Following Jesus – I Am a Prayer Warrior
May 14, 2023
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Nehemiah 1:5-11
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
Good morning, Friends. Today, we’re concluding our Easter season sermon series – Following Jesus. We’ve learned what it means to be a believer, a disciple, a servant, a witness and a Christian. And today, following Jesus means this - I am a prayer warrior! Time to break out that sermon quiz in your bulletin and see what we can learn today!
Although the phrase “prayer warrior” is not found in Scripture, a prayer warrior is generally thought of as a Christian, who prays continually and effectively for others in the manner of praying taught in Scripture. Prayer warriors have a heart for God, a heart for prayer, a heart for people, and a heart for Christ’s church. They pray with a bold trust that God answers each and every prayer, according to His perfect will and in His perfect timing.
And a prayer warrior’s favorite theologian is, of course, MC Hammer, who rapped, “We’ve got to pray just to make it today! That’s why we pray!”
But those words could also be attributed to the Apostle Paul. He wrote to his friends in Thessaloniki, “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances.” He encouraged the Colossians to “devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.”
When we think about prayer, we usually regard it as one of the many things we do to live a full and mature Christian life. We say to ourselves: “Let’s not forget to pray because prayer is important! Without it, our lives become shallow. We need to give our time, not only to people, but to God as well.”
If we’re fervent in our conviction that prayer is important, we might even be willing to give 15 minutes to prayer during a worship service, or a whole hour to prayer each day, or a whole day every month, or a whole week every year!
But when the apostle Paul speaks about prayer, he uses very different language. He doesn’t speak about prayer as a part of life, but says it is all of life. He doesn’t mention prayer as something we shouldn’t forget, but claims it is our ongoing concern. He doesn’t exhort his readers to pray once in a while, regularly or often, but instead to pray without hesitation, constantly, unceasingly, without interruption. Paul doesn’t ask us to spend some of the day in prayer. No, Paul is much more radical. He asks us to pray night and day, in joy and in sorrow, at work and at play, without intermission or breaks. For Paul, praying is like breathing.
And Paul practiced what he preached. “We constantly thank God for you,” he wrote to the Thessalonians. “We pray continually that our God will make you worthy of His call.”
To the Romans, he wrote: “I never fail to mention you in my prayers”, and he comforted his friend Timothy with the words: “Always, I remember you in my prayers.”
The two Greek terms that appear repeatedly in Paul’s letters are
pan-tote and a-di-al-eip-tos, which mean “always” and “without interruption.” These words make it clear that for Paul, prayer is:
· not a part of living, but all of living;
· not a part of his thought, but all of his thought;
· not a part of his emotions and feelings, but all of them.
Paul’s zeal allows no place for partial commitments, or piecemeal giving, or hesitant generosity. He gives all and asks all.
And why? Well, my other favorite theologian Henri Nouwen said, “I am deeply convinced that the necessity of prayer, and to pray unceasingly, is not as much based on our desire for God, as on God’s desire for us. It is God’s passionate pursuit of us that calls us to prayer.”
So, how? How do we become a prayer warrior? How do we effectively pray as Scripture guides us to pray?
Well, let me tell you about this friend of mine named Nehemiah. We find Nehemiah in the Old Testament book of… Nehemiah. Nehemiah is most often referred to as a cup-bearer, though later he was appointed governor of Jerusalem for two terms. It was his job to taste the wine to make sure it wasn’t poisoned before allowing the king to drink it. Like Joseph & Daniel, Nehemiah had attained great significance within the king’s palace by becoming the king’s closest confidant. The king fully trusted him, which makes sense, since he had to trust his cupbearer with his life. This placed Nehemiah in the perfect position to lead the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls, which had been destroyed by the Babylonians.
Right there in the first chapter, we find Nehemiah’s prayer. He’s just received news from a friend that survivors of the Babylonian captivity are in great distress. The walls of Jerusalem were broken down and its gates burned. The news tore Nehemiah’s heart apart, so he began fasting and praying without ceasing.
And the Lord did indeed hear Nehemiah. Several months later, when he was serving wine to the King, the King noticed Nehemiah’s sadness. The king graciously allowed Nehemiah to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls. He also gave Nehemiah a letter to hand to the governors, telling them to grant permission for Nehemiah to safely pass through their territories along the way. Long story short, Nehemiah and his workers finished rebuilding the walls in a record 52 days.
