.PRAYERPrayer is one of the most talked about subjects among Christians and one of the things we do the least. Now I know we pray in the church Bible Study; worship service; Sunday School, before meals, etc... But prayer is not an integral part of our daily lives. If we are going to live for Christ -- then we must learn to live for Him through our prayer lives.
Paul teaches us how in Colossians 1:9-14 (NIV)
PRAYER MUST BE CONSTANT
Paul was constantly in prayer for the churches. In our text we read (v.9)
"since the day we heard about you we have not stopped praying for you..."
To the Roman church (1:8) "I thank my God through Jesus Christ for
all of you"
To the church at Corinth (1:4) "I always thank God for you"
To the church at Ephesus (1:16) "I have not stopped giving thanks for
you, remembering you in my prayers"
To the Philippians Paul wrote (1:3) "I thank my God every time I remember
you"
In his 1st letter to the Thessalonians Paul said (1:2) "We always thank
God for all of you"
And in his 2nd letter to Thessalonica (1:3) "We ought always to thank
God for you, brothers..."
Paul was also constantly in prayer for individual Christians
Paul's prayer for Timothy had this to say (2 Tim. 1:3) "... night & day I constantly remember you in my prayers." To Philemon he wrote (v.4) "I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers" Obviously, Paul's prayer life was an important part of his walk with Jesus Christ.
If we are concerned for the Kingdom of Christ, we will be constantly in prayer.
C.H. Spurgeon once said:
"Prayer pulls the rope down below and the great bell rings above in
the ears of God. Some scarcely stir the bell, for they pray so languidly;
others give only an occasional jerk at the rope. But he who communicates
with heaven is the man who grasps the rope boldly and pulls continuously
with all his might."
1 Thess. 5:17 says: "pray continually". What does it mean to be in prayer continually? It means that prayer is an integral part of my life. Not something I do because I am at church. It is not something I do occasionally because I think God requires it. It is what I do because it is a vital part of me. And after a time, prayer becomes what I am. My very life becomes filled with prayer. If we are to live for Christ through prayer -- Our prayers must be constant.
WE MUST PRAY FOR EACH OTHER
In v.9 Paul states the object of prayer. "Since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you" Now we pray for many things: different situations, we pray for ourselves, for our families, for a thousand other items
This is great. As Christians, should be praying for each other. What would happen if we made a concentrated effort to pray for each other in this church? Would lives be changed? YES! Would people be encouraged? YES! Would God's blessing be poured out upon us? YES! These things and more would take place.
Howard Hendricks (Professor at Dallas Seminary) shared the following story: Years ago in a church in Dallas we were having trouble finding a teacher for a junior high boys class. The list of prospects had only one name -- and when they told me who it was I said, "You've got to be kidding." But I couldn't have been more wrong about that young man. He took the class and revolutionized it. I was so impressed I invited him to my home for lunch and asked him the secret of his success. He pulled out a little black book. On each page he had a small picture of one of the boys, and under the boy's name were comments like "having trouble in arithmetic," or "comes to church against parents' wishes," or "would like to be a missionary some day, but doesn't think he has what it takes." "I pray over those pages every day," he said, "and I can hardly wait to come to church each Sunday to see what God has been doing in their lives."
Do you want a practical application for the principle of praying for others in the church? Get out a list of those in your Sunday School class; or other group to which you belong at church
Begin praying for each individual on that list. Every week you'll begin to see changes God is making in their lives. What would happen If we all begin that kind of prayer? Paul teaches us to pray constantly; to pray for each other;
PRAY FOR RESULTS
We are not praying merely to go through the motions. We must pray because we expect results. We do not demand from God. We simply request that God act in our lives. What results do expect as we ask from God? If you don't expect results, DON'T PRAY!
If nothing else, pray to know the will of God. We can not force God to
listen to us. We are not trying to persuade God to do what we want. We need
to find out what He wants us to do.
William Barclay said that we often pray: "Thy will be changed"
when we ought to be saying "Thy will be done". The first object
of prayer is not so much to speak to God as it is to listen to Him.
We also pray that God might change our human situation. Paul prayed that the Colossians would have "spiritual wisdom & understanding." "Spiritual wisdom" is needed to understand the truths of God. "Understanding" is knowing how to apply principles to life. It is very possible to be a Bible scholar and make a complete wreck of your life. We need to know not just what Christianity means. We need to know how it can change our daily lives. Pray for results as we live our lives in a godly manner. Paul prays that his friends conduct themselves in a way that pleases God.
Prayer and action go hand in hand. Don't pray to escape life. Pray that you will be better able to meet it. Now to do all this we need power. Paul prays that the Colossians may be strengthened with the power of God. The great problem in life is not knowing what to do, but actually doing it. Most of us are aware of what ought to be done. The problem is putting that knowledge into action.
What we need is power. We receive that power through prayer. Prayer gives us the knowledge of His will. He also gives us the power to see it through in our lives.
OUR PRAY SHOULD BE FILLED WITH PRAISE
What should we praise God for? God has rescued us from darkness. God has brought us into His Kingdom. We have been transferred from darkness to light. Without God men grope and stumble in darkness. They don't know what to do. They do not know where they are going. Their lives are lived in shadows of doubt & ignorance.
God has given us a light by which to live. Once we have accepted Christ as Lord we can say "I was blind but now I see".
Our prayers are filled with praise because we have been saved from slavery to sin. We have "redemption" through Jesus Christ. "Redemption" is used for the emancipation of a slave. It is the buying back of something that was in the possession of someone else.
Without God men are slaves to their fears, they are slaves to their sins, they are slaves to their own helplessness. In Jesus Christ we have freedom. We have been freed from the bondage of sin & death. The price of redemption has been paid -- the cost was a murdered God hanging on a cross. That was the price of our redemption. The price Jesus willingly paid.
We have been transferred from condemnation to forgiveness. Man deserves the condemnation of God. Yet through the work of Christ we find love and forgiveness. Through Christ we are no longer a condemned criminal awaiting judgment. We are a lost son on the way home. We have been transferred from the power of Satan to the power of God. Through Jesus Christ we have been liberated from the grip of Satan.
We have become a citizen of the Kingdom of God. God transfers men from the realm of sin & darkness into the realm of holiness & light. We praise God the Father, and exalt the name of Jesus Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit.
I'd like to close with 3 quotations from 3 great men of God:
Samuel Chadwick: "The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but he trembles when we pray."
Charles Spurgeon: "I would rather teach one man to pray than 10 men to preach."
Andrew Murray:"The man who mobilizes the Christian church to pray will make the greatest contribution to world evangelization in history."
Do you believe those words? More importantly, do you believe God? Let's
begin to do as He has asked -- let us begin to pray.