Epaphras Prays Podcast

In this world you will have trouble, says Jesus. A Psalm of the sons of Korah claims “my life is full of troubles.” And David writes, “I pour out my complaint before Him; I reveal my trouble to Him.”

He is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble, “LORD, help!” they cried in their trouble, and he saved them.

Trouble and prayer are closely related. It often drives us to God in prayer, and our prayers are frequently the voice of those in trouble. Thus they go hand-in-hand.

There is great value in prayer in the time of trouble. Prayer often delivers out of trouble, and still more often gives strength to bear trouble, ministers comfort in trouble, and begets patience in the midst of trouble. Wise is he in the day of trouble who knows his true source of strength and who fails not to pray. So writes E. M. Bounds.

It seems trouble and prayer go together, one accompanies the other like brat and bun. For we have trouble while on earth. Each day is one of trouble, and not just for some, but for all--rich and poor alike, great or small, old or young—saved by Christ or not.

We usually try to keep any hard, difficult or painful experiences a bay, don’t we? None of us rightly like trouble or seek it out. But it comes upon us all. An entirely false view of life is one that expects nothing but sunshine and looks only for ease, pleasure and flowers, seeking only happiness. It is these who are sadly disappointed and surprised when trouble breaks into their lives. They are the ones who do not know God, or who know nothing of His disciplinary dealings with His people--and who are most likely prayer-less.

What Good is Trouble?

It is used by God for our good. Bounds writes that trouble is God’s servant, doing His will unless He is defeated in the execution of that will. Trouble is under the control of Almighty God, and is one of His most efficient agents in fulfilling His purposes and in perfecting His saints.

God’s hand is in every trouble which breaks into the lives of men. Not that He directly and arbitrarily orders every unpleasant experience of life. Not that He is personally responsible for every painful and afflicting thing which comes into the lives of His people. But no trouble is ever turned loose in this world and comes into the life of saint or sinner, but comes with Divine permission, and is allowed to exist and do its painful work with God’s hand in it or on it, carrying out His gracious designs of redemption.

Our trouble is to discipline us, not a punishment to us, that will take place in the next world. According to Bounds, trouble belongs to the disciplinary part of the moral government of God. It is a season of trial. Trouble is not being punished or penalized by God. It belongs to what the Scriptures call chastening (which means loving corrective instruction). God’s dealings with people in this world are of the nature of discipline. They are corrective processes in His plans concerning His children.

It is because of this that prayer comes in when trouble arises. Prayer belongs to the discipline of life.

What is Trouble?

Trouble, says Bounds, covers all the painful, sorrowing, and grievous events of life... So that all evil days in life might well be classed under the head of the ‘time of trouble.’ Such days of trouble happen to us all, and we need to know that trouble—no matter from what source it comes—becomes in God’s hand His own agent to accomplish His gracious work concerning those who submit patiently to Him, who recognize Him in prayer, and who work together with God.

Trouble does not come by chance or coincidence or by accident. I often make my own trouble, whether by fears or failures, sins or shortcomings, or just poor decisions. But the Lord allows these, and uses these to teach, guide, train me.

Trouble naturally belongs to God’s moral government, and is one of His invaluable agents in governing the world. (Bounds)

The Relationship of Trouble to Prayer

Knowing all this is so we rightly appreciate the relationship of prayer to trouble. In the time of trouble, where does prayer come in?

Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. (Psalm 50:15)

Prayer is the most appropriate thing for a soul to do in the time of trouble. In fact, it is the most important thing!

Here’s why: Prayer recognizes God in the day of trouble. It is the Lord; let him do what seems him good (1 Samuel 3:18). Prayer sees God’s hand in trouble, and prays about it. Nothing truly shows us our helplessness more than when trouble comes. It brings the strong man low, like a mirror, it reveals our weakness, and it brings a sense of helplessness. Blessed are those who know how to turn to God in the time of trouble.

Who do you know who is in trouble right now? Sending this to them may help them pray.

