Understanding Prayer: Thanksgiving, Petition, and God's Glory

Prayer is after all the highest activity of the human soul the greatest thing any one of us ever does is to pray and therefore of necessity it is something that should present us with certain difficulties any man who privileged to preach well I'm sure agree with me when I say that preaching is Child's Play when compared with praying. [00:03:36]

The moment you say it you take prayer seriously you begin to find what a tremendous thing it is of course if you just mechanically say your prayers you're not aware of any difficulties at all it's so simple you just repeat the Lord's Prayer and offer up your few petitions and you've prayed you think but my dear friend you haven't started praying. [00:04:55]

The Apostle pauses to remind himself of certain things yes he is writing to these Ephesians and he's been reminding them of the riches of God's grace and he's so glad that they've come into it in whom ye also have received the inheritance after that he believed and so on and he wants to thank God for this and there he is now going to thank God but before he does it he pauses. [00:13:44]

He doesn't get on his knees or stand or whatever it was and begin to speak he stops he pauses he recollects he meditates he talks to himself first he reminds himself of what he's going to do he reminds himself of the one to whom he's going to speak now I say if we only did that truly and did what the Apostle does here I think we'd begin to pray truly. [00:15:01]

The Apostle Paul ader it here quite specifically as you will find everywhere else in this great epistle and in his other Epistles he offers his prayer to God the Father very well then we go on now to a second matter which is this and it is the most important thing here the way in which the Apostle prays to God this is I take it the most vital thing of all. [00:12:27]

The Apostle knows what he's doing he is moved by the spirit and filled with the spirit and he prays like this because well this is how the spirit has taught him to pray very well then what do we see here well the first thing we observe is that the Apostle pauses to remind himself of certain things. [00:13:34]

He prays unto the god of our Lord Jesus Christ that's to whom he's going to to pray now why does he do why does he say that why does he use this term why does he pray why does he thank and offer his petitions to the god of our Lord Jesus Christ why doesn't he just say I'm going to pray and offer up his petition and go away no no he deliberately says I am praying to the god of our Lord Jesus Christ. [00:19:21]

The God Who sustained him and the God who held him The God Who Never forsook him there was a moment when he'd lost his face but he immediately adds into thy hands I commend my spirit the God who raised them from the dead who did forsake Him in hell and leave his soul to see corruption but brought him up again from the dead that's the god to whom I'm praying says Paul the god of our Lord Jesus Christ. [00:26:09]

The father of Glory now my friends let me admit freely that I attempt to expound these two words with fear and trembling who am I to speak on such words I hear the voice coming to me and saying the same thing as it said to Moses at the burning bush take off the shoes from off thy feet for the ground whereon thou standest is Holy Ground father of Glory what's he mean well there is no doubt that it means partly this that God is the source. [00:30:59]

The father of Glory the Glorious father if you like so that it means this that God the Father is not only glorious and the source of all glory and the sumission of all glory in himself he is one who is prepared to manifest that glory and to reveal that glory and to impart That Glory he's a father and a father gives a father generates a father passes on God is not someone who keeps his glory to himself. [00:36:10]

When you and I go in prayer into the presence of God we should go expecting some revelation of the glory we all with open face beholding us in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory the process of our glorification has already started it will eventually be perfect when we shall be glorified Even in our bodies as well as in our spirits. [00:40:13]

Let us never again attempt prayer without reminding ourselves that we are going to speak to the father of Glory we needn't be terrified we go with reverence and godly fear we must because of his glorious character but at the same time we can go with confidence and Assurance because he is the god of our Lord Jesus Christ and in him our father Our Father who art in heaven Hallowed be thy name and if we start by realizing that we can't go wrong. [00:41:49]