Okay, ladies, let us pray. Our dear Lord God and Heavenly Father, we do indeed thank you for this opportunity to be here to learn of you, O Father, to learn of the great blessing it is to be able to pray to the God of heaven. I do pray that you would be with me as I speak. I do pray, O Lord, that you would give us all ears to hear and that we would gladly obey, O Lord, and just continue to learn of you and to love you. Please bless the rest of this time here. We ask these things in the name of our dear Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Okay, well, thank you, Tara, for explaining about the Thanksgiving. It will be included, but my topic will really be about praying without ceasing, and we're gonna go to 1 Thessalonians chapter five, and read 16 through 18. OK. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. And like I said, we're going to focus on the imperative to pray without ceasing. But of course, this will apply to both rejoicing and thanksgiving, because they all say rejoice always and in everything give thanks. And like Diane, I want to say before I continue that I do have to acknowledge that I'm greatly indebted to Pastor Albert Martin for his sermons on this subject, and much of my outline and the general material that I have will be gleaned from those sermons. So back to our text. The apostle tells us to pray without ceasing. So the first thing that we have to know is, what is prayer? And we could find a definition for prayer in many places. I know we can look at the confession of faith, and we can look at Westminster Confession, a lot of the other ones, but I kind of just broke it down to the bare bones. So I'm defining prayer as the soul of man having communion with God through the merit and work of Jesus Christ and by the power and aid of the Holy Spirit. So what do I mean by the soul of man? It is the spiritual, rational, and moral substance in man. It is the seed of his understanding, his affections, and his will. Now, before we were saved, all of our facilities were under the domain of darkness. But now that we are saved, they are under the grace of God and the light of God's word. Our once darkened understanding is now enlightened, instructed, and governed by God's word, by his divine revelation of himself. Our once stony hearts, hearts that did not seek God, and that did not care for his person, that did not love his word, have been made flesh by his grace and now desire and seek after communion with our heavenly father. And our renewed will seeks to do what is pleasing to God. Paul in his prayer for the Colossians said that he wished that they would be filled with the knowledge of his will and with all wisdom and spiritual understanding. And in his prayer for the Ephesians, he prayed that God would give them the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. And I've noticed that that theme has been in all of us, is knowing God. That is what drives us in our prayers, the knowledge of God in our hearts. Now it is our understanding and knowledge of who God is, as he has revealed himself in scripture, not just our own thinking of it, it's how he has revealed himself in scripture, and of our relationship to him as our creator, as our redeemer, and as our Lord, as is also revealed in scripture, that guides and drives our affections and our will to have communion with God in prayer, to pour out our souls to him. Turn to Psalm 116. verse 1 it says, I love the Lord because he has heard my voice and my supplications, because he has inclined his ear to me. Therefore I will call upon him as long as I live. Verse 5, gracious is the Lord and righteous is Yes, our God is merciful. The Lord preserves the simple. I was brought low and he saved me. Return to your rest, O my soul, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. Excuse me. And verse 12. What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits toward me? I will take up the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people. So in these verses, we see that the psalmist brings to his mind who God is. He is gracious, he's righteous, he's merciful, and he also recites some of the benefits that he receives in his relationship to God. God hears his voice, he hears the supplications, he gives ear to him, he deals bountifully with his people, he preserves the simple, he thinks of all of these things. His knowledge and understanding of all of these wonderful truths cause him to willingly and with great affection pour out his heart to God. He says, I will call upon him as long as I live. I will pay my vows in the presence of all his people. And in these two verses, we get the sense of having that private time of prayer with God and also the public time. And we're going to talk about that a little bit later. And I want to just go over a couple other examples, which, you know, the Psalms are full of examples of souls pouring out their hearts to God. We have Psalm 42, verses 1 and 2. As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? And Psalm 62, 8, trust in him at all times, O people. Pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us. Psalm 63, 1, O God, you are my God. I shall seek you earnestly. My soul thirsts for you. My flesh yearns for you in a dry and weary land where there is no water. And then Psalm 119, 7, I shall give thanks to you with uprightness of heart when I learn of your righteous judgments. Now, there are multiple examples, again, that we could find in the Psalms about just hearts being poured out in prayer and praising and praying God. But I want to do two samples, examples in the New Testament. The first one will be Luke chapter 1. And this is Mary's Magnificat. So Luke chapter 1, verse 46. My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For he has regarded the lowly state of his maidservant. For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. For he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty. He has blessed his servant Israel in the remembrance of his mercy as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever. And Mary, indeed, was