WRESTLING IN PRAYER
Col. 4:12
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR - Crazy Kids Prayers
1. One boy was asked to pray for the dinner meal, and after closing his eyes he began: “I pledge allegiance to the flag…”
2. Brett Lutz tells that when he was growing up, his church beside train tracks. The same kid volunteered to pray every week and always concluded, "and please bless the train that it won't jump its tracks and destroy the church and kill us all."
3. Ginger Mia tells that when her sister was about to pray over dinner the phone rang. Her sister (about 13 y/o) jumped up, grabbed the phone and answered, "Dear Heavenly Father, we’re grateful for the food we’re about to receive..."
4. I heard about one kid who thought you could say one prayer over all your groceries after shopping, and that way you wouldn't have to worry about meal time prayers!
B. TEXT
“Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured” Col. 4:12.
C. TOPIC: Today’s subject, “Wrestling in Prayer.”
I. INTERCESSORY PRAYER IS A STRUGGLE
A. THE MEANING OF “WRESTLING”
1. We always think of prayer as easy, but Paul described it as “wrestling” in Colossians 4:12 with the Greek word “agonize” (agonidzomai). This word has been translated into English as “agony” which means “extreme physical or mental suffering.” Is that what you think of when you think of prayer?
2. There’s more than one kind of prayer. There’s relational prayer. There’s praise prayer. There’s thanksgiving prayer, etc. But there’s also a deeper, more powerful level of prayer that few enter into – entering into the office of intercession for the lives of people, the well-being of Christ’s church, and the destiny of nations! That’s what Paul is referring to here!
3. This same Greek word is translated in Luke 13:24 as “STRIVE to enter at the narrow gate.” Paul used it to describe an Olympic contestant “STRIVING” to win, 1 Cor. 9:25.
4. It’s also translated as “FIGHT” in John 18:36, and as “FIGHT the good fight of faith” in 1 Tim. 6:12 and “I have fought a good FIGHT” in 2 Tim. 4:7.
5. All these descriptions, when applied to Epaphras, indicate that he was in a desperate struggle and contending as if in the Olympic games – in prayer!
6. Prayer is not just a pleasant, calming meditation. Paul described Epaphras as an alert wrestler who was trying to pin his opponent to the mat to gain the victory. Who was his opponent? Why was it a struggle?
B. WE’RE NOT WRESTLING AGAINST GOD
1. One thing is clear: Epaphras wasn’t struggling against God. It’s God’s will to do all that is good for us. God “works all things together for good to them that love God,” Rom. 8:28. His Word says, “No good thing will He withhold from him who walks uprightly” Ps. 84:11.
2. So prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance, but laying hold of God’s willingness.
C. APPEALING TO THE HIGHEST PERSON
1. While Richard Nixon was President of the USA, a man named David Urey’s wife was critically injured in a car accident. She needed to be moved by helicopter to a hospital, but there were no life-flight helicopters in those days.
2. He tried multiple hospitals and finally tried to charter a helicopter, though it was very expensive. But he could not get anyone to help him.
3. At last, as he cried out to God, an idea struck him: “Call the White House!” It was a bold idea, but he had nothing to lose, so he called the White House and explained his emergency. His plea found a receptive ear and as a result President Nixon’s private helicopter was dispatched to carry Urey’s wife. [Paul Lee Tan, 7,700 Illus., #4601]
4. Many times we won’t find any help in this world, but thank God, there’s someone higher we can call on! And He WILL hear your prayer! God says, “Call on Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me” Ps. 50:15.
II. SO WHY DO WE STRUGGLE IN PRAYER?
A. WE STRUGGLE WITH OUR OWN CARNAL NATURES
1. Praying is a struggle because it goes against our worldly and lazy natures. Our natural eyes don’t see the need of prayer. We don’t perceive the spiritual realm and what’s at stake if we DON’T pray, nor do we see the tremendous rewards of eternity that can be gained if we DO pray.
