We come this morning to the final message on the whole armor of God and the final message here in the book of Ephesians on verses 18 through 20. You'll notice there's a PS at the end of this letter, a postscript in verses 21 through 24, very personal, and I'm not going to preach those final personal comments from the Apostle Paul. Now this final message is the right time to remind us for the umpteenth time that the theme of this book is the phrase, In Christ. The phrase, in Christ or in Him, is found nearly 40 times in the 155 verses in this letter. That's better than once every four verses. In every section of this book, Paul teaches us that as believers in Jesus Christ, as followers of Jesus Christ, we are in Christ. That means we are united to Him in such a way that whatever is true of Jesus Christ is true of us in the spiritual realm. Has Jesus Christ been resurrected from the dead to new life? So have we, spiritually. Is Christ now seated at the right hand of God the Father? So are we. spiritually. Does God the Father accept His beloved Son completely? He does us as well in Christ. God looks on us, think about this, God looks on us with the same favor and acceptance and love as His only begotten Son. Now this concept, in Christ, can be a hard concept to get our heads around, but the word picture that works for me is used by the Apostle Paul in two other letters that he's written. He tells us that we are clothed in Christ. I like that. So when God looks at me, He doesn't see me, He sees my clothing. He sees Christ. And so He can bless me. And so He can accept me. And so He can love me. Because I'm in Christ. So I hope, having worked our way through this book, that you now understand that there is no fact about you, there is no fact about me that is more important than this truth. Whether or not we are in Christ. It's the difference between heaven and hell. It's the difference between blessedness and wretchedness. It's the difference between the family of God or the clan of Satan. Now, when we trust Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross, He saves us from our sin, yes. He saves us from an eternal hell, yes. But the moment we trust Jesus Christ, we are also united to Him. We are put in Christ. A wonderful, glorious reality. Now this morning, we're going to finish this final section of this book, which calls us to stand against our enemy Satan and the fallen angels who who follow Him, and we stand by taking the whole armor of God. And in Christ, that phrase is even the lens through which we understand the whole armor of God. With each piece of armor, Paul is actually reiterating to us that we can stand against Satan only as we take our stand in Christ. As Paul names each piece of armor, it's just one more repetition of this truth, that we can defeat the attacks of Satan and his demons by taking refuge in this grand truth, that we're in Christ. So by way of review here for just a moment, let's work through each piece of armor that Paul describes in verses 14 through 17, and see how each one of them teaches us that we defeat Satan by being in Christ. The belt of truth points to true truth, truth that's true for everyone in all times, in every circumstance, and it applies to what Scripture teaches us about Jesus Christ in particular, because Jesus Christ lived a sinless life, because He died on the cross in my place, because He rose again, we can indeed be right with God in Christ. It's not something that's true for me just because I choose to believe it. It's true for every human being who will put their faith in Jesus Christ. The breastplate of righteousness speaks of the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ that clothes us in Christ. God sees us as perfectly righteous, not because of anything that we have done or anything we ever will do, but only because of what Christ has already done by dying on the cross, rising from the dead. Our hearts are fully protected by this breastplate. We're fully protected by the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ, which is ours if we're clothed in Christ. The next piece of equipment centers on the Gospel. And the Gospel takes us right back to Christ. The Gospel speaks about our sin. It speaks about the death of Jesus Christ to bear our sin. It speaks about His resurrection to ensure that we can be forgiven and that we can be made right with God. But all of that is only ours because we are in Christ. The shield of faith points to the means by which we lay hold of Christ. It's not the strength of our faith that enables us to defeat Satan, rather it is the strength of the one in whom we've placed our faith, Jesus Christ. And so that shield is powerful against Satan because we are in Christ. The helmet of salvation again points to, you guessed it, Christ. Christ rescued us from our sin by his death and resurrection, rescued us from hell. We can only stand against the devil in that salvation that is in Christ. And then that final weapon is the word of God. The only offensive weapon, a very useful weapon, but again, we stand in what that scripture says about Jesus Christ and about who we are in Christ. In Christ, I am beloved of God. In Christ, I am a child of God. In Christ, I could go on and on and on and on. So to sum up, our protection in this battle with Christ is our position in Christ. We're assured of that truth in the very first verse in this section. Look back with me at verse 10 here in Ephesians 6. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord. be strengthened in Christ and in the power of His might. And so I trust that as we depart from this book of Ephesians, we will never forget this truth that we have been permanently united with Christ. We're clothed in Christ. We have the armor in Christ to defeat Satan and his attacks. Now, this summary brings us to the final three verses that provide the capstone, as it were, to this final section. So let's read together verses 18 through 20. Ephesians 6, reading verses 18 through 20. Praying always, with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints, and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may speak boldly as I ought to speak." I want you to notice that verse 18 does not begin a new thought. These verses are indeed a continuation of the section that starts in verse 10. Some have tried to make prayer the final weapon in the whole armor of God. But I don't believe that's the idea here. Paul could have continued using metaphors at this point. He could have spoken of the javelin of prayer. Would that be cool or what? But he doesn't say that, does he? And that's because prayer is not another weapon. Prayer is the way we take up every weapon in the armor of God. George Duffield had it exactly right in his hymn, Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus. Put on the gospel armor, each piece put on with prayer. That's exactly right. That's exactly the idea. How do we take up each piece of armor? By prayer. Verse 18 begins with the words, praying always. Now, I'm always scared when I read something like that. Paul says, praying always. Does that mean I'm supposed to pray every moment of the day and night? How could any of us ever do that? That's not really what the words mean in the original language. This phrase means something like praying in every circumstance. A couple of modern versions translate it, pray in every situation or praying at all seasons. Every situation that we face calls us to prayer. There's an appropriate response in prayer to every circumstance that we face. And when we face Satan, when we face spiritual warfare, when that is the situation we face, then we need to be praying in a particular way. That's when we need to take up the gospel armor by prayer. So again, let's think through some situations in which Satan may attack us and how we ought to respond in prayer, how we need to put on each piece of armor by prayer. At times, Satan will seek to deceive us. He's a liar from the beginning. In the garden, He deceived Eve. 2 Corinthians tells us that He even appears at times as an angel of light, instead of that old serpent, which is what He is. Now, when He seeks to deceive us, what do we need to do? We need to put on the belt of Truth. We need to confess what is true in prayer. Lord, I believe that you are always good. I believe that nothing can separate me from your love. Lord, I read so much about this transgender issue, but I believe that you created human beings, male and female, period. Lord, I believe you created marriage between one man and one woman for life. We can put on the belt of truth by confessing that truth back to God. At other times, Satan will tempt us. Tempt us to sin. And that's the moment to put on the helmet of salvation. That's the moment to say, Lord, no, I'm saved. I belong to you. That's who I am. I'm a follower of Jesus. And I will not dishonor my Lord. And I will not dishonor the people of God by doing this. Give me grace, Lord. And when Satan tempts us, that also may be the time to wield the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. A couple of weeks ago, I encouraged you that we need to memorize verses that deal with our besetting sins. And when Satan tempts us, we need to pray those verses, confess those verses back to God. Lord, I know your Word says that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Lord, I would not sin against you in this way. I would not sin against my wife in this way. Deliver me from this temptation. Deliver me from the evil one. Take up the sword of the Spirit. And then if we do sin, we can be certain that Satan will accuse us. His very title, the devil, means he's a slanderer. He's an accuser. And when we sin, he will take that sin up and use it like a cudgel to beat us down. And that is the time to take up the breastplate of righteousness. Oh Lord, I confess my sin and my guilt to you. I know that I stand before you forgiven. And I know that I face none of your wrath because I'm clothed in the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. And then there will be other times when Satan's attack takes the form of trouble. Satan and his demons seem to take sadistic pleasure in the pain and suffering of human beings. And when we're in trouble, when we're suffering, when we face obstacles and difficulty, that's the time to take up the shield of faith. Rather than letting that trouble and that suffering turn us away from God, turn us to discouragement and bitterness, we need to reaffirm our faith in God as our shield and defender. Oh God, You are my shield and my buckler, my refuge and my stronghold. God, comfort me. God, heal me. God, meet my needs. God, give me victory. take up the shield of faith. You get what I'm saying? Now, if that kind of prayer is foreign to you, what's going on? Where's your spiritual life? Satan will attack a child of God. If you don't know how to pray, do the first fruit, do the first works, and ask Jesus to do a work in your heart. Listen, do children talk to their parents? Have you ever known a child that didn't talk to his parents? I imagine there's some out there, but nothing's more natural than a child to talk to his mother and his father. And if God has saved you, if he's given you true spiritual life, you'll be praying. And so we're going to turn now to focus on prayer in the life of a believer. Verse 18 is kind of like a coin. It has two sides. And on one side, as we've just