March 16, 2003 Colossians 1:9-14
“I pray for you”
INTRODUCTION
What does it do for you when someone says, “I pray for you”? A missionary and his family were forced to camp outside on a hill. They were carrying money and they were fearful that thieves might rob them. After spending time in prayer, they finally fell asleep. Several months later, a man that had been injured was taken to the mission hospital. He asked the missionary if on that special night they had soldiers guarding them. The man said to him, “We intended to rob you, but we were afraid of the twenty-seven soldiers.”
When the missionary returned to his homeland, he shared this story with his church. One of the members responded, “We had a prayer meeting that night, and I took roll. There were just twenty-seven of us present.”
I think that all of us would agree at least with mental and verbal assent that there is great power in prayer. Some of you though may have never seen anything happen as a result of your prayers. Your prayers seem to lack power. Part of the reason for that may be because you really don’t know how to pray. This morning, we are going to look at the prayer that Paul prayed for the Colossian Christians. It is a powerful prayer, and I can guarantee that everything in it is completely within the will of God. God had a desire to do the things Paul asked for in the lives of the Colossians. God has a desire to accomplish these things in the lives of the people that you pray for. God has a desire to accomplish these things in your life.
We’re going to look at 4 keys to praying powerful prayers as they are found in Colossians 1:8-14. We’re not going to spend a lot of time – at least not as much as we normally do looking at this passage. I’m going to explain it in the clearest and most concise terms I know how, and then, we’re going to put it into practice. So pay attention. You’re going to be using what you hear before you leave this morning.
1. Prayer is powerful when it has the right duration. “not stopped praying”
First response – “since the day we heard”
- Everything that Epaphras told Paul about what was going on a Colossae was positive. People were getting saved; the church was stong. Yes, there were some dangers on the horizon, but there was no immediate threat. Things were good at Colossae. Even in that type of positive situation, Paul’s first response was to pray for them.
- I imagine that many if not all of you have spent a considerable amount of time in prayer. We are quick to get down on our knees and pray when there is some type of crisis whether that crisis be personal or national.
- Did you ever think that if prayer was our first response to every situation and every person that we encounter in our lives that we might actually end up preventing much of the crises that we face? That’s exactly what Paul was trying to do here – he was praying for them that they would stay strong so that they would not have to face a theological crisis and have to deal with its consequences.
Enduring practice – “not stopped praying”
A preacher was once holding a revival in an old tent. One night a man walked in an old shirt and cut off overalls. When the altar call was given he walked down the aisle and got saved. After he finished praying, the preacher asked him, "sir what was it that I said in my message that caused you to come and get saved?" The gentleman looked at the preacher and said, "I hope you’re not offended at me for saying this but I don’t remember a word you said." The preacher then asked him, "why did you get saved then?" The man began to tell his story. "I left home when I was 17. I had a Christian mother. As I was preparing and getting ready to leave, my mother took a piece of paper and on that paper she wrote, "son wherever you may go, remember mother is praying for you." Not noticing the note I closed my suitcase and went to Chicago. The first thing I saw when I opened my suitcase was that note from my mother. It made me mad to think that my mother was doing all the praying for me. God was really dealing with me. But I took a pencil and beneath her words I wrote, "may God curse your prayers." My mother died 9 years ago, and later on I moved back to Oklahoma. I was setting on my porch with no thought of God whatsoever. But then I started to hear you sing. All of a sudden them words of my mother who has been gone for so long now, begin to ring in my ear. "Son wherever you may go, remember mother is praying for you." I got up and began to walk toward the tent so I could hear what you were you singing. You were singing, "What can wash away my sins, nothing but the Blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again, nothing but the Blood of Jesus! O! Precious is the flow, that makes me white as snow, no other fount I know, nothing but the Blood of Jesus!" - Jack Coe told this story while preaching the message, "Detours On The Road To Hell!"
The Bible commands us to (1 Th 5:17 KJV) Pray without ceasing. That doesn’t mean that we have to go around with our eyes closed all the time. But it does mean that the lines of communication are always open and ready to be accessed. Consider it a spiritual DSL line. (For those of you who are not computer literate, a DSL line maintains a constant connection between your computer and the internet.) It does mean that whatever comes our way, good or bad, our first thought is to talk with God about it. It also means that when God lays someone or something on your heart for you to pray about, you keep praying until something happens in your situation, in that person that you are praying for or in you, and God gives you permission to stop praying about that subject. The Old Testament prophet Samuel said this concerning his responsibility to the nation of Israel: (1 Sam 12:23 KJV) …God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you… Don’t stop praying for one another. Don’t stop praying for our President and the military – even when the war is over, keep on praying.