If trouble is of the Lord, then the most natural thing to do is to carry the trouble to the Lord, seeking grace, patience, and submission. It is perfect time to as in the trouble: Lord, what will you have me to do? cried Saul (Acts 9:6). How natural and reasonable for the soul—oppressed, broken, and bruised, to bow low at the footstool of mercy and seek the face of God? Where could a soul in trouble more likely find solace than in the closet?

Results of Praying in Trouble

Prayer brings comfort, help, hope, and blessings. While not removing the trouble, enables us to bear up under it better and to submit to the will of God. Prayer opens the eyes to see God’s hand in trouble. Prayer does not interpret God’s providence, but it does justify them and recognize God in them.

Prayer enables us to see wise ends in trouble. Prayer in trouble drives us away from unbelief, saves us from doubt, and delivers from all vain and foolish questionings because of our painful experiences. Let us not lose sight of the tribute paid to Job when all his troubles came to the culminating point: In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.

Prayer in trouble tends to bring the spirit into perfect subjection to the will of God, to cause our will to be conformed to God’s will, and saves from all murmurings over our lot, and delivers from everything like a rebellious heart or a spirit critical of the Lord.

* Prayer sanctifies trouble to our highest good.

* Prayer prepares the heart that it softens under the disciplining hand of God.

* Prayer places us where God can bring us the greatest good, spiritual and eternal.

* Prayer allows God to freely work with us and in us in the day of trouble.

* Prayer removes everything in the way of trouble, bringing to us the sweetest, the highest and greatest good.

* Prayer permits God’s servant, trouble, to accomplish its mission in us, with us and for us.

We have troubles of all kinds, and so how many prayers ought to be offered?

Bounds concludes: How many are the things which are the subject of prayer! It has to do with everything which concerns us, with everybody with whom we have to do, and has to do with all times. But especially does prayer have to do with trouble. This poor man cried and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. (Psalm 34:6)

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O the blessedness, the help, the comfort of prayer in the day of trouble! And how marvelous the promises of God to us in the time of trouble!

We complicate things we enjoy. The longer we do a thing, the more sophisticated we get with it — and somewhere along the way, we can lose the fundamentals that got us started.

Take fishing. I love it, but it’s not just a rod, a reel, and a hook. Oh, no. You can chase all the sophistication you want — different reels, lines, lures, or flies for different fish and different waters. Mastering the gear, the techniques, and it can be easy to lose sight of basics.

My wife knits, and the same thing happens with her. The longer she knits, the more she discovers new techniques, patterns, or tools. But every so often, she likes to come back to basics. Musicians know this: the better they master fundamentals — the scales of their instrument — means getting better at everything built on top of them.

I think we do the same thing with our Bible study. We go deeper (and that’s good) but we can lose sight of foundations along the way. And when we share what we’ve learned with people who don’t have that same depth, they often can’t easily follow us. It’s good to come back to fundamentals and remember where we begin.

A basic way to help Epaphras Prays is by sharing this article. You’d also be helping whoever you send it to!

Prayer works this way. We can make it more complicated that it needs to be. At its core, we communicate with God the Father, who is approachable and wants us to come to Him. He invites us to call upon Him — because He is not some distant, cold-hearted, angry figure like the wizard in Oz. No. No. Our Heavenly Father is good and glad-hearted, and He longs to hear from His children when they come to Him in prayer. He tells us, plainly, to call upon Him.

Psalm 50:15 says it directly: “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.” Psalm 91:15 promises the same: “When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.” And Psalm 145:18: “The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.” This is a call we make, a crying out to Him, because He invites us to do it.

The original Biblical word means: to call out to; cry out; invite. Think of it like dialing a phone — reaching out to a Father who actually picks up, hears, and responds.

We see this cry throughout Scripture, in people who called out to God in moments of need. Take Bartimaeus, the blind man along the road to Jericho. As Jesus passed by, he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” He would not be silenced, because he knew that if anyone could help him, it was Jesus. He called, and Jesus stopped and answered him.