highly favored of God. She was chosen to bear the Son of God in her womb, and that was indeed a high honor. But Mary praises God for the greater blessing of Christ bearing her sins on the cross. My spirit has rejoiced in God, my savior. You can hear her heart bursting with thanksgiving and rejoicing in the God of her salvation. And not only that, which is the greatest of blessings, she rejoices in the attributes of God. She speaks of his might and his holiness and his mercy, and in the great things he has done. He's scattered the proud, he's put down the mighty, he's exalted the lowly. Do we rejoice like Mary? Do we rejoice in knowing the God of our salvation? I know I'm guilty of that. I don't spend the time adoring and praising God as we have been told this morning. We need to be like Mary. And one other example is in Romans chapter 11. Romans chapter 11, I like this. That's one of my favorite books of the Bible is Romans. The Lord was pleased to use Romans eight verse one to turn me to him. But in Romans, we have Paul expounding the doctrines of salvation. In chapters one through three, he covers the doctrine of man's depravity and the need of a savior. In chapters four through five, He talks about the justification by faith in Christ alone. Chapter six through eight is sanctification by the imputed righteousness of Christ. And then chapters nine through 11, he speaks of Israel's rejections of the Messiah and how that was even part of God's plan of salvation. If you turn to verse 28 in chapters 11, It says, from the standpoint of the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But from the standpoint of God's choice, they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience, so these also now have been These also now have been disobedient, that because of the mercy shown to you, they also may be shown mercy. For God has shut up all in disobedience, so that he may show mercy to all." As Paul's mind has been filled with all of these truths about God, about these divine and majestic truths, he cannot help but burst forth in praise to God, and he says in verse, I'm not really sure which verse, but the last verse is there. Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and unfathomable his ways. For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who became his counselor? Or who has first given to him that it might be paid back to him again? Our God is unfathomable. When we truly think about the Lord, think of who he is, and we will never, I think even in turn, we will never know God fully, but from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Our knowledge of God causes us to praise him, to sing our praises and our prayers to him. So our prayers to God must come from the soul, from the renewed mind that is ever seeking to be filled with the knowledge of God and his word. And this renewed mind then engages and directs the will and the affections as we commune with our Heavenly Father, pouring out our souls to him, whether in prayers of praise and thanksgiving, of confession of sin and seeking forgiveness, of supplication for spiritual and material needs, and of all things necessary to live godly in Christ. Prayer comes from the renewed soul of the man. Prayer is the soul of man having communion with God. Now Webster's dictionary defines communion as fellowship. It's interaction between two or more persons of giving and receiving, agreement and concord. In 1 John 1 verse 3, it says, our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. Now John Owen describes it in this way. Our communion with God consists in his communication of himself to us with our return unto him of that which he requires and accepts, flowing from that union with which we have with him in Jesus Christ. So God communicates to us through the scripture and by the testimony of his spirit to our spirit, as we read in Romans 8.16. The spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God. And we, in turn, respond to God in prayer, seeking the things that are in accordance with his will. And I'm gonna be paraphrasing Barnes here. He says, fellowship with God means the Christian partakes, in some respects, of the feelings, the views, the aims, the joys which God has. There is a union in feeling and affection and desire and plan, and this is, to the Christian, a source of joy. He has an attachment to the same things, loves the same truth, desires the same objects, and is engaged in the same work. And the consciousness of this and the joy which attends it is what is meant by fellowship. Let's turn to Luke chapter 11. Luke chapter 11, we're gonna read in verses two through four. We have the model prayer which the Lord teaches his disciples. we see some of the main features of our communion with God in prayer. Our father, there's a familial relationship with God between the believer and God. We are now children of God adopted into his family. So we pray to our father, it's our heavenly father, he's our father. And it's our father, it's a relationship, it's not just one-on-one, we are all adopted into the kingdom of God, we are all children of God. Then it says, hallowed be your name. And as Janie said, it's being set apart, it's setting God apart in our hearts. It's holding that special place, that first place. There's a holy and a loving reverence and honor for God. Then it says, your will be done. We have a humble submission to God's will and a desire for his will to be done and a desire to do his will. It says, give us this day our daily bread. So this is a petition for the provision of our daily material needs. Forgive us our sins as we also forgive our debtors. This is a petition for provision for our spiritual needs. It says, lead us not into temptation. A petition for preservation and perseverance. And all of these features, in varying degrees and expression, are present in our communication, in our communion with God in prayer. So again, prayer is the soul of man, having communion with God, through the merit and work of Christ. It is through the merit and work of Christ. True prayer