Open My Eyes, Lord

MELVIN NEWLAND, MINISTER RIDGE CHAPEL, KANSAS, OK

TEXT: Colossians 4:2-6; 2 Kings 6:8-23

Colossians 4:2-6 “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful & thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.

“Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”

I BEING WATCHFUL

Watching & praying are often associated in the Bible. Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, asked his Disciples to watch & pray with him as he prayed in the Garden at Gethsemane. I think Jesus was asking them more than simply to stay awake & pray.

But they fell asleep. Jesus told them “pray that you enter not into temptation.” I think this was more than just an encouragement to pray. I think Jesus wanted them to experience the results of prayer.

Prayer changes your perspective. It can change the way you look at yourself & the world around you. I can’t help but wonder what might have happened if the Disciples had stayed awake with Jesus & prayed that night.

ILL. And that reminds me of one of the most amazing events of God’s intervention in warfare in the Old Testament. It’s found in the 6th chapter of 2 Kings.

The Kingdom of Aram, roughly the area we call Syria today, was at war with the Kingdom of Israel. But every time the King of Aram sent his army against Israel, probing to find a weak spot for invading Israel, he found the army of Israel already there in force, dug in & ready to fight.

It happened so often that he came to the conclusion that there must be a traitor among his army officers.

But his officers protested, & one of them said that the God of Israel must be telling the Prophet Elisha their plans & Elisha was telling the King of Israel. So the King of Aram said, “Get Elisha! Capture him & bring him to me!”

So the King of Aram sent a large force that invaded Israel by night & surrounded the city in which Elisha lived. Then early in the morning when the servant of Elisha awoke & saw the enemy army, he was terrified.

So Elisha prayed for his servant “Lord, open his eyes so he can see.” The servant looked & saw horses & chariots of fire in the sky surrounding them all.

Well, I could go on & tell you what happened next & how the raids against Israel stopped without any bloodshed at all. But if you really want to know, as I said, it is found in 2 Kings 6:8-23.

My point is that our prayer should be that the Lord give us eyes to see things, not necessarily the way the servant saw them, but as God sees them - to grant us His perspective. Prayer wakes us up to the spiritual realities around & within us. This is its first purpose.

II BEING THANKFUL

Another purpose for prayer is that we become truly thankful.

ILL. A preacher is invited to a family’s home for Sunday Dinner. Almost before everyone is seated, the children start grabbing & eating. The embarrassed mother gives them a quick reprimand, & the children stare back at her in confusion. The preacher is then asked to pray. And he does.

The mother explains, “We don’t always pray before meals.” To the minister this is fairly obvious. The mother adds, “We just take it for granted that God knows how thankful we are!”

“God knows how thankful we are!” That was her excuse at the dinner table. But the trouble with that attitude is that it is not confined to the dinner table.

Then the question arises, “Why pray at all if God knows all that we need?” Some may even quote Jesus when He said that God knows all that we need before we even ask Him.

So why should we pray? Well, one reason is that when we pray, we pray to communicate with our Lord. Prayer is an opportunity to share the most deeply felt needs of our lives, & express to God the gratitude, praise, & joy we feel, & for His precious gift of salvation.

Yet, remembering to pray is not my biggest problem. I don’t know about you, but I confess that I am more likely to burden God with my requests, & focusing on the things that are not right that concern us, more than focusing on thanking Him for the things that are good.