In this sermon, third in a series on prayer, Pastor Neil addresses the question of when to pray and what to pray, explaining the “4 Alls of Prayer for All Y’all,” outlined in Ephesians 6:18. Here are some excerpts:

“4 Alls of Prayer for All Y’all”

Pray– On All Occasions

…The Bible urges us to pray on all occasions, no matter what is going on in our lives, because there is never a time when we are not standing in the need of prayer.There is never a time when we don’t need God and His grace. Prayer connects us with God. Prayer connects us with our Heavenly Father who loves us, and who invites and welcomes us into His presence on all occasions….

Pray– All Kinds of Prayers and Requests

…One method of praying “with all kinds of prayers and requests” that you may be familiar with is the ACTS acrostic. Each letter of ACTS stands for a different kind of prayer:

  • A is for Adoration. We express our love and adoration for God, and praise God for the qualities and attributes of His character. We acknowledge His worth-ship and give Him the glory due His name.
  • C is for Confession. Knowing that God is a merciful and forgiving God, we confess our sins to Him – our sins of commission and our sins of omission; the wrong things we have done and the good things we have failed to do.
  • T is for Thanksgiving. We thank God for His mercies and grace to us; His blessings – spiritual, material, and temporal;  for prayers answered, for needs met, for doors opened, for His blessings in the lives of others.
  • S is for supplication. We bring our petitions and requests to Him and ask Him to supply our needs. We pray for His blessing and provision in the lives of others. No petition is too small. No request is too big. You can take it to the Lord in prayer…

Pray with All Perseverance

“Always” here means “with all perseverance.” We are always to be on the alert to what God is doing. We are always to be on the alert against the attacks and tricks of Satan. We are always to be clothed in the armor of God. As Jesus told His disciples in Luke 18:1, we should“always pray and not give up.” Which is to say, we are not to get discouraged and lose heart in our praying or in our life as followers of Jesus. Paul describes this persistence orperseverance in prayer in Romans 12:12 as being “faithful in prayer.”

Pray for All the Saints

We can also pray generally for saints we don’t know personally – for Christians and the church in America, and for Christians and churches in other parts of the world. We can pray for Christians in places where believers and the Christian faith are under attack. In places like China, Iraq and Iran, and other Muslim-majority countries; In Europe, where Christianity seems to be dying out in many places; Africa and Central and South America. On every continent. And for all the saints who serve as missionaries – ambassadors of Jesus Christ – in all those places. We can pray for the number of saints – the number of Christian disciples – to increase in every place and every nation, including our own nation and our own community.

4 Alls of Prayer for All Y’all

There you have it: The “4 Alls of Prayer for All Y’all.”

  1. On all occasions.
  2. With all kinds of prayers and requests.
  3. With all perseverance.
  4. For all the saints.

September 1, 2019

Ephesians 6:18-20

Dr. Neil Smith

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