seen, it finishes Paul's outline of the whole armor of God. But on the other side, it is one of the most well-rounded outlines of how to pray in the entire Bible. I call it a primer. for prayer or a primer for prayer, whichever pronunciation you prefer. I want you to notice verse 18 carefully. It uses forms of the word all four times. Praying always, with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance, and supplication for all the saints. So in these last three verses, Paul gives us a primer on prayer. He explains four basics about how to pray. And I believe every one of us, if we belong to the Lord, can improve our prayer lives, can't we? We all need this primer on prayer. The first basic, Paul explains when to pray. When to pray. Praying always, and again, as I explained a moment ago, praying always directs us to pray in every circumstance, in every situation, in every season of life. As I illustrated a moment ago, we're certainly to pray when we're under the attack of Satan when he seeks to deceive us or tempt us or accuse us or trouble us. But you know, we're not only to pray in difficult situations, we're not only to pray when we're in need, it's just as important to pray in good times as well as in bad times. And that is when our hearts ought to turn to thanksgiving and praise Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits, who heals all my diseases, redeems my life from destruction, who crowns my life with loving kindness and tender mercies, who satisfies my mouth with good things, so that my youth is renewed like the eagles. Those kinds of words and thoughts ought to be stored in our hearts for times of giving thanks and praise for the good things that God has given us. I've also taught you in the past that when we encounter beauty, where's that beauty come from? There's only one source of beauty in this world, and that is God. Beauty is always His handiwork, and it's always intended to take our gaze back to the giver of that good gift. Sometimes, whether it's something we hear or something we see, and we're enthralled with that beauty, we just soak it up. And that's great. I believe God would have us do that. But it should never stop there. We need to go beyond that to saying, God, you are a beautiful God, a glorious God. I give you praise and glory and honor. Thank you for this beauty. This past summer when we were on vacation, the first day we were on vacation at the beach, I was out sitting on that patio six in the morning, and I saw the most beautiful sunrise that I think I've ever seen. And I just sat there and soaked it up for about 10 or 15 minutes. It only lasts about that long. And then I said, God, you are so beautiful. Beauty ought to take our hearts back to God. And we ought to express that glory to him in prayer. But there are circumstances in life that are neither good nor bad. And I'm talking about work. Most of us go to work every day, and that calls for prayer. Each morning I look out through my day, I see what meetings I'm going to have, and I pray for wisdom. I pray for wisdom to have the right answers in those meetings. If decisions are going to be made, I pray for the people that are going to make those decisions. I look at the projects I'm working on. I pray for the people that are working on those projects with me, that God will strengthen their hands. I pray that God will give me success in the projects that I have. And most important, our work is a means of worship. Who do you work for? Many of you are thinking of some name right now, your boss's name. That's not who you work for as a believer in Jesus Christ. You work for the Lord your God. He's your boss. He's the one you want to please. And at times through the day when you complete something and it looks good, you need to say, Lord, I did this for you. I did this to please you. I'm seeking to do a good job with your grace and your mercy to please you. And if we don't do that, if we're not using prayer in that way, then we're not turning our work into worship. And that's what we need to be doing. Now, I won't push this point any further, but I hope you're getting the idea from these illustrations that there is an appropriate response in prayer for every situation we face in our day. You say, even when I get behind that guy that's going too slow on the interstate? Well, a whole lot better than getting angry or cussing him out is praying for him. You may need to be praying for yourself. You may need to be taking up some armor of God. I know that's my case at times. Hear what I say. There is an appropriate response in prayer to every circumstance in life. That's what Paul's teaching us here. And then in this primer on prayer, Paul teaches us a second basic about prayer. What to pray. What to pray. With all prayer and supplication. Now, those two words, prayer and supplication, are like saying from top to bottom. Now, when I say from top to bottom, do I mean just the top and the bottom? No, I mean everything in between, right? When Paul uses the word prayer, that is the most general, generic word for prayer. On the other hand, the word that's translated supplications in our New King James Version, that's the word that means specific requests. So Paul's saying that we ought to pray in every way from the most general to the most specific. Now, that will certainly include daily Scheduled seasons of prayer Every follower of Jesus Christ ought to carve out times in their daily schedule to pray Now that takes discipline It takes discipline to carve out that time and and that time has to be guarded and Because the things of life will always try to eat away, to nibble away at that time. I highly recommend that you use prayer lists when you pray in that