So, what made Nehemiah’s prayer so special that it moved God’s heart in such an amazing way? And what can we learn from it? If you have your Bible, turn to Nehemiah chapter 1. Let’s read through the prayer and see for ourselves:
First… Praise
“O Lord, God of heaven, the great and awesome God,
who keeps his covenant of unfailing love with those who love him
and obey his commands,”
An effective prayer warrior approaches God in reverent praise, and that’s what Nehemiah did. He began with a confident, joy-filled spirit by praising God. This is also how Jesus guides us in the Lord’s Prayer, by saying, “Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name!” Perhaps that’s a nudge to always begin our prayers this way, by acknowledging the greatness of God. History tells us that Nehemiah prayed this after the Israelites were released from seventy years of Babylonian captivity. By praising God for His faithfulness in keeping His covenant promises, Nehemiah is declaring God’s character and using it as a basis to ask God to intervene in the situation.
Which leads us to number two… Petition
“…please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant, which I pray before You now, night and day….”
Immediately following praise, Nehemiah requests for God to pay attention to him. Now, we know God is always paying attention to us, but Nehemiah doesn’t want to take any chances. He specifically asks God for what he needs. His statement “which I pray before You now, night and day” tells us he’s very anxious for God to respond, and he’s committed to keep on asking, to keep on praying until God guides him.
Third… Confession
“I confess that we have sinned against you. Yes, even my own family and I have sinned! We have sinned terribly by not obeying the commands, decrees, and regulations that you gave us through your servant Moses.”
Nehemiah continues with confession, openly admitting his family has sinned. They have not kept God’s rules, and he intercedes on their behalf. He uses words like “I” and “we.” Nehemiah confesses all had sinned before God, all had fallen short and were in need of salvation. They had even sinned as a nation. At the same time, he knows the forgiving nature of God, and he claims the promise that God will bring them back to the land and redeem them. This invites us to confess our sins and repent every time we pray, so our sin doesn’t interfere with God’s perfect work in our lives.
Fourth… Remind God!
“Please remember what you told your servant Moses: ‘If you are unfaithful to me, I will scatter you among the nations. But if you return to me, and obey my commands, and live by them, then even if you are exiled to the ends of the earth, I will bring you back to the place I have chosen for my name to be honored.’
Recalling what God has promised in His word is an excellent tool to use when we pray. God knows His promises, but when we remind Him of them, it deepens our connection with Him and strengthens our relationship with the Creator of the universe.
Fifth… Humility
Nehemiah continues: “Now these are Your servants and Your people whom You have redeemed by Your great power, and by Your strong hand.”
When we humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord, He will lift us up, higher and higher. Nehemiah acknowledged his place as God’s servant, and God’s power of redemption. While he was mainly referring to the Israelites’ exodus out of Egypt, he’s also confident God will bring an equally successful second deliverance for the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem.
Sixth… Final Ask
“O Lord, please hear my prayer! Listen to the prayers of those of us who delight in honoring you. Please grant me success today….. by making the king favorable to me. Put it into his heart to be kind to me.”
Nehemiah repeats his request. “Those who delight in honoring Him” were the people in Jerusalem, who had been praying for God to intervene for years. So, in verse 11, Nehemiah makes his petition again. He prays for success and mercy. And as he prays… an idea formed in his mind. A plan takes shape! Could God soften the King’s heart?
Have you ever been praying for wisdom, and then an idea, a thought, a plan, a Scripture pops into your mind? That can be the Holy Spirit speaking to you and giving you an answer. When you pray for wisdom, God will give it to you.
Seventh… The Big Finish
Because the Messiah had not yet come, Nehemiah simply ends his prayer in verse eleven. For us today, if we’re praying for something specific, Jesus instructs us in John 14:13 to pray in His name:
“You can ask for anything in my name and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father.”
He also says in Matthew 21:22, “And whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”
Nehemiah believes God will do what He said He would do, and we can, too.
Friends, Nehemiah heard of a problem with Jerusalem. It wasn’t necessarily his problem. But his heart was moved, and he was motivated to pray.
He was persistent. He wept. He mourned. He fasted and prayed for days –
And this was not just a 1-minute prayer in passing. He spent a lot of time before the Lord praying about the problem and searching for God’s will about what he could do. It is evident he had a lifestyle of prayer.
And Nehemiah didn’t rush to the king to get help immediately. He didn’t start issuing orders. He didn’t rely on his own wisdom to begin taking action. From the world’s perspective, he did nothing. He sat down, and he prayed. From God’s perspective, this was everything. This was his best recourse.
And he kept praying and kept praying until God opened a door for him. The text tells us Nehemiah started praying in late-autumn, and his conversation with the king wasn’t until the following spring. The Apostle Paul would call this “praying without ceasing.”
Later in Nehemiah, the king asks him what he wants. And right there, right in the king’s throne room, we find Nehemiah praying again. But this prayer is not like the last prayer. Chapter 2, verse 4 says, “With a prayer, to the God of Heaven, I replied…” This prayer was most likely in his heart, unspoken, and probably very quick. Along the lines of, “God, help me.” And God did.
