Verse two, and in particular, just the first part of verse two, Lord willing, we'll finish this passage next week. In verse two, the Apostle Paul says, continue in prayer and watch in the same with Thanksgiving. Let's pray. Our Father, we thank and praise you for these moments that we have to settle our hearts and minds before thee and to open the word of God. And we pray that your Holy Spirit would speak to each one of our hearts, Lord, that you would drive home truths deeper and deeper into our minds and hearts, that we might be challenged and encouraged and lifted up in the things of Christ, that we might see more clearly the privilege that is ours through prayer. And we ask this now in Jesus name. Amen. This morning we want to look at the subject of continuing in prayer, as Paul mentions in the first part of verse 2, and he tells us to continue in prayer. The word means to be strong in prayer. The word means to be firm. The word means to be steadfast. The word means to endure, to hold out, to bear up a burden. Continue in prayer. It was the word used of Moses in the book of Hebrews where it says, he endured seeing him who was invisible. He held up under the burdens. He was firm and solid and steadfast because he saw an invisible God. Zodiatis gives the definition of this word continue as to continue steadfastly or to cleave faithfully to something. Strong concordance defines it as to be an adherent, to be devoted to something, to be loyal to something. And more than half the times this word continue, this particular word continue, appears in the New Testament. It's used in conjunction with prayer or fellowship with God. Continuing, be firm, be solid. Turn to the book of Acts for a moment, Acts chapter two. Acts chapter 2 and verse 42, where Luke gives us a little slice of life, a little glimpse into the life of the early church in Acts chapter 2 and verse 42. And here we get a glimpse as to what was really important to the minds and hearts of believers in the early church soon after the Holy Spirit came down and filled them. And they continued steadfastly in dinners and ski trips and activities and social functions. No, the Bible says they continued steadfastly in spiritual truths, they continued steadfastly in doctrine, something that's really hated, pretty much hated in our generation. But they continued steadfastly in doctrine and sharing together fellowship in the things of Christ and in the Lord's table and breaking of bread together, symbolizing their one body in Christ and in prayer. They continued steadfastly in prayer. There was a time of prayer set for the believers to gather together. This is what saints do when believers get together. It's just the most natural thing to want to get together and pray. It's what the early church continued in. And notice that all of the things that are listed here, at least I'm sure they were involved in social activities, I'm sure they did fun things together, but that's not what's listed. What God sees is the important part of the functioning of the early church, where all all the things that they did were spiritual in nature, doctrine, teaching, sharing together, fellowshipping, the Lord's table and praying. And they did this firmly, faithfully, consistently, they continued steadfastly. We read in Acts chapter three, you don't have to turn there, but just read through the book of Acts sometimes and notice how often we read about believers praying. It says in Acts three, at the time of prayer, Peter and John were there. They went into the temple to pray. And in Acts chapter four, the church gathered together and in one accord, they prayed with one mind, with one heart. They prayed and the place was shaken. In Acts chapter 12, we see when Peter had been in prison, the church gathered together in the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark, and they gathered together to pray. We see when Paul was going off on his missionary journey, believers heard that he was landing on shore and they gathered on the seashore and they knelt down and they prayed together. You know, the book of the epistles, such as Colossians and others, give us many commands to pray. But in the book of Acts, we see the history of it unfolding. Not only did the apostles command the early church to pray, but they did it and they did it naturally. And they did it naturally when they were filled with the Holy Spirit, even before the scriptures were put together. That's what believers do. You know, we've had a prayer meeting here on Sunday mornings. For about four, twenty five years now, we've had some folks who have faithfully come out virtually every single Sunday morning to pray for the morning service and for other needs in the assembly. We've had a prayer meeting every single Wednesday night for twenty five years since we've been here, where believers gather together and pray. And I'm encouraged to hear that some ladies get together on Tuesday mornings and they get together just to pray. Prayer is important, and that's what the early church did. Paul tells us in Colossians four and verse two, that we are to continue in prayer, that we are to be steadfast and firm and strong and solid in our prayer lives. Now, let's go back to the epistle written to the Colossians in chapter one. Paul practiced what he preached. He wrote in chapter four and told the Colossian believers to continue in prayer. And notice in Colossians, one in verse three, at the end of verse three, Paul says, praying always for you. Paul and Timothy were always