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WEEKLY
Volume 4 Number 25
15 November 2009
A Prayerful Heart
(Message delivered by Rev Hien Nguyen at the
Worship Service, 2:00 pm, Nov 15, 09)
Text: 1 Thess 5:16-18
Many do not have any idea of prayer to
God until they face great dangers, fatal illness, or sudden disasters in
their lives. After being disappointed at themselves and at others and at
their last resort, they cry to any “gods” who are able to help them in
their hopelessness and helplessness. Sadly, many are not concerned for
the salvation of their souls. God’s Word confirms that there is no
salvation outside the Saviour Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12).
Some Christians who are weak or lazy
in praying think that God is all-knowing and He knows all their needs,
so it is fine if they trust in the Lord and just sometimes come to the
Lord in prayer when they have big problems or difficulties. Are they
correct? Only God is correct, but they are wrong. Prayer is not just to
come to the Lord for our need but it is a means to keep us in touch with
God, who is our life and strength. Prayer is our spiritual breath. No
one can survive without breathing. Besides our action of prayer in the
morning, before meals or at night, we are commanded to have a constant
attitude of prayer in our hearts wherever we are, “Pray (keep on
praying) without ceasing” (1 Thess 5:17), and that is a prayerful
heart. Do you and I have a prayerful heart?
Pray without Ceasing: The Attitude
of Prayer
How can you and I “pray without
ceasing” (1 Thess 5:17)? The verb “pray” is in the present, middle,
imperative, and it denotes “keep on praying yourself” without ceasing.
Many say, “Praying all the time is not practical. You cannot just sit or
kneel there and pray, but you must stand up and walk and work!” They
fail to understand the true meaning of God’s commandment, “Pray without
ceasing.” The verb “pray” in Greek is proseuchomai, with 87
occurrences, and the KJV translates as “pray” 83 times, “make prayer”
three times, and “pray for” once. Proseuchomai “never refers
to praying to men, but always to God” and it “embraces all that
is included in the idea of prayer, i.e., thanks, requesting special
things” (Zodhiates). This same verb “pray” to God was used when the
Lord Jesus taught His disciples to pray “the Lord’s Prayer” (Matt
6:7-13), when Jesus Himself prayed to His Father (Matt 26:39, 42), and
when Christians pray to God (Eph 6:18; 1 Thess 5:17), and so forth. The
adverb “without ceasing” in Greek is adialeíptōs,
which means “constantly, continuously, unceasingly.” It has four
occurrences; and the KJV translates as “without ceasing” four times. The
apostle Paul used this adverb to tell “that without ceasing I make
mention of you always in my prayer” (Rom 1:9), “remembering
without ceasing your work of faith and labour of love, and
patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our
Father” (1 Thess 1:3), “for this cause also thank we God without
ceasing” (1 Thess 2:13), and here “Pray without ceasing” (1
Thess 5:17).
What does it mean when God commands
you and me to pray to Him continuously without ceasing or any pause? It
should be noted that “to pray to God or to have communion with God”
has two aspects, which are the attitude of prayer and the activity of
prayer. The activity of prayer is when we offer to God our thanksgivings
and requests, and it can be in the morning, in the evening, in the
prayer meetings or whenever in need. This activity of prayer, in fact,
cannot be continuous because we are supposed to be involved in many
other activities like studying, working, playing, sleeping, etc. But the
attitude of prayer in our hearts should be without ceasing. And here God
commands you and me to have a constant communion with Him and keep in
touch with Him without ceasing. Like the branch which is constantly or
continuously attached to the Vine for nutrition and life, our spiritual
life should be constantly attached to the Lord Jesus Christ for life,
strength and power. The Lord Jesus says, “I am the vine, ye are the
branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth
much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5). How
about your prayer activity and prayer attitude? It is vital to come to
the Lord in prayer as well as to keep a constant communion with Him. Are
you praying now? Are you and I having our communion with God now even
when you are listening and I am preaching? When listening to someone
preaching or sharing God’s Word, do you usually pray for God’s
enlightenment to understand God’s Word, for God’s discernment to discern
God’s truth from falsehood, for God’s strength to keep God’s Word, and
for God’s grace to draw the hearers closer to Him and to His Truth
alone?
Let me illustrate the prayer activity
and prayer attitude in my life. I was born into a Christian family, and
I went to church and sometimes prayed to God at night or in the morning,
but that was my only prayer activity as during the day I hardly had any
thought of the Lord. Then after I
experienced the work of regeneration of the Holy Spirit in my life, I
really acknowledged my need of the Lord and His Word, “As newborn
babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow up thereby”
(1 Peter 2:2). I did not need anyone to remind me to pray or to read the
Bible, and I could experience the blessed time with the Lord in my daily
devotion. Dear friends, it is not easy to push someone to pray or
to read the Bible if he or she is not born again! Then I wanted to
maintain the sweet communion with God, but I had to study, to work and
to do my duties, which usually diminished
my joy in the Lord because I only kept my communion with God in my
prayer activity or in my devotion. Then, the Lord graciously taught me
that I could keep a constant communion with Him even when I was studying
or working by inviting Him into my life. The Lord Jesus says,
“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and
open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with
me” (Rev 3:20). That is a blessed fellowship with the Lord without
ceasing! Thank God that I have practised living with the Lord and kept a
constant communion with Him not only when I read the Bible or when I
worshipped God at the church, but also when I studied, had meals, did my
cooking or washing or when I walked on the street, or when I was in the
car, the bus or the train and so on. The Lord is my Life and I cannot
live without Him. This is my attitude of prayer. Dear friends, how about
your attitude of prayer?