Consider Hagar, alone in the wilderness in Genesis 21, weeping over her dying son. Scripture tells us that God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of the Lord called to her from heaven. She cried out in her desperation, and He heard.

Or Stephen, in Acts 7, being stoned to death for his faith. In his final moments, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Even facing death, his instinct was to call upon the Lord.

Bartimaeus, Hagar, Stephen — each called out in their moment of deepest need, and in each case, God heard and answered.

The principle holds throughout Scripture. In the Psalms, we call and He answers. Bartimaeus called, and Jesus stopped for him. Hagar called, and God heard her. Stephen called, and Christ received him. So we call. We cry out aloud. We make our voice heard before the throne of grace — as a whisper, as a groan, as a shout, as a lament. However we bring it, we call to our Heavenly Father, and He hears us.

Remember: At its most basic, we call on God because He invites us to. The core of prayer is making a call to God — from our heart, through our lips, to His ear.

Call to Me, and I will answer and show you great and unsearchable things you do not know.

Jeremiah 33:3

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In this special edition, we pause to celebrate the 250th birthday of our nation. We explore the unique history of God’s divine creation in America, from the pioneers and settlers who crossed “sea to shining sea” to the inventions that shaped the world.

While acknowledging the rebellions and immature mistakes of our past—likened to the prodigal son returning to the Father’s house—we affirm that 250 years is worth celebrating.

This episode is a call to intercession, asking for God’s mercy, grace, and repentance as we seek His intervening hand. As nations from around the globe gather here for the World Cup, we are reminded that all eyes are on us. We are called to be a light to the world, declaring our dependence on Him.

Includes:

Founding Truths: Reflecting on the representative republic, the declaration that all are created equal, and the foundational belief in Biblical truth and freedom of religion.

The Prodigal Nation: A look at our history through the lens of the prodigal son story—leaving home, falling into poverty and sin, and the Father’s patient drawing us back.

Job 12:22: “He makes nations great, and they fall.”

A Call to Return: Returning to the hymns and principles of our heritage, not through political laws, but through a spiritual awakening to save those trapped in darkness.

Global Watch: Acknowledging that all nations are watching the US, not just for our birthday, but for our witness to love the Lord.

Declaration of Dependence: An invitation to intercede for God’s intervention, admitting our dependence on Him.

Prayers

Prayer for the Nation

Notes & Resources

Collection of Articles: A table of contents featuring previous posts on praying for the nation

Transcript: Available for download on the website.

Historic Prayers:

The prayers of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.

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Join us in prayer as we declare our need for God’s guidance and blessings, asking Him to make us a nation that honors Him once again.

Jesus teaches us that God, like a loving father, will give good gifts to those who ask with childlike faith

Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? So if you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!

Matthew 7:9-11

Childlike Faith and Prayer in Biblical Perspective

This Lesson presents a theological position on childlike faith and prayer, drawn from Andrew Murray’s teachings on the relationship between living as children of God and receiving answered prayers from our Heavenly Father.

Key Details:

* The passage quotes Matthew 7:9-11 about Jesus teaching that God, like a loving father, will give good gifts to those who ask with childlike faith

* Andrew Murray explains that prayer is effective only when the child lives in loving, obedient relationship with God

* The lesson connects childlike faith to the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus describes characteristics of children of God: meek, righteous, forgiving, and obedient

* Murray emphasizes that God doesn’t require perfection but wholehearted surrender to live as a child with Him

* The text concludes with the prayer request “Abba, Father” as the key to effective prayer

3 Main Quotes:

“When we ask with child-like faith, our Father answers with good gifts”

“The power of the promise, Ask, and it shall be given you, lies in the loving relationship between us as children and the Father in heaven”

“The Lord does not demand of us a perfect fulfillment of the law; no, but only the childlike and whole-hearted surrender to live as a child with Him in obedience and truth”

4 Theological Principles:

* Effective prayer requires living in the loving relationship with God as children

* Childlike faith is demonstrated through obedience to God’s commands

* The “Abba, Father” prayer is presented as the foundation for all effective prayer

* God’s Fatherhood is characterized by infinite love and compassion

Why It Matters:

This passage teaches that prayer is not about being perfect before praying, but about surrendering our whole hearts to live in God’s love and truth, trusting that He will answer our petitions with the same tender care He shows to His children.

