical. The fellow says to your doctor says to and are you doing with the exercise as it while I have the I have a burst of burst of enthusiasm followed by periods of chronic inertia and and he said okay I get that I have to say that that that would be true in terms of prayer burst of enthusiasm followed by periods of chronic inertia. We used to have Jim Reeves records in our home.

My father played them on Sunday afternoon. It was dreadful. He used to put a stack of them on LPs and he would fall asleep within two or three tracks. He never knew how horrible awards but if you ever tried to turn it off. He woke immediately, but want one of his favorites was a Jim Reeves records at old country singer and I I can still remember our Reeves voice as singing out how long has it been since you talk with the Lord since you told him your heart's hidden secrets, how long since you prayed, how long since you stayed on your knees till the dawn broke through. So you see, even my father was teaching me this was dreadful records because then I would be 10 966 so 56 years after those dreadful Sunday afternoons. The voice of Reeves mingles with the voice of Paul mingles with my voice to your ears so that together we might ask ourselves what we know about persevering in prayer. You see, one of the reasons that we are tempted to quit to give up is because we see no immediate response and in our atomized world are instantaneous world. This is a real difficulty when you used to write letters across the Atlantic Ocean took five days to get there a few days to be read read and absorb and then a while before it came back to you will you learn to wait, but now you want to see on your phone that is says delivered and then now you want to know why it is that since it was delivered you not any kind of answer.

Surely this is why, in part, Jesus said to his disciples. I'm going to tell you a parable. I want to tell your parable to help you with this to make sure that you understand that you should always pray and not give up the temptation to give up, often combines with the gap that exists between the prayer or the continual prayer in the period of time that is represented in the journey of our lives where we don't see an answer. If you never prayed with the psalmist and some 13 how long will you forget me oh Lord forever. How long must I have sorrel in my heart all the day. How long are you going to hide your face from me. See, that's the cry of a persevering prayer is the cry of an honest prayer will use it in the order supposed to do. Are we supposed to explain the rules of the five that that God doesn't seem to answer what you doing that situation while you can either just give up completely or we can persevere persevere in the knowledge that God loves me that God reigns over the affairs of the universe and that God and his way are always best Anselm who was the Archbishop of Canterbury at the end of the 11th century writes on one occasion God does not delay to hear our prayers because he is no mind to give but that by enlarging our desires he may give us the more largely I want to now.

I want answer now. I want to see this now. I want this resolved now. The father who knows best determines that when it is resolved, then according to his time in his good purpose. The benefit to the prayer will be realized with a greater sense of joy because of the weight similarly but more colloquially splurge and in his own inimitable way, says some blessings are like ripe fruit and awesome which falls readily into our hands.

But for some blessings you need to give the tree good shaking. Some of us have been shaken. Some of these branches for a while. We not some of us are going to have to be content to trust God that he will fulfill his covenant promises, and that should we not see it this side of eternity, we will on the far side realize God who loves us. The God who reigns God's will is best will fulfill his promises and enact, we continue the bringers of the fourth and final all all times constantly all prayer variously all perseverance unstinting me all the saints expensively or globally, making supplication for all the saints knives. I look to this again and again I said it would mean so much easier if it had said some instead of all, because then we could all relax to know.

Praying, sometimes only as I do sometimes and and some are some perseverance. Yes. And for some of the saints because there's a number of them. I don't want to pray for you see his natural and is entirely legitimate for us to pray about our own personal needs. The Bible encourages us to do the to bring the concerns of our own hearts in our own homes to them.

But when we do so and when we see prayer only if you like in that limited way when we see prayer providing for.

If you like our personal benefit than what we need to realize is that that is exactly the way the non-Christian use. The notion of prayer unbelieving people. If you have any idea of prayer at all. The view it in those terms. It's it says something is like a divine ATM that you can get stuff for yourself if you if you just go about it the right way so his old self oriented.

