This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Welcome to day five of our look together through Ephesians chapter six. In fact,
our last day in our look together at the book of Ephesians. Congratulations!

You have made it through to the end of our study of the book of Ephesians. And
today, as we look at verses 18 to 24, we're going to be looking at what Paul has
to say about how to revolutionize your prayer life. You see, the Bible's idea of
prayer and our idea of prayer are sometimes very far apart.

And I want us to bring them closer together as we study these verses today.
Prayer is not a child saying some cute, memorized prayer or a meeting we have
once a week or something the pastor does for us or a ritual before meals. Prayer
is our lifeline as believers in Christ.

It's our communication with God. Prayer should not be our last resort, it should
be our first response because it is our lifeline. But I realize a lot of us
don't feel that way.

So how do I revolutionize my prayer life? Well, beginning in verse 18, Paul
talks about five very simple ideas that will revolutionize, radically
revolutionize your prayer life. Ephesians 6, 18, Paul says, "And pray in the
Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.

With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. "
Now, I hope you heard the word "all" again and again in there. We're going to
come back to that in a few minutes.

Paul talks in these verses about some things that you and I can do that will
make a difference. Five simple ideas, beginning with number one, how do I pray?
Pray in the Spirit.

In the Spirit. What does that mean? Is that some weird spiritual thing?

He was really weird and in the Spirit tonight, I couldn't really understand who
he was. He was a different person. No.

In the Spirit, you're going to become the person that God really meant you to
be. What does it mean to pray in the Spirit? He's talking about something that's
happening in your heart.

God's Spirit's in your life. So that means you ask for the guidance of God's
Spirit as you begin your prayer. God, what do you want me to talk to you about?

It means you rest in the intercession, the prayer of the Spirit as you pray.
Romans 8, 26 says, "Prayer is more than just you talking to God, that his Spirit
in you is also involved. That he's praying with groanings too deep for words,
saying things to God that you may not even understand.

" That's why, in some ways, prayer is like resting in the Lord. And when you
say, "God, I don't know what to pray," God's Spirit's still praying within you.
So when you don't know what to pray, you still pray.

That's what praying in the Spirit means. So you ask for the guidance of the
Spirit as you begin your prayer, you rest in the prayers of the Spirit as you
pray, and you depend on the power of the Spirit as you end your prayer. St.

Teresa of Avila said, "You pray God a great compliment by asking great things of
him. " You depend on him. You pray in the Spirit.

That's how to pray. Now, these verses talk about a second thing. They also talk
about when to pray.

On all occasions, it says. You pray at different times, all occasions. If you're
going to learn to pray all the time, you and I have to learn to pray at
different times.

That means you keep the lines open. In one sense, you never hang up on God. You
never even put him on hold so he can't hear what's going on.

You're always connected. These different times of prayer would include looking
ahead to the day prayers at the beginning of the day. Have you ever prayed
before you get out into traffic, about the traffic you're going to face that
day?

These prayers include what I would call arrow prayers shot up to God in the
midst of the day. Just quickly. A prayer can be a one-word prayer, just the word
help, quickly shot up to God in a situation.

A prayer can be a lengthy time of prayer. Some people make it a habit to pray an
hour a day or an hour a week, or they make it a habit to get a time away to
focus on prayer. You pray at different times, on all occasions.

Now, there's a third thing that verse 18 talks about, this one verse. It talks
about what to pray. Not only how to pray and when to pray, but also what to
pray.

The untold story about prayer, which should be this most thrilling of
experiences in our life, is that sometimes it can become downright routine and
actually boring. I'm talking about this exciting life of prayer, how to
revolutionize it. For too many of us, the picture of prayers of a long-winded
preacher going on and on while my mind wanders, or prayers at meals that are
identical time after time, or struggling to pray for what seems like hours, only
to finally look at my watch or my phone and realize it's only been five minutes.

Prayer is a relationship, and the best of relationships becomes boring without
some variety. So what do I pray? I pray in different ways.

That means sometimes I pray prayers of praise and adoration, other times prayers
of confession, sometimes prayers of thanksgiving, sometimes prayers of
supplication for what I need in life. Sometimes prayers of praise, of purpose,
of provision, of pardon. Sometimes prayers for people, sometimes prayers for
protection.

You see, when you're talking about praying, you need to recognize it can't be
the same every time. Just like a conversation can't be the same every time. Talk
to God about different things in different ways.

That's what keeps it fresh. The Bible says as you're praying to God, you need
to, in verse 18, be alert and always keep on praying. That means you've got to
watch your attitudes.

Be alert. That's an attitude of importance. Prayer is important because it
changes things.

Prayer changes the world from Moses and the Red Sea and the Red Sea splitting to
your life and that need that you have at the office today when things aren't
going right. It might just be that there's not a paperclip and somebody's mad at
you because there aren't paperclips and you've got to learn how to handle that
in the right way and that may seem a long way from the Red Sea, but prayer can
change your heart in that situation. So you be alert.

