Not a sermon, but what I put together for a service.

Acts 1:14 They all joined together constantly in prayer...

At the close of his 1st letter to the Thessalonians, Chapter 5 Paul implores them:
16 Be joyful always.
17 Pray continually,
18 Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Paul in his letter to the Ephesians likens living life as a follower of Christ as 'Putting on the armour of God'.
Towards the end of his letter he says
Ephesians 6:17-18
Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, and pray in the spirit on all occassions with all kinds of prayers and requests....

Was it Moses who lay on his belly and prayed for 40 days and 40 nights - and then God changed his mind.

Do we pray continually.?
Do we pray giving thanks in all circumstances?
Do we pray in the spirit with all kinds of prayers and requests?...
When we feel strongly, do we pray long and hard and long and hard.

I was cycling accoss the common by the river on Monday - it was a lovely day, I think I was going a bit too slowly, and changing gears at a low speed. My chain came off and jammed quite solidly between the cogs.

It took a lot of effort to loosen and release the chain,by which time my hands were black with oil!

Fortunately I had plenty of time, so when I arrived at church I was able to spend time washing my hands before meeting the minister.

Normally when my hands get that oily it is several days with repeated cleaning before the stain goes away.

I pondered this as I washed and thought, "If I wash my hands lots of times now the stain should dissappear straight away."

I washed my hands for several minutes,
soaping, rubbing, rinsing, soaping, rubbing, rinsing...
after about 5 minutes the water began to run hot - (in 7 years at that church I had not realized the hot tap would actually produce hot water; talking to the minister later, neither did he).

The hot water made the soapy cleaning more effective and finally I had clean hands, not pristeanly clean, still a dull tinge but what an amazing difference.

Do we pray constantly? ... Acts 1:14
Do we pray giving thanks in all circumstances? ... 1 Thess 5:17-18
Do we pray in the spirit with all kinds of prayers and requests?... Eph 6:17-18
Do we pray persistently, long and hard, allowing the water to run hot?