So when the Christian population appears only to be preoccupied in a very isolated way. Even a church concern only for itself. Then were not much different from those who have no idea about the things that Paul is teaching us here know what Paul is calling for his readers to do and where his readers is to look beyond themselves to the needs of all the saints, all the saints.

The very last new song that was recorded by the Beatles on 3 January 1970 is a long time ago, nearly half a century, was recorded without John Lennon being present. It was written by George Harrison and there is a prize for the person and tell me the title of the song.

I me mine.

I me mine Harrison, influenced by his Hinduism was addressing the issue of the Eagle and the irony of it was that it was a very issue of the Eagle which was destroying the band.

It was a fight that they were only concerned actually about. I me and mine. And of course what happened, you will never be able to sustain community life.

On the basis of that kind of self focus, and so I think it is legitimate to segue from there to say this, that our prayers individually and corporately will always languish and will finally stopped her to a halt without two things.

Number one, a God centered perspective and number two God centered trust. So in other words, we are asking ourselves what is God's plan for the world. What is God promised to do what he has promised to put together a people that are his very own from every tribe and nation in language and tone, and so on. Therefore, we can legitimately pray to the end that many people from many places both in our own immediate area and throughout the entire blow will become the committed followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why is it that's in certain periods of history. Certain areas of the world have been singularly blessed. Why is it that New England prospered as it did in in an area part of our history.

Why is it that Jonathan Edwards is it is it is read over there on the East Coast. Why is it that so many influential people were there and there was such a pulsating power of the gospel via Whitfield and the rest I get today.

There is no very little evidence of it at all. Why is it that mainland China has known such a significant growth under persecution. Why is it that around here as I drive back and forth. Some fields are fallible and some fields are already receded. I don't know but I can find out if I asked the farmer because the farmer knows exactly what he's doing with his fields and he has a plan that the average bystander will not be able to lay hold on without checking. So what is God doing in the world, we will have to ask. We will have to acknowledge that if were going to pray for all the saints, its corner for size to a radical shift in perspective it's going to addresses as Americans to stop seeing the world as spelling out words from Washington DC are as Brits from still clinging to some strange notion that we have an empire, and that it is entirely legitimate that this tiny cluster of islands known as the United Kingdom should be in the very middle of any map of the world, thereby suggesting what it was planned to suggest we are the center of the world. Didn't you know I came across an old article in the BBC magazine is old 2012 I found it by happenstance. The articles heading was why modern maps put everyone at the center of the world how the writer asked will the death of paper maps change the way we live thousand years ago, Jerusalem stood at the center of the Christian worldview, or if you lived in China it was you to but now it is a throbbing green.on our phones. We no longer travel from a to B, we travel from knee to be because as soon as we bring it up there.

We are right in the center of little and you know that if you have used a GPS walking. For example, in a city like Chicago you could walk three or 4 miles without ever looking around to see who is there or what is there are any things there. It's all because all you're doing is tracking in that way. Well, is the application legitimate. You can decide the writer of that article said concerning this. The loss is historical, social, and monumental Sedona my grandchildren the other day I met a couple and one is from Syria and one is from the Ukraine girl said to me where they and I said well I can show you on the on the global. In my study sheet insanity et al. I know she was sitting in goes. What is a globe in a study, I realized them in Neanderthal. But you knew that the application is clear, at least to me, the task assigned is unfinished to reach the world for Jesus Christ and the unfinished task will never be accomplished. Absent God centered. Pray without sincere sensible spirit filled out pouring of our souls to God asking him for such things as he is promised, we will remain in the doldrums challenges and I find it such listing to Alistair Begg. This is Truth for Life. Alister reminded us today that each of us has been given a task to reach the world for Jesus Christ and pray that people in all nations will become his committed followers, that's our mission here at Truth for Life.

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You can click the image in the ad go to our website Truth for Life.org/donate or if it's easier call us at 888-588-7884. I'm Bob Lapine. Thanks for listing today. The apostle Paul encouraged believers to pray for all people. But he also asked people to pray for him this season. Apostle prayer was that mean for us find out as you listen tomorrow. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life with the Learning is for Living