Take your Bibles this morning. Turn please, if you would, again to Ephesians chapter six. Ephesians chapter six. As I look at what's ahead, it appears as though we'll probably be here in Ephesians chapter six for maybe three more Sundays as we finish down through the end of this great study of this great letter with all these wonderful and marvelous themes. As you know by now, his last major subject in this book in chapter six, is the subject of spiritual warfare. We've been working on that one. I guess this is part 28, which would mean about 28 weeks now we've been in this section on spiritual warfare. In verses 10 to 13, there was a call to battle. From verses 14 to 17, we spent quite a bit of time there. Paul laid out for us all the details of our defensive strategy in this war that is raging against an invisible enemy, the devil and his host of demons. A defensive strategy that was, of course, all about the full armor of God. And so we looked at all six pieces, one at a time, down through the full armor of God. And then most recently, we've moved on to the third and final section in this text that we're calling by way of outline, the believer's offensive strategy. And as you know, by now, our offensive strategy has to do with the subject of prayer. Prayer is a weapon here at the end of this text. And then, as I've said several times now over the past weeks, the more specific subject here in this context is not just the subject of prayer. The subject here is very specifically the subject of warfare prayer. That's what Paul is talking about here. Prayer, of course, is vital for every aspect and dimension of your life in ministry as a believer in Jesus Christ. But Paul's specific focus here in this text is to present prayer as a powerful and essential spiritual weapon for the soldiers in this war. That's how we're to think of prayer as we study this text. Prayer is a weapon. That's what Paul wants us to understand. Let me read this final section of our text for you. We'll review just a little bit, and then we're going to pick up our study where we left it last week in the middle of verse 18. Paul closes out his teaching on spiritual warfare now with these words in verses 18 to 20. Follow as I read. 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 and pray on my behalf. That utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth to make known with boldness, the mystery of the gospel for which I'm an ambassador in chains that in proclaiming it, I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. And we're still going to be in verse 18 today, but let me just mention that there are some interesting thoughts coming up as we move into verses 19 and 20 in the weeks ahead. and talk about this request that Paul made on his behalf. Pray for me, he said, that I would have clarity as I speak and that I would have boldness as I speak. But back to where we are. In fact, let's stop now and ask the Lord to help us and guide us and teach us. Bow with me in prayer. Father, we thank you for this and other Lord's day opportunity. We always count these precious Lord. This is a privilege that you have given to us to come here to this place and gather with your people and open the precious truth of your word. We need your spirit to be our teacher and our guide today. Father, we want to hear from you. And then father, we want your spirit to change us in some way. with the truth that goes forth today. Father, save the lost and sanctify the saved with the truth of your word today and guide us and help us, Lord, to understand it. Illuminate us, Father, we pray in Jesus name. Amen. Well, we've divided Paul's instructions on this subject of warfare praying into five subsections. We have three of those subsections down, two of them yet to go. We're going to get the fourth one today. And so let me review a little bit. At the very beginning of verse 18, we talked about the forms of warfare praying. I don't know how many weeks ago that was. Now we had a trip to Michigan and, and, uh, an Easter in there. Uh, so it was several weeks ago, but we talked about the forms of warfare praying, and here's the phrase that we zeroed in on with all prayer and petition pray. Paul says to begin this verse, what was his main point here? Well, his main point here in this phrase was to sort of gather and collect all of our praying, in all of its forms and apply it now to this subject of warfare praying. With the use of comprehensive words here, Paul's first word of instruction on warfare praying was to say, that all of our praying should be considered as warfare praying. And that only makes sense, doesn't it? Because this war is always raging, it ought to be, and it must be a pervasive theme in all of your praying. And if you would only think about that for a minute or two, you would realize the impact of this cosmic war on literally everything and everyone that you would ever pray for or about. This war affects everything, every single part of our lives in every dimension. All of your praying, Paul says, that's how he starts. All of your praying, all prayer and petition. rightly fits into this category of warfare praying. That's the first point. From there, Paul followed that thought up. He affirmed it even more with the next phrase that defines for us the frequency of warfare praying. I think we talked about that last week, wasn't it? With all prayer and petition, pray at all times, Paul went on to say. I'm not going to elaborate on that too much because I think you understand it. To pray at all times obviously doesn't mean that you will be literally praying at all times, 24 seven in the prayer closet, never doing anything else. But what it does mean is that if you understand people, the conscious of the constant and vicious nature of the spiritual war, how will you live? You will live your life in a perpetual state of communion with God. And you can remember when the veil was torn from top to bottom, Jesus Christ opened the way of access for us into the Holy. That's an awesome, awesome thing. That symbol was awesome. It represented our access in the name of Jesus Christ into the Holy. You know what those folks in the old Testament wouldn't go in there or they would have been dead on the spot. You and I have 24-7 open access to the God of the universe. And then the question is, why don't we avail ourselves of that incredible privilege more than we do, right? To realize how awesome that privilege is, is to also realize how much of a tragedy it is that we don't avail ourselves of it as we ought to. But this praying at all times is sort of having the prayer line open, and you can. It doesn't have to be a formal prayer, but maybe a one-word prayer or one-sentence prayer. I hope you live that way, just talking to God all day about everything. And how about even in the middle of the night when you wake up? What an awesome thing it is to wake up in the middle of the night and be able to just Whisper a prayer and know that the prayer line is open and I'm talking to my Heavenly Father in the middle of the night. And then continue to talk with Him about whatever that thing is that He's laid on your heart as you sort of drift back off to sleep. What an awesome, awesome thing. We have access to the God of the universe, people, 