In this sermon, the speaker focuses on the importance of possessing rest and inheritance as God's people. The Word of God is highlighted as a tool to reveal the spiritual and carnal aspects of one's life. The speaker emphasizes that the Word should not be used as a weapon against others but as a means of personal growth. Prayer is compared to winding a clock, stating that it is essential for the Christian armor to function effectively. The speaker expresses gratitude for the warm hospitality and musical contributions during their time with the congregation.

Good evening. It's very nice for me to be here and I have thoroughly enjoyed my week with you. You have made Joyce and myself feel very much at home. Some of you have been so kind in your hospitality, having us to your homes and a little chance to visit, and then I have certainly appreciated the choir and their work and those at the instruments. This has been just a very comfortable, pleasant time for us and we thank the Lord for it and trust that something is left behind from the Word of God that would be a blessing and an enrichment to your soul. You remember we've been thinking during this week on many different ways of viewing the subject of prayer, and in the earlier part of the week we have been giving some simple statements, kind of summary statements, that would project a concept concerning prayer. We thought of Hannah and her personal experience and then the Old Testament promises that stimulated prayer in the hearts of the followers of the Lord, and how these things are easily brought over into our personal experience. I hope that you will not forget the remarkable flood of scripture that supports the significance of prayer and the place of prayer in the life of our Lord Jesus. We bring back to mind his exhortations concerning prayer, then the careful way in which he illustrated prayer, and then the remarkable fashion that he demonstrated prayer in his own life, and the frequency in every one of those experiences with a shade of difference reminding us that he, the second man and the perfect servant, found himself constantly in prayer and in communion with his God and his Father. I pray that some of these things would linger in our heart, and then this morning recall that we went very quickly through the Book of Acts and saw the place of prayer in the church of our Lord Jesus Christ, and how each of those illustrations, though very briefly and simply touched upon, brought to our attention that in every avenue of experience in the body of Christ, the early group of believers found it spontaneous and natural to turn to God in prayer. Then it's to remember that in the Book of Ephesians there are three prayers, and this evening I should like to direct your attention to the last one in chapter 6, and it's a request actually on the part of the Apostle, but along with that request comes a touch of instruction as well. Remember in chapter 1 it was a prayer for enlightenment doctrinally, and the emphasis was upon the remarkable power of God to implement and enable all of those things that were listed in that prayer. The Apostle had led these saints, or these unbelieving Ephesians, into the faith, and now this body of believers in Ephesus, he was not going to see them for a while, if possibly not again, and because of that he had a deep concern, and in this epistle he was praying for their enlightenment doctrinally, and the key to that prayer was centering our thoughts upon God himself, his knowledge, his glory, his inheritance in the saints, his power. Then in chapter 3 he prays for a realization of these things, and the prayer was for the enrichment of them personally in their individual lives, and the remarkable exercise of heart that it's possible for simple Bible-believing individuals such as yourself and me to be able to have a deeper personal relationship with our God, and the Spirit of Christ operating within us to create Christ in our hearts, and the moment that Christ genuinely dwells down deep in our heart, and that's the force of the Greek words that are in chapter 3, that Christ might dwell down deep in your heart, in the genuine essential part of our person. When that begins to happen, then a new aspect of our life, a new perspective comes about, that we have the opportunity to begin to perceive things that are infinite, immeasurable, and it cannot be measured by either height or depth or breadth or length, and we actually come in a progressive knowledge to know that which is beyond surpassing knowledge. The thought of that which is surpassing is a word that means to throw something beyond, to excel, and it's something beyond our capacity to understand how you and I, with all of our frailties, with all of our weaknesses, can come to know the love of our blessed Lord Jesus and have a closer tie in relationship to him. So it's no wonder now that at the end of the epistle, with a dramatic challenge for God's people, he lists seven important pieces of armor, and I assume the last piece mentioned in verse 18 is indeed the seventh piece of armor, and that is prayer. So let's, just to get the flow of the reading, let's read from chapter 6 and verse 10, if you would, and we'll be thinking now of Paul's affirmation concerning prayer. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints, and from me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open mine mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds, that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak." Verse 18 may or may not be the seventh piece of armor, but it reminds us that it is a very significant implement in preparing ourselves against the attack, the subtle attack of the evil one. The exercise of the Apostle Paul is with these persons who once knew how to dabble in black magic, who once were preoccupied with witchcraft and the unseemly side of the unseen world. These people who had dabbled and had social and mental intercourse with demonic powers, it was imperative for them that they realize that they could put on something that would protect them against the wiles of the devil. They had been thoroughly seduced by him earlier in their lives. As a testimony of their liberation from his power, they burned their curious arts and black books and witchcraft and things such as that, the amount of which was an astounding accumulation of wealth. They were really into spiritism. But now they needed to be freed from it, not just by burning books, but in their genuine, actual person, no longer encumbered and vulnerable to his subtle and crafty ways. And so there are very important six pieces of armor given, and then the last is how to fit it all together. Prayer. In our living room at home, we have a little pendulum clock that needs to be wound once a month. Now the clock operates very well, and it's remarkably accurate for a relatively inexpensive thing. It has lovely chimes, but none of that works if it's not wound up. And there's a little drawer, and in that drawer we take out at the end of every month and just wind it up until the little blue line shows, and then we know it's gone far enough, and we've got another 30 days. Now what that key is to the pendulum clock, prayer is to your Christian armor. It will not work unless you use prayer. We cannot have a mental ascent or a knowledge of mere doctrines. We must involve ourselves with God and look for his help. We need to take that key and implement it, and we can't do it just once a month. We need to do something more like this little one I carry on my wrist every day, punctually, and it keeps reasonable time, but it needs a regular winding, a consistent provision. We need a constant intercourse with our God, and during this week most of us have not learned something new, we have just been put in remembrance of things that we know are very important. And if there was a time in our land, in these United States, in this 20th century, if there was ever a time when there were more books written on prayer, and more sermons delivered on prayer, and more conference speakers sharing thoughts upon prayer, and unfortunately in my experience fewer people praying. Little companies of believers who crowd into congregations on the Lord's Day and they thin out dramatically for corporate prayer. And yet we noted this morning the tremendous importance that the Apostle saw in corporate prayer in each of the epistles, declaring a profound impact upon his missionary life and on the people who hear the message of the missionary as well as the disposition of God's people, all are significantly affected by prayer. We need to take the words of the disciples who after having those remarkable moments of listening to the Lord Jesus, came to him and said, Lord teach us to pray. I am sure that every one of us as conscientious Christians realize we must spend more time in prayer. One thing that makes prayer rather difficult for us is that it has two different aspects. The first is toward our God. It's a symbol of weakness, frailty, impotence, dependence. And most of us have learned in the United States that that isn't the coming. That's not how men are made. You get ahead in the corporate business world by aggressiveness and confidence. You get ahead in the social life by being the initiator and to sense and to acknowledge honestly before God that we cannot affect a thing in the life of our dear loved ones. That we cannot actually implement one iota of effect and result concerning the salvation of a soul. That we are absolutely impoverished in the spiritual world. This is what prayer is. Toward God and toward our blessed Savior, it's the mark of weakness, ignorance, and impotence. But the very same acknowledgement of deep dependence is toward Satan the mark of wisdom, power, and a profound realization of eternal things. When you and I are genuinely people of prayer, we are weak and dependent and frail toward him, but wield power toward the evil one, the kingdom of darkness, and his subtle, wily ways. Prayer is a very important thing. It's not always understood, though, is it? When we are younger, we have a little misconception of prayer. Dear Aunt Tilly was visiting her nephew, and as usual, she fawned on him and commended him and flattered him, and that little fella just strutted around. He was just so tickled with himself. And at nighttime, of course, she wanted to sit with him and hear his prayers. And he eloquently named everyone in the family, and kneeling by the bedside, he just went on and described, and he just prayed so lovely and sweetly like this. And when he got up off of his knees, Aunt Tilly patted his head. He said, oh, you just prayed so nicely. And the little fella said, oh, that's nothing, Aunt Tilly, you should see me gargle. He didn't seem to have a deep grasp of eternal things, did he? Prayer is not just showmanship, is it? Prayer is not just saying things for the benefit