daily time that you've carved out. You know, Paul often told the people that he wrote his letters to you, I pray for you without ceasing. And I would say, yeah, right, Paul, I'm on your mind every day of the week. That's not what Paul meant. I believe what Paul meant was you're on my prayer list. And I continue to pray for that prayer list. Maybe not every day, maybe it's only once a week that I pray for you. But I do not cease to pray for you because you're on my prayer list. You see what I'm saying? Every serious believer needs to have a prayer journal. We need to be praying for the members of our family by name, by need. We need to be praying for the members of this church by name and by need. We need to be praying for ourselves, for whatever our greatest spiritual needs are. I encourage you to make sure that you carve out that time. Now, I won't preempt what I'm going to say later on. This kind of prayer will also include specific requests for ourselves. specific requests for ourselves. Some people, I think, have the idea that it's wrong for them to pray about themselves. No. It's no more wrong for me to pray about my needs than it is for my child to come to me and say, I need this, Daddy. 1 Peter 5, 7, calls us to cast our care upon the Lord, for He cares for us. So God encourages us to pray for our needs, not our lusts, not our desires. Our son Justin is 45 years old now. has eight or nine-year-old sons of his own. I can remember him coming to us when he was that age and he would never say, Dad, I want this. He would say, Dad, I need this. You know, I need a new bicycle. No, you want a new bicycle. You and I need to be able to distinguish between our needs and our wants. God says, if you need it, come to me. And we need to be willing to pray specifically. Heavenly Father, I'm in pain right now. Touch my back. Give me relief from pain. Heavenly Father, I don't know how I'm going to pay this bill this month. Would you provide this $326.36? You will never know if God can answer specific prayer if you never pray specific prayers. And so God encourages us to pray for our needs, not our wants, and to pray specifically. All prayer and supplication, I believe, includes responding to the Word of God. If you're going to carve out time each day to pray, then certainly you ought to be carving out time each day to read God's Word and study God's Word. And if you're simply reading through the Bible, and I encourage that, you ought to make it a goal that every day you find one verse that does some work on you. One verse that you say, yeah, I need to do something about that. Heavenly Father, I never saw this principle in your word before. I need to apply this in my life. Teach me how to apply this, Lord. Heavenly Father, I've sinned like that. Would you forgive me, Lord? See, if God talks to you, you ought to talk back. That's only polite, right? And so prayer is a conversation at times when we're reading God's Word. And then all prayer and supplication includes united prayer with God's people. This past weekend, when I was with my buddies, they wanted to go to a megachurch in Washington, D.C. I don't often get to megachurches. But I take the opportunity to go because it lets me see the other side. This isn't a megachurch, if you haven't noticed. But here's the interesting thing. There was no prayer in that service until the invitation. There was no pastoral prayer. There was certainly no prayer for the needs of the people. You see, in many megachurches, they're only interested in the people that need to be saved, and those people don't like a season of prayer. And you know what? Even many believers don't particularly like a season of prayer in a worship service. Many of us kind of check out, okay, pastor's praying, time to take a nap for five minutes. I hope that's not the case. See, every one of us needs to master the skill, the discipline of engaging with someone who leads in prayer. Of agreeing with that person, with all of our hearts, Because you know what? United prayer is powerful. And many churches do not see the power of God because the people don't engage in united prayer. We pray with one another on Wednesday night. It's the same thing. If you're praying with another person, you need to be engaging with that person when they're praying. and vice versa. United prayer is a powerful tool. And so I encourage you, if you've been taking five-minute naps every Sunday morning, repent of your sin and begin to engage in prayer. United prayer is powerful. And then let me mention one last way that I think all of us need to learn to pray. Charles Spurgeon called them prayer arrows. Prayer arrows. You know, I'm at work and I'm in a meeting and all of a sudden a critical problem comes up and I don't really know what to do. That's the time to shoot a prayer to heaven. Lord, help. Lord, I need wisdom. This is what happened to Nehemiah. Nehemiah was the cup bearer for the Persian king. Now that was an important post in the court, that Persian court. And Nehemiah was a Jew and he was burdened because back in the land of Israel, that the capital city, Jerusalem, lay in ruins. And he had been fasting and praying about it for many days, and he came in to serve the king, and the king noticed that Nehemiah was depressed." That's a capital offense in the palace of a Persian king. So the king said, what's the problem? Why are you downcast? And to Nehemiah's credit, he didn't make excuses, he didn't hem and haw, he told the king exactly what was on his heart. And the king said, what do you request? And here's what we read in Nehemiah 2 in verse 4. So I prayed to the God of heaven. Now, does that mean that right there, in front of the king and the queen, he got down on