In order for your prayer to be powerful, it has to have the right duration. It also needs to have the right content.
2. Prayer is powerful when it has the right content. “thanks…asking”
Giving of thanks – “we always thank God” (vs. 3)
Paul’s response toward the Colossians and toward God because of the Colossians was thankfulness. The people that God brings into your lives, the situations that you find yourself in – do you thank God for them, or do you whine about them? When God does answer a prayer, how quick are you to remember to thank God for what He has done?
Asking for direction – “knowledge of His will”
George W. Bush, in an airport lobby, noticed a man in a long flowing white robe with a long flowing white beard and flowing white hair. The man had a staff in one hand and some stone tablets under the other arm. George W. approached the man and inquired, "Aren’t you Moses?" The man ignored George W. and stared at the ceiling. George W. positioned himself more directly in the man’s view and asked again, "Aren’t you Moses?" The man continued to peruse the ceiling. George W. tugged at the man’s sleeve and asked once again, "Aren’t you Moses?" The man finally responded in an irritated voice, "Yes I am". George W. asked him why he was so unfriendly and Moses replied, "The last time I spoke to a Bush I had to spend forty years in the desert....
Many people have the idea that if they submit to the will of God in their lives that God is going to do something awful to them or with them. A young lady was speaking to an evangelist about her need to devote herself to God. She said, “I dare not give myself wholly to the Lord, because He might send me out to China as a missionary.” The evangelist said, ‘If some cold, snowy morning a little bird should come, half-frozen, pecking at your window, seeking shelter, and would let you take it in and feed it, thereby putting itself entirely in your power, what would you do? Would you grip it in your hand and crush it? Or would you give it shelter, warmth, food and care?” A new light came into the girl’s eyes. She said, Oh, I see now. I can trust God.” Two years later she met the same evangelist and reminded him of their conversation. She told him she had completely given herself to God. And then her face lit up with a bright smile. “And guess where He’s sending me?” she asked—“to China!” The girl was right about where God was going to send her but now that she had given her heart to God, God had changed her heart with the effect that what she once feared was now something that gave her great excitement and joy!
Paul says here that his great request that the Colossians be filled with the knowledge of God’s will. When Paul speaks of being filled, he is speaking of being controlled by the thing that fills you. A couple of weeks ago, we had a beans and cornbread dinner after church. What happens when you get filled up with beans? You will soon start to lose control of certain bodily functions and pungent odors will begin to control the atmosphere that surrounds you. Paul’s desire for them and for us is not that we just know what God’s will is but that we be controlled by God’s will. He wasn’t saying, “Lord, show them your will so that then they will be able to make an intelligent decision about whether or not they want to follow that will.” NO! He was asking for something far more. “Lord, I don’t want to just know what your will is. I want your will to totally control me.” Are you willing to ask for that in your prayers for yourself and for others?
Prayer is powerful when it has the right duration and the right content. Prayer is also powerful when it has the right goal.
3. Prayer is powerful when it has the right goal. “life worthy…pleasing”
F.B. Meyer preached in London, England, while Charles Spurgeon & G. Campbell Morgan were preaching there, too. They were all great preachers, but Spurgeon’s church & Morgan’s church were both bigger than Meyer’s church. And he admitted to being a bit envious of them.
So he prayed, asking God to tell him what to do because he was jealous of them, & he didn’t want to be jealous. And somehow God instructed him to pray for both Spurgeon & Morgan, that their churches would prosper, & that more & more people would come to them.
Well, Meyer said that he didn’t want to do that. But he thought that he had better obey the Lord. So he prayed diligently that Spurgeon’s church & Morgan’s church would grow & grow. He said, “Their churches grew so much in answer to my prayers, that they overflowed. And,” he said, “the overflow came to my church.” His prayer was not selfish. God honored it, and he even got a blessing out of it. Powerful prayers are prayers that have the right goal.
Weak prayers are prayers that have the wrong goal. The book of James talks about this: (James 4:2,3 NIV) You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. When I pray for something out of selfish desire, do you really think that God is going to grant that request?
Paul says that the right goal of our prayers should be that the people we pray for live a life worthy of the Lord; that all that they do would be pleasing to Him. Paul’s focus was life that is eternal, not stuff that is temporary. Paul’s focus was what was pleasing to God not what was pleasing to men. He even went so far as to give some characteristics of a life that is pleasing to God. It is a life that is…
Producing results – “bearing fruit in every good work”
Spring is officially here. That meant that it was time for me to go looking for a new lawn mower since mine gave up on me last summer. Of all the chores that I do around the house, the one that I enjoy the most is mowing the lawn. I like it because when you get done, you can look back and see that you actually accomplished something. There are visible results to your work.