of people in a congregation. Prayer sometimes is just a sighing from within. And in fact, that's a very reasonable thing. Just as our blessed Lord went to the graveside, and he sighed, just as he overlooked a city, and he groaned in his heart, possibly something hardly articulated. And yet we're told that's exactly what the Holy Spirit does on our behalf, making intercession for us with sighs that cannot be uttered. There's nothing of ecstatic speech in that, because it cannot be uttered. What that speech is, is the infinite profound understanding of the Holy Spirit, of what's going on in your heart, that you don't know what to pray for as you ought. And we acknowledge our weakness before him. How often have you watched a loved one, and have seen them go on in a pathway, and your response is, and that's exactly what that word is. You can't articulate it, you just sigh with frustration, with a desire to be able to do something, with a sense of futility. And when we feel that way, the Holy Spirit within expresses that to our God. What a blessed provision is prayer. But Paul wants very much for the believers not only to see that there is enlightenment as a result of prayer, and enrichment as a result of prayer in chapter 3, but hear its encouragement for us personally. And this is the object of this petition, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. In the Greek language, the word all appears four times. In our King James Bible and English translations, it does not. But there are four appearances of the word. Now, anything that is repeated in the word of God, theirs are noting or observing. So we have a variety of prayer here, and it's drawn to our attention by the statement, all prayer and supplication. Then we have a statement about the how and the when of prayer, and that's conveyed to us by the expression, all times. Praying all times, or we'll see a little bit later, literally in all seasons. All the various vicissitudes of life. And then the manner of prayer, all perseverance and supplication, and the object of prayer, and notice this carefully, all saints. A very lovely reminder, who bears the priority in our prayer life. Now, firstly we want to consider the variety of prayer that is mentioned. Praying always with all prayer and supplication. Two very simple words, and yet they express to us two clear concepts of thought. The first word that's used here for prayer is the very familiar simple expression of an approach to God. The word means just talking with God. General term for communication, and that would include in our thinking terms that we have already covered. Confession, praise, thanksgiving. So the thought of prayer, just spending time with God. Praying always. Now remember, what is this for? It's part of the armor. We're trying to wind the armor up and link it together. All the things we know about the evil one's ways, all the doctrines that we know concerning salvation and righteousness and the gospel, all of this needs to be drawn together and girded up, and it's going to be done praying always, with all expressions to God in prayer. Whether it's ejaculatory prayer that's just rung from your heart at a sudden cry, or whether it's carefully composed, well-thought-out expression. Whether it's that which is done in absolute solitariness in your own soul, or in a social environment or circumstance. All prayer. It makes no difference whether it's public or private, whether it's just simple ordinary routine praying or extraordinary enabling of the Lord. All prayer and intercession. So it is earnest request, a certain involvement of our person, an intensity. Let me read to you this expression in an expanded translation by a student. Through the instrumentality of every prayer and petition for needs. Praying always through the instrumentality of prayer and genuine petition for needs. You see, he's very comprehensive, and he knows that there's going to be many things that are needed for us to be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. If there's ever going to be a need for us to have an unusual capacitating to accomplish an end, an unusual invigorating to face the problem, it's going to be found in prayer. And did not our Lord Jesus say that? And did not the apostle illustrate that in his life? And did not the early church, just with a profusion of text, show us that they believed in constantly turning to God? We need to be reminded of this. And then take advantage of this. All varieties of prayer are needed. And then it's at all times, praying always, at all seasons, at every time the interlinear translation says. Now that does not mean just that calamities and trials. How often have you heard people say something like, well, this is a real problem. I don't know what we're going to do. We've tried this. We tried this. I guess we better turn to prayer as though this is the last resort. And it seems that way. None of us would ever say that. If we were listing important disciplines of Christianity and prayer and Bible reading and fellowshipping with Christians, we would list prayer right up there amongst the top three or four. Almost every churchgoer would do that. But when it comes to the realistically facing the problem, may I tell you a secret? My mind works so frequently and so rapidly and so involvedly that when I begin to hear of a problem, I immediately become immersed in my own thoughts. And I think things through and I begin to