praying for the Colossian believers. I think he meant it. I think he was serious when he prayed, when he said that he was constantly praying for the Colossian believers. And notice in the same chapter in verse nine, it says for this cause, we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you. Paul heard of their faith, and from that day forward, he was constantly praying for the spiritual lives of the believers in Colossae. He wrote to the Thessalonian believers and he said, night and day, praying exceedingly for you. You know, there are lots of verses that speak about Paul's prayer life, and he simply was a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ who continued in prayer, who continued steadfastly in prayer. And now let's turn over to Colossians, chapter three, and we want to see the context out of which this command comes in Colossians 4, 2. In Colossians chapter three and verse one, Paul says, if you then be risen with Christ and they were they were born again, they had been raised into heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And Paul says, ever since you've been risen with Christ, seek those things which are above. That's what we're to be seeking after things that are in harmony with our heavenly position. Paul tells us of that glorious position. And now he says, seek after it. That's where we're to live. That's where we're to dwell. And that's where we are to seek things. And notice in verse two of chapter three, Paul says, for you're dead. We are dead to this life, but we're alive unto God and our new life is hidden with Christ and God. And in fact, he tells us in verse four, Christ is that new life. So Paul tells us that spiritually, if we're born again, we died to this life. We are alive unto God. We've been raised up into heavenly places. And that's where our heart affection ought to be. Our heart's affection ought to be on things above. And therefore, if our heart is there, then that's what we're really going to seek after. That's what we're going to desire. And by the way, isn't that just what Paul taught them to pray in chapter one, especially folks who have been going through us with the Colossians memory verse. He prayed that they would be filled with the knowledge of God's will. He prayed that they would have a worthy walk, that they would walk in wisdom and have spiritual understanding. He prayed that they would be fruitful in every good work. He prayed that they would be increasing in the knowledge of God. He prayed that they would be strengthened in the inner man by his might. They Paul prayed that they might experience the power of the resurrection and their daily Christian lives. And those are the sorts of things that Paul prayed for for the Colossians. And he sets the example for us. Praying for patience and long suffering and to do so, to endure trials with long suffering and even with joy. Christ is our life. We are to abide above in Christ, like that branch abiding in the vine. And we're to dwell there in that glorious heavenly position. And as long as that is our mindset, it will drastically change our prayers. It will give us an entirely different perspective of prayer. You know, from Earth's perspective, what's our biggest concern, lower back pain, the electric bill, maybe. But if we're dwelling in heavenly places and we're really seeking things above, then far more critical than our lower back pain is that bitter spirit. That's what really needs to get dealt with. You know, you can have fellowship with God, even though you have lower back pain. But there's no fellowship with God, with a bitter spirit. From heaven's vantage point, heavenly riches are going to be far more valuable than earthly riches. And that's what's going to motivate our prayer lives and the content of what we pray for. If we're dwelling in heavenly places, if our affections are there, we're seeking things above, then God's will is much more important than getting our own will. We'll be praying in line with the Lord Jesus, who prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, not my will, but thine be done. That will change the way we pray. Our heavenly position, dwelling there, meditating upon it, seeking things above will certainly change the content of our prayer, and it will elevate the content of our prayer from that which is primarily earthly to that which is primarily heavenly, from the mere physical to the spiritual realm. from praying for our own pleasure and comfort to praying for his honor and glory. And so Paul introduces to us this concept of continuing in prayer in a context of our heavenly position. And not only will. An awareness, a consciousness of our heavenly position altered the content of our prayer, but it will also radically change our concept of prayer. You know, there's a big difference between the way a religious man prays and the way a born again person prays, someone who's alive unto God. As a young boy, I remember being taught a very different concept of prayer. In that religion, prayers were works. It was something that you had to do. It was a duty. It was sort of a painful exercise that you had to do. And when you went to confession, if you were pretty good, all you had to say was four or five prayers and you were off the hook. But boy, if you were bad, you had to say 20, 30, maybe 40 Hail Marys. And man, that was torture. On a Saturday morning, you had to say all those prayers. You see, prayer in that concept was punishment. It was penance. It was a form of suffering in order to help pay