I know that many of you pray for me and for what happens here on Sunday mornings. I can imagine that some of you might pray something like this: “Lord, you know pastor Chris. He gets kind of tongue-tied sometimes. Lord, help him to get his words out right this week. And Lord, he can be long-winded. Help him to keep it short this week so that I can get to the restaurant before the Methodists do.” Can I suggest an alternative prayer? “Lord, please help pastor Chris be clear and concise this week so that when he is done, someone will walk the aisle saying that they want to be saved.”
Growing in knowledge – “growing in knowledge of God”
Last week in Sunday School, we talked about how a deeper understanding of who God is will alter your prayer life and everything else about you. When you understand that God is present everywhere, it helps to protect you from giving into a temptation that you think no one else will see. When you understand that God is also all powerful, it means that you can walk into any situation no matter how threatening with confidence knowing that the all powerful God is right there with you. Just acquiring knowledge puffs up your pride (1 Cor. 8:1), even if it is knowledge about God. What keeps us from getting proud is when we get to know God instead of just knowing about Him. There are people all across this country and down through all the ages who knew a lot about God but who never got to know Him on a personal basis.
Being strengthened – “being strengthened with all power”
Paul is very specific about what this strengthening is supposed to accomplish. It is supposed to produce endurance and patience in those being prayed for. The words that are translated endurance and patience are very similar in their meaning. They both seem to have the idea of bearing up under a heavy weight that is about to crush you. It would be easier to run away or to throw the weight off of your shoulders in a moment of anger than to continue to carry it around. So they are similar ideas. But the two words are also different. Endurance seems to be focused on situations that you face in your life that have the potential of stealing your joy and sapping all your energy. Patience is focused on people in your life that you would just rather be rid of. Paul’s prayer is that we would have the power to be able to continue to bear up under that weight without being crushed.
And you say, “But Paul, you don’t know what my marriage is like. It just about suffocates me. Sometimes, I think it would be so much easier if we just filed for a divorce.” God says, “Endure.” “But Paul, you don’t know what my job is like. The pay is bad. The hours are long. The people that I work with are jerks. I just want to go in there one day, give them a piece of my mind, and quit!” God says, “Until I give you permission to go, endure.” You may admit that you don’t have the power to do so, and you would be right. But endurance is not up to your power. We’re talking about His power. Look at vs. 11 – “according to His glorious might”. Do you really think it was easy for Jesus to endure the cross and be patient with the people down on the ground who were mocking Him? The same power that flowed through Him now flows through you.
“OK, God. I’ll grit my teeth and endure.” And God says, “No, my child that’s not pleasing to me. I’ve got something else in mind. I want you to joyfully give thanks even in the midst of that difficult situation that you face.”
Joyfully giving thanks – “giving thanks to the Father”
Corrie Ten Boom was a Jew who had to endure great suffering in Nazi Germany during WWII. In her book The Hiding Place, she relates an incident which taught her this principle of giving thanks even when you really don’t want to. She and her sister, Betsy, had just been transferred to the worst German prison camp they had seen yet, Ravensbruck. Upon entering the barracks, they found them extremely overcrowded and flea-infested. Their Scripture reading that morning in 1 Thessalonians had reminded them to rejoice always, pray constantly, and give thanks in all circumstances. Betsy told Corrie to stop and thank the Lord for every detail of their new living quarters. Corrie at first flatly refused to give thanks for the fleas, but Betsy persisted. She finally succumbed. She obeyed, and gave thanks, but she didn’t do it with much joy. During the months spent at that camp, they were surprised to find how openly they could hold Bible study and prayer meetings without guard interference. It was several months later when they learned that the guards would not enter the barracks because of the fleas. It was only then that Corrie was able to give thanks with joy. - Corrie Ten Boom, The Hiding Place.
God doesn’t want us just to endure the circumstances and people of life that are unpleasant for us. He wants us to give thanks for them with real joy in our hearts. You say, “How do I do that?” Good question. Here’s the answer. Look at vs. 12: “qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints”. Whatever struggle you may be facing, whatever weight is threatening to crush you, whatever person is about to bring out all those negative feelings in your heart, you can joyfully give thanks in the midst of all that as you remember that you have an inheritance waiting for you.