This reminds me of a story I heard in Russia, of a 19th-century peasant who desired so much to be obedient to Paul’s call for uninterrupted prayer that he went from priest to priest, looking for an answer, until he finally found a holy man who taught him the Jesus Prayer. The priest told the peasant to say thousands of times each day: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me. Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.”
This prayer slowly became so united with his breathing and heartbeat that he could travel throughout Russia, carrying only his knapsack, the Bible, and some bread and salt… all the while living a life of unceasing prayer.
Both kinds of prayer are examples of praying without ceasing. We need to have those extended times with the Lord. And we also need to have those moments throughout the day when we offer up “insta-prayers” or “snap-prayers.” If we can send instagrams and snapchats, we should be able to send an insta-prayer, right?
Nehemiah’s insta-prayer, “God, help me,” had power because it was rooted in a lifestyle of prayer. If we only come to God in times of great need, our insta-prayers may lack the same sincerity as if we pray continually, all the time, in good times and in bad.
And so, friends, when you think of Paul’s call to pray without ceasing, think of Nehemiah. It means extended lengths of time in private prayer, pouring out your heart and emotions to God. It also gives space to fill our lives with those quick, spur of the moment prayers when we face obstacles, and temptations, and decisions in our daily life.
After all, let me remind you of the words from that great theologian, MC Hammer, we’ve got to pray, just to make it today. Without God in our breath and in our lungs, we’re nothing. That’s why we pray.
And friends, I didn’t want you to just HEAR a GREAT message about being a prayer warrior! I’d like for us to take some time today to do just this, to practice Nehemiah’s example of being a prayer warrior. This is called guided meditation…I’ll say a few sentences, and then invite you to pray silently, guiding you through several prayers.
You’re welcome to sit comfortably in your pew, or come up to the front to kneel at the altar, however you pray best.
Why don’t we start with a deep breath… and let us take time to practice this prayer of Nehemiah…
O Good & Gracious God, You are a great & awesome God, and we praise You for who You are, Your love, Your faithfulness. In love, Lord, You have set us free:
free from slavery to sin and self,
free to know and love You,
free to follow and serve You.
We praise You for Your faithful love toward us,
and for the many ways You have demonstrated that love to us…
We see Your love in the natural world around us —
in the sky and trees and rivers.
We see Your love in the gift of Your commandments —
the rules for living that guide us into right relationship with You,
and with the people around us.
And we see Your love in Jesus Christ,
who lived and died to bring us life.
We praise You for the many blessings You shower over us…
O Lord, because we have experienced Your love, we come before You with confidence, bringing our needs and the needs of our world. Be attentive to the requests that are on our hearts. God, in Your unfailing love, hear our greatest needs, hear our petitions to You…
We pray for leaders of the Church.
May they serve as examples
to those who would come to believe in Christ for eternal life.
May the Church place its hope in You, O God,
and not in human wisdom.
We name our leaders and place them before You…
We pray for the leaders of the nations.
May they show mercy and advocate for the rights of the people.
May they, like Moses, seek the greater good rather than their own interests.
We lift those leaders to You now…
We pray for the people in our lives.
May we learn to love the stiff-necked, the sinners,
and all those in great need of your mercy.
Make us instruments of your peace,
as we lift to You those who are hard to love…
We pray for the sick, the anxious and the sorrowful.
Make them hear of joy and gladness,
that broken bodies and broken spirits may rejoice!
We lift our sick loved ones to You now…
O, Lord, we confess that we have not loved You with our whole hearts. We have failed to be an obedient church. We have not done Your will. We confess that we have sinned against You. And you, Lord, You say that if we confess our sins, You are faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And we confess those sins to You now…
Forgive us, Lord. And please remember Your promises, O God! You said to Jeremiah, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with your whole heart.” And Jesus promised if we keep on asking, we will receive what we ask for. And if we keep on seeking, we will find. And if we keep on knocking, the door will be opened. Remember Your promises, O God…
We are Your servants, O God.
We are nothing without You, Lord.
We long to be used by You, for You have redeemed us by Your mighty hand….
Use us in these ways, O Lord…
Merciful God,
give us strength and courage to keep Your commandments,
to live in faithful obedience to Your will.
Guard our hearts and minds from all that might distract us
from living out our commitment to You.
We hand over those distractions to You…
O Lord, please hear our prayers!
Listen to the prayers of those of us who delight in honoring You.
Hear these words upon our hearts…
We pray all these things, in the name of Your Son, Jesus the Christ,
Amen and Amen.
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