for our sins. It couldn't be further from the truth. And I wonder, I just wonder if sometimes as believers, we don't have a similar concept of prayer when we're so earthly bound, earthly minded, caught up in the affairs of this life, that finding time to pray is really a burden. And we know we are to do it. It's an obligation we got to do. But boy, I really don't have time. And it's a struggle and a battle to do it. And so we try to fit it in somewhere. And that kind of prayer. Is the empty babbling of a dead religion, it's what Jesus referred to as vain, repetitious prayers. You see, for a believer, we need to elevate our concept of prayer from an earthly ritual to a heavenly privilege. For the believer, the one who is in Christ, prayer is an awesome privilege of being able to enter into the very presence of the majesty on high. In prayer, we are approaching a holy God, almighty God. And it's not a duty. It's a delight. It's not an obligation that we've got to do something that we have to get over with, but rather it is an inner craving of our heart and our soul to have that fellowship with God through prayer. And through prayer, that soul is satisfied. And it's not the process. It's not by saying X number of prayers that our soul is satisfied. It's rather that we enter into the presence of God. God is the one that satisfies that emptiness in our heart, not the process, the person. Turn to Isaiah, chapter six, Isaiah, chapter six. Peter brought us here the other night in prayer meeting. Isaiah, chapter six, beginning in verse one, and here we have a glimpse into heaven of Isaiah in a vision where he's caught right before the very throne of God. Which, by the way, is not unlike what we do in prayer. First one, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. And above it stood the seraphim, each one had six wings, with twain He did cover His face, with twain He covered His feet, and with twain He did fly. And one cried unto another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory. And the post of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. And then said I, Isaiah, woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphim unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he laid it upon my mouth and said, Lo, this have touched my lips and an iniquity is taken away. Thy sin is purged. Now, there was nothing between Isaiah and God, his sin was purged when he entered into God's presence, he was humbled. He was so very conscious of his sinfulness before an infinitely holy God, he said, woe is me. I'm unclean. I shouldn't be in God's presence. And so God, in His grace and mercy and symbolic form in this vision, cleansed or purged this man's iniquity with the tongues from off the altar. No one can come into the presence of a holy God without being conscious of our sinfulness and of God's infinite holiness. That's why we dare not come to God in a light and frivolous manner. Something that we see carried on in churches all across the country today, turning church and worship and prayer into a house of entertainment rather than a house of prayer and worship. You see, there isn't anything at all casual about coming into the presence of Almighty God, the Creator of heaven and earth. Our biggest problem in prayer is forgetting into whose presence we enter. Moses was careful to tell us in Numbers chapter 23 that God is not man. He's not like us. David said in Psalm 50 and verse 21 that God is not like man. It's repeated in the scriptures. He isn't one of us. He's not the buddy upstairs. He's not on our level. He's God. And we're but dust. And yet in prayer, we have the awesome privilege of being able to enter into his presence because of the precious blood of Christ and the fact that it is able to cleanse us from all sin. And as those who are alive unto God, as those who have been raised up into heavenly places, we should think of ourselves, this is how God pictures us in this age, as those who are already in God's presence positionally. And in the New Testament, the church is seen seated around that crystal sea worshiping. That's our position. That's where we're to abide in Christ. And prayer. is the unspeakable privilege of one who has been raised up into heavenly places, who has the right and access to walk right up to the very throne of Almighty God with a request and say, Lord, help me. With a formal request to one who has all power. And this is something Paul says we are to do continually. Continuing in prayer involves that continual abiding relationship and fellowship and communion with God. And that is to be without ceasing. There's one thing that will hinder prayer. You're in the book of Isaiah, turn to chapter fifty nine. In Isaiah, chapter fifty nine and in verse one, The prophet says, behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot say neither is his ear heavy that he cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated between you and your God and your sins, our sins hide God's face from us so that he will not hear. It's not that he can't hear us when we pray. Obviously, God is Omniscient. He knows all things. He knows when we're praying. But it says here that if we are regarding iniquity in our hearts, God chooses not to listen. Sin separates us from prayer. It prevents us from walking up to the throne of God with a burden on our heart and laying it out before Almighty God. It slams the door shut on communion and fellowship and prayer. There's one prerequisite for prayer, and that is that our hearts be wide