Unity in Prayer: Embracing Our Identity in Christ

Though the enemy has the power to restrict his physical movements and to put many restraints upon his ministry and his activity, there is one thing that the enemy cannot do, and that is he cannot stop him praying. He can still pray. The enemy can confine him to a cell, he can bolt and bar doors, he can chain him to soldiers, he can put bars in the windows, he can hem him in and shut him down, but there is one thing that he can never do, and that is, I say, he can never obstruct the way from the heart of the humblest believer to the heart of the Eternal God. [00:06:21]

Think of what this means probably to hundreds, not to say thousands, of Christian people in various parts of the world this morning. They're in prison, they may be in concentration camps, they may be hemmed in and tied down in almost every respect that men can command, but thank God we can still assert that stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage. The spirit of the believer is still free and shines gloriously whether he in prison or at liberty. [00:07:10]

You can still go and pray. You can pray for yourself, you can pray for others, you can be taking part in a great ministry of intercession. Now this is something I think we tend to forget. We have become a generation of Christians that, in a sense, tend to live on meetings. It's an odd thing to say at a time when church attendance is poor, I know, but nevertheless, I think it is true that those who do attend tend to depend upon their attendance and to feel, therefore, that when they're laid on their beds in sickness that there's nothing that they can do and they've just got to wait until they get well. [00:09:51]

Prayer is always as necessary as is instruction. Now, I mean by that just this, that it would be a very great fellow if we got the impression that the apostle was only praying for these Ephesians because he couldn't preach to them. I have emphasized that he was praying to them in one sense because he couldn't preach to them, but I want to make it equally plain and clear that that isn't his only reason for praying for them, that if he were at liberty, he would still be praying for them. [00:12:47]

It is as essential that we should pray for ourselves as it is that we should instruct ourselves. We believe we need instruction, we read our Bibles, we meditate over them, we read books about the Bibles, we read comments, countries, we read books on church history, we read books on doctrine, and it's all right, it's all absolutely essential. We can never know too much. We need instruction, we need enlightenment. [00:13:44]

To impart knowledge is not enough. It is equally essential that we should pray, pray for ourselves that we may be made receptive of the knowledge and instruction, pray that we may be enabled to harness it and to apply it, pray that it may not stop merely our minds, but that it may grip our hearts and bend our wills and affect the whole man. [00:14:31]

Knowledge and instruction and prayer must always go together, and they must never be separated. I have said it is necessary for us ourselves, it is equally necessary for us in our dealings with others. Now that's the thing that is most prominent here, of course. Here is a man writing this rich, profound doctrine. He knows they're going to read it, and they're going to study it together, and they're going to discuss it together. Yes, but he knows that that isn't enough. [00:15:03]

Boldness does not mean brazenness, that confidence does not mean, I beg your forgiveness for the term, that confidence does not mean sureness. And how essential it is that this should be emphasized. Boldly at the throne of grace is not brazenness, confidence isn't cheek. Why am I emphasizing it? Well, I'll tell you. There are those who seem to think that it is the hallmark of spirituality and of assurance of salvation that they pray to God with a boldness and with an easy, glib familiarity. [00:25:02]

If ever a man knew God and if ever a man knew the way into God's presence, it was this mighty apostle. And yet, you see, he bows his knees. He knows whom he's approaching. He's not on terms of glib familiarity with God. Boldness and access with confidence, yes, but accompanied by reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire. Let's remember the true interpretation of that verse we were considering last Sunday. [00:28:28]

God is the father of all families, the father of every family. He is the one from whom every subsidiary parenthood or fatherhood is derived. Ultimately, therefore, he is the father of all. And you notice that he says not only on earth but also in heaven, every family in heaven and on earth. What do you mean by in heaven? Well, they say it means this. The apostle has been talking there in the 10th verse. [00:35:13]

God is the father of the whole family. What family? The family of the redeemed, the family of the redeemed. Some of them are in heaven already, some of them are still on earth, but they're the same family. In other words, I am suggesting that the apostle is saying here precisely what the author of the epistle to the Hebrews says in the 12th chapter. You remember we read it at the beginning. [00:38:51]

As Christians, the name that is on us is the name of God, from whom the whole family in heaven and on earth is named. No longer the family of David, no longer the tribe of this or that, no longer this country or that country, this class, that class, this group, that group. No, no. The family name which I claim is the name of God, and I am to live in this world as one who represents the family, as one who represents the father. [00:43:43]