The podcast explores this and more in three questions as we study Andrew Murray’s teaching, learning about childlike praying .

Would you help us and one another? Sharing this article does both.

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With Christ in the School of Prayer, Twenty-third Lesson, by Andrew Murray

Do you sing hymns in church? Many grew up this way and still do.

But have you thought about reading these hymns as a prayer? We sing them on a Sunday morning in service, not always giving thought to the meaning behind the words. So many are Scripture based and sung to the Lord.

One of my favorites is Have Thine Own Way. If you’re familiar with it, or even if you’ve never sung this hymn before, let’s read the lyrics as a prayer.

1 Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way!

For more on Hymn Prayers, see

Don’t read/pray this alone. Send it to one other intercessor, or just someone who needs some encouraging words to pray.

A Prayer Insight … from E. M. Bounds

“Those who know God the best are the richest and most powerful in prayer. Little acquaintance with God, and strangeness and coldness to Him, make prayer a rare and feeble thing.”

Praying Together for the Church family, from daily Notes:

I don’t just read the Word, study the Word, or memorize it. I pray it. And it’s a main way I’ve learned prayer and intercession.

One best way is by praying directly from the Psalms. They are an excellent place for this. If they were important enough to be preserved for our reading today, they are certainly good enough as our prayer guide!

Try to pray one each day, just read through it as if you were praying it yourself. Or just focus on a verse or two. Often something in the Psalm will stand out to you a bit more and you should linger on that in prayer a bit longer.

Many of these Psalms were from King David and reveal many things to us about his relationship with the Lord, and give us much insight to the Father, as well as teaching us today about how to pray.

One example is Psalm 28—

A Psalm of David.

Psalm 28:1-9 NKJV

What do you notice in Davids words? He uses the name of the LORD, asks for Him to hear his prayer; he asks the Lord for help, and to punish evildoers; he rejoices with an assurance to answered prayer; he praises the Lord and makes declarations of Him; he prays for his own people.

Included within these nine verses are adoration, faith, humility, supplication, intercession, gratitude—all elements of praying we cover. Notice how he will cry to the Lord, that is a pleading; the object of the prayer is the Lord my Rock, the aim is He would hear and be not silent; and his expressions of confidence in the Lord’s strength and saving refuge.

As you pray this passage for yourself and for others, you may well glean your own insights from it for your own praying.

There are 150 chapters, so at one a day it covers about 5 months. Then maybe pray the Proverbs and you have daily Scripture prayers for half a year.

Take a moment to pray a Psalm yourself, then pass this on to a prayer partner so they pray a Psalm. This way, we will all be praying together

Pray For The People Of God From The Word Of God

We will pray this week from the passage above: Save Your people, And bless Your inheritance; feed them also, And bear them up forever.

Here is insight from Spurgeon:

This is a prayer for the church militant, written in short words, but full of weighty meaning. We must pray for the whole church, and not for ourselves alone.

Save thy people. Deliver them from their enemies, preserve them from their sins, help them under their troubles, rescue them from their temptations, and ward off from them every ill. There is a plea hidden in the expression, thy people: for it may be safely concluded that God's interest in the church, as his own portion, will lead him to guard it from destruction.

Bless thine inheritance. Grant positive blessings, peace, plenty, prosperity, happiness; make all thy dearly purchased and precious heritage to be comforted by thy Spirit. Revive, refresh, enlarge, and sanctify thy church.

