COLOSSIANS 4:2-18 ’Devote yourselves to prayer’
PRAYING WITHOUT A SENSE OF FAILURE
INTRO
One of the great discoveries we make as Christians, particularly when we begin to read the early chapters of Genesis, is that we were created by God, NOT to go it alone -- not to live a life disconnected from God.
* We were created by God and for God
* We were created to relate to God -- to worship and love God;
* and to be loved by God and take pleasure in God.
We were also created to be dependent on God.
POINT
It is not demeaning in any sense to be dependent on God. It is not a sign of weakness, but one of love, trust and relationship.
POINT
The first temptation was a temptation to ’go it alone’ -- ’you shall be as gods’.
And the consequence of original sin was to hide from God when he came to walk with them and talk with them because they felt ashamed. People have been condemned to go it alone ever since and even consider it to be the norm.
POINT
But when we return to God through Christ -- when we are born of the Spirit of God as believers -- then our relationship to God is restored, and we can come with confidence into the presence of God and not be ashamed. We begin to enjoy our relationship with God all over again.
POINT
Our conditioning to seek to be independent of God and go it alone is so ingrained that even as Christians we may find it difficult to get used to the idea that we were created to be dependent on God.
* We are dependent on God for food and water
* We are dependent on God for our very breath
* And we are certainly dependent on God for our salvation
* But we also depend on God for power to live the Christian life as God intends as we relate to God as our loving heavenly Father.
APPLIC
This is why prayer should come so naturally to us in the Christian life.
In prayer we commune with our heavenly Father.
POINT
Some have discovered this such as the hymn writer James Montgomery who wrote:
Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire,
unuttered or expressed;
the motion of a hidden fire
that trembles in the breast.
Prayer is the Christian’s vital breath,
the Christian’s native air,
On the cover of Richard Foster’s book on the subject of prayer are the words:
’ Prayer -- Finding the heart’s true home’
Prayer, for the Christian, should be as natural as breathing.
QUESTION
* So why is it that prayer for most of us feels so difficult?
* Why is it that we feel such a failure when it comes to prayer?
POINT
When we read the Gospels we see just how naturally prayer was a part of the life of Jesus. He expressed dependency upon the Father. He also taught the disciples to pray in the words of the Lord’s prayer.
POINT
It distresses me when I consider just how much and how often we feel as though we failures at prayer -- As though prayer is some kind of performance that even God judges -- something we feel we never get right. And we lack confidence so much in our ability to pray that we are sometimes tempted to give up altogether. This need not be!
THE TITLE of my sermon is: ’Praying without a sense of failure’.
READING COLOSSIANS 4:2-18
Key text: ’Devote yourselves to prayer’
THESIS: The secret of being devoted to prayer is to be devoted first to God.
When we are first devoted to God then prayer can be as natural as breathing and conversation.
POINT
The first thing to consider if we are to be free from feeling a sense of failure in prayer is that there is no one-size-fits-all way of praying.
We have different personality types and not every method of praying will work well for us.
(Harry and May Gray are going to be unpacking this in detail at one of our mid-week meetings on prayer at some time in the future)
But in brief for now, our ways of being are different. Some of us are more intuitive than others who are thinkers. Some of us are more perceptive whilst others weigh things in their thoughts.
So it should not surprise us that when it comes to prayer some of us are more reflective and others more applied.
POINT
I am sure that Martha, the sister of Lazarus, had a prayer life as well as Mary. But they were very different as sisters. Martha was practical and applied. Mary was intuitive and reflective. And just as Martha and Mary could learn something from each other, we too can learn from each other.
ILLUSTR
When it comes to prayer I often think of David and Goliath and how David overcame the giant. It was not in the conventional way that others tried to force upon him -- with protective armour and a sword. When he tried using it he felt imprisoned by it. Instead he did what he knew best. He used a sling, five smooth stones and followed his conviction in faith that those who scorned the God of Israel could not prosper.
APPLIC
When we were instructed by others to do spiritual warfare in prayer, each one of them had a method or a system we were supposed to follow:
Some gave us acrostics ACTS (adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication). Others advocated we use lists of names and places; others still recommended prayer books, liturgies and neo-Celtic patterns. We became confused as we tried these methods of prayer, and we will certainly have felt ourselves failing at prayer because not every one of these methods of praying suits our own personality type.
THE LORD’S PRAYER
In response to the request of the disciples to Jesus, Lord, teach us to pray, what did Jesus give them.
* Did Jesus give them a liturgy?
* Or something to meditate on?
* Or something to think their way through?
* Or something to apply?
The Lord’s teaching allowed for all of these,
so that each with their own personality type could pray in meaningful ways that worked for them.
DIFFERENT BIBLE CHARACTERS
The characters of the Bible prayed in different ways according to their personality. There was no right or wrong way to do it. It was just different:
* From the ’arrow’ prayers of Nehemiah
* through the events of the day to the prayer and fasting of Queen Esther,
* or the practical, applied prayers of the Apostle Paul
* or the visionary writings of John in the Book of Revelation --
they were all different but of equal worth -- and the same is true of the way we pray. What matters is that we be devoted to our way of praying, not that of someone else whose personality is different.
QUESTION
Do you want to avoid feeling a failure at prayer?
Then be devoted first to the Lord, and simply relate to God in the way that best suits your personality.
POINT
I believe that the key to effective praying is to be first and foremost devoted to the Lord. Devotion to prayer will naturally follow.
WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM PAUL’S INSTRUCTIONS ON PRAYER TO THE CHURCH AT COLLOSAE?
POINT
We can learn as much about Paul as we do about prayer.
Paul was very applied in his praying.
In terms of WHAT to pray for:
He asks the Christians at Colossae to pray:
* Pray for an open door
* Pray for clarity in proclaiming the message
POINT
Paul was a missionary, and it is understandable that the spreading of the Gospel was right at the top of his prayer agenda.
But Paul is less specific when it comes to HOW to pray for these things:
He instructs the believers to:
Be DEVOTED, be WATCHFUL and be THANKFUL.
BE DEVOTED TO PRAYER
Being devoted to prayer means being first devoted to God.
Communing with God throughout the day in a way that fits our personality.
POINT
When we are devoted to someone we think about them all the time. Young love is like that. When a new romance begins, parents, watch the phone bill go up!
And when we are in love with the Lord we are constantly at prayer -- wanting the very best for God both in and through our own lives.
COMMUNICATION
These days communication is so much easier : Dial-up, broadband, MSN email, text and twitter are some of the ways people communicate today.
APPLIC
Devotion to prayer is like that. It is regular and consistent. It springs from being devoted to the Lord.
BE WATCHFUL
We can be watchful in prayer in different ways according to our personality type.
Some read newspapers and have lists for prayer
Some read situations and sense in God’s presence how to pray
Some read people and are led by the Holy Spirit in prayer for them.
Richard Foster points out that prayer is not to be confined to a ’sacred’ 10 minutes in the morning and left out for the rest of the day. We are to be watchful throughout the day for the people, the moments and the situations for which God would have us pray -- whether for ourselves or for others.
BE THANKFUL
I always think of the power of thanksgiving in prayer as not just a courtesy but an expression of faith and expectation.
We can be thankful BEFORE we receive the answer as well as after.
Being thankful BEFORE assists our faith
Being thankful AFTER assists us in watching.
CONCL
In closing I would like to quote Archbishop Richard Tench:
’Prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance; it is laying hold of God’s willingness’
Focus then on being devoted first to the Lord and devotion to prayer will follow.