24-7. What does it matter with us and why? Why don't we avail ourselves of that? Paul says this is a weapon. You're not going to win this war without using this weapon. And so here you go, let's, let's, let's do it. That's what Paul is saying here. 24 seven, all prayer 24 seven. And then we landed on this one at the end of our time last week. Let me review it. Verse 18 in the middle of verse 18. The third thing that Paul wants to teach us here about warfare praying is this, um, represented in the next little phrase here in the spirit. I said to you last week, I'll say it again today. That little phrase in the spirit represents, the essence of true prayer. It represents the life, the very life of true prayer, and it represents the power of true prayer. And then I said this, that I will repeat again today. What Paul says in these next three little words in verse 18 is what separates real prayer, true prayer from all that other stuff that goes on among religious people today. That is really nothing more than some spoken words that they refer to as prayer. You see, Please understand as we come to these words, please understand that not all prayer is real prayer. And then understand that these next three words in our text are what marks that distinction. From the forms of prayer and the frequency of prayer, Paul goes on to instruct us about the spirit of prayer. With all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the spirit. That is so important. Oh, I hope you thought about that and meditated about that all through the week. I really do. That is so critically important. What does it mean to pray in the spirit? That was the question that I posed and tried to answer for you last Lord's day morning. And because of the way it is today, um, we had to begin with the negative. We had to begin by citing a few things that are not what it means to pray in the spirit. And I'm not going to go into all of that again. I'm going to limit my review this morning. to just one of those things that is not what it means to pray in the Spirit. Perhaps the most prevailing lie about that in the evangelical church today, and that lie is this, contrary to what some of our charismatic friends would try to tell us, please understand, please, please understand that praying in the Spirit is not something that is defined by speaking in tongues. That's how they would define it for you. That's become a very common understanding in the evangelical church today of what it means to pray in the spirit. That is not what it means to pray in the spirit. I'll stomp my foot if that will help. It's not what it means to pray in the spirit or what they wrongly and even grossly refer to as their Holy Spirit prayer language. No, no, no, no. And a thousand times, no, Mageneto, as Paul says in Romans, no, no, no. And a thousand times, no. And so if that's not what it is, what is it? What does it mean to pray in the spirit? Let me summarize it quickly. A broad and general answer to that question would be to say that praying in the spirit is the opposite of praying in the flesh, right? Pretty good way to say it. What does it mean to pray in the spirit? Well, the opposite of praying in the flesh. Anytime the flesh is in control and you're praying, fleshly kind of prayer. You're not praying in the Spirit. And I gave you some examples. I'm not going to rehearse them today. I gave you some examples of what it might look like to pray in the flesh. But then we got more specific on what it really does mean to pray in the Spirit by boiling it all the way down, boiling the answer to that question all the way down to two key words and two key scriptures. Let me remind you of what they are. The first word was the word control. And that takes us back to Ephesians 5, 18. And we didn't have to spend a ton of time on Ephesians 5, 18, because we already did some months ago when we were there. Uh, and Ephesians 5, 18, of course, Paul commands us to be filled with or controlled by the Holy spirit of God who already lives within us. He's already there, right? But he's not always in control as you yield to the spirit. He takes control of that new redeemed inner man and you function filled with the spirit to pray in the spirit. Number one, you must be filled with the spirit, which is of course that huge subject that we dealt with extensively some months ago in Ephesians chapter five. The second keyword that defines what it means to pray in the spirit is the word reliance, control and reliance to pray in the spirit. You must be filled with the spirit controlled by the spirit and when you pray, you must be completely relying, upon the Holy Spirit to literally do that praying through you as he has promised to do because you have that prayer weakness that we talked about last week. I'm aware of that every time I pray, aren't you? We have a weakness. Praying is a hard, hard thing to do. It seems easy. If you were to explain what prayer is to someone, it seems like an easy thing. It's talking to God, right? Simple definition. It's hard. It's a very hard thing to do. And we have a weakness. We have a weakness. And the Bible comes right out and says we have a weakness. And so I took you last week at the end of our time to Romans 8, 26 and 27. This is still review. So let me just read that for you. It says this in the same way, the spirit also helps our weakness. Aha. We have a weakness. We know that we already know that Bible affirms it. We have a weakness. And what is our weakness for? We do not know how to pray as we should. Aha. Aha. Boy, that, That resonates with me, doesn't it, with you? I don't know how to pray as I should, but the Spirit, wow, my helper with a capital H that lives within me, 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." Can I quickly, quickly summarize two wonderful realities, truths here? Two great things that happen here when you rely upon the Holy Spirit to help your prayer weakness. Number one, remember we talked about them last week. Number one, He will express the inexpressible for you. Such an awesome thing. He knows what you don't know. Isn't that great? And he's able to express what you can't express. because of your human limitations. And so where your knowledge and ability to express and communicate ends, his begins. We do not know how to pray as we should, but the spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. Please, please, please again, don't take that phrase where it doesn't belong. That phrase, intercedes for us with groaning study for words. That phrase is not referring to a special Holy Spirit prayer language reserved for modern day charismatics. No, no, no. How ridiculous even for them to even say such a thing is that what Paul is referring to here is some kind of inaudible can't even hear it with the human ear. Some kind of an inaudible communicate inner Trinitarian communication goes beyond our ability to even comprehend as the Holy Spirit intercedes for you and on your behalf. He intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. Well, there's one more thing in verse 27, Paul explains the second great thing that happens when you just thrust yourself upon the Holy Spirit to do this praying that you can't do. You got to thrust yourself on him to do everything, right? You can't do anything. Apart