Feed them also. Be a shepherd to thy flock, let their bodily and spiritual wants be plentifully supplied. By thy word, and ordinances, direct, rule, sustain, and satisfy those who are the sheep of thy hand.

And lift them up for ever. Carry them in thine arms on earth, and then lift them into thy bosom in heaven. Elevate their minds and thoughts, spiritualize their affections, make them heavenly, Christlike, and full of God.

O Lord, answer this our petition, for Jesus' sake. Amen

Last Thursday, I got more praying done than I had the entire previous week — but it wasn’t because I spent an entire three-hour block in prayer. It wasn’t because I prayed once in the morning, once at noon, and once at night. It was simply because I prayed in the gaps.

Most often, Christians refer to “standing in the gap” as a reference to Ezekiel 22:30, where the Lord searched for a man among them to repair the wall and stand in the gap before Him. We think of intercessory prayer — rightly so — as the one who stands in that gap, crying out to the Lord on behalf of those on the other side. That is intercession.

But that’s not the gap I’m talking about.

As I was driving recently, I noticed how many stoplights I had to wait at. I watched other lanes get the green and go. Then another direction got the green and went. Meanwhile, I counted the seconds until my turn. When I finally got the green, crossed the road, and continued down the road, I began to think about all the gaps in my day.

There are gaps between coming and going. Gaps between doing one thing and doing another. And these gaps are opportunities for moments of prayer.

I began to think of all the transitions in a typical day: from one meeting to the next, from sending an email to answering the phone, from walking into a store to returning to the car from the checkout lane. These are gaps.

And during these gaps, rather than counting the seconds until it’s our turn to place an order at the sandwich counter, we can fill them with brief prayers. Our prayers don’t have to be eloquent. They don’t have to be long. But they can be frequent.

These little transitions throughout our day are opportunities to ask the Lord for favor, for grace, for wisdom, for mercy, for help, for joy, for peace. Before we pick up a ringing phone, we can let it ring one more time and ask the Lord for whatever might be needed in that conversation. Before we answer the doorbell, we can do the same. There are gaps everywhere when we look.

Too often, our minds are occupied with everything else. We fill them with whatever is on our social media feed. In the waiting room, we scroll. That waiting room gap might be ten, twenty, or thirty minutes. The gap between ordering at the speaker and pulling up to the drive-through window might be two or three minutes. These are perfect moments for prayer. These are God-given opportunities to talk to God.

And what can we pray in those moments? Everything. We can praise God for who He is. We can express gratitude for His goodness, mercy, and love. We can sing a hymn. We can recite a scripture. We can pray on someone else’s behalf:

Lord, please be with this woman in her doctor’s visit today.

Lord, please help my son at his job interview.

Lord, please be present in our council meeting this evening.

Lord, please bless the person taking my order.

Lord, please help our pastor minister to the young couple coming to him tomorrow for marriage counseling.

In fact, here’s a gap in this article! Stop a second and pray for some who comes to mind that is in need of the Lord’s help. Then share this with them or someone else.

I was very intentional about this last Thursday, and I want to be more intentional going forward. Let’s begin to ask the Lord in the morning, during our regular time of prayer, to prompt us throughout the day — to look to Him, to ask for help, to give Him praise, to express our thanks, to intercede for someone else.

Every gap we have is an opportunity to pray in the gaps — to stand in that place Ezekiel describes and cry out, “Father, please — whatever is needed.”

Don’t let these gaps go wasted, preoccupied with drifting, daydreaming, or scrolling. Fill our minds instead with the Word of God and prayers to God. In this way, we remain consistently connected to our Savior and to His Spirit — because we see those gaps not as delays, but as opportunities.

Oh, we got stopped by the train again. Fine — if we need to text someone that we’ll be late, do that. But for the rest of those red blinking lights, while the bell rings and the cars wait — spend it in prayer. Don’t waste it. Because it is an opportunity to pray in the gaps.

Are you a person who prays, or wants to? Join the prayer group!