How to Keep a Constant Fellowship
with the Lord
Follow Jesus Christ, Our Perfect
Example: Even the
Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God, said that He could not do
anything independently of His Father and He kept in touch with His
Father all the time, not only in His prayer activity but also in His
prayer attitude, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do
nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things
soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise” (John 5:19, 30).
The Bible says, “And in the morning, rising up a great while before
day, he (Jesus) went out, and departed into a solitary place, and
there prayed” (Mark 1:35). Jesus’ prayer life is recorded in the
Bible (Matt 14:23; 11:25-27; Luke 5:16; 6:12; 9:29; 11:1; John 11:42;
12:27-28, etc.), even His prayer as a High Priest (John 17), His fully
submissive prayer in the garden of Gethsemane (Matt 26:36), His
forgiving prayer on the cross (Luke 23:34), and so forth. Jesus teaches
that “men ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1).
And Jesus is now still praying for His followers (Heb 7:25). Our Lord
Jesus Christ could overcome Satan and his temptations, truly live a holy
and righteous life, faithfully serve His Father, humbly submit to His
Father’s will and bravely obey His Father unto death thanks to His
constant fellowship with His Father. And you and I must do the same.
There is no other way! If you and I fail to control our tongues and our
temper, fail to keep God’s Word and serve Him faithfully or cannot
overcome our self-will, selfishness, sinful nature, sinful lusts, lies,
hot temper, envy, hatred, greediness, worldliness, temptations, etc., we
have failed to keep a constant fellowship with the Lord in our prayer
attitude in the first place, and that is our responsibility.
Humbly Acknowledge Our Weakness:
God knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows that we need Him
and without Him we cannot live a holy, godly and victorious life. Then,
we pray because we obey God’s command and because we humbly acknowledge
our weakness, “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the
spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matt 26:41). We
humbly pray to God and keep our constant fellowship with Him because we
really need Him, His help, His strength, His blessings, His guidance and
protection. The proud prayer of the Pharisee was rejected, but the
humble cry of the tax collector was regarded (Luke 18:10-14). Truly,
“for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that
humbleth himself shall be exalted” (v 14).
Read and Keep God’s Word:
Praying is communicating with God. We are to listen to what God speaks
to us through His Word and we respond in our prayers. If we refuse to
hear His Word, He will not answer our prayer, “Because I have called,
and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded…
Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek
me early, but they shall not find me” (Prov 1:24, 28), and “He
that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be
abomination” (Prov 28:9). Jesus says, “If ye abide in me, and my
words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto
you” (John 15:7). When you and I let God’s Word abide or live in our
hearts and our minds, it means we are submissive to God’s Word without
any doubt or rebellion. Satan and demons are only scared and fleeing
away when we resist them in our prayer to the Lord, “When I cry unto
thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me”
(Ps 56:9) and cite the very Word of God, which is “the sword of the
Spirit” (Eph 10:17) as the Lord Jesus did. Do you and I read and
keep God’s Word each day?
Humbly
Walk in God’s Light: God is not only gracious but also holy. God
is Light, and to keep a constant communion with Him, we are to walk in
His Light, in His presence, in His truth, in His love and in His
guidance. And we shall really appreciate the blood of the Lord Jesus,
which can continuously keep us clean all the time as the Bible says,
“But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship
one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth
(keeps cleansing) us from all sin” (1 John 1:7) Keeping our
constant fellowship with God in His Light, we should not let anyone nor
anything separate us from our Lord. We have to apply Biblical Separation
in our lives and ministry, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the
Lord will not hear me” (Ps 66:18). When we commit any sin, we are to
repent right away and restore our communion with our Lord as soon as
possible. Without Him, we can do nothing glorifying to the Lord, nor can
we bear any good fruit of the Holy Spirit. Thank God for the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ in keeping us in communion with God in
the light without ceasing!
Conclusion
Dear friends, we have learnt about the
fruit of the Holy Spirit, which is “love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance” (Gal 5:22-23) and
“holiness” (Rom 6:22) and “in all goodness and righteousness and
truth” (Eph 5:9) and in giving praise and thanks to God, “be
filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph 5:18-20), and in giving glory to the
Lord Jesus Christ, “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he
will guide you into all truth:… He shall glorify me” (John
16:13-14). We can never produce any true fruit of the Holy Spirit by
ourselves except by our constantly trusting in, depending on, and
submitting to the Lord and His Word moment by moment, like the branch to
the Vine. The Holy Spirit is “the spirit of grace and of
supplications” (Zec 12:10), and He is able to help us and keep our
hearts in tune with the Lord, “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our
infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but
the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot
be uttered” (Rom 8:26). Do you and I have a prayerful heart and
maintain a living and constant fellowship with the Lord in His Light
without ceasing? May the Lord graciously help us. Amen.
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