from me, Jesus said, you can do what? Paul explains the second thing that happens when you rely upon the Holy Spirit to help your prayer weakness. He will actually, and this is awesome too, not only will he express the inexpressible for you, he will actually rearrange your prayers to line them up. When you get them wrong, He will rearrange them to line them up with the will of God before he raises them up higher than you ever could all the way to the throne of God's marvelous grace. And so that's all I'm going to say about that and review this morning, but that's pretty awesome stuff. I think, I don't know what you think, but I think that's pretty awesome stuff that ought to really make an impact on your prayer life. The Holy Spirit is not just an optional accessory to our praying people. He is a needed helper. in our praying, He is the very life and essence and power of all true prayer. If you're not filled with the Spirit and relying 100% on Him to do the praying through you, then I submit to you that you are not really praying at all. And if you're not really praying at all, what is Paul's point here in this context? is to say that you are not going to be victorious on the spiritual battlefield. Simple as that. This weapon, you have to know how to use this weapon called prayer. And let's go on now. We're being instructed on this weapon, this prayer weapon. And let's go on now to a fourth word of instruction from Paul on that this morning. We're still in verse 18. The next phrase now, and this is, we're moving on to new material now. The next phrase defines for us now this morning, what I'm gonna call the strategy of warfare praying, the strategy of warfare praying. The game plan, if you will, right? You have a weapon, you need to use this weapon on the battlefield. This now is the game plan, the strategy. How do you use this weapon? Paul's gonna tell us today. Look again at 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, And stop right there. I know there's a couple more words left, but we'll get those next time. With all perseverance and petition. There are actually two phrases here, if you will notice, separated by a comma. So let's begin by looking at the first one, which is really just an introductory phrase. First phrase here is, and with this in view, comma. That first phrase introduces the strategy of warfare praying that we want to look at today. And I have to tell you right away that two of the words in that introductory phrase, The words in view are not really there in the Greek text. They were added by the translators. The Greek text simply says, and with this, and it stops right there. And so let me just make a comment about that. Sometimes, and I'll point this out to you many times, sometimes the meaning of the text suffers when the translators add those words. They take the initiative to add words that aren't really there. But in this particular case, I don't think any harm is done. And the added words might even help to convey the author's intent. With this in view is a phrase that sort of points us back to everything that's already been said in verse 18. And it can't even point us even further back all the way to verse 10, with the idea going something like this. Because you're in a vicious spiritual war that's always raging, you need to have your armor on and taken up. You need to pray. with all prayer and petition at all times in the spirit, and with all of that in view now, with all of that there in your mind, with all of that in the rear view mirror, being mindful of all of that. Here now, Paul says, let me go on to give you the strategy, the divine game plan for your warfare praying. Here now, Paul says, is how you're to use this powerful weapon that you're armed with as a spiritual soldier in this war. Notice three words with me, the words alert, perseverance, and petition. alert, perseverance, and petition. Those three words form a strategy for warfare praying that, and let me say this about those words and this strategy that we're going to look at today. Those words form a strategy for your warfare praying that you can implement immediately. This is something we're going to talk about something today that will work in your life today. And as I thought about that, I was reminded of the early days, of my ministry here at FBC. I used to hear that cry for relevance all the time. I remember back in those days, I was carefully plowing through Romans 1 and 2 and 3, I was carefully laying the foundation for the gospel there in Romans 1, 2, and 3. And there's some kind of convicting stuff there. Doctrine of condemnation, to be specific, is what's there. And it has to be done. I mean, you have to lay that foundation before you can hit that pay dirt someday in the future. The people weren't, weren't used to that slow process of unfolding truth, I guess. And so they would come to me one after the other. You've got to teach, you've simply got to teach us something that will work in our lives. Yet today, I heard that over and over. And over again, let me just say to you, I wish, I really wish that, that some of those people were still here today because we're going to get that today. It doesn't always work out like that in the word of God, but we're going to get that today with the foundation of everything we've covered on the spiritual warfare subject over the past 27 weeks now, I guess it's been, we're going to cover these three dimensions of your warfare praying strategy today. And you know what? I'm convinced that if you will determine in your heart right now, right this moment, to obey the word of God. I see absolutely no reason whatsoever why these, this strategy shouldn't be working in your life by the time you walk out that door in an hour and a half or an hour or whatever it will be today. This is how you're to use this powerful prayer weapon starting today. Look with me again at our new phrase in verse 18 and with this in view, be on the alert. with all perseverance and petition. How are you to do your warfare praying? You're to be alert, you're to persevere, and you're to do it with all petition. And so let's talk about those things. As a fellow soldier with you in this war, I want to talk with you today about a threefold prayer strategy that the word of God says will make us victors in this war. If you believe that, if you decide right now to obey that, this thing will work for you today. I want to talk with you about vigilant prayer. I want to talk with you about persistent prayer, and I want to talk with you about specific prayer. Those are the subjects for today that form this strategy. We'll start with vigilant prayer. Notice what Paul says first. Be on the alert, he says, in the context of warfare praying. Be on the alert. More literally, it says being on the alert. This needed alertness that we're talking about right now is a present tense continuous kind of thing, with all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the spirit. And with this being on the alert, with all perseverance and petition, the simple point here now is this. If you want to be an effective prayer warrior against the forces of hell, you're going to have to know what's going on. And if you're going to know what's going on, you're going to have to exercise some