reason, just a spontaneous thing. And before I realize it, I have gone on listening to something for a protracted period and have thought and thought of verses long before I've ever stopped myself and say, well, let's bring this to God and start to pray. Do you do things like that as well? It's so instinctive for some of us to lean upon our own judgment and own ways of life, our own resources. But remember, that's one of the reasons why we do not pray, because prayer toward God is weakness, dependence, impoverishment, and utter frailty expressed to Him. Oh God, we cannot, you must. And then God begins to work. And so how nice when we do remember and are reminded to frequently go back to Him. All seasons, all times of prayer, three times a day for Daniel, remember, even though it imperiled his life, he was determined to go back into the presence of God. In Isaiah 50 and verse 4, we're told that morning by morning, the true servant, whom I have no doubt is our blessed Lord by the rest of the text, morning by morning, he opened his ear and listened to God in prayer. And it was a dug ear, an opened ear, not with the thought of a servant that had the all go through it, but rather an opened ear, prepared to listen audibly to directions coming from God. Do you remember at the critical junction in the Lord's life, when the nation was ready to refuse Him, and He had that mass of followers? He spent all night in prayer, and then chose the twelve. All seasons. And when I get that habit of frequenting His presence, and utilizing the texts and the scriptures and the insights and the exercises of which you know many, many, then we're beginning to turn and really walk in a dependence upon Him. All of this is done, I should imagine, and I don't want to excel what the teaching of the scriptures says, but I have in my mind that God urges us for regularities of prayer, for the reason that we can get special help when we're not able to pray. Now that's implied in Hebrews chapter 4, and I'd like you to turn there if you would, just to read and to remind yourself of something that you have heard before. Chapter 4 is the exercise of heart, the challenge to God's people that they would indeed enter into their rest and their provision. But then the challenge is, are we indeed possessing this rest in our inheritance? Are we really laying hold of things? And in chapter 4 verse 12 of the book of Hebrews, it's the word of God that shows me just what is spiritual in my life, and what is carnal, and where I've been frail, and where I've been inconsistent, and it exposes me. We must never think of the word of God as a sword to use on our brethren. It never says that. The word of God in Hebrews 4.12 is a sword to use on ourselves to determine that which is soluble and natural and carnal, and that which is discerning the thoughts and intents of our heart, that we can expose ourselves to the Lord through the word of God, and find out, really, are we trusting in Him, and confiding in Him, and enjoying the things that He has provided? Then we get a little bit discouraged, and so the Spirit of God reminds us, in verse 14, seeing then that we have a great high priest that has passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us in a present continuous tense be always holding fast our confession of faith. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched at the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore constantly be coming boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy once and for all for that particular need, obtain mercy, and find, and this is our expression, grace to help in time of need. Mr. Grant, in his numerical Bible, translates this very accurately, that we may find grace to help at the seasonable time. If I rouse myself every day, enjoying the fact that I have a high priest, and commune in fellowship with him, and come boldly to the throne of grace, and am constantly an individual who visits the throne of grace, and is prepared of heart with regularity, and if I am honestly opening up my heart before my God, when there is a seasonable time of need, it will be provided. It is a supernatural enabling, and under the testimony of many a saint, and many a child of God, and many a godly believer, you have come to a critical juncture in your life, and have been forced to do something, and you have made the right decision. You have received seasonable help, help at the time of need. Why? Because you have been making a habit of constantly coming to him, and constantly speaking to him, and so he then can very reasonably, under the government of God, who does everything in balance with justice and righteousness, as well as love, he can immediately dole out to you the seasonable help, and you will obtain grace and seasonable help. It is not as though that every time I need it, I turn to him for that help, because when those times are in my prayer, those are the times I need repetition, and again returning, looking for his mind, looking for his will, and we sometimes say, well, and I've been praying for so long, and it's been such an exercise of heart, but we should persevere in all times in prayer, because when the moment comes, and the critical juncture for decision is made, and you must determine this school, or that school, that individual, or this decision, or purchasing this, or doing this, that, or the other, then you have ministered to you at the seasonable time the help that's necessary. What a gracious provision. Our loving God. And so the apostle is urging the saints here, pray always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit. Now, what time? Praying always. Always praying at all the seasons. But how? There's a little expression now that we mustn't make ambiguous. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit. Now, in the which our Bible was written, the article V is not there. Now, that suggests a potential hell. We pray in spirit. It is not talking about in the spirit, the person of the Holy Spirit, as if there was some remarkable way for me to attach myself to the thinking of the Holy Spirit, or I must do some extraordinary activity. Now, there is that line of thought in Christianity, and it's becoming much more popular amongst people who are very subjective and wanting experience, and there's a whole movement in our land regarding this kind of thinking, but it's not based upon the written word of God. We are told here that we pray in spirit, and that in spirit means in the realm, or in the sphere, locatively in spirit, pertaining to spiritual things. For example, when I was an unbeliever, I was in flesh. This is lifted now in principle out of Romans chapter 8, and this is where it is clearly taught as a doctrine. In flesh. But Paul says, you are no longer, writing to believers, you are no longer in flesh. You're not in that state of flesh. You're not in the sphere of flesh. You are no longer there. You have the flesh, that entity that's within and operates, but you are not in flesh. You are, what? In spirit. In as much as you have the Holy Spirit. So he, by coming into our lives, has moved us out of flesh, out of Adam, out of a natural state, into a spiritual state, into Christ, in the vine, in spirit. And that would mean, then, that everything that pertains to the thought of spiritual things, right and wrong, the teaching of the Word of God, an acquiescence to the Spirit of God, in His leadership, the authority of God, being part of His great kingdom, we are now in spirit. And we don't pray selfishly, but we pray what we know to be that which God desires for us. So all prayer and supplication is in spirit, in spiritual things, or in the realm or the sphere of the Spirit. It's not in Jerusalem, and it's certainly not in the Temple, and it's not in the Church, but it's in spirit. And you might be any one of those three places, or somewhere else, and be able to consciously put yourself into the awareness that I am a child of God. The Spirit is within me. The Word of God establishes certain standards for me. Remember the seven prerequisites, the requirements for answered prayer, the Lord taught four, and they're supplemented by James and John with three more? Guaranteed, that's the realm of the Spirit. And if we pray in spirit, there shall be blessing and enlargement. And we must not impose something that is not in the Word of God upon God's children. There is not anything implied here of supernatural ecstatic experience. The exact same thing is told us, and you will understand, in the book of Galatians. If you walk after the flesh, you fulfill the lusts of the flesh. But we do not want to do that. We are those who are not going to fulfill the lusts of the flesh, who are going to walk in spirit, and not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Exact same thing. The article is not there either. And it's a grammatical concept. It's not the person of the Spirit, it's the realm and the sphere in which the Spirit operates. And He affects our spiritual being. And so you and I as God's people know that if we're going to walk in flesh, that's out of the mind of God. But God wants us to walk in spirit. What does that mean? The fruits of the Spirit, obedience to Him. And we pray in spirit in the same way. And there is great blessing, and it frees us from the tentacles of the wicked one, who wants to affect the flesh in us. But he cannot, if we're mindful that we are in spirit. And we're not going to listen to the desires and the longings or the pressures of flesh. Praying in all seasons, with prayer and supplication in spirit, and watching thereunto, with perseverance for all things. Not listless, indifferent, casual prayer because it's mechanical or a need. It's watching, alerted. The Lord, remember, came back to His own and said, Could you not watch with me for an hour? Meaning, could you not stay awake and be alerted? Now there's other meanings to it. Certainly has a metaphor, let us watch and be sober. That's a metaphorical meaning, but there's a literal meaning of staying awake. Is it difficult for you to stay awake when you pray? It is for me. I find it very easy when I shut my eyes and get in some quiet spot. My mind just seems to evaporate, and I go into neutral. And if I'm not immediately up on my feet and move around, the inclination is. And that's why it's important for me to pray with someone. I'm very thankful that the Lord has given me a wife that has a desire to pray with me. And we have mutual interest in exercises of heart. And just very practically, and that's not the whole reason, but very practically, it's embarrassing if you fall asleep when somebody else is praying, so I stay awake. Social requirements, if I'm not a spiritual giant, at least I try to be socially right with her, and I try to stay awake. And it's a good exercise of heart. And that's the proper thing, alerted and awake. But not only just