April 26, 2020 · Ephesians 6:18

All Kinds of Prayer

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 Lord's people.

“The first one is a shalom prayer — a prayer of peace, a prayer of peace, a prayer of peace, a prayer of peace upon our populace. We're told in the Old Testament that — the — Jeremiah was told to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. This is the idea of the people who are in their captors' midst — they're out and exiled, and they're praying for the peace of Jerusalem back home. And they're also told to pray for the peace of Babylon — in their own city that they're living in — even though this is a city that's kind of fighting against God. So praying for peace for our country, praying for peace for our continent, praying for peace for our cities and our local communities — this is all part of the job of the Christian. That's why we're told to pray for our leaders. Shalom, and peace. So the second thing I want to talk about is praying Scripture — especially the Psalms. The Psalms are a gift of God. They're the one part of Scripture where humanity is speaking to God, and God says, "I like that. I want that." He actually wrote prayers to himself. Yes, it's David, and Moses, and the sons of — Korah — others — but the Psalms give us a chance to speak to God through his own words. And those words are precious. Because I remember the first time I read the Psalms — they almost bore me, because I was kind of reading the Psalms just quickly, to try to read — to — the Bible. But when I actually sat with them and prayed them, it changed my life.”