Gospel Centered Prayer Series

Technicolor Joy

A Study in Philippians 1:9-11

Pastor Jefferson M. Williams

Chenoa Baptist Church

5-07-2023

I Pray for You

I love country music. Not the twangy old country but new country. Friday night, I went and saw Thomas Rhett and Cole Swindell at the Peoria Civic Center. Both of these artists love Jesus and aren’t afraid to talk about their faith.

I came across a wonderful country song that is about the effect of a preacher’s words about prayer.

“I haven't been to church / Since I don't remember when

Things were going great / 'til they fell apart again

So I listened to the preacher as he told me what to do

He said you can't go hatin' others / Who have done wrong to you

Sometimes we get angry, but we must not condemn

Let the good Lord do his job, you just pray for them

I pray your brakes go out runnin' down a hill

I pray a flower pot falls from a window sill

And knocks you in the head like I'd like to

I pray your birthday comes and nobody calls

I pray you're flyin' high when your engine stalls

I pray all your dreams never come true

Just know wherever you are, honey, I pray for you.”

This is NOT how we should pray for people!!

In many of Paul’s letters, he prays for the Christians that he is writing to. He often tells them what he is praying for them and asks for prayer for himself.

He loves these Philippians and just as he thanked God for them with joy he prayed for them intentionally and passionately.

God, Can You Hear Me?

Prayer is part of every major religion. Muslims pray toward Mecca. Jewish people pray at the Wailing Wall. For Buddhists, prayer is the act of emptying the mind.

But just like the disciples, many of us still feel inadequate in the area of prayer.

Richard Halverson lists four reasons that we shy away from prayer:

1. Unbelief – we simply doubt that God is listening or that He cares

2. Indifference – if God already knows, then why pray?

3. Priorities – we are too caught up in this world.

4. It’s difficult – prayer is hard work and takes discipline. Maxine’s mom and stepdad would pray all night. I have trouble praying for 20 mins!

Dr. Adrian Rogers wrote this:

“The greatest problem we face is not unanswered prayer but unoffered prayer. Tragically, many of our prayers are so vague that if God were to answer them, we wouldn’t even know it.”

We don’t pray in order to inform God of any new information. We pray as children to a Father. Prayer keeps our hearts in touch with God. Prayer changes us and aligns us with His will. And God has conditioned our receiving things from Him through prayer.

Prayer is the expression of our total dependence on God for everything.

We can trust that God hears us (Psalm 16). We can rely on the Holy Spirit to help us pray when we are at a loss for words (Romans 8:26).

The writer of Hebrews encourages us to:

“…approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16)

Let me make one caveat. If you are not a Christian, then you can have no confidence that God hears your prayers. Because our sins separate us from God, in our unredeemed state, we have no right to approach Him. But at the cross, our sins were paid for and the righteousness of Christ was applied to our account. He not only opened the door to the Throne room for you but He is praying for you, right now!

?“He [Jesus] is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” (Hebrews 7:25)

Robert Murray McCheyne wrote:

“If I could hear Jesus praying in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. Yet distance makes no distance. He is praying for me.”

Last week, we looked at Gospel driven fellowship.

I said that we are going to fight for joy despite our circumstances.

We will find our joy again.

Face the future with joy.

Turn with me to Philippians 1:9-11.

Prayer.

Today, lets’ study Paul’s Gospel-centered prayer.

A Gospel-Centered Prayer

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. (Phil 1:9-11)

They know that Paul prays for them. But he is going to tell them exactly what he prays for them.