How Should I Pray? - Tim Conway

This one has to do with
praying in the Spirit.

Steven Gibney writes,

"Brother Tim, I have a
question about prayer.

How long should I pray?

Should I come first in worship
or does it matter?

Sometimes I sense my own
need and frailty

that I just begin to weep
and cry out

for mercy and grace.

What is praying in the Spirit?

How do I know that I am?"

Does anybody know where he's
getting that from?

Praying in the Spirit?

It comes to us from Ephesians 6.

Listen,

"Take the helmet of salvation,
and the sword of the Spirit,

which is the Word of God;

praying at all times
in the Spirit,

with all prayer
and supplication."

So very quickly,

"how long should I pray?"

My answer I put here:

Your whole life.

I mean, think about it,

praying at all times in the Spirit.

1 Thessalonians 5:17

Pray without ceasing.

Luke 18:1

You ought always to pray
and not lose heart.

Romans 12:12

Be constant in prayer.

Our whole life needs to be
a life of prayer.

It's like someone said,

prayer to the Christian
is like breathing to the natural man.

You come forth into the world

and you begin to breathe.

You come forth into the
Kingdom of God,

and you begin to pray.

And the Spirit of God is
the Spirit of adoption.

It's the Spirit by which we
cry, "Abba, Father."

What are all those
"Abba, Father's?"

They're prayer.

They're crying out to God.

Jesus identifies in Matthew 6

that there are times we go
into our closet.

There are times we get away

from the commotion,

we get away from the crowd.

I was just reading Count Zinzendorf's life

that he would make it a point

to send people away,

and he would travel certain
parts of his journey

all by himself.

He liked to speak out loud

and personally to Christ.

And he would just walk
as with a friend

for miles and miles and miles.

Just openly conversing with Christ.

We need that.

We need times alone.

How long?

Jesus says this,

"When you pray, go into
your room, shut the door

and pray to your Father,
who is in secret,

and your Father who sees in
secret, will reward you."

He doesn't say how long
that should take,

but brethren, if you're really

trying to bear the burdens

of your brothers and sisters

in the church,

let alone your own burdens,

and you're really trying to
hold up the spread of the Gospel,

that's one of the things that
was prayed for;

Paul wanted prayer.

Pray for me.

Spread of the Gospel.

If you're praying
for our missionaries,

you're praying for the
spread of the Gospel,

you're praying for the evangelistic
efforts in this city;

you're praying, and you're
really giving yourself to pray;

can you do that in 30 seconds?

Can you do that in
a minute and a half?

It says you pray like that
in secret,

your Father who's there in secret,

hears in secret,

will reward you openly.

Does it mean so little to you

of the rewards of God

that you would just go into your

closet and pray five minutes
a week?

Now then he asks the question

about should we start in worship.

All I can say about that is,

look, there are all sorts of ways to pray.

I just thought of the early church praying

Acts 4, "They lifted up their voices
together to God..."

Listen to how they prayed:

"Sovereign Lord."

Now see, they're glorifying
the Lord there.

There's worship in that.

They're identifying Him: Sovereign.

And He's Lord.

Who made the heaven
and the earth.

They're identifying Him as
the Creator.

"And the sea and
everything in them.

Who through the mouth of
our father David

your servant said by the
Holy Spirit."

He's the one that
speaks to us.

"Why do the Gentiles rage
and the peoples plot in vain?

The kings of the earth set
themselves, rulers were

gathered together against the Lord,
against His anointed;

for truly in this city
there were gathered together

against your holy servant,
Jesus, whom you anointed."

So He's the God who anoints.

He's the God who predestinates.

"Both Herod and Pontius Pilate
along with the Gentiles

and people of Israel to do

whatever Your hand and
Your plan

had predestinated to take place.

Now, Lord, look upon
their threats,

and grant to Your servants
to continue to speak

Your Word with all boldness."

You know what,
when you begin to pray,

and you begin to identify
God the way He is,

in terms that are glorifying
and praiseworthy to Him,

it will excite you to pray better.

Not only is it glorifying to Him,

it encourages you to think
on who this God is.

So, I encourage it.

It's definitely biblical.

It's definitely in
that biblical prayer.

And just to tell you,

when they prayed like this,

"the place in which they had
gathered together was shaken,

and they were all filled
with the Holy Spirit,

and continued to speak the
Word of God with boldness."

Then he asked this question:

"What is praying in the Spirit?"

Well, let me tell you this,

I'll tell you what it is,

praying in the Spirit's at the
end of all this armor

that we need to
fight demonic powers.

Do you remember this?

We fight not against flesh
and blood, right?

Isn't that how this chapter starts?

All this warfare talk?

Praying in the Spirit is the
kind of prayer

you need to pull down
demonic strongholds.

It's the kind of
prayer you need

to go up and fight against

these principalities and powers

and wicked dominions
in high places.

I don't know that I can exactly
define what praying in the Spirit is,

but I can tell you this,

typically when you're
praying in the Spirit,

you have a sense of it.

Or when you're in
a prayer meeting

and you hear other people
pray in the Spirit,

you have a sense of it.

And I'll tell you this,

the kind of prayer that
brings down

demonic strongholds

is not where you just
whip out your laundry list,

and "Lord, heal Aunt Tilda's toe,

and Lord, help my neighbor
who lost their dog,

and Lord, help..."