open to God. Nothing between. Sin separates. In the Old Testament, God dwelt in that holy of holies in the sanctuary, and nobody could enter into the holy of holies, but one man once a year with one sacrifice, and that was it. Everyone else was kept at a distance from God, and it pictured that in the Old Testament, God was too holy to be approached. And so when believers prayed under the Old Testament system, it was praying to God who was. In heaven. And the only access was through a priest. And now we discover in the New Testament that everybody who knows Christ in a saving way through simple childlike faith is a priest of God. Every one of us has that access to the very throne of God. Every one of us is able to bring our burdens and our requests to the Lord any time. But purity is required, there can be nothing between sin hinders that it did in the Old Testament, it hinders us in the New Testament as well. David wrote in Psalm 66, if I regarded iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. And so for God to hear our prayers, he requires 100 percent purity, nothing between. So that ends prayer life, if God expects 100 percent purity, how are we mere dust, sinful, Clay pots going to be able to approach an infinitely holy God who demands absolute purity. We'll turn to First John, First John, chapter one. In First John, chapter one and verse nine, a verse I'm sure we've all memorized, or if we haven't, we should. If we confess our sins. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, notice that word all. We have the privilege in this age when we sin and we all sin, we have the privilege of coming to God, confessing our sin, and what does he do with them? They're gone. All unrighteousness is gone. That means there's nothing left but righteousness. That is ours because of the blood of Christ. That means that when we confess our sin as a believer, that we can enter into God's presence. Our hearts can be wide open to the Lord. There's nothing hindering anymore. All unrighteousness has been washed away and it's all because of the blood of Christ. Look in verse seven of first John one. But if we walk in the light, that's another way of saying if we abide in Christ, As he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. And the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, is continually cleansing us from all sin. There is power in the blood of Jesus Christ and our heavenly father, who is infinitely holy, too holy for sinful men to approach. But he receives us in his presence on the basis of the power and the efficacy of the blood of Jesus Christ. We are cleansed. We are pure. When we confess our sins, there is nothing between us and our Savior. And that's exactly what God wants. He wants our hearts wide open to him with nothing hindering that fellowship and that communion. And that's what prayer involves. Turn to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. In verse 22. Let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience in our bodies washed in pure water. Here, the apostle encourages the believer who has come to the place where he understands the power of the finished work of Christ, that it not only saves us, but it sanctifies us, that it cleanses us from all sin. And on the basis of the finished work of Jesus Christ, not anything that we've done, it's all by grace. On the basis of the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary, we can draw near to Him. But it requires a true heart. Now, the Old Testament priest could not draw near to God at all times, but we can as a New Testament priest. And we're to draw near to God with a true heart, an open heart, a pure heart, a transparent heart, a heart that has only one master, a heart who has eyes for the Lord Jesus Christ, a heart that is undivided. And we can do so, he says, in full assurance, absolute confidence. In fact, we can approach the throne of grace with boldness. Now, that's not self-confidence. That is faith in the finished work of Christ. It is absolute confidence that what Jesus accomplished for us worked, that he is the propitiation for our sins, that all of our sins are washed away and there's nothing between us and our Savior. And therefore, with boldness and confidence and a pure heart and assurance, we can walk right up to the throne of the creator and say, Lord, help me in this problem. This is prayer. The purging of our conscience sprinkled from an evil conscience, you see, if our conscience is guilty, if there's an. confess sin in our hearts and we know it. If things aren't right between us and man or us and God, if something's not right in our heart, God is going to make us know it. And that guilty conscience will keep us from entering into real prayer and communion with God. Or we might say prayers like a religious man that bounce off the wall and get no further. But it will keep us from real prayer, real fellowship. And that guilt, that shame of sin needs to be washed away. And when it is washed away, when the heart is sprinkled and purged from a guilty conscience, when the guilt and the shame and the burden of sin, which normally would keep us away from drawing near to God, when that's all removed, it frees us to enter in to a heart to heart relationship with the living God. And lay open our hearts before the Lord. We need to know this, we need to believe this. And when we do so, God is no longer distant and far off, but he is a God that is near. That truly purged conscience removes every barrier between us and God. And we have