cannot be accomplished without a saving relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. It cannot be accomplished without a saving relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. The only access to God in prayer is through the person of Jesus Christ. In Psalm 15, I'm sorry, not Psalm, Proverbs 15, 8, it says, the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is his delight. And in Proverbs 15, 29, it says, the Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous. And I borrowed this verse from Janie from this morning, which was very appropriate, John 9, 31. Now we know that God does not hear sinners, but if any man be a worshiper of God and does his will, he hears him. The Lord Jesus himself said, no one comes to the Father, but through me. And that's from John 14, 6. The same thing is true in prayer as it is in salvation. When Christ on the cross said, it is finished, and he gave up his spirit, salvation was accomplished for all who would believe in him. At that same instance of his death, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, granting access to the Holy of Holies, to God himself. And because now the entrance veil was now the flesh of Christ. In Hebrews 10 verse 19 and 20 we read, Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, his flesh. Now we're gonna go a little deeper into this verse when we start talking about the privilege of prayer, but the main emphasis I want to, the main fact that I want to emphasize now was that access to God in prayer can only be attained through faith in the atoning work of Christ. There is no other means of access to God. And I wanted us to think about this too. This really kind of struck me as I thought about it. It says, even Christians sometimes pray outside of God's will. As James says, we ask and we don't receive because we ask with wrong motives so that we could spend it on our own pleasures. So if God will not hear his own children when they pray to him amiss, how much less will he listen to the unbeliever who has no true love for God and no desire to do God's will? So true prayer, prayer that inclines God's ear to hear, prayer that moves the heart of God to action, is only accomplished by a true, vital, saving relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. You must be born again. Prayer is the soul of man, having communion with God, through the merit and work of Jesus Christ, and by the power and aid of the Holy Spirit. So lastly, in our definition, we must be empowered and aided in our prayers by the Holy Spirit. Romans 8 26. In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know we have many weaknesses. I think of when Christ said to the disciples, oh, you have little faith. And yes, we have times of weak faith, weak understanding, weak desires. We have doubts and fears and coldness of heart and unconfessed sin and on and on. Well, John Bunyan wrote in his treatise on prayer, and I'm paraphrasing this, Without the Spirit, man is so infirm that he cannot, by any means whatsoever, be enabled to think one right-saving thought of God, of Christ, or of his blessed things. And then, not being able to conceive a right of God to whom he prays, of Christ through whom he prays, nor of the things for which to pray, how shall he be able to address himself to God without the Spirit helping his infirmity? And Matthew Henry in his commentary said, though the infirmities of the Christians are many and great, so that they may be overpowered if left to themselves, and I know we've had that feeling, yet the Holy Spirit supports them. The Spirit, as an enlightening spirit, teaches us what to pray. As a sanctifying spirit, works and stirs up praying graces. As a comforting spirit, silences our fears. and helps us over all discouragements. The Holy Spirit is the spring of all desires toward God, which are often more than words can utter. The spirit who searches the hearts can perceive the mind and the will of the spirit, that is the renewed mind, and advocates his cause. The spirit makes intercession to God and the enemy prevails not. Praise the Lord. Praise his name. So we have defined what prayer is. It's the soul of man having communion with God through the merit and work of Christ and by the power and aid of the Holy Spirit. So now we're going to ask, why should we pray? And of course, I've already indicated, I said that we're going to be discussing the imperative. So I'm gonna give, I'm just gonna cover it under three things. We should pray because one, it is our duty to pray. Two, it is our privilege to pray. And three, it is a divinely appointed means of grace, our duty. As we said before, the word pray is an imperative and we've learned in school that imperative is a command. The Christian's duty to pray is mandated in scripture by, one, the direct command of the Lord Jesus Christ and the apostles, two, inferences by the New Testament writers that Christians are expected to pray, and three, the example of our Lord Jesus Christ himself. In Matthew chapter 7, On the Sermon on the Mount, we have in the first 16 verses of chapter 5, we have the description of the citizens of the kingdom when he gives the Beatitudes. Then from chapters 5, verse 17 to the end, we have directives for kingdom living. Well, in chapter 7, starting at verse 7, the Lord gives three specific directives. Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be open to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, it will be opened. The words ask, seek, and knock are all in what we call the present imperative. So it could be written, keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking. And I like this quote from the Greek quick reference guide. It says, the present imperative is often a call to a long-term commitment and calls for the attitude or action to be one's continual way of life. And we'll be getting into that a little bit more. So Christ in the text is commanding that a long-term commitment be made to keep asking, to keep seeking, to keep knocking. In Luke chapter 18, In Luke chapter 18, we're gonna start at verse one. We have here the parable of the widow and the unrighteous judge. And right from the beginning, the Lord tells us, he explains the parable to us. He says in verse one, now he was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not lose heart. Again, we have that imperative ought. It means it is something that should be done as a command. And how often? At all times. And then later on in verse seven, as he's giving the application for this parable, he says, now God will, I'm sorry, there's an inference here that the Christians are expected to be a praying people. Because he says, now will God not bring about justice for his elect who cry out to him day and night? You see here that the elect are described as those who cry out to him day and night. It's a continual action. And in Colossians 4, I'm sorry, Colossians 4, verse 2, we have another imperative, devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert and with an attitude of thanksgiving. Again, we have the thanksgiving and prayer is so intermingled, inter, I can't think of the word, they go together. And King James also says, continue in prayer. Matthew 6, chapter 5, we have another inference on the directive of prayer. This is also from the Sermon on the Mount. The Lord Jesus says, when you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites. And then he continues on and tells them how to pray. But notice that he didn't say, if you pray, as if they had the choice. It says, when you pray. So the Lord does expect his followers to pray. And then how often? Well, in verses 9 through 13, again, he gives the model prayer. And he says in verse 11, Give us this day our daily bread. So here we can assume that he expects us to pray at least every day. I mean, most of us eat every day, so he's expecting us to pray every day. And then the same thing over in Luke 11, after the disciples ask him to teach them how to pray and he gives them this prayer, he says again to them, when you pray, they're expected to pray. I have another example in Ephesians 6 verse 18. We have in that chapter the armor of God and then the last piece of that armor that's mentioned, definitely not the last in significance and importance, but it says in verse 18, With all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints. So again, we are commanded to pray in this text, and we're even told what to pray for, about perseverance, petition for all the saints, and being alert. Then lastly we have the example of our Lord Jesus Christ himself in 1st John 2 verse 6 We read the one who says that he abides in him ought himself to walk in the same manner as he walked Well, how did our Lord Jesus walk? He was always doing what was pleasing to his father. He was always doing good and He was a man of prayer Matthew chapter four, we have the account of Jesus being led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil for 40 days and for 40 nights. And it says he was also fasting. Now, this text doesn't explicitly say that Christ was praying, but do we think that Christ was in the wilderness for 40 days and he was not communicating with his father? I don't think so. Then Mark chapter one, verse 35. And I love this one. This one really convicted me. In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place and was praying there. Can you almost hear the eagerness of Christ? It's before dark. He's like, he can't wait to be with his father. He gets up, he leaves, and he finds a place to pray. We need to have that eagerness to be with our father in prayer. Luke six, verse 12. It was at that time that he went off to the mountain to pray and to spend the whole night in prayer to God. This was a special time. The very next day, the Lord was gonna choose his 12 disciples. So what does he do? He spends the night in prayer with his father. And then in Luke 5, verse 16, but Jesus himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray. Now, the word often isn't in the original Greek, but it does help us get the sense of the meaning of the word. It shows us that it was the habit of Jesus to slip away by himself to pray. And there was a little hint there about what praying without ceasing meant. It's the habit of Jesus. So we see we have abundant evidence in scripture, both implicit and explicit, that it is the Christian's duty to pray. Now we're going to speak of the privilege of prayer. Webster's definition defines prayer as a particular and peculiar benefit or advantage enjoyed by a person, company, or society beyond the common advantages of other citizens. Prayer is a privilege afforded only to the true citizens of the kingdom of God, as we've stated before. It is a benefit and advantage granted to all believers. We have free, full, and unlimited access to God, the creator of heaven and earth, and the sovereign ruler of all the universe. We have free, full, and unlimited access to the sovereign God of the universe. That is something to meditate on and to give thanks and praise. So as I said, our access is free. It's unmerited, it's unearned, it's unbought. We certainly couldn't afford it. There was nothing that we could do to please God and ourselves. No, no, no. It was unbought, but, not unbought by us, but it was purchased. It was purchased at the highest cost, the life and blood of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Listen to some sobering thoughts on the privilege of prayer by George Swinock. At creation, Adam enjoyed unlimited, uninhibited fellowship with God, his creator. However, since the fall, approach to God had to be accomplished only through the shedding of blood for a sin covering. Yet, these were types and symbols of the offering of Christ. The offering of the blood covering for the sins of his people tore the veil to the Holy of Holies to confirm that no more animal sacrifices were needed. Approach to a holy God was made accessible to those covered in the blood offering of Christ. Any sinner who dares to enter into the presence of a holy God without this blood offering will surely face eternal damnation. For no sin may be permitted into the presence of a holy God. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord, or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart. Aswanat continues. the infinite and glorious God, though he be so high that he humbles himself to behold the things in heaven." Imagine that. He's so high that he humbles himself to behold the things in heaven, and he's so holy that the heavens are unclean in his sight. He is gracious. He is so gracious that he condescends and converse with poor, sinful, dust and ashes, that's what we are, poor sinful dust and ashes. Prayer indeed brings heaven down to man and prayer carries man up to heaven. We have free access through the blood of Jesus Christ. and our access is full. We don't just have access to the Father and the Son doesn't want to hear us or the Spirit. No, no, no. We have the help and aid of the Holy Spirit as we pray. We have the intercession of the Son of God at the right hand of the Father, and we have the listening ear of the Father. We have the full, complete attention of the triune God who listens to each believer as if they were the only person in the world. That is a privilege. He listens to us like we're the only ones in the world. Complete access. And our access is unlimited. It's unlimited in reference to time. We don't have to just wait till a certain period of time. No, anytime we want, we can go to God in prayer. He never sleeps and he never slumbers. And it's also unlimited in reference to substance. And I love this from the hymn that I think we're gonna sing. It says, what a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. Free, full, unlimited access to the throne of grace by the blood of Jesus Christ. And I want to look at two more passages, both of them in Hebrews, that expound this privilege. Hebrews chapter 10, and we've read this one before, but I want to go back to it. Hebrews 10, verses 19 through 22. Therefore brethren since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of jesus By a new and living way which he inaugurated for us through the veil that is through his flesh And since we have a great high priest over the house of god Let us draw near So let's break that down a little confidence to enter that is boldness to approach the mercy seat by the blood of christ We don't have to come with bulls and goats and all that. No, no, no, it has been that we have the confidence because we come through the blood of Christ, his shed blood. What a privilege. It should fill our hearts. And then we come in a new and living way. The old way was the continual daily sacrifices of bulls and goats. And then also we would have to come through the high priest and he could only go to the Holy of Holies once a year. No, no, nothing like that. It's a new way because now by a savior who died once for all and ever lives to intercede for us. It's a new and a living way. And he inaugurated the way. It wasn't anything that we did. It wasn't us that thought of it. No, he inaugurated the way. While we were yet dead in our sins, Christ died for us. And it's through the veil that is his flesh. It was his body that was beaten and torn and hung on a cross. And when he cried, it is finished, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and access to the God of heaven was granted to all who believe in his name. is through the veil his flesh and because of all of this says let us draw near we come with boldness we come freely and unafraid because the way has been opened by the blood of the lamb of god now you're probably wondering why i skipped over a great high priest over the house of god well i want to examine that more in hebrews chapter 4 verse 14 so hebrews 4 14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the son of God, let us hold firmly to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things just as we are, yet without sin. Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in the time of need. So first of all I want us to notice that we it says that we have present tense a great high priest. Christ is presently and actively fulfilling the ministry of the high priest interceding for us at the right hand of God. He sympathizes with our weaknesses and because he was tempted in all things like us, but without sin. So you may ask, well, how can a perfect sinless God empathize with his people? And I'm gonna be quoting Pastor Martin directly here because he gives such a vivid picture. When we draw near, we are to draw near in the confidence that we have a high priest in heaven at the right hand of God who has carried with him into heaven the full reservoir of all of his felt experiences while making his sojourning here on earth. All that was peculiar to the period of his humiliation, living in utter dependence upon the father and manifesting it by his own life of prayer, subject to the temptations of the devil, subject to the misunderstanding, to the slander, and to the horrible and wretched accusations of being an illegitimate child, of being an imposter, and being a blasphemer. knowing what it was to be weary, weary physically and weary emotionally, knowing what it was to be disappointed with the dullness of his disciples and with the apostasy of those who followed him when he was feeding the multitudes and caring for their physical needs. But when he began to speak of his true mission as being the bread of life and bread sent down from heaven and eating his flesh and drinking his blood, the multitudes go back and walk with him no more until he turns to the handful that's left and he says to them, will you go away? He was touched with the feelings of our infirmities. He has carried into heaven the reservoir of all that felt experience in this state of humiliation and weakness, and there he has it in his heart at the right hand of God. Therefore, when we come to obtain mercy, there is no category of need which we have here with which he cannot empathize. And from our great high priest, we receive mercy. That is the pity of God that is suited to our present need. When the blind man came and he cried out, O