2. We’re like the servant of Elisha who didn’t see the Angels & Chariots of Fire all around the mountain, and so we don’t know that heavenly forces are available to aid us.
3. We’re also like Jacob wrestling with God. The wrestling match was really about Jacob’s nature as a deceiver and conniver being altered. It wasn’t until Jacob’s thigh sinew (the strongest in the body) was wrenched out of place, that God said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel (“Prince with God”); for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed” Gen. 32:28, NKJV. God changed his name because He had first changed his fundamental nature.
4. Even our Lord Jesus struggled in the Garden of Gethsemane to surrender His will to the Father’s, and finally prayed, “Not My will, but Yours be done” Mk. 14:36.
B. WE STRUGGLE WITH OUR UNWORTHINESS
1. We often struggle in prayer because the devil, the accuser, reminds us of our sins. Yes, we’ve all sinned and aren’t worthy, like the tax collector, to lift our eyes to heaven.
2. But the wonderful truth of the Gospel is that we are washed whiter than snow by the blood of Jesus. We’re not only cleansed of the negative, but Jesus credited to us His positive righteousness when we trusted in His sacrifice on the cross to save us. It was “imputed” to us (Rom. 4:6-24).
3. So when we come to God in prayer, we come robed in the righteousness of Jesus His Son, of whom God said He was well-pleased. Have no fear – come boldly to the throne of Grace!
C. WE STRUGGLE AGAINST INVADING THOUGHTS
1. How many times have you tried to pray and were assaulted by every distraction conceivable? The phone rings, you remember a pressing obligation, someone comes by, or some blasphemy occurs to your mind. And you get distracted and sidetracked.
2. Paul talked about wrestling with his thoughts and having to subdue them; “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” 2 Cor. 10:5.
3. If you have distracting thoughts, give them to the Lord. He understands. Then keep praying and don’t let the enemy stop you from praying!
D. WE STRUGGLE WITH DOUBTS
1. Often when we’re praying for someone – say for healing, or salvation, or for some miracle they need – we suddenly think of how impossible our prayer is of being answered. That’s when we need to remember the words of Jesus, “With God all things are possible!”
2. We may feel like the father of the possessed boy who struggled with doubt, “I believe; but help my unbelief!” Mk. 9:24. The wonderful thing is that Jesus accepted his small faith and granted his request. God will grant your request too when you do your best to seek & please Him.
E. WE STRUGGLE WITH SELFISHNESS
1. Our normal tendency is to just pray for ourselves. It’s hard to pray for others when we have our own needs. But the Bible is filled with examples of men and women who interceded for their nation and for God’s people to accomplish His will, forgetting their own problems.
2. Think what would have happened if they HADN’T prayed:
a. If Elijah hadn’t prayed 7X, it would never have rained.
b. If Abraham hadn’t prayed, Lot and his family would have perished in Sodom’s fires.
c. If Moses hadn’t prayed, God would have destroyed Israel.
d. If the early church hadn’t prayed, Peter would have been beheaded.
3. LIKEWISE, IF WE DON’T PRAY….our loved ones/friends will be lost….our country will become morally bankrupt….our children will face the judgments of calamity, war, and poverty.
F. WE STRUGGLE AGAINST FOCES OF DARKNESS
1. In Eph. 6:12 Paul, the champion of prayer” says, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
2. There are real forces that pit themselves against us, resisting our efforts to seek, listen, and obey God. You must know who your enemy is.
3. The Devil is trying to hinder you by all means:
a. To keep you out of church;
b. to keep you from reading your Bible.
c. Keep you from praying.
4. You must be “strong in the Lord, and in His mighty power!”
III. BOLSTERING OUR CONFIDENCE TO PRAY
A. GOD IS LOOKING FOR INTERCESSORS!
1. God is looking for people who care about lost souls and who will intercede for nations and people. “I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one” Ezek. 22:30.
