by John Arnold – Pastor, Library Baptist Church, Finleyville, Pennsylvania
The most-frequented place for prayer in America is at the airport luggage carousel. I found myself doing it again in Dallas. It was time to fly to the spring National Church Planting School held in conjunction with the Texas Baptist Bible Fellowship RPM conference (Revival, Prayer, Momentum) at Canyon Creek Baptist Church in Richardson, Texas. While boarding in Pittsburgh, the announcement came over the intercom that there would probably not be enough room for the carry-on luggage in the overhead compartments and would some people like to check their carry-on. My thinking was that it would be better to check it than to wrestle for a space.
As far as I could see, only two of us thought it would be a good idea. When I sat down I began to think of all the things in that carry-on bag. So the question in my mind for the next two and a half hours was, “Why did I do that?” There was room under the seat for the bag. So there I was in Dallas with many others asking God to deliver the bag. He did. What a relief! Prayer is so much a part of our lives, even in trivial things.
I’ve been thinking about becoming a better pray-er now for several years and I’ve been attracted to Ephesians 6:18. We have been talking about it in the church planter’s school. It is one of the most compact and comprehensive verses on prayer in the Bible.
There are at least six things that can give us victory in prayer in what David H. Stern, author of The Jewish New Testament Commentary, says is “a one-verse sermon on prayer.” Ephesians 6:18 — “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;”
Frequency of prayer — praying always. This sounds so much like 1 Thessalonians 5:17, “pray without ceasing.” And the question most often asked is, ”How can I be praying at all times?” Praying always and praying without ceasing means: praying at given times on every occasion and inbetween, audible and inaudible. This communion with God can be a pervasive attitude no matter what we are doing at any given point in time. Herbert Lockyer says, “Acts of prayer may be intermittent; the spiritual attitude should be incessant.”
Variety of prayer — with all (kinds of) prayer. Someone once told me, “I find prayer so boring.” I think it was because he knew only one kind of prayer…supplication or asking. It is so discouraging when we look at God only in light of what we can get. God designed prayer to be an oasis of variety. Think about praying in all these modes: adoration, confession, repentance, thanksgiving, and supplication.
Half my daily hour of prayer is praise. I’m so hooked on praise that I’ve set my cell phone alarm to remind me for praise three times a day. What a joy it is joining the throng around the throne at 7:00 a.m., 2:00 p.m., and 8:00 p.m. Confession renews our lives daily. Thanksgiving is the antidote for me-ism and unhappiness. When we learn to pray with diversity, God will definitely change the things we request from Him. He conforms us to His image and transforms our desires. I have discovered, most of all, that the work of prayer is to change me.
Dependence of prayer — in the Spirit. We need the Spirit’s enabling as we approach the throne of grace. Romans 8:26 “…for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit Himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” So many times we are emotionally and physically exhausted, and our emotions are too deep for utterance or for expression in articulate language. The Holy Spirit helps us as we attempt to pray.
Manner of prayer — watchful. To keep awake is always a challenge. The morning should be our strongest prayer time. I like to think of my prayer time as “my watch.” It is a frightful thing to miss a watch. Who will watch if I don’t? Others can sleep when the watchman is awake. I’m the watchman on the wall.
Persistence of prayer — all perseverance. I was enthralled when reading the book Lone Survivor by Navy SEAL Markus Luttrell. His training was built against the backdrop of “defeat is unthinkable…I will never quit. I persevere and thrive on adversity. My nation expects me to be physically harder and mentally stronger than my enemies. If knocked down, I will get back up every time. I will draw on every remaining ounce of strength to protect my teammates and to accomplish our mission. I am never out of fight.” What are we going to be doing ten years from now? My goal is to be persistent.
Objects of prayer — all the saints. How can we ask God to give us more members if we are not taking good care of the ones He has already given us? And how can we take care of our flock without making all the saints our objects of prayer?
Greg Laurie, pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California, said, “In the long run, if we train people to be consumers instead of communers, we’ll end up with customers instead of disciples. It might fill up an auditorium, but it’ll never turn the world upside down for Christ.”