his knees and he said, let's have a prayer meeting? Is that what's going on? No. It means that in his heart, he said, God, help. God, give me wisdom. God, direct me. He shot a prayer arrow to heaven. And God answered that prayer. And the walls of Jerusalem got rebuilt because God answered that prayer. Listen, so many of our endeavors would be blessed by God if we learn to shoot prayer arrows in the middle of a meeting or when we encounter a problem. Well, this primer on prayer continues in verse 18, teaching us How to pray. How to pray. Being watchful to this end with all perseverance. How are we to pray? First of all, by watching. Paul here uses a word, first of all, used by Jesus. Watch. You remember the story? The night before Jesus was crucified, He took Peter and James and John with Him to the Garden of Gethsemane, and they'd had too big a dinner at the Passover, and while Jesus was pouring out His heart to the Father, they were snoring. And we come back and found them sleeping. What did He say? Watch and pray lest you enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Boy, was Jesus on target. He knew our human nature. How easy it is to sleep and pray instead of watch and pray. Do you know what I'm talking about? My wife and I were driving down here to the church the other night. And she woke up because she'd been asleep. And I almost said to her, yeah, me too. But isn't that how it is with prayer oftentimes? All of a sudden we wake up and we realize we're not praying anymore. We are sleeping. Watch. It takes effort. It takes effort to watch and pray. And you know what? I believe that Jesus told us to watch and pray because if there's ever a time that Satan is going to work on you and me, it's when we are praying. Oh yeah. Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. Nothing scares Satan so much as a believer on his knees in prayer before the heavenly father he will do anything he can to distract you you start to pray and your mind will be flooded with every last possible thing that you need to do you know what I do I just write them down because if I don't write them down what are they going to do to go over and over and over in my mind and they're going to distract me from prayer. And so I say, okay, Satan, thanks for reminding me of this. I'm just going to write it down so I can get back to prayer. He's going to introduce thoughts that take you away from prayer. You know what? He will come and say, I'm such a great person for praying. Well, I'll tell you what, nothing will take you away from praying ground so quickly as that thought because God resists the proud. Yeah, Satan will attack. And I think that Satan must have some kind of unheard sweet music that puts Christians to sleep when they try to pray. That somehow we need to say, no, I need to focus on my heavenly Father. and take these requests to the throne of grace. So first of all, how do we pray? We need to watch and pray. And then there's a second word that Paul uses. How do we pray? Here's the word. Perseverance. And if you don't know how to spell perseverance, let me spell it for you. Never give up. Have you prayed 20 years for that family member to be saved? Then pray 21 years. Do not give up. And again, I believe one of the secrets to perseverance is really simple and really practical. Use prayer lists. If I've got a list, then I keep praying for it. Unless my hard drive goes bad. Use lists. Persevere. Keep praying. Do you remember the story from your Sunday school days of the battle that Joshua and the Israelite army fought against the Amalekites? Israel had just escaped from Egypt and they'd just begun their journey to the promised land when the Amalekites stopped them dead in their tracks and tried to annihilate them. And Moses sent Joshua and the men of Israel into battle while he and Aaron and Hur went up to the top of a hill to watch how the battle fared. And when Moses held up his hands to God, the Israelites began to win the battle. But when his arms got heavy and his arms came down, then the Amalekites began to win the battle. So Aaron and Hur lifted up his arms until the battle was won. That is a picture of persevering prayer. Do not give up until the battle is won. And then the end of verse 18 and on through verses 19 and 20 teach us who to pray for, who to pray for. At the end of verse 18, Paul directs us to pray for all the saints. Now, as I mentioned earlier, we're supposed to lay specific requests before the Lord. That's one of the reasons why we have a prayer meeting here on Wednesday, so that we can pray for specific prayer requests for one another. But I want you to notice that in addition to praying for those kinds of specific requests for our church and our people, for our families, we are told here to pray for all the saints. God wants us to pray big prayers. I think some of you, when I pray on Sunday morning and I say, God, bless those that are standing and faithfully preaching the gospel in thousands of pulpits around the world, and may thousands and ten thousands be saved today, you think, he's nuts. No, I'm just being obedient. I'm praying that God will build the church of Jesus Christ all over the world. because that's what we've been directed to do. We have a big God. He wants us to pray big prayers. In fact, it's not just all the saints. Keep your finger here in Ephesians 6 for a moment and turn over with me a few pages to 1 Timothy chapter 2, okay? We will be coming back to Ephesians 6, so keep your finger here. But turn with me to 1 Timothy 2. 