2. This verse tells us that God desires to work among us, but He won’t violate our free wills. However, if another human asks God to step in, this frees God to act. So the key to God’s moving in our family or culture is that someone earnestly intercede for them, then God can act. Otherwise, God is hand-cuffed!
B. YOUR PRAYERS WILL CHANGE THE WORLD!
1. “All things happen by prayer and nothing without it.”
2. “God shapes the world by prayer. The more prayer there is in the world, the better the world will be, the mightier the forces against evil …” E.M. Bounds
3. "Our prayers lay the track down upon which God’s power can come. Like a mighty locomotive, his power is irresistible, but it cannot reach us without rails." Watchman Nee
4. “Intercession” in Isa. 53:12 & 59:16 means to “impinge” which means to “drive in, as with a wedge.” Things will go on naturally unless we drive in the wedge of the supernatural by intercession.
C. JESUS SET US THE EXAMPLE Is prayer important? Yes! Even the Son of God made prayer His priority!
1. MORNING DEVOTIONS “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed” Mk. 1:35.
2. EVENING PRAYER “After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray. When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land” Mk. 6:46-47.
3. SOLITARY PRAYER “Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed” Lk. 5:15-16.
4. ALL NIGHT PRAYER “One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God” Lk. 6:12.
5. PRAYED WITH THE DISCIPLES AROUND HIM “Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, "Who do the crowds say I am?" Lk. 9:18.
6. JESUS ALSO PRAYED AT KEY MOMENTS: At His Baptism, Lk. 3:21; before Calling the 12 Apostles, Lk. 6:12; at His Transfiguration, Lk. 9:29; Garden of Gethsemane, Mt. 26:39; and even on the Cross, For His Enemies, Lk. 23:34!
a. [JOKE] A young boy was observed by a minister in church praying very fervently; but much to the preacher’s surprise, he was also heard to say from time to time: "Tokyo, Tokyo, Tokyo."
b. So preacher approached the boy after he had apparently finished his prayer and said, "Son, I was very pleased to see you praying so devoutly, but tell me, why did you keep saying ’Tokyo, Tokyo, Tokyo?"
c. The boy replied, "Well, you see sir, I just finished taking my geography test in school, and I have been praying for the Lord to make Tokyo the Capital of France." [We need to pray in God’s will].
D. LEARN TO STAND ON THE WORD
1. James says, “Tremendous power is made available through a good man’s [woman’s] earnest prayer” Phillips, 5:16.
2. When you have a need, find a scripture where God promises to meet that need, then petition God to meet that need based upon His promise.
3. Claim the promise, and expect God to answer your prayer. God is faithful! The same God who answered your prayers last year will answer them this year! “Jesus Christ, the same, yesterday, today, and forever!”
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: “WHEN GOD CLOSED THE SWITCH”
1. A 12-car passenger train was speeding along in Eastern Missouri. It was carrying 100’s of children bound for an event. A severe thunderstorm broke. The train’s engineer slowed down to 35 miles per hour because of the heavy rain.
2. As the train rounded a curve, the engineer saw that just ahead the switch to a dead-end track had been left open. The engineer jammed on the brakes, but he knew the train couldn’t stop in time.
3. He began interceding to God to spare all the children’s lives. Tears ran down his face as he pleaded with God. At the last second there was a deafening thunderclap and flash of lightning. The lightning strike hit the train switch and closed it so that the train stayed safely on its tracks! [Paul Lee Tan, 7,700 Illus., #3134] Don’t tell me there’s not a God who hears and answers prayer!
B. THE CALL
1. God is looking for intercessors; how many of you are willing to begin praying for other’s needs? DeAnna my secretary would be glad to add your name to the list of prayer warriors on the Prayer Chain. Get with her after service.
2. How many of you have a desperate need of prayer? Please stand. Let’s all stretch out our hands and pray for them.
3. Are you here this morning and you’re not sure – if you were to die today – that you would absolutely go to heaven? If that’s you , raise your hand and I’ll include you in my prayer.