In the archived article A Wise Man Prays, we looked at King Solomon’s prayer of dedication of the Temple he had constructed. It takes about seven minutes to simply read the prayer, and we I hope you take some time to read through it right now.

Did you note how vast, how comprehending, how intricate, how detailed it is? Or how solemn, how contrite, and how full of faith it also is?

It really is an awesome prayer, so much it is even recorded again for us, in 2 Chronicles 6, starting in verse 12. Says Spurgeon in regards to this prayer, “It is worthy of remark concerning this prayer that it is as full and comprehensive as if it were meant to be the summary of all future prayers offered in the temple.”

As E.M. Bounds notes, in it are references to sins, calamities, sickness, exile, famine, war, pestilence, mildew, drought, insects, enemies, and more—”one and all are in this prayer, and all are for prayer.”

Key Highlights

• The “Great Secret” of prayer: Taking God’s promises to heart and boldly asking Him to fulfill them.

• Why “pure praying” is the remedy for all ills, diseases, and desperate situations.

• A breakdown of Solomon’s specific petitions: From national defeat to the prayers of foreigners.

• God’s powerful response: The promise to hear, forgive, and heal the land when His people humble themselves.

• Understanding that nothing is impossible for God when we pray from the heart.

Featured Quotes:

“Pure praying remedies all ills, cures all diseases, relieves all situations, however dire... God can relieve when no one else can.” — E.M. Bounds

“The possibilities of prayer are linked to the infinite rectitude and to the omnipotent power of God. There is nothing too hard for God to do.” — E.M. Bounds

Scripture Focus:

• 2 Chronicles 6:12 (Solomon’s Prayer)

• 2 Chronicles 7:12-16 (The Lord’s Answer)

How awesome would it be if we all learned to pray like this?! Help someone else by sharing this podcast, and help us also.

NOTE: I am moving and currently without my usual studio. This podcast recording is from a temporary setup and may sound different than you are used to.

Photo by N Kamalov on Unsplash

There is a battle raging inside every believer. and most of us are sleeping through it. The enemy is circling. Temptation is crouching at the door. And Jesus, of all people, is asking us to stay awake. One hour. Just one.

Is this you? Do you love God, go to church, read the Bible most days? Maybe lately, prayer feels optional. Life is busy you see, but comfort is close, and the urgency you once felt has quietly faded. You doesn’t realize it yet, but you’re drifting.

Then Jesus returned to the disciples and found them sleeping. “Were you not able to keep watch with Me for one hour?” He asked Peter. “Watch and pray so that you will not enter into temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”

Matthew 26:40-41

Notice how the disciples’ failure wasn’t dramatic at first, it was just drowsiness.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus asked His closest followers to do one simple thing: watch and pray with Him. Not for His sake, for the Son of God needed no one to intercede for Him—but for theirs. Yet they slept. And while they slept, writes Matthew Henry, “they lost the benefit of joining in Christ’s prayer.” They missed the preparation they desperately needed.

Let’s stop for a second to wake up a bit more: sit up straighter, yawn, blink a few times, shake off the drowsy—and then share this.

Thank you! Now, moving on

What followed was anything but small. When Jesus was arrested, the disciples ran. They denied Him, deserted Him, hid in fear. The temptation Jesus warned them about wasn’t greed or gossip, it was the temptation to fall away entirely. Their drowsiness in prayer became desertion in crisis.

Prayerlessness leaves us unguarded when it matters most.

We also see that watching and praying is an act of obedience and defense.

To “watch” is to be spiritually alert, attentive, and responsive. It is to stand guard over your own soul. Peter understood this firsthand: “Be sober-minded and alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Paul echoes it in Ephesians 6, urging believers to “pray in the Spirit at all times... stay alert with all perseverance.” These aren’t suggestions for the spiritually elite. They are the standard equipment of every soldier in Christ.