the awesome privilege of entering in. And the picture here in Hebrews is that we, just like the high priest in the Old Testament, actually had the privilege of entering into the Holy of Holies where God dwell on the mercy seat. We, as New Testament priests, have the awesome privilege of entering into the heavenly sanctuary where God dwells to coming to the very throne of grace and praying before the Lord. And then Paul says something that even the Old Testament high priest could not even fathom. Paul says, stay there, continue in prayer. Now, the high priest came into the Holy of Holies once a year on Yom Kippur and the Day of Atonement, sprinkled the blood and left. And that was it. We are to draw near unto God and to keep our hearts open. And to keep that line of communication with God open all day long so that we're constantly communing with the Lord, constantly talking to the Lord and praying to Him and sharing the burdens of our hearts and seeking His will and counsel all day long, praying without ceasing, continuing in prayer. Turn to Second Timothy, chapter two. This is how Paul described a believer. Second Timothy chapter two in verse twenty two. Here, Paul says, we also youthful lusts and follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, and with whom with whom are we to follow? After righteousness and peace, well, with believers. And notice how Paul describes believers here. Here's another term for a believer. Them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. That's a term for a believer in fellowship with God. A believer abiding in Christ. A believer whose heart is wide open and pure to the things of the Lord. Nothing hindering. Nothing in between. A heart in full devotion to Christ. You know, when our hearts are wide open to God, prayer is the most natural thing imaginable. Because we love the Lord, when that's the case, it's an expression of the fact that we love the Lord. And think of how that wide open, pure heart that loves the Lord is going to affect our prayer life. What a contrast between the believer with a wide open heart, nothing between seeking, communing with fellowship with God and the religious man. On the other hand, the religious man for penance, he has to say X amount of prayers and it's a burden. You know, I remember learning how to say prayers very quickly. In fact, I could almost say a Hail Mary in one syllable here. Miller and maybe if you were in that boat, you could do the same thing. But a believer. Who knows God in a saving way? Who has experienced regeneration, who is alive unto God? And the blindness has been taken away and he sees himself risen with Christ in heavenly places. And he can picture himself right there by the Crystal Sea, walking up to the throne of grace with this heavy burden on his heart, seeking fellowship and seeking God's will and counsel and direction from the Lord and laying open his heart. This is a privilege. This is a delight. This isn't a burden. Because we love the Lord. Now, we have a young couple here about ready to get married one of these days. I wonder if we made Peter, if we forced Peter to spend an hour with Katie every day. What do you suppose his attitude would be? Oh, man, I don't want to do that. Fortunately, Katie's away today. Would it be torture? Would it be a burden? Or would it be a privilege? Would it be a delight? You see, the difference is love. And if we love the Lord, and if there's nothing hindering our relationship to God, then prayer isn't something that we have to do. It's not that somebody says, OK, you have to spend 15 minutes in prayer. Rather, if we love the Lord, we sit down in our prayer time and we might lose track of the time. Prayer isn't something that's forced for one who is in love with the Lord Jesus Christ and is seeking things above and dwelling in heavenly places. It is the most natural thing for the new man in Christ to want to spend time with the Lord that saved him, the Lord that he loves, the Lord whose counsel and guidance he desires more than anything, the one he wants to please. You see, if there's life. And there will be prayer. And if that's the case, why then the commands, why does Paul command us to pray? Turn to John 15. I think one of the reasons that there are many commands in the New Testament to pray. Is because there are an equal number, if not more hindrances to prayer. You see, the problem is that our hearts that are wide open can be closed. And we can do that. Those pure hearts can become polluted and defiled. That heavenly mindset dwelling on things above can be distracted and caught up and entangled in the affairs of this life down below. There are a lot of things that can lure us away from our love for the Lord Jesus Christ, and thus, our prayer life is going to be damaged. In John 15, just after explaining this wonderful privilege that we have as believers of abiding in Christ like a branch that abides in the vine and has a wonderful privilege of abiding in the vine and soaking in everything that the vine has and thus bearing fruit. Here we read in verse seven, Jesus said, if you abide in me and we should and my words abide in you, isn't this right out of Colossians? Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you. What a promise. We're commanded to pray because sometimes we don't abide in the vine as irrational as it seems to a spirit filled believer. And we know that we've all experienced this in our own lives. At times we pull away from the Lord and we're not abiding where we ought to be. And we're caught up in other things and sin pollutes our hearts and we're not where we ought to be spiritually. And in that position, Jesus said in verse five, without him, we can do nothing. You can pray all day if you want. It's not getting through. But if we abide in Christ, then Jesus said, you can ask whatever you want. And he'll do it. Of course, if we're really abiding in Christ, if that's really our heart's desire, then our will is going to be influenced by his will. We're not going to be praying for that new Cadillac. We're not going to be praying for never a sick day again in our lives. We're going to be praying for whatever burdens our hearts, but we will amend it exactly the same way the Lord Jesus amended his prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. Lord, not my will, but thine be done. If it be possible, take away this cup of suffering, but not my will, but thine be done. And so we have the awesome privilege of coming before the throne of grace as we abide in Christ and our hearts are wide open and the lines of communication are pure between us and a holy God. And we can share with God the burdens of our hearts. And sometimes the answer is going to be yes. And we'll say, thank you, Lord. And sometimes the answer is going to be no, because it isn't for our best spiritual interest. And we still ought to say, thank you, Lord. Not my will, but thine be done. You see, the branch that's genuinely abiding in the vine is going to want what's best for the vine. And so we need. To learn to pray. This way. Our will submitted to God's will. And when God, when our will is out of harmony and out of sync with God's will and the answer is no or the answer is later or the answer is maybe in a different way than you ever imagined, we need to say, yes, Lord, not my will, but thine be done. And it's going to change the way we pray. We'll be praying from heavenly perspective with eternity's values in mind. And so our prayer might not be so much Lord, stop the pain, but Lord, teach me through the pain. Give me grace to endure what you have allowed in my life this day that I might bear fruit and bring glory to your name. And it shall be done unto you, that's the promise. A pure faith. believing that we can come in God's presence and that God does hear our prayers and answer them according to his will. You see, prayer isn't the believer telling God what to do. It's rather bringing our hearts, our burdens, our requests, our petitions before the throne of one that we really believe knows best and his way is perfect and his will, he can do anything. And we're trusting and believing and we leave all of it in his hands and we cast all of our burdens before him and we leave them there and say, Lord, this is my desire, but not my will, but thine be done. And then a peace. An indescribable peace that passes all understanding fills our minds and hearts. God's ways are perfect. God wants us to learn to pray. And so back in Colossians chapter three. I'm sorry, Colossians chapter four in verse two. Paul tells us to continue in prayer. That wonderful privilege of being able to enter into the presence of an infinitely holy God. It's a fearful thing, but it's a wonderful thing because this is the Lord that saved us. This is the Lord we love. This is the Lord we want to live for. This is the Lord we want to serve and honor and bring glory to all the days of our lives. And God uses all kinds of trials and tragedies, sunshine and rain in our lives in order to glorify His holy name. And if we're really abiding in Christ and in sync with His will, that's our will. Lord, whatever it takes, I want to bring glory to you. I want to bear fruit. I want to be a witness in this world that might attract others to the Savior. I want doors to open to me that I might speak forth boldly the mystery of Christ as I ought to speak. I want to endure whatever you allow in my life so that others might be curious and ask me a reason of the hope that lie within me. There's nothing of self left in abiding in Christ. It's him, it's his will. Lord, teach us to pray. That's what the apostles said. That would be a good request of ours as well. And if you don't know Christ as your savior, praying is not the way to become saved. It ought to be the normal, natural life of a believer. But if you're not born again, the way to become saved is to believe what Jesus did 2000 years ago. He came to earth. He became a man. He took upon himself the sins of all the world and he shed his blood as a payment for my sin and for the sins of the whole world. And he rose from the dead victoriously, conquering sin and death, and now he offers life. to whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord. And if you'll simply trust him, you can enter into life and begin to pray and enter into his presence. Let's bow before the Lord. Our father, we thank and praise you for the revelation of yourself and your word. We thank you for the privilege of prayer that we can enter in, that we can draw near, and that we can continue in prayer and fellowship and communion with the living God. We thank you, Lord, for this privilege. Help us never to take it for granted. But Lord, we pray that this would be an ongoing part of our daily lives. And Lord, teach us to pray. And if there be anyone here who has never trusted in Christ in a personal way, Lord, we pray that even today you would draw them to that simple childlike faith where they trust in the finished work of Christ. And we'll thank and praise you for this in Jesus name. Amen.