As you have, I have been listening to a lot about the war including interviews with soldiers this week. On Thursday morning, the reporters were talking with the soldiers and asking them about their attitude now that they were heading into the battlefield. You would think that going into battle would be a very heavy weight to bear – threatening to steal your joy and confidence. But he had a smile on his face and a spring in his step. When I heard his words I knew why. He said, “Going into battle just gets me one step closer to home.” He knew that he had something waiting for him when he got home, so that enabled him to handle the stress and the pressure that he was facing that day.
Powerful prayers are prayers that have the right duration, the right content and the right goal – a life lived in a worthy fashion before God so that He is pleased with that life. Powerful prayers also must have the right motivation.
4. Prayer is powerful when it has the right motivation. “forgiveness”
Right now, thousands of miles from here, there are soldiers fighting in “Operation: Iraqi Freedom”. One of the stated goals of this war is to remove the regime that is currently in power in Iraq and replace it with a new one. The other goal – the one that is referred to in the name of the whole operation – is to give a new way of life to the Iraqi people. They have been living in a kingdom of darkness. They have been blinded to what life is supposed to be like and the freedoms that God designed all men to enjoy. The hope is that they will be brought into a different kingdom – not the kingdom of America – but the kingdom of free choice where they can see the truth and make good choices based on that truth. This change in their destiny will happen through the efforts of the United States military.
You and I were once living under very similar conditions as the Iraqi people are now. We were living under a dark dictator – one more evil than Saddam Hussein. We were blinded, in darkness. But we were rescued.
Rescued us from living in the kingdom of darkness – vs. 13a
Brought us to living in the kingdom of Light – vs. 13b
Forgave us for living in the kingdom of self – vs. 14
This whole process was accomplished for us not through the blood of United States soldiers, but the through the blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Knowing what was accomplished for us and what had to be sacrificed in order to set us free should cause us to cry out to God with great passion.
Prayer that is motivated by duty is weak. Prayer that is motivated by greed is sin. But prayer that is motivated by an understanding of what was accomplished for us will have great passion, and where there is great passion, there is great power.
CONCLUSION
When I look at history I think of another time when America faced a crisis. The year was 1857. America was at both an economic and spiritual low. Attendance in churches had dwindled and there was a cynicism among many concerning religion. It was in the midst of this spiritual crisis that God gave a man a vision. His name was Jeremiah Lanphier. Lanphier had a vision of starting a noontime prayer meeting at a mission in Fulton Street in New York City.
He went to great lengths to advertise this prayer meeting. His first meeting was held on September 23, 1857. When the doors opened at noon, no one seemed to come. At half past twelve, however, the steps of one man could be heard coming up the stairs. Soon another came and then another so that finally there was a total of six people there.
Soon the numbers of those attending the meetings increased. By October 14th over a hundred people were coming to the prayer meetings. Other buildings were needed to accommodate the large numbers of people coming. Churches began to open their doors, but they were not large enough as thousands began to come to these prayer meetings. By March of 1858, Burton’s Theatre which could hold up to 3,000 people was filled to overflowing. Soon firehouses, police stations, and other buildings were requested to house the prayer meetings that had spread like a wildfire in New York City.
But the prayer meetings did not stop in New York City. They spread throughout New York State, New England, and eventually across the entire nation. Many thousands were saved during the revival of 1858. It is interesting that this revival took place three years before the Civil War—the bloodiest war in American history. God in His sovereignty knew that thousands of American lives would be lost and that these people needed to come to a saving knowledge of Himself.
INVITATION
We are once again at a crisis in our nation, and the most powerful thing that we can do is to pray. So that is what we are going to do. The deacons are going to hand each of you a card. That card has a prayer on it based on the prayer that Paul prayed here in Col. 1. In a moment, I’m going to ask you to get in a group of 3 or 4. I want you to take the card and pray the prayer on it over one person in your group. Then someone else pray the prayer over another person in your group until each person has had this prayer prayed for them. If there is someone in your group who does not feel comfortable praying out loud, just let the rest of the group know that, and someone else can pray the prayer more than once.
Before we do that though, it occurs to me that there may be someone here who is dealing with their own personal crisis. Maybe you have not yet been set free from the kingdom of darkness, and this morning you want to be liberated. We’re going to sing just a couple of stanzas of a hymn. As we do, if you need to be rescued from the kingdom of darkness and be brought into the kingdom of light, you make your way to me, and I’ll bring you to the one who can set you free. If there is someone here that needs to make the decision to join this church so that you can pray with us and know that you are prayed for and participate with us in the battle against our true enemy, then you come too as we sing.