1 Timothy 2 and verse 1. Here's what Paul teaches. I exhort, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men. It's not just all saints, it's all men. And then he goes on in verses 3 and 4 to say, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. I have no problem regularly praying that God will save every child that comes to Good News Club. We need to pray big prayers. All encompassing prayers. See, here's how many of us go to prayer. We've got blinders on. All we can see is our little church and our little family and our little life. D. Martin Lloyd-Jones, in his sermon on this passage, says, we are just one regiment in Christ's army. And we need to be praying for the entire army. We need to be praying for the entire battle. Even though we don't know those other regiments, even though we don't know what's going on in the rest of the battle, we still can pray for those believers. We can still pray for men to be saved all over the earth. And then flip back to Ephesians chapter 6. Because Paul goes on in verses 19 and 20 to take our gaze away from all the saints and put it on himself. He says, me too. Pray for all the saints. And for me, and I wanted to put the word to in there. It's not in the Bible, but I wanted to put it in because that's what he meant. And me too. See, we are to pray specifically for pastors and missionaries and evangelists, those who carry the gospel to other lands, to other cultures, to other languages, as well as our own church. And in this role, Paul says, here's how I want you to pray for me. And I would echo Paul and say, here is how I want you to pray for me. He says, pray that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel. Now, that's not probably how we would say it today in English. I don't know when the last time was you used the word utterance. I don't use that word very often. Now what that word actually means is freedom of speech, the ability to speak freely. What Paul was saying is, pray for me so that the right words will be on the tip of my tongue when I have the opportunity to preach the word. And I would say along with the Apostle Paul, please pray that for me. You don't know how many times on Sunday morning that's exactly what I'm praying before I get in the pulpit. Lord, give me liberty. Give me freedom. May the words be there. The words that you would have me preach. And then Paul directs us to pray for missionaries and pastors, not just for the right words, but also for the boldness and the courage to deliver them. Now, I believe that is particularly true for missionaries who are in strange places, sometimes dangerous places. There's the temptation for every preacher to trim his message. to customize his message so that it won't offend anyone. Do you know what? The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 makes clear that it's impossible to preach the genuine gospel without offending people. You can't do it. And so pray for me, pray for our missionaries that they would not give into that very real temptation to trim their message, but rather that they would be courageous and bold to preach the gospel. And then in verse 20, Paul reminds us that he was in chains. This detail was literally true. Paul was under house arrest in Rome when he wrote this letter. He lived in his own rented house, but he was chained 24 hours a day to a Roman centurion. And so verse 20 teaches us that we need to pray for another group of Christ followers found all over the world today, and that is our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ. You know, finally, the plight of Christians in Nigeria is making headlines here in our country. 7,000 Christians martyred in that country this year. This has been happening for years. I'm glad that the federal government's finally getting involved and trying to do something. But that's just one country, one country where our brothers and sisters face imprisonment at times by government authorities, or they face violence, even death at the hands of mobs. And the book of Hebrews urges us to pray for them as if we were imprisoned with them. To pray for them as if we were facing that violence ourselves. Now, as I conclude this message, there ought not be one of us who does not need to make some decision to improve our prayer lives. I've never met a serious Christian who does not feel, you know, I don't pray enough. I don't pray well enough. But let me close with this thought. God offers you help. I don't know if you noticed it, but I skipped one phrase back in verse 18. And I want to mention that as I close. Verse 18 says, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit. We pray to the Heavenly Father in Jesus' name in the power of the Spirit. The Spirit is there to help us pray. Listen, I don't know about you, do you ever get up in the morning and you don't feel like praying? I do. And that's when I say, Spirit of God, will you warm my heart? Will you lead me to prayer, please? That's His job. And so we need to say, Spirit of God, take my hand, lead me into prayer. Teach me what I need to pray for. Give me the energy not to sleep and pray. You and I have a supernatural helper to help us pray more, to help us pray better. Let's take advantage of that third member of the Trinity. Now here's what I want to ask you as we close. Will you put at least one lesson that you learned today about prayer into practice tomorrow? Would you just close your eyes right where you are, and in your heart, will you answer that question before the Lord? Will you take one thing that you learned today about prayer, something that the Holy Spirit has poked you about, and put it into practice beginning tomorrow? If you have no prayer life at all, That's an indication that you've never truly trusted Jesus Christ. And if that's you, run to Christ right now. Ask him to make you new inside, to cleanse you and give you a new heart, a new relationship with God.