Sep. 29, 2024

Background:

• From Part 1:
  1. Praying according to the will of God
  2. Praying in the name of Jesus
  3. Praying in faith, not wavering
• From Part 2:

4. Persistence in prayer

5. Being specific in prayer

6. Praying in humility

• We must be connected to the Vine
• We must be obedient to his will and to his way
• As believers we sin less because we are not perfect
• It is the sin that we continue to live in that makes God sick
• We can't live in sin and not do anything about it

Key Sermon Points:

7. Praying in the Spirit

• Paul is in prison and Paul takes time to write the letter of Ephesians
• Paul makes the best of the opportunity
• Paul talks about the whole armor of God to be able to stand against the schemes of the devil
• We are in spiritual warfare
• Pray always to the Father because he is the only one that can help us
• There are different ways to pray (e.g. standing, sitting, on our knees, eyes open or closed, public, or private)
• The frequency of prayer: always pray and not faint
• The power of prayer, the manner of prayer, and praying for others
• Praying in the Spirit means the Spirit empowers the prayer to carry it to the Father in the name of Jesus
• The Holy Spirit prays in us, through us, and for us
• We have to pray what's on our hearts and not look at other people's style of praying
• The Spirit gives power to prayers and is a life producing prayer
• Praying for all the saints, the objective of praying (Ephesians 6:18)
• We have to line up with the Holy Spirit, who helps us when we pray (Romans 8:26)
• If we aren't praying in the Spirit, then we are praying in the flesh
• When we pray in the Spirit we are praying in harmony with the Father

8. Praying for others

• Sometimes our prayers are selfish and self-centered when we should be praying for others
• We should pray for other believers:
• It shows that we're unselfish and have a love that reflects God's love and character
• To encourage others for the common needs
• We should pray for other believers:
• It shows that we're unselfish and have a love that reflects God's love and character
• To encourage others for the common needs
• We are to be humble in our prayers
• It pleases God
• We ought to come together to pray for one another (James 5:16)
• We ought to pray for those in the world (the width of God's love)
• We should pray for other believers:
• God's love is eternal and will never fail (1 Corinthians 13:8)
• Our prayers should always be wrapped up in love
• Jesus prayed for us (John 17:9-12)
• We are here because someone prayed for us
• We ought to pray for others like Jesus prayed for us

9. Waiting on God

• We cannot hurry God, we must wait on Him
• We can't put a time restriction on God
• One of the fruit of the Spirit is patience and long-suffering
• Patience also comes through the life of prayer because we must wait on what God will do
• We do not want to get ahead of God by being impatient and we also don't want to lag behind him either...we must wait on Him
• We must wait in his presence (James 1:4)
• Sometimes God keeps our wants from us because God sees that it may hurt us
• Waiting is a time of preparation and for God to chip away our imperfections
• The process is one that develops us to perfection to make us complete
• There is a peace in waiting on God
• So many times we go ahead of God and we don't get his best plan
• David said that truly his soul silently waits for God (Psalm 62:1-2)
• Waiting on God brings an assurance that God will provide the best outcome
• We make things worse when we don't wait on God...and end up suffering
• It is important for us to wait on God for our blessings...even though it is not easy
• They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength...when we wait, we will be renewed