discipline and be alert. This is not at all a difficult part of your warfare praying strategy to understand, but I will admit to you that it's a difficult one to practice because it's one that requires that little word discipline. It's one that requires discipline. In fact, if you think about it, Discipline, I think, is a word that keeps lots of Christians from doing lots of things that they ought to be doing. And this now, this warfare praying is one of them. Being alert as a warfare or as a prayer warrior, let me put it that way, being alert as a prayer warrior is something that is going to require discipline. Be alert translates a Greek word. It's not hard to understand. Translates a Greek word literally means to be awake and not asleep, right? Pretty easy to understand, right? Be awake and not asleep. That can be physically and or spiritually. Be awake, Paul says. That's what he's saying here. As a prayer warrior, you need to be awake. You need to know what's going on. In Luke's account, I think about the Roman soldiers who guarded the tomb, right? They had to exercise discipline and stay awake. They were, they were sleepy. It was late. It was middle of the night, but they were stationed there to guard the tomb. And you, you know what happened to a Roman soldier who fell asleep on the job. Don't you? That was pretty serious consequence. Yeah. He was executed normally for that. In Luke's account of the Olivet discourse, Jesus used this word in Luke 21 36 to exhort believers in the tribulation period. Think about that. You know, what's going to go on in the tribulation period. The church is going to get raptured away. And then God is going to pour out tribulation judgments on this earth. There will be lots of people saved during the tribulation period. Listen to this advice, Luke 21 36, but keep on the alert at all times. Jesus said, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are able to take place and to stand before the son of man. I would suggest to you that tribulation saints are going to be alert. They're going to stay awake. They're going to be watching. They got the word of God. They know what's going to happen, right? Think of it. They'll have their Bibles. They will know what's going to happen next. And they will be alert. Jesus said they need to be alert. And then the writer of Hebrews, I'll give you one more example of where it's used in other places. The writer of Hebrews used this word in Hebrews 13, 17, while exhorting believers in the church to obey their leaders. You know this verse. Obey your leaders and submit to them. for they keep watch. Same word. They keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief for this would be unprofitable for you. All right, here we have our first strategy. Be alert. With this first word in our text today, folks, we come face to face with one of our biggest problems when it comes to faithful and obedient living in every year of our Christian lives, including now this warfare. dimensions. And that problem is this. That problem is the fact, and I don't know, there's no nice way for me to say this, but other than if it's helpful, I'm including myself when I say this. That problem, our biggest problem is this. The problem is, The fact that our heads are far too often buried in the proverbial sand. I'm not kidding. Our heads are far too often buried in the proverbial sand. Against the backdrop, listen, against the backdrop of the brevity and the urgency of this life and the seriousness of this cosmic war and the viciousness of our enemy. We all spend entirely too much time oblivious and asleep to spiritual realities. Would you agree with me? And I'm talking about me as well as I'm talking about you. That problem of ours is what this first dimension of our warfare praying strategy is all about. Paul says, you folks need to wake up. You know, contrary to how it ought to be for us, according to Colossians 3, our minds are far too often set where? On the things below. instead of other things above. And just think about it this way now about concerning this war that we're in. When your mind is here instead of there, you will not be, and you cannot be alert and aware of what the rulers and the powers, uh, and the, and the powers of the, and the world forces of this darkness and the spiritual forces of wickedness are doing They're in the heavenly places where your mind is supposed to be. That's where they're operating in that realm. That's where your mind is supposed to be. But when your mind is here, you will not be aware of what they're doing there. And you say, well, why is this command to be alert to spiritual reality? Such a tough one for us. It's because of what you already know. It's because we live by faith and not by sight, right? Because we live by faith and not by sight because this war we're in is a spiritual war people. And because this enemy is an invisible enemy as spiritual soldiers. So we are, but as spiritual soldiers, we simply do not live in that constant state of military awareness. like that earthly soldier does who gets plucked right out of his environment and dropped into a foxhole somewhere on the other side of the earth on the front lines of a battle zone. You know, I thought about that. I don't think, I don't know what you think, but I'm quite sure that alertness is never going to be a problem for that guy, that young guy that gets plucked out of his hometown and dropped down in a foxhole on the battle zone. I'm quite sure that he is going to be alert. and awake. I've never been in a foxhole in the front lines of a raging battle zone. And for that, I'm thankful, thankful to God that I've never been. But I can't imagine ever forgetting that I'm a soldier in that environment. Can you? I can't imagine ever wanting to sleep in that environment, nor can I imagine going for even one second in that environment without my helmet on and a loaded weapon in my hands. What I'm trying to say here is this. And what Paul's trying to say here is that if you want to be an effective prayer warrior, You're going to have to retool the way you think. You're going to have to wake up to the reality of the spiritual war. Even though you can't see it with your eyes, it is absolutely real. 100% real. You have to wake up to the reality of the spiritual war that is raging every second of every day. Be on the alert. Paul says, the spiritual stupor that most of us are in far too often and far too much. gives our enemy, folks, a great and unnecessary advantage over us. While we are off somewhere in la-la land with our minds filled with earthly stuff, while we are sleeping somewhere with our heads buried in the sand and living as if we weren't really in a war at all. And I think that happens a lot. Christians live as though as if they're not really in a war. While that's all going on, it's very easy for the devil and his demons to take us off guard. We might say that warfare for them at that point is sort of like taking candy from a baby. And it is, it really is. And let me give you now, as we're talking about this first strategy, first point in Paul's strategy, let me give you now what is the classic example of the spiritual slumber that we're talking about today. This is the one we have to go to. On the night of our Lord's betrayal, there were some men who should have been valiant prayer warriors. There were some men who needed to be valiant prayer warriors, but they missed that opportunity because they were not alert. And would you turn with me please to Matthew 26 and let's take a look at this. It's a beautiful account, but at the same time, a tragic account. Matthew chapter 26, after, let me give you a little context, after spending that wonderful time that we've looked at and talked about before with, around the table with his disciples in the upper room, turning the Passover into the Lord's supper. And after Judas, of course, had, had left, he got up and walked out of the room. Jesus in the 11 sang a hymn, the Bible says, And then they went out to the garden of Gethsemane. And that's where I want you to pick it up with me. If you're there in Matthew 26 now, would you pick up with me in verse 36, Matthew 26 in verse 36. Lord's supper over, they sang a hymn. They're now, Jesus and the 11 are now out in the garden. Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane. and said to his disciples, sit here while I go over there and pray. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, that would be James and John, and began to be grieved and distressed. Then he said to them, my soul is deeply grieved to the point of death. Remain here and keep watch with me. Now let me just stop right there for a minute. Can you even imagine? Can you even imagine the incredible privilege of being with your Lord on the very night of his betrayal there in the garden and having him ask you to pray with him, to participate in this thing that was going on? Would you, you know, Would you pray and watch with me? What an incredible privilege. And that's a privilege I want you to mark now that was given to these three guys, Peter, James, and John. Jesus' mission here, and understand the scene, Jesus' mission here on this earth was his redemptive assignment from the father was about to be fulfilled before the next day was over. Jesus would suffer, bleed and die for the sins of the world. Before the next day was over, the sinless son of man would endure the wrath of God as the substitute savior on an ugly Roman cross. And so here he is in the garden with his disciples on the very last night of his earthly life to pray to his father. And he asked three, the three disciples who were the very closest to him among the 12 and even among the 11. He asked three of the disciples who were the closest to him, Peter, James, and John, to keep watch with him. Guys, I need you right now more than ever before. I need you to pray. Will you pray? Verse 39, and he went a little beyond them and fell on his face and prayed. My father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me, yet not as I will, but as you will. You know what that's all about. I think Jesus was about to face something people that is more profoundly horrible than any of us can even begin to comprehend. And as I've said to you so many times before, I'll say again, Jesus wasn't agonizing here about the cross. He wasn't agonizing here about the nails or even the pain and the suffering involved in that most excruciating form of physical death known to man. What Jesus was agonizing over here in the garden that night had to do with an upcoming separation in the Trinity that had never been before in all of eternity past and that would never be again on throughout all of eternity future. When Jesus died on the cross, When Jesus died on the cross, God, the father turned his back on his only begotten son for the first time ever, as he poured out the fury of his wrath on him, that he didn't deserve it all, but that I did and that you did. Turned his back on his only begotten son. That's what Jesus was agonizing for in the garden. As a child of God, I think you and I need to be reminded often about what it took to make you one and to make me one. You need to be reminded often about the price that was paid for your redemption. A reminder, people, that it's always there for you to see those horrifying words that Jesus screamed from the cross. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? You know, there's an answer to that question. The answer to that question is you. And the answer to that question is me. Jesus Christ was forsaken by his father on the cross because there was no other way to rescue you and me from sin and death and hell. There was no other way. And so on his face in the garden that night, knowing full well what would happen the next day, Jesus agonized in prayer. My father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me, yet not as I will, but as you will." Jesus was fully submitted to the father's perfect will. Our Lord again, please understand that he was enduring a level of an intensity of agony that night, the likes of what no man could ever know. As I thought about that, I was reminded of what Luke said about it. Luke zeroed in on the incomprehensible nature of that agony. By describing it like this over in Luke 22, 44, you know what it says there. And being in agony, he was praying very fervently and his sweat became like drops of blood falling down upon the ground. Do you know, I've read so much stuff on that and you know what the conclusion is? Nobody really knows what that means. We don't even know what that means, but that's how Luke described it. And then to top that off, I want you to understand something else that was going on. in the garden that night, because the cross would deal the fatal blow to the devil and his forces of hell. You can be sure that the devil was there in the garden that night, tempting Jesus to bypass the cross. You know, Jesus prayed, if it's possible, let this cup pass from me, yet not thy will, but thine be done. I'm here to suggest to you tonight that the devil was there tempting Jesus to do just that. You know, it is possible Jesus for you, for that cup to pass from you. I'm sure the devil said to Jesus, after all, you're not guilty. You don't deserve this. You can, you can, you can let that go. Would you understand the most, that the most significant battle, you know, that we've been talking about this for weeks now, but would you understand as we're in the garden here with Jesus right now, would you understand that the most significant battle in this common cosmic war that we've been talking about for weeks now, was being waged right there in the garden that night as the devil was tempting Jesus to bypass the cross. And so Jesus in the midst of all of that said to Peter, James and John, would you stay here and keep watch with me after praying and agonizing on his face in verse 39 would you look at with me now at what it says in verse 40 almost hard to believe. He came to the disciples, found them sleeping. Came to the disciples and found them sleeping. I don't know what you think when you read that statement. A whole range of emotions hits you when you read that statement. It starts with disappointment and then it progresses to anger, doesn't it? How in the world could you guys possibly be so insensitive as that? How could you possibly be so out of touch with what's happening here? And then right about the time you're ready to call these guys just absolute blundering idiots, you come to your senses and realize who these