son of God, O son of David, have mercy on me. What did he mean? He said, I'm blind. I need you to have mercy and change my condition so I can see. That was his present need and God, and he received the mercy of God. So from our great high priest, we will receive mercy. and which is suited for our needs, and then we will find grace to help in time of need. What is grace? That is the vision, the divine provision to meet the need. We will have received mercy and find grace to help. Do we need forgiveness and cleansing and wisdom and strength and hope and comfort? Whatever, we will find it. We will have received mercy and find the grace that we need. Very briefly, I want to mention One last reason, of course, and this is important, it is a necessary and irreplaceable divinely appointed means of grace. That's why we should pray. It is a necessary, irreplaceable, divinely appointed means of grace. And quoting again, Pastor Martin, the means of grace are those activities, disciplines, and relationships chosen and ordained by God to be the channels by which he conveys spiritual nutrients to our soul, resulting in our health, and our progress in the Christian life. So prayer is a necessary, irreplaceable, divinely appointed means of grace. So once again, to our definition, prayer is the soul of man having communion with God through the merit and work of Jesus Christ and by the power and aid of the Spirit. So when we pray, we pray because it is our duty to pray, it is our privilege to pray, and it's a divinely appointed means of grace. So then, how do we pray without ceasing? Well, we know that it can't mean that it's a continual conscious activity that we endeavor in every waking hour of the day. We're human, we need to sleep, we need to eat, we need to exercise to stay healthy, so it can't mean that. And it also would contradict the clear biblical teachings of all the other duties that are required of us in the scripture. It says, for say not that gathering yourself together, visit the fathers and widow, husbands love your wife, wife loves, submit to your husbands, train up your child and so forth and so on. So how do we pray without ceasing? And here again, I'm relying very much on Pastor Martin. Praying without ceasing consists of establishing and maintaining both the habit and disposition of prayer. Establishing and maintaining both the habit and disposition of prayer. So establishing the habit of prayer. The habit of prayer is having specific, regular, daily times of prayer where we seek the face of our Heavenly Father. Now these are the seasons where we can have more of a formal prayer, where we can include adoration and confession and thanksgiving and supplication. It is a time when we can have thoughtful focus and reflection on the things we bring before God. It is a time to set aside specifically to engage with God. Now, the specific time of prayer may vary from day to day because each of us have different schedules, so the time of prayer may vary from day to day, but the regularity and the consistency of daily sessions of prayer should not vary. The habit of prayer also encompasses both private individual prayer, family prayer, and public and corporate prayer. None of these means of prayer should be unattended or neglected, save only by the providence of God. Remember our example of Christ, it said Jesus himself would often slip away to the wilderness to pray. Then we also have the example of Daniel in Daniel 6.10. The document had been signed that whoever does, whoever worships anybody except for the king was going to be killed. But he said, no, Daniel, when you learn about that document, He entered his house, and in his roof chamber, he had windows open toward Jerusalem. And he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, just as he had been doing previously. Now, if there was any kind of hindrance or providence of God for us not to pray, that would have been it. But he said, no, that was not enough. We also have the example of the early church in Acts chapter 2, verse 42. They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching, and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. We must establish the habit of prayer. These wonderful booklets that have been, notebooks that have been brought, done by the ladies, that's definitely a great thing to use. If not that, get a calendar, get a planner, get a notebook, set your alarm. Make the time in your daily schedule to be alone with God. And do notice I said, make the time. Don't find it. If you try to find the time, it will always elude you. Make the time to pray. And once you set that time, stick to it. You may have to change it every now and again, but stick to it. It needs to be a regular daily habit. And this is not just for individual private prayer. This is for family prayer and corporate prayer. We are not to neglect these means of grace. They are, again, a means of grace. So do we have legitimate providential reasons for not attending midweek prayer meeting or only attending one worship service? This is a command of God that we pray. We really need to ask, and I have to ask myself this, do I have a legitimate reason why I don't attend midweek prayer meeting, or if I don't attend all of the worship of God? He is our God. He died for us to give us that privilege. In his book, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, Donald Whitney, speaking on the subject of prayer says, this means too little time, too many responsibilities, too many kids, too much work, too little desire, too little experience, et cetera, do not exempt us from the expectation to pray. God expects every Christian to be devoted to prayer and to pray without ceasing. In other words, it is the duty of every Christian to establish both the habit and the disposition of prayer. So we've discussed the habit. Now we're going to talk about the disposition. It's the same thing. We need to establish and maintain a disposition of prayer. Well, what do you mean by disposition? It is the attitude of the soul in which, while the hands and the feet