Prayer keeps our spirit awake. It keeps our hearts soft toward Jesus and dependent on Him. Without it, as Alexander MacLaren soberly observed, the conflict between our flesh and our spirit will not remain a standoff—it will resolve. One nature will win. And without prayer, it will be the flesh, by “unquestioned tyranny.”

Vigilance (watching and praying) is not an option, it’s obedience.

Here we learn from Jesus, for He showed us how to prepare for the hardest battles, by praying through them.

Before His crucifixion, Jesus prayed in the Garden not once, but fervently three times, surrendering His will to the Father each time. He modeled for every believer what it looks like to face trial through trust. And the Psalmist gives us words to carry into our own: “Order my steps in Your word; let no sin rule over me” (Psalm 119:133). This is the posture of watchfulness: dependent, submitted, alert.

We are no different than those disciples. We live compromised lives, hide our faith, drift from our first love, or wander into churches where truth has been quietly traded away. But the remedy is the same as it was in the Garden: watch and pray. Because while we are weak, He is strong, and prayer keeps us near Him.

Watching and praying together aren’t rituals, they’re our readiness.

Maybe you’ve been like that—you love God, but prayer has become background noise, and you sense, somewhere deep, that you’ve been sleeping. If so, take heart: the same Jesus who asked His disciples to watch with Him is asking you. He is still near, still interceding, still waiting to meet you in that hour of prayer.

“Watch with Me,” He says. “Just watch with Me.”

What do you do to keep watch and stay alert? Any helps for the rest of us?

Do you pray? Want to pray more? Join this little prayer group for more and help us help others learn to pray more

When we come ask heavenly Father in Jesus name, there is a promise He will give it.

The promise is John 16:23—And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. When we ask the Father in the name of His Son, it will be given. Whatever we need has been promised, whenever we ask.

Not only is the promise that He will give it, but also the promise we will receive it. In v. 24, Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive… The Father gives, we receive. And what is the result? …that your joy may be full.

In his commentary, Matthew Henry says “The blessed effect of the prayer of faith; it helps to fill up the joy of faith. Would we have our joy full, as full as it is capable of being in this world, we must be much in prayer. When we are told to rejoice evermore, it follows immediately, Pray without ceasing. See how high we are to aim in prayer-not only at peace, but joy, a fullness of joy.”

Do we have this holy joy that is this promise? Do we? Is our joy full when we ask only for temporal things and get them?

Before we go on, would you subscribe? It really helps this little publication grow to encourage more people of God pray from the Word of God for other people of God.

If we mostly pray for earthy comforts or favors here, we may indeed receive these, or we may not. But if we ask the Lord for spiritual blessings (for promises in His Word) then He is certain to give them to us. And we would be filled to the measure with the fullness of God: our joy may be filled!

Joy is gladness and delight, celebration and exulting; joy is opposite sorrow; joy comes in the morning; joy is resurrection day; joy will be in heaven over one sinner who repents; joy is the second listed fruit of the Spirit; joy is fellowship with the Father and the Son; and the joy of the Lord is our strength.

Says Spurgeon: “When you do get to the mercy seat, do not begin asking for littles, and go home with trifles, but ask for as big things as ever your soul can desire, and as big things as the promises of God cover…Ask great things for yourselves, brethren. Ask to know all the truth of God, ask to know the fullness of God, ask to know the riches of His grace, ask to know “the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge,” and when you have asked for all that, ask for holiness, and do not ask for anything less than perfect holiness. Continue to open thy mouth wide, that every grace may be given to you…You may also ask for joy, and oh, what an ocean of bliss is before you in the joy of the Lord!”

Do we have this joy, down in our heart?

Listen to what Jesus had said to them earlier: “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” (John 15:11).

His joy will be our joy. His joy would remain in us. His joy will fill us.

So today, may we—like the disciples of old, be filled with joy, and with the Holy Spirit (Acts 13:52). Ask and receive, that our joy in the Lord may be full!

Now please do two things: 1, go pray for this fullness of joy and 2, share this joy and article with one other person in Christ

For Further Reading

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