guys were and why this account is here in the word of God for you and for me. These guys, you see, were not idiots, were they? These were the soon to be apostles of the church. In fact, not only were they the apostles of the soon to be born church, they were the most prominent three of those apostles of the soon to be born church. And so as we study this first warfare praying strategy this morning, please understand the lesson that's there for you. And for me, pretty clear, isn't it? If spiritual oblivion, if this slumber was a problem for these guys, Don't you think that it's probably going to be even more of a serious problem for you? And for me, these were spiritual giant guys, right? Where does that leave you and me, right? And this whole thing. And so that's why this is here for us. Jesus came to the disciples and found them sleeping. It's almost, it's almost hard to fathom really, um, knowing what was going on that night. And he said to Peter, how about this for a piercing question? So you men could not keep watch with me for one hour. You couldn't give me one hour guys. After all I've done for you, been with you and I'm going to do for you. You couldn't give me one hour. Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. That's a pretty good summary of our problem, isn't it? Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. It's our greatest problem. Soldiers in this world. Let me finish reading this account now. And as I do, It's almost, it's even harder to believe now what I'm going to read next. It was pretty hard to believe what I just read, but it's even harder now to read what I'm going to read after that pointed question. But you know what? This very same thing happened two more times. Unbelievable. Verse 42, he went away again a second time and prayed saying, my father, if this cannot pass away, unless I drink it, your will be done. Again, he came and found them sleeping. for their eyes were heavy. And he left them again and went away and prayed a third time saying the same thing once more. Then he came to the disciples and said to them, are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand and the son of man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up, let us be going. Behold, the one who betrays me is at hand. And at that point, guess who's on the scene again? Judas is back with the soldiers, right? to arrest Jesus. And so we have the first point this morning. Has it been made? What is, what is the point in our warfare prank strategy? Paul says, you need to, you know, wake up. Hello? You need to wake up, be alert. You need to develop a new default way of thinking. Who are you? You're a soldier on the front lines of a vicious war. And for right now, whether you like it or not, that's a 24 seven proposition. Accept that today and retool your mind accordingly. You're not going to be, here's the good news. You're not going to be a soldier forever, right? This little stretch of your life is very brief against the backdrop of the whole. There is rest in your future. Glorious, wonderful rest. But right now you're a soldier. And so you need to get that fixed in your mind. And let me just say it to you this way. If you want to be a victor in this spiritual war, you cannot be sleeping in the foxhole, right? Can't do it. And the point now about this alertness is not just a general one. Here in the middle of verse 18, Paul is applying the spiritual alertness very specifically to your use of this weapon called prayer. Don't think of prayer. As we study this text, don't think of prayer as prayer. Think of prayer as a weapon. That's what it is. You're the watchman. You're the gatekeeper. You're the sentry on duty, carefully watching for any movement or any infiltration by the enemy. so that you can immediately meet it and stop it with this weapon called prayer. That's an awesome responsibility, and it's very, very, very doable. Just think about how well-equipped you are at this point. If only you would discipline yourself to stay awake from that default spiritual slumber that we're all so prone to be in most of the time. I mean, you know enough, you know a lot. You know enough about this enemy of ours at this point in our study to be a very effective prayer warrior. I mean that. You know who he is. You know what he does. You know his goals. You know his objectives. You know quite a bit about his schemes and his strategies, his plots, his attacks. You know about his lies. You know about his deceit. You know that he's a liar and the father of lies. And you know about his flaming arrows that we talked about. You know all of that. So here's the call. Put that all together. Wake up. Start paying attention to what's going on all around you in your life and the lives of the people that you know and love. And you know what I think is going to happen? You're going to start seeing some stuff. Some pictures are going to start developing in your mind. You're going to start understanding some stuff. You may not know all the details of what's going on, but I think you're going to start seeing some things. You're going to know enough about what's going on in this invisible war. You're going to know enough to start effectively cutting it off at the pass, nipping it in the bud, if you will, unraveling it at the throne of God's marvelous grace. We're going to go on to point number two here in our strategy, but let me leave you with this verse on point number one. James 5.16, the effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. Don't ever forget that. That's your prayer weapon. Let's move on to the second word in our text for today that, um, defines the second part of our warfare praying strategy from vigilant prayer. Paul moves on now to persistent prayer. Here we have yet another important part of the game plan. With all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the spirit and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance, with all perseverance. That's what we want to focus on now. Perseverance, you know what that means, right? Perseverance means perseverance. Perseverance is a word that means to continue on with something. It means to endure, it means to persist at something. When your vigilance has alerted you to a need in this war that you would have otherwise missed in your slumber, here's the point now. It's now time to get your prayer weapon out and start using it, and using it, and using it. You see the point? And using it, and using it some more. The strategy now is to pray and keep on praying. You see, once you know what's going on, your alertness, your spiritual discernment, you've seen something. You don't know the details, but you know something's going on in the life of somebody or this or that or the other thing, you know something about what's going on. So now you need to start praying and you can prayers pray as generically as you need to. But if you know something's going on, you just get that sense about you that something's going on. You need to start praying and you need to pray and pray and pray and keep on praying. That's the point here with all perseverance. Let me stop here and say, just to clarify this, I had, It's been a long time ago now, but I never forgot it. I think I was teaching a Sunday school class at the time