and even much of the mind may be engaged in another legitimate activity, you may be washing dishes, changing diapers, all those things, there is a readiness and disposition of prayerfulness. And I think probably the best example, one of the best examples on scripture is that of Nehemiah. So turn to Nehemiah chapter 1. And I may be messing up some of these words, but I'll try to read them. So in Nehemiah chapter 1, the words of Nehemiah, the son of Hakaliah. Now, what happened in the month Cheslev in the 20th year, while I was in Susa, the capital, that Hanani, one of my brothers, and some men from Judah came. And I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped and had survived the captivity and about Jerusalem. They said to me, the remnant there in the province who survived the captivity are in great distress and reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are burned with fire. Now when I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven. So Nehemiah here has just gotten this distressing news about the terrible condition of Jerusalem. It says in verse four that he weeps and he mourns, he fasts and he prays. The natural tendency and disposition of Nehemiah's heart was to turn to God in times of distress. He set aside this special time to seek God's face. So maintaining a disposition of prayer could mean having an unscheduled time of concentrated prayer when confronted with a special need. Then in chapter two, Nehemiah is going about doing his job before the king when he's confronted with an opportunity. In verse one of chapter two, and it came about in the month Nisan, in the 20th year of King Artaxerxes, that wine was before him, and I picked up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence, so the king said to me, why is your face sad, though you are not ill? This is nothing but sadness of heart. Then I was very much afraid, and I said to the king, May the king live forever. Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my father's tombs, lies desolate and its gates have been consumed by fire? Then the king said to me, what would you request? So I ran to my closet and I started to pray to the Lord, and no, no, no. So I prayed to the God of heaven. Then I said to the king, this was a sudden ejaculatory prayer to the God when a sudden opportunity arose. And then another familiar example, which we all know is Matthew 4, chapter 30, when Peter was commanded by God to begin to walk on the water. And so he did. He starts to walk, but then he takes his eyes off Jesus, and of course, he begins to sink. And he cries out just three simple words, Lord, save me. Peter's prayer was spoken in a time of sudden crisis. But it's not just when we have a special need or a sudden opportunity or a sudden crisis that we should send up these ejaculatory prayers to God. I'm quoting here from Austin Phillips in his book, The Still Hour. We miss very much devotional joy by the neglect of fragmentary prayer. In the intervals which separate periodical seasons of devotion, we need a habit of offering up brief, exaculatory expressions of devout feeling. The morning and the evening sacrifice depend very much upon these interspersed offerings, as these in return are dependent on those. Communion with God in both is assisted by linking the set times together by a chain of heavenward thoughts and aspirations in the breaks which occur in our labors and amusements. The methods of the Holy Spirit also presuppose the value of these fragmentary devotions. God often secretly inclines a Christian's heart to engage in them. Are there not in the lives of us all moments when, without the formality of retirement to the closet, we feel disposed to pray? We are conscious of special attractions toward God. Perhaps with no obvious reason for looking up now rather than an hour ago, we do look up. We feel just like praying. It is as if we heard heavenly voices saying, come up hither. And I love this quote from Benson on his comment on First Thessalonians. He says, prayer may be said to be the breath of our spiritual life. He that lives cannot possibly cease breathing so much as we really enjoy the presence of God. So much prayer and praise do we offer up without ceasing. So, as Christians, we obey the command to pray without ceasing by establishing and maintaining both the habit and the disposition of prayer. And now I wanna speak briefly about different kinds of prayer that we engage in as we obey this command, and we've talked about some of these before. So we have private prayer, and then we have the example in Matthew 6-6, but you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. Then we have public prayer. And that's in 1 Timothy 2, 1 and 2. And we know that the letters to Timothy were mainly about conduct in the church. So 1 Timothy 2, verses 1 and 2. First of all, then, I urge that requests, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving be made in behalf of all people, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. So that's public prayer. Then you have mental prayers. It's not vocal. It's mental. That's the example of Hannah in 1 Samuel 1, 12, and 13. Then we have vocal prayer, and we have that throughout the Psalms. Particularly, we're going to go to Psalm 5.3. In the morning, Lord, you will hear my voice. In the morning, I will present my prayer to you and eagerly watch. And that's another conviction to me. I'm not a morning person, but I need to be like David. In the morning, you will hear my voice. Then we have formal extended prayer. And this is examples in Daniel chapter 9. And in verse one through three, he talks about what causes him to have this formal extended time of prayer. It was in the first year of Darius, the king of Ahasuerus, the son of Ahasuerus of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of Chaldeans. In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of years which was revealed as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely 70 years. So I gave my attention to the Lord to seek him by prayer and pleading with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. And in the rest of the book, excuse me, I mean the rest of the chapter, we see his prayer includes all of this, adoration and confession, thanksgiving and supplication. Then we have ejaculatory prayer, and again we've already had the examples in Nehemiah and Peter. Then we have ordinary prayer, that's the habit of prayer, the ordinary prayer. We have Daniel's example again of how he prayed three times a day in Daniel 6.10. And then we have extraordinary prayer. And I have two examples of this very briefly. Paul in 2 Corinthians 12.7 talks about Well, I'll just read it. Because of the extraordinary greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from exalting myself. Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might leave me. So this was a season of extraordinary prayer for a special need. The same thing in Joel 1.14, this was an example of corporate prayer, where the land was being devastated by a drought and a plague, and this, of course, was God's judgment. And then God, through Joel, says to them, consecrate a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord. So that's a season of extraordinary prayer in corporate prayer. So private prayer, public prayer, mental or vocal prayer, formal extended prayer or ejaculatory prayer, ordinary prayer or extraordinary prayer. All of these kinds of prayers in their proper place and in relationship to other duties commanded of us in the scripture must be engaged in by the children of God. Now of course we know that in prayer rejoicing and thanksgiving are inseparable and we've heard that as we've gone through a different text you've heard rejoicing you've heard thanksgiving so all of these things that we've talked about that that is important for prayer is the same with rejoicing and thanksgiving we need to have those seasons of rejoicing we need to have those seasons of thanksgiving it needs to be a habit The scripture's saying, bless the Lord, O my soul. We need to do that. Because no true child of God who knows the unfathomable blessings of repentance, of forgiveness, justification, sanctification, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and access to the throne of God, no Christian, knowing all this, can have a life of prayer that is not saturated with thanksgiving and praise. Now I want to read, this is beautiful, I want to read this example. This is from the book Building on the Rock by Joel Beek and Diana Klein. I had heard it in the sermon, but Janie had sent it to us. So I wanted to read this as an example of a beautiful example of the habit and disposition of prayer. Several ministers had gavishly discussed difficult questions, and it was about how the command to pray without ceasing could be obeyed. Various suggestions were offered, and at last, one of the ministers was appointed to write an essay on the subject for the next meeting. A young maidservant, who was serving in the room, heard the discussion and exclaimed, what? A whole month to tell the meaning of this text? Why, it's one of the easiest and best verses in the Bible. Well, well, Mary, said an old minister. What do you know about it? Can you pray all the time? Oh, yes, sir. Really? How is that possible when you have so many things to do? Why, sir, the more I have to do, the more I pray. Indeed? Well, Mary, how do you do it? Most people wouldn't agree with you. Well, sir, said the girl. When I first opened my eyes in the morning, I pray, Lord, open the eyes of my understanding. And while I am dressing, I pray that I may be clothed with the robe of righteousness. While I am washing, I ask to have my sins washed away. As I begin to work, I pray that I may receive strength for all the work of the day. While I kindle the fire, I pray that revival may be kindled in me. While preparing and eating breakfast, I asked to be fed with the bread of life and the pure milk of the word. As I sweep the house, I pray that my heart may be swept clean of all its impurities. As I am busy with the little children, I look up to God and pray that I may always have the trusting love of a little child. And as I, enough, enough said the minister. These truths are often hid from the wise and the prudent and revealed unto babes. As the Lord himself said, go on Mary, he continued, pray without ceasing. As for us brothers, let us thank the Lord for this lesson. My dear sisters in Christ, let us ever be at the throne of grace by the daily, regular, and consistent habit of set times of prayer both in private and public, and let our hearts be continually lifted up to God with a readiness and an eagerness to pray. Whether we're moved by the Spirit in times of need, opportunity, or crisis, it is our duty and our great privilege secured by the blood of Jesus Christ. Let us never neglect it or grow weary of it. I do pray that. For any of us who are here today, anybody, those who are here today who do not know Christ, I hope you see what a great privilege it is to have access to the throne of grace. And I pray even now that your souls will seek God in prayer, in repentance, and faith. The hymn says, Jesus ready stands to save you. full of pity joined with power. He is able, he is willing, doubt no more. Let today be the day that you bow the knee to Christ and start a new life of ceaseless rejoicing, praying, and giving thanks. Let's pray. Dear Lord God and Heavenly Father, our hearts do rejoice and we give you abundant thanks for all the blessings that we have in Jesus. Our Heavenly Father, what a privilege it is to speak with you, to pour out our many needs to you, to pour out our praise and our thanksgiving to you. Lord, please forgive us when we have neglected this privilege or performed it half-heartedly or as an activity to just check off of our to-do list. Lord, continually renew our minds through your word and direct our wills and our affections toward you. Continue to conform us to the image of your dear son, our savior. Help us to make rejoicing, praying, and giving thanks our daily habit and disposition. In Christ's name we pray, amen.