awake with our minds active and not sleeping, but alerted to what we are saying and what we are asking, believing that it's so. For if we ask believing, we shall receive. So we're to be watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all things. This perseverance, this continuing, this constantly going on, it implies to me that you may not get the answer right away, but you stay with it. The word is used in Greek, natural, secular writing of the hunting dog. There are dogs that chase animals. I have a little dog in our house. That's a brilliant beast. It knows just exactly what it wants to do in its own way of life. But one very strange thing the dog does, it'll attack any animal, a bird that flies, a cat that walks by, it'll claw at the door and bark and growl just because there's a dog walking by. Has no concern about people, enjoys people and gets along with any time there's an animal. But the moment the animal gets out of sight, it's out of his mind apparently, and then he waddles back into the house and thinks he's defended his property in some way. He's not very persevering in the matter, but you know what the bloodhound does. Just because it's out of sight, he goes on. That's exactly what the word here is. Like the bloodhound that's going to sniff out the end and continue and persevere, that's how our prayer life should be. Seeking down through the climb to get to that goal, to seize upon and possess the blessings that God wants, that he has promised us to have, the things that have been taught us in the word of God that we know are ours, the desires that are God's, we bend our will and intercede for these things to be effected, and continuingly so, God wants us to be free from the wiles of the devil. He'll allow us to go through sifting and pray for us, but not to be deceived and trapped and snared by his wiles. That will impede our progress. He will allow us to fall into his hands sometimes for childlike disciplines and trials, but not to be deceived and beguiled. That is something he wants us to be delivered from, and then he kind of exercises of heart with all prayer and supplication in spirit, watching and perseveringly we supplicate for whom? For all the saints. Missionaries? Yes. Workers? True. Elders? Certainly. Young people? Definitely. Children? Ah yes, very important. Those well on in years facing unique trials and problems that those of us who are younger cannot really grace, all the saints, the whole body of Christ. There are very few opportunities in the word of God for us to have an awareness. A few sentences, Paul says, we should pray for all men in the authorities, but the bulk of the testimony in scripture is that we are to pray for the saints. Why is that? Because there's adequacy in the ministry of the spirit and the word of God and the gifts of the spirit to effect the various functions and services needed. So when we pray for the believers, some of them may have the gift of evangelism and they will be used as reapers, and others will have the gift of teaching and they will be used as teachers. And for us to be praying for souls to be saved will be perfectly good and an excellent exercise of heart. But we might remember that we are important for us to be praying for the saints, and God will use those saints to reach the soul. He will use them to build the body. He will use others to be examples to the flock. We each have our function and ministries within the body of Christ, and the primary requisite for intercessory prayer is that we pray for all the saints. This will defeat the wicked one. This will hinder his progress. And now, what will we do? Will we say, well, that was a nice week. I enjoyed it. That was a pleasant time that we had together, and have a few notes possibly, and maybe some of us even might decide that we take a few cassette tapes and listen to them again sometime. Or, shall we start to pray? Will we be men and women of prayer, and begin the fervency of spirit and genuineness of heart to have our hearts express to God in conversation what's in there? To begin to ask Him to fulfill His promises to us? To begin to meet the requirements in our private life to lay hold of the throne to effect results? Beloved of God, I pray that the Word of God will be a blessing and effect changes in your life and mine, for His honor and glory. I'd like for us to sing in closing this evening, hymn number 445, a lovely hymn that reminds us of the general spirit of our calling. 445. May the mind of Christ, my Savior, live in me from day to day. I'd like for us to sing the first three verses, and then the last verse. And after we sing this hymn, I'm going to ask my brother Bill, if he would, to commend us to the Lord in prayer. Verses one, two, three, and six. 445. May the mind of Christ, my Savior, live in me from day to day. Our Father, we thank Thee for Thy Word. We thank Thee for the instructions. We pray that Thou will enable us to draw closer to Thee, know more of Thyself through prayer, and be more useful in whatever ministry that Thou hast prepared us for. We thank Thee that we can all serve Thee in prayer as well. Now we pray Thee that Thou will keep us. Thou knowest some are traveling. Thou knowest some are in need of a closer walk and fellowship with Thee. We pray that Thou will separate us with Thy blessings and accept of our praise, worship, thanksgiving, in the name of Thy blessed Son, who has made it all possible. The Lord's Prayer.