and I don't even remember who this person was, but I had one of those name it, claim it guys. Have you ever talked to one of those guys? Name it and claim it guys. Uh, tell me one time, and I think he really believed this. He tried to tell me one time that if you ever pray for the same thing twice, you're not praying in faith. If you ever pray for the same thing twice, you're not praying. in faith. Well, certainly I do understand the need to pray in faith. James talked about that and James one five to seven. Let me remind you what he said. But if any of you lacks wisdom, James said, let him ask of God who gives to all generously and without reproach and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without any doubting. I understand that for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind for that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord. When you pray, you do need to pray in faith. You do need to trust God, believe God to answer your prayer according to his will. But listen, please, to say that praying for the same thing twice negates that faith dimension in your praying is simply not true. It doesn't hold up to biblical scrutiny whatsoever. Bible clearly teaches, doesn't it? That we are to persist in prayer. I have some things I have some things that I've been praying about multiple times every day for years now, years and years. And I can't say that I've never had some faith lapses along the way because I have, but I'm still trusting God. I still keep praying those prayers and I'm still trusting God to hear and answer those prayers in his way and in his time. Would you please understand this morning that persistence in prayer is not a contradiction to praying in faith. And this very word in our text today is one of the reasons why we know that to be true. Paul says you need to pray with what? Perseverance. That means to pray and keep praying. Pray and pray and pray and pray some more. Persistence in prayer is the second part of our warfare praying strategy. When your vigilance and your spiritual discernment has alerted you to some urgent and pressing need on the battlefield, and you're out there fighting against the forces of hell, the throne of God's grace, about that thing, whatever it is, you need to persevere. You need to keep on praying and praying and praying, some more till the victory has been won, or perhaps until the danger has passed. And let me give you some support on that now from other scriptures. You know, as I thought about this, it was only this morning that this thought came to me. As I give you a scriptural support on this, we can start right there in Matthew 26. Remember we were there when Jesus was praying in the garden a few minutes ago on the last night of his earthly life. And what did he do? He prayed the same prayer three times. Did he not? If it's possible, let this cup pass from me, yet not thy will, but thine be done." He prayed the same prayer three times, all right? Sorry, name-it-claim-it guy. I love you, but sorry. It's not true. Paul is another one who did the same thing. Everybody knows about his thorn in the flesh, right? What does it say about that? What did he say about that? 2 Corinthians 12, 7-10. Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh. a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from exalting myself. And listen to this now concerning this. I implored the Lord. I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. I didn't ask him just once. I asked him three times, Paul said, same request three times. And then the answer came. Verse nine, it's great answer. He has said to me, my grace is sufficient for you for power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, I would rather boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore, I'm well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties for Christ's sakes. For when I am weak, then I am strong. Take that home with you. For when I'm weak, then I'm strong. For when I'm weak, then I am strong. That's the formula for strength in the ministry and in the Christian life. Let me give you some other examples. In the Old Testament, how about this one? You all know about Jacob when he wrestled with the angel that time in Genesis 32. I think that's another good illustration of this. Even after the angel had dislocated the socket in Jacob's thigh, Jacob still would not let him go. I will not let you go, he said to the angel in verse 26, unless you bless me. The angel said to Jacob in verse 28, your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed. And then finally, let me read for you quickly the two classic new Testament texts on this subject of persistence in prayer. They're both very clear. They're both parables from our Lord. I know that you know them. The first, the first one comes in Luke 18, the first eight verses of Luke 18, And this one is one that's known as the parable of the unjust judge. Let me read it for you. Now he was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not lose heart. Two options there. You'll either pray or you will faint. You will either pray or you will lose heart. Those are the only two options. Jesus said, And then he went on to tell the story about a judge and a widow. I think you know it well. In a certain city, there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man. There was a widow in that city and she kept coming to him saying, give me legal protection from my opponent. For a while he was unwilling, but afterward he said to himself, even though I do not fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection. Otherwise by continually coming, she will wear me out." Kind of humorous in a sense. And the Lord said, hear what the unrighteous judge said. Now will not God bring about justice for his elect who cry to him day and night? And will he delay long over them? I tell you that he will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the son of man comes, Will he find faith on the earth? There is of course, much more going on in that parable that we could talk about, but for now, just mark the point we're here to see. And that point is this persistence in prayer is not a contradiction to faith. It is rather a demonstration of faith. And then one more, there's another parable that makes the same persistence in prayer point in Luke 11, and I'll read verses five to 10, Luke 11, a couple of weeks ago, if you recall, we looked at the model prayer, in Matthew 6. This now is the first four verses in this chapter are Luke's version of that model prayer. And I'm going to pick up in verse five where Jesus launches into another parable. This time it's a parable about a friend who comes at midnight and starts banging on your door. Have you ever had a friend like that? Midnight, there he is banging on your door. Here's what it says. Then he said to them, suppose one of you has a friend and goes to him at midnight and says to him, friend lend me three loaves for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey and I have nothing to set before him and from inside he answers and says do not bother me the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed I cannot get up and give you anything I tell you even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs. So I say to you, ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you for everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, it will be opened. Jesus wants that persistence. He wants us to knock and knock and knock and keep knocking. He wants us to knock fervently and persistently and passionately. And he has promised to hear. and answer our prayers according to his will and in his perfect time. And so what is the strategy that we can implement even today in our warfare praying? Two things so far. We can wake up and turn our spiritual antennas on. We can come out of our spiritual stupors, if you will, and set our minds on the things above where they ought to be anyway, so that we won't miss all of the critical things that are happening in this war all around us. And then once we've been alerted to those things, we can, Pray with persistence. We can keep knocking on the door of heaven until the victory is won. That is the way the Word of God says we're to use this powerful, powerful weapon we have called prayer. And as we wrap this up now for today, let's add one more thing to that strategy. From vigilant prayer to persistent prayer, let's move on to the third and final thing that the first two have been pointing us to and leading us to, and that is specific prayer. Petition is the word that Paul uses to finish out this phrase we're studying today. 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. Paul wants the prayers to be specific is the point here. And maybe you remember, this is the second occurrence of this word petition in verse 18. And so maybe you remember how we defined it a few weeks ago when it came up the first time. We were talking about the various forms of prayer. that are to be included in this warfare praying. And Paul said that we are to pray with all prayer and petition. Prayer there, if you recall, is just the general word for prayer that can be used for any and all kinds of praying. And then petition, you remember what it means? Petition, which translates the same Greek word now in both of its occurrences here in verse 18. is a word that just refers to prayers that are directed at something very specific. With your vigilance and your persistence, God wants you to use this powerful prayer weapon in very specific ways against the forces of hell. Get as absolutely specific as you possibly can get. You know, I think of how children pray sometimes. My kids are all grown up, Little kids sometimes will pray this way. Children sometimes pray, you know, God bless the missionaries or God bless the whole wide world. You know, what Paul is getting at here, the point here now is to say that your warfare praying needs to be just a little more specific than God bless the whole wide world. You're to use your sword. Remember when we were on that subject, How are you to use your sword with precision, right? You don't throw a Bible at somebody. You need to use your sword with provision and precision. And now let's also say that you need to use your prayer weapon with that same kind of precision. And listen, folks, you can, you can, if you're alert and awake, if you're watching, if you're listening, if you know what the word of God says about this war, this enemy of ours, and if you have some spiritual discernment, I believe that you will be able to figure out a whole bunch of very specific stuff that's going on, stuff that goes far beyond what you can see with your eyes. And then take all of that and uncouple that now with what we talked about last week, with praying in the spirit, praying with the help of that one who helps our weakness by literally praying for us through us and on our behalf, expressing to God what we can't and sorting our prayers all out to line them up with the will. Put that all together. And what do you have? I believe you have a formula for victory on these spiritual battlefields that will work in your life. And again, let me say it today. It will work in your life today. If you will implement these things, they will work today. Yes, we have a formidable foe. No question about it. And that point has been made over and over again. illustrated over and over again throughout the course of this study. We looked at all of his names. He's a roaring lion. He's a liar. He's vicious. All of those things. But would you never forget something? Never forget that we're on the winning side. You know, we have, we can read the last chapter. Can we, we know we have the book of revelation. We know how this war is going to end. We're on the winning side. And in the meantime, never forget what the apostle John said in first John four, four greater is he who's in you. than he who is in the world. And so as Paul is teaching us all about this offensive weapon called prayer, he's covered four subjects. Now we understand the comprehensive forms of warfare praying. It's all to be warfare praying. In a sense, we understand the frequency of warfare praying. The lines ought to be open all the time. And we've also understood in the middle of verse 18, the spirit of warfare praying. That's the life and the essence of the power of prayer. And this morning now we've added a threefold strategy to it all. The strategy for your warfare praying is this. You're to be vigilant in your warfare praying, you're to be persistent in your warfare praying, and you're to be specific in your warfare praying. Put that strategy to work in your life today. Would exhort you to do that. And next time we'll go on to the final point on this subject, which will take us from the very end of verse 18, all the way down through verse 20. where we'll talk about the objects of warfare praying. Who are to be the recipients, who are to be the beneficiaries of this warfare praying that Paul is calling on you and me to be involved in as we wield the sword and use this weapon called prayer. We'll talk about that next time and maybe the next time even. Okay. As we move down through the end of this great text, let's pray together. Father, as soldiers in this war, we know what we need to do. We've been in this text for a long time. With the armor on, Father, and taken up, we need to pray. This morning now, we also understand how we're to do that praying. You've laid out a very clear strategy for us. Father, we know that even with that clear strategy, nothing will change in our lives or in our church unless we implement that strategy. Father, if this is just another Sunday morning lesson, All will be the same on those spiritual battlefields this afternoon and tomorrow. But if by your spirit, God, who lives within us, you would be so pleased to produce in us the will and the desire and the discipline and the obedience to implement the strategy, to implement these things in our lives today. We know that there will be a difference on those spiritual battlefields this afternoon and tomorrow and on through the rest of our days here in this earth. Father, our prayer today as we close is that you would produce that in us for our good and for your eternal glory. Bear fruit with your word as you see fit. We commit it to you. We trust you to do that. You've said that your word will not return to you void. We take you at your word. We worship, love, thank, and praise you for this time that we've had together now in Jesus name. Amen.