I mean, when you just throw out
the cheap little laundry list...

What kind of prayer is it
that pulls down

demonic strongholds?

I'll tell you what it is.

It's when people begin to
recite the character of God

like they did there in Acts 4.

It's when they begin to recite
the promises of God

until that Spirit takes that promise

and lights them up on fire

so that they are able to lay hold
upon God

and have what they're asking for,

and not let God loose,
though He shake them

like that angel of the Lord
did with Jacob.

And they hold on till they
get what they pray for.

I'll tell you what,

you don't pray in the Spirit
when you've grieved the Spirit.

When you've got all sorts of
sin and wretchedness in your life.

And that Spirit of God,

He tends to energize and
He tends to be effectual

in God's people's lives

when their eyes are
set upon Christ.

These are things that I would say.

You want to pray in the Spirit?
Don't grieve the Spirit.

You want to pray in the Spirit?
Set your eyes on Christ.

You want to pray in the Spirit?
Set your eyes on the character of God.

You want to pray in the Spirit?

Set your eyes on the promises.

And I'll tell you this,

you don't pray in the Spirit
unless you pray.

And it's not going to be these

cheap little flippant things.

And I'm not saying it's always
got to be all dramatic,

some of the times, like this guy,

he feels frailty and feels weak

and all he can do is weep;

some of the most "in the Spirit"
prayers may be

where you can't even get a word out.

All it is is a weep or a groan
or a tear that runs down your face.

It doesn't have to be all dramatic
and everything.

But it's where men with pure hearts

are ascending the hill of the Lord

and they're laying hold on
the arm of God.

That's praying in the Spirit.

And though it may be a sigh,
it may be a groan,

it's pure men that pray like this.

Pure women.

Not those who defile themselves
and grieve the Spirit of God.

I can't exactly define all of it,
but I'll tell you what,

I know when in the depths
of my own soul

a promise of God has come
to my heart

where I am determined
to have it and not let go of God.

I've heard men pray before,

where I've just entered in.

And you know it.

You folks know it.

You've been in prayer meetings

and you've heard some people pray

and it's just kind of like

a drone that it doesn't feel like

there's been a laying hold on God.

It's just kind of talking

and it's just going on;

where others, they've just
been lifted up

and they say, "God,
You are like this."

And then the whole congregation

just kind of says, "Yes!"

"And Lord, we need to have this."

And it's like, "Yes!"

"Lord, we'll not be denied."

And you just feel there's
this swaying

and the Spirit is moving.

Where other times,

it's just this chatter and this drone.

But you guys know what
I'm saying is right.

You can sense it.
You can feel it.

There's certain times when
people pray

and it's like I'm lifted away;
I'm in another place,

I'm carried up.

May God give us that.

And we have times like that
in our prayer meetings.

And I'm thankful for it.

May God give us those kind of times

in our personal lives as well.

Well, that's it for today.

Any questions or comments
anybody want to make?

Did I kill you with time?

(from the room)

How would you exhort somebody
who feels discouragement?

Tim: I would say this,

pray through your discouragements.

Live through your discouragements.

Press on in your discouragements.

I'll tell you one of the
most discouraging things for me,

is the silence of Christ.

And what I mean by that
is when you pray,

and then there's no answer.

And you pray again.

And there's no answer.

And if I were to bring in

a real life situation,

I would bring in the Syrophoenician woman.

"Lord, my daughter's got a demon."

He didn't answer her.

She kept pressing the matter.

Then, when He did answer,

He says look, you're a Gentile dog.

I didn't come for the dogs,

I came for the children.

She said, "Lord, even the dogs

eat the crumbs that fall
off of the table."

She kept pressing Him;
she kept pressing Him.

There are times for me,

that's great discouragement;

but the silence of Christ

is not meant to turn us away.

And it's not meant to communicate to us

that Christ doesn't love us.

It's meant to stir those
longings even deeper,

to press the faith even further.

If you look at that Syropheonician woman,

just pressed her to become

more violent in her attempts to

get a response from the Lord.

And in the end,

she had what she came for.

So, in the midst of our
discouragements,

I would call the
Syropheonician woman...

Because why are we discouraged?

We get discouraged
because we don't have

certain things that we want.

That's really what it is.

Discouragement comes because
I want something

that the Lord is not giving me.

He's gone quiet on me.

If you think about it.

I mean, are you discouarged when
all the things that give you joy

and happiness and pleasure
are all being heaped upon you?

Typically not.

Typically, we're discouraged when
we feel something's lacking.

We either feel His face is withdrawn,

we feel there's something
we feel so pressed

to have from Him;

and He's gone silent.

(from the room)

I heard an analogy once that
prayer is like digging

for buried treasure.

And that some people around you
are going to hit that treasure

before you do, but that
doesn't make you stop digging.

It's still down there.

Tim: And Spurgeon's likened it to

shaking a fruit tree

trying to get the
fruit to fall off.

And that a lot of people
quit beating on the tree

one stroke before... if they
would have hit it one more time,

it would have fallen.

And it's true,

we have not, because we ask not.

And those that press through,
are the ones that receive

what they ask for.

Do you know George Mueller

prayed fifty-some years for

one of his brothers

every single day that
God would save him,

and God finally did save him?

God saved some of his
family members

who he prayed for every
day of his life after he died.

He didn't even get to see it
in this life.