Watch and Pray
Scripture: Matthew 26:41Devotional Series: Effectual Fervent Prayer
Teaching: Effectual Fervent Prayer pt. 1 (SUN_AM 2023-03-26) by Pastor Star R Scott
Hallelujah. Amen. Let’s turn to Deuteronomy, Chapter 4. It’s an exciting time that we’re living in, and the return of the Lord is sooner than when we first believed; amen? That’s the exciting thing. The scoffers are still saying—and they have for thousands of years— “Where is His coming? We’ve been hearing about it all our lives.” It’s sooner than when we first believed. The good news is that God’s promises are sure to a thousand generations. He’s gone and prepared a place for us, and He’s going to come again and receive us unto Himself, that where He is, there we may be also (John 14:3); amen? I’m looking forward to that place in His presence. There are so many people in the church today that are being overcome by that spirit of earth-dwelling. One of the great scholars in the Assemblies of God right now is championing a move toward amillennialism and moving away from pre-tribulation doctrine. Again, there is a mindset, of course, that has been evidenced from the inception of the church but championed by the Roman Catholic church, that the church of Jesus would rule and reign here on the earth and that we would usher in the kingdom of God and be able to present it to Jesus in that final day. This necessitates the thought process that, somehow, we are in this millennial process right now.
If this is the millennium, I don’t want anything to do with it. We sure don’t see a lack of sickness and disease; we don’t see the lion laying down with the lamb. We don’t see the Messiah upon His throne and all the fulfilment of the promises given to David. We’re living in the last days, the days of apostacy. We’re seeing right now the final working of the church, preparing to become a part of that great harlot church of the last day. We see in our hour a disregard for pure living, a disregard for sound doctrine, a disregard for the church and its Head, the Lord Jesus Christ, and His Lordship. But, in fact, each man is doing what’s “right in his own eyes” (Proverbs 21:2). We’ve talked about it so much in these recent years and we hear this said so often among professed Christians, “My Jesus.” It doesn’t matter what your Jesus, or your perception of what Jesus might be. There’s only one Jesus, and the fullness of Him has been declared in His Word; amen? And the good thing is, as we’re coming into these last days, the Head of the church has proclaimed that you and I need to “watch and pray” that we would not enter into temptation in these last days (Matthew 26:41); amen?
So, we want to talk about that a little bit—the need for us to be watching and praying, watching, and praying. I don’t know which of these areas—probably in individuals lives it would vary—but there is very little watching going on today. Oh, beloved, look up. Our redemption is drawing nigh; amen? Watching, making sure that what are walking in, what we are proclaiming, is sound doctrine. But what we want to talk about is the praying aspect. We want to address the fact that we can come to a place where we become so secure and so systematized in our doctrine that we think that knowing the truth is sufficient. We need to be “doers of the word, and not hearers only” (James 1:22); amen? And that pertains to our prayer lives. How many of you think that you could and should be praying more? The majority of us. And it probably should be all of us; amen? When the church prays, so many of our prayers can often become rote. I think we need to guard ourselves about thinking that we’re heard for our “much speaking” (Matthew 6:7). And we’ve used that phrase so often. “How long do we need to pray in any session?” We saw it in our service last week as we were looking at what the Lord has done in our lives over this last 50 years, and many of you have been a part of that for most of those years. But the reality is, we have to pray until we’ve prayed; amen? We pray until we know that we’ve touched the heart of God, and that we have been made clear on the heart and mind of God. “I know what the Spirit is saying to me at this moment. I know what God is speaking to me about these circumstances that I find myself in.” Throughout the Scripture, and in our lives, we find it true that most of us become more serious in our prayer lives in times of desperation; amen? That’s a common thing. And we’ll be talking about that aspect of prayer.
If this is the millennium, I don’t want anything to do with it. We sure don’t see a lack of sickness and disease; we don’t see the lion laying down with the lamb. We don’t see the Messiah upon His throne and all the fulfilment of the promises given to David. We’re living in the last days, the days of apostacy. We’re seeing right now the final working of the church, preparing to become a part of that great harlot church of the last day. We see in our hour a disregard for pure living, a disregard for sound doctrine, a disregard for the church and its Head, the Lord Jesus Christ, and His Lordship. But, in fact, each man is doing what’s “right in his own eyes” (Proverbs 21:2). We’ve talked about it so much in these recent years and we hear this said so often among professed Christians, “My Jesus.” It doesn’t matter what your Jesus, or your perception of what Jesus might be. There’s only one Jesus, and the fullness of Him has been declared in His Word; amen? And the good thing is, as we’re coming into these last days, the Head of the church has proclaimed that you and I need to “watch and pray” that we would not enter into temptation in these last days (Matthew 26:41); amen?
So, we want to talk about that a little bit—the need for us to be watching and praying, watching, and praying. I don’t know which of these areas—probably in individuals lives it would vary—but there is very little watching going on today. Oh, beloved, look up. Our redemption is drawing nigh; amen? Watching, making sure that what are walking in, what we are proclaiming, is sound doctrine. But what we want to talk about is the praying aspect. We want to address the fact that we can come to a place where we become so secure and so systematized in our doctrine that we think that knowing the truth is sufficient. We need to be “doers of the word, and not hearers only” (James 1:22); amen? And that pertains to our prayer lives. How many of you think that you could and should be praying more? The majority of us. And it probably should be all of us; amen? When the church prays, so many of our prayers can often become rote. I think we need to guard ourselves about thinking that we’re heard for our “much speaking” (Matthew 6:7). And we’ve used that phrase so often. “How long do we need to pray in any session?” We saw it in our service last week as we were looking at what the Lord has done in our lives over this last 50 years, and many of you have been a part of that for most of those years. But the reality is, we have to pray until we’ve prayed; amen? We pray until we know that we’ve touched the heart of God, and that we have been made clear on the heart and mind of God. “I know what the Spirit is saying to me at this moment. I know what God is speaking to me about these circumstances that I find myself in.” Throughout the Scripture, and in our lives, we find it true that most of us become more serious in our prayer lives in times of desperation; amen? That’s a common thing. And we’ll be talking about that aspect of prayer.