You pray in that situation. You be alert. That's an attitude of importance and
urgency, but also there's an attitude of endurance.

Be alert and always keep on praying. Prayer takes both. You're alert.

It's urgent, but you're enduring. You always keep on praying. God wants to
encourage me.

He wants to encourage you to be faithful, to be enduring through your prayer
life. I've noticed that sometimes the more faith I have, the more faith I build,
the longer I have to wait. And there are some truths of the fact that although
newborns might get instant attention and a new Christian often gets more instant
answers to their prayers, I grow in my faith.

God is going to develop patience in my life. There's no mistake in that because
God is working to develop you through your prayers. And so this one verse is
revolutionary to our prayer lives because it tells us how to pray and when to
pray and what to pray.

It also tells us who to pray for. Did you notice? For all the saints.

Who do I pray for? I pray for everyone. I pray for everyone.

Pray for everyone and everything. But these verses say focus your prayers on
God's saints. It's interesting.

The Bible focuses these prayers on God's saints. Jesus taught us to pray for the
lost, but he also taught us to pray especially for the laborers, those who were
going out to share with the lost. The Bible is very clear about this need to
focus on the needs of the saints.

Not just their physical needs, but their spiritual growth needs, their ministry
needs. It's not only an expression of our love for one another. It has a
powerful impact on the world.

Because as you pray for someone who is a fellow believer, and by the way, that's
what saint means. It's not a perfect person. It's somebody who's called out to
follow God.

As you pray for a fellow believer, the answer to that prayer in their life is
going to have an impact on somebody else. So who should I pray for? Pray for all
the saints.

These verses tell us that prayer is an all kind of thing. I'm supposed to pray
for all people, always, in all kinds of occasions. The word all, when you bring
that one word into your prayer life, that is the revolutionary word.

If I can begin to bring that into my life, that's what makes the difference. As
Paul talks about prayer, praying in this kind of way, he's not shy about asking
for prayers in his own life. He not only prayed for others, he asked people to
pray for him.

Listen to verses 19 to 24, the last verses in this incredible book of Ephesians.
Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me, so that
I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an
ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly as I should.

Tychicus, the dear brother and faithful servant of the Lord, will tell you
everything, so that you also may know how I am and what I'm doing. I am sending
him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are and that he may
encourage you. Peace to the brothers, and love with faith from God the Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with undying love. You see, Paul was
not afraid to ask people to pray for him. And you and I shouldn't be either.

It is spiritually prideful to say, "I'll pray for you," but not ask you to pray
for me. And as he asks others to pray for him, he's very specific. He says,
"Pray that my mouth can be opened.

" He was very vulnerable. He says, "I have some fears. Pray that I'll declare it
fearlessly.

" He was also informative. He says, "I'm sending Tychicus so you can know what
to pray for and know what's going on in my life. " And as he prayed for others,
he also said, "I'm praying for you.

Praying for peace and love and faith and grace in your life. " "Grace," he says
in verse 24, the last verse of Ephesians 6, "to all who love our Lord Jesus
Christ with undying love. " Now, my prayer for you is that you'll make a
significant step of growth in your prayer life.

One of Satan's strategies when talking about prayer is to make us feel guilty.
Make us think about that we haven't done enough, what we're not doing. Well, the
truth is, I'm not doing enough, and you're probably not either.

But that feeling of guilt isn't going to motivate any change. What will motivate
change is this verse. I can pray for all, on all occasions, all kinds of
prayers, always for all the saints.

I revolutionized my prayer life when I moved from some to all. God help us to do
that. God help us to do that.

We pray that you'd help us to move from the sometimes kind of prayer to the all
kind of prayer. That's growth. Whether it takes a week, or a month, or Lord, for
most of us, years.

Help us to not give up. Help us to endure in prayer. Help us to talk to you as
the one who loves us the most.

And as we communicate to you, and we see answers, help us to realize it's not
because of us, it's because of you. And we thank you. In Jesus' name, amen.

Well, this closes our study of this book of Ephesians. This book that talks
about our wealth in Christ, and our walk in Christ. Our wealth in Christ, that
because of Jesus Christ, we are called even before the foundation of the world
to love Him.

And our walk in Christ, that because of Jesus and what He's done, we are His
workmanship, made to do good works, which God prepared beforehand. God has,
because of His love for us, changed us from the inside out. And when you get
frustrated, when you look at yourself and think, "This walk in Christ is not
working like I want it to.

" Look again at your wealth. Look again at what Jesus has done in you. And
recognize that as you and I trust in Him, He's going to keep us growing in
Christ.

Now, I just want to remind you as we end this look at Ephesians that there are
other studies in drive-time devotions that if you haven't done them yet, you
might want to pick up one of the other books. Because part of our wealth in
Christ and our walk in Christ is continuing to study the Word that God has given
to us and letting it encourage us daily to live out the life that He's given to
us. Thank you for being with us for this study and thank God for His incredible
Word that lets us know that He will never let us down, that we can trust in Him
every single day of our lives.

I'll see you for the next study in drive-time devotions.