The Model Prayer of Paul The Apostle
Pastor Paddick Van Zyl
05-31-2018
Sermon Outline
Introduction:
The importance of prayer can be illustrated in the following story as told by DL Moody, a man greatly used of God:
The Praying Cripple.
‘I once knew a little cripple who lay upon her death-bed. She had given herself to God, and was distressed only because she could not labor for Him actively among the lost. Her clergyman visited her, and hearing her complaint, told her that there from her sick-bed she could offer prayers for those whom she wished to see turning to God. He advised her to write the names down, and then to pray earnestly; and then he went away and thought of the subject no more. Soon a feeling of great religious interest sprang up in the village, and the churches were crowded nightly.
The little cripple heard of the progress of the revival, and inquired anxiously for the names of the saved. A few weeks later she died, and among a roll of papers that was found under her little pillow, was one bearing the names of fifty-six persons, every one of whom had in the revival been converted. By each name was a little cross, by which the poor crippled saint had checked off the names of the converts as they had been reported to her.’*
It matters not how we pray, but THAT we pray!
Scripture Reference
Colossians 1:9-18 NKJV
Preeminence of Christ
9 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
11 strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy;
12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.
13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,
14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.
17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
Theme
Praying the way Paul prayed
Sermon message
Paul prayed for the church, the body of Jesus Christ, a lot. He is our example, like Jesus was. His other prayers may be found in, Romans 1:8-10; Ephesians 1, Philippians 1:3-6; 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3; 2 Timothy 1:16-18. What would happen if we truly prayed like Paul did, like Daniel did, like Jesus did?
In Colossians 1, our text for today, we find that Paul focuses on 6 elements in his prayer for the Colossian church:
• Pray frequently (unceasing prayer), routinely, regularly, constantly, Paul prayed consistently
• Pray for understanding (for God’s revealed will) and wisdom
• Pray for fruit (spiritual formation), growth
• Pray that the believers will know and understand and experience the sum total of God’s love
• Pray for power and strength
• Giving thanks for God’s awesome love and power and our salvation and redemption
Prayer is not about the amount of hours spent but about the content we pray (Matthew 23:14) and the discipline that we put into our prayer life.
We ought to pray for specific things (not stuff) but specific needs within the body of Christ, our fellow believers, our spiritual leaders, our country and government, our needs.
We need understanding and wisdom from God to live and fulfil God’s will for our lives. We discover what it is that God want us to do specifically and personally, by prayer.
In the words of Randal J. Brewer: “Your calling and assignment is not decided by you, it is discovered by you. Everything God creates is given a calling, purpose, and destiny and you need to quickly find out where you fit in. Don’t bounce around and do nothing for the next twenty years.” **
We need to pray for the spiritual fruit, the spiritual growth of the body of Christ, ourselves. (Matthew 7:16; Galatians 5:22; Ephesians 5:9). A healthy tree bears good and edible fruit, a tree that is not healthy, does not bear proper edible fruit. We do not all have the same kind of fruit or the same amount of fruit but we are all supposed to bear fruit as Christians (Matthew 7:18; Matthew 13:23; John 15:2). Paul prayed for believers to go from good to great!
We need to pray for more of Christ, to really and truly know Christ, intimate fellowship, complete and utter dependence upon the Father. To know how deeply we are loved by the Father and to share this love with others.
Pray for power to be conformed to the will of God, to be more Christ like. Power and patience to endure our walk of faith. To persevere in trials, to live blameless. To be faithful to the call of God on our lives. The run the race to the end. This takes power – power that only God can provide us.
We ought to give thanks daily, hourly for our amazing salvation. We have been, through the blood of Christ, made fellow heirs with Christ (Romans 8:16-18), we have been saved from eternal separation from our Father, we have been saved from sin, we have been redeemed to spend eternity with Jesus, experiencing the grace and love and presence of God continually, face to face. We should be jumping and shouting and running around like children who just received the biggest gift ever! We are saved and we have an awesome future awaiting us in heaven.
What are some of the other prayers that Paul prayer for believers? When we read the book of Romans and continue through to the book of second Timothy, we find the following 12 prayers*** that Paul prayed:
1“God, I thank you for others. I ask that You would please fill them, and myself, with knowledge of Your will, with wisdom and understanding. Even more, may I pursue others with love, through prayer, while building unity. “
2. “May our hearts be in continual prayer. May You open doors to our messages. May we proclaim Jesus. May we refresh others. May the mysteries of Lord Jesus Christ be open as we fearlessly convey the gospel.”
3. “May my life, and the lives of those around me, be filled to the measure of the fullness of God (through love, hope, power, strength, faith, grace and mercy). Through this, may Your name be glorified.”
8. “God, may You heal us. If we do not see healing, please speak Your truth into our heart. May we know that all You give is more than enough and that, in us, You are still working.”
4. “May the power of Jesus Christ continually fill with joy, grace, peace and hope, through the Holy Spirit. Encourage our hearts, Lord God, so we may we be pleasing to You.”
5. “God, may others be saved. May they understand the fullness of Your love.
6. “God, praise be to Your name for all your goodness. All goodness is You. We praise You for who You are, what You do and how You’ve blessed us with a new standing in Christ Jesus.”
7. “We offer all thanks to You, God. You do all things, You bring life and You deliver hope. Thank You for enriching us, keeping us and equipping us with spiritual blessings. We lack nothing. We praise You.”
9. Father, may holiness and love – thrive. Sanctify us more and more.”
10. “God, may grace abound in me, to me and through me.”
11. “May You protect me and those I love. Strengthen us too.”
12. “God, again, we cry, thank You, Father. Thank you for blessing us with the ability to serve You.“
Closing
Paul certainly knew how to pray, because he received a revelation of how to pray and he learned how to pray through all the trials he faced. May the prayers that Paul prayed for his fellow believers, become our prayers too. May we touch the heart of God and have not only our own lives transformed but also the body of Christ, with the mighty, miracle working power of the Holy Spirit, working in us and through us. Amen
End Notes:
New King James Version (NKJV) Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
*Moody, DL: DL Moody’s Anecdotes & Illustrations – Rhodes & McClure Publishing Co.
1899 https://www.sermoncentral.com/scdownloads/moodys-anecdotes-illustrations.pdf p.169
**Brewer, Randall, J. Born To Love, Called To Serve – Loving Thy Neighbour -p.21 http://www.supernaturalkingdomministries.org/uploads/LovingThyNeighbor.pdf
***Kelly Balarie, 12 Power-Prayers: Sourced from all Paul’s Prayers November 22, 2016, http://purposefulfaith.com/all-pauls-prayers/
