Empowered Through Prayer: Boldness in Spiritual Battle
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"Prayer is a duty, but it's something much more than that. It should be a delight; it should be the ultimate expression of the Christian life. In other words, the end to which all knowledge and teaching and everything else is meant to bring us is just to this place in this position in which we know God, in which we are fellowship with God, in which we realize our utter dependence upon Him and, as the Apostle puts it here, the power of His might." [00:03:28]
"Praying always, he says, with all prayer, you remember, every type and kind, always on all occasions, and supplication in the spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for All Saints. Now we've considered how to pray, and the thing we saw that mattered above everything else was that we should be praying in the spirit." [00:04:47]
"The Apostle urges upon us to be constantly in prayer. Men should always pray and not faint. It's the alternative to fainting. So we go regularly into the presence of God and thank Him that we are His people. It's a great thing to do with it before you come to your petitioners: Thanksgiving, praise, worship, adoration." [00:06:36]
"The Apostle says watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for All Saints. For all things. Now let's look at this for a moment. This is a most important point. Why do you think at the end of this mighty letter he urges these Ephesians not only to pray for themselves but to pray for one another?" [00:09:50]
"We are all engaged in the same fight. We are participants, as Jude puts it in his epistle, of the common salvation. Salvation isn't something private and personal. It's a common salvation. It is something that we share with others. It is something that is shared by all Christian people, the common salvation." [00:10:27]
"This battle in which you and I are engaged is ultimately not our battle at all. It's God's battle. Now that's why it's important to be praying in the right way. You remember that great statement in the life of Jehoshaphat in the Old Testament. There was the enemy confronting him, and Jehoshaphat and the children of Israel were in terrible trouble." [00:13:26]
"The Apostle tells us that praying to make supplication for all the saints because they're in it like that exactly as we are ourselves. And then another point obviously emerges from that, because all this is true, it follows, doesn't it, that failure at any one part is something that is going to affect the entire army." [00:17:14]
"If any one Christian fails or falls, every one of us suffers inevitably because we are all members of the one body. We are all in this one army. We are all parts of this one life. Failure at any fight on the whole line is involved. Readjustments have to take place, and don't we know that in practice?" [00:19:19]
"How often do we think of them? How often do we think at the present time of Christian people in many another land? So you shall, but I'm having a terribly hard time. I'm having this problem of this difficulty, and the Devil's attacking me. Alright, my friend, I quite agree, but try for a moment to transport yourself into the position of some of these other people." [00:21:47]
"This is the sovereign remedy for introspection. This is the sovereign remedy for morbidity and a morbid self-concern. Self is the last enemy. It is self that causes most of our troubles, thinking of ourselves, what's going to happen to be, what's going to be the effect. So we turn in upon ourselves and pity ourselves and feel sorry for ourselves." [00:26:06]
"Pray for me, says the Apostle, that I may have power of speech and freedom of utterance when I open my mouth, when I have an opportunity of speaking. Now this is the most interesting point. The fact is, and we tend to forget it, don't we, that the Apostle Paul was not a good natural speaker." [00:30:39]
"Pray that I may be delivered from the fear of men. Fear of men, how? Well, afraid of the learning of men. The Apostle reminds us that he had become a fool for Christ's sake. The philosophers in Corinth were laughing at him and jeering at him. Look at that man, they said, always saying the same thing." [00:37:19]
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"Praying always, he says, with all prayer, you remember, every type and kind, always on all occasions, and supplication in the spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for All Saints. Now we've considered how to pray, and the thing we saw that mattered above everything else was that we should be praying in the spirit." [00:04:47]
"The Apostle urges upon us to be constantly in prayer. Men should always pray and not faint. It's the alternative to fainting. So we go regularly into the presence of God and thank Him that we are His people. It's a great thing to do with it before you come to your petitioners: Thanksgiving, praise, worship, adoration." [00:06:36]
"The Apostle says watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for All Saints. For all things. Now let's look at this for a moment. This is a most important point. Why do you think at the end of this mighty letter he urges these Ephesians not only to pray for themselves but to pray for one another?" [00:09:50]
"We are all engaged in the same fight. We are participants, as Jude puts it in his epistle, of the common salvation. Salvation isn't something private and personal. It's a common salvation. It is something that we share with others. It is something that is shared by all Christian people, the common salvation." [00:10:27]
"This battle in which you and I are engaged is ultimately not our battle at all. It's God's battle. Now that's why it's important to be praying in the right way. You remember that great statement in the life of Jehoshaphat in the Old Testament. There was the enemy confronting him, and Jehoshaphat and the children of Israel were in terrible trouble." [00:13:26]
"The Apostle tells us that praying to make supplication for all the saints because they're in it like that exactly as we are ourselves. And then another point obviously emerges from that, because all this is true, it follows, doesn't it, that failure at any one part is something that is going to affect the entire army." [00:17:14]
"If any one Christian fails or falls, every one of us suffers inevitably because we are all members of the one body. We are all in this one army. We are all parts of this one life. Failure at any fight on the whole line is involved. Readjustments have to take place, and don't we know that in practice?" [00:19:19]
"How often do we think of them? How often do we think at the present time of Christian people in many another land? So you shall, but I'm having a terribly hard time. I'm having this problem of this difficulty, and the Devil's attacking me. Alright, my friend, I quite agree, but try for a moment to transport yourself into the position of some of these other people." [00:21:47]
"This is the sovereign remedy for introspection. This is the sovereign remedy for morbidity and a morbid self-concern. Self is the last enemy. It is self that causes most of our troubles, thinking of ourselves, what's going to happen to be, what's going to be the effect. So we turn in upon ourselves and pity ourselves and feel sorry for ourselves." [00:26:06]
"Pray for me, says the Apostle, that I may have power of speech and freedom of utterance when I open my mouth, when I have an opportunity of speaking. Now this is the most interesting point. The fact is, and we tend to forget it, don't we, that the Apostle Paul was not a good natural speaker." [00:30:39]
"Pray that I may be delivered from the fear of men. Fear of men, how? Well, afraid of the learning of men. The Apostle reminds us that he had become a fool for Christ's sake. The philosophers in Corinth were laughing at him and jeering at him. Look at that man, they said, always saying the same thing." [00:37:19]
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