The Purpose of Prayer
02/06/05
Intro: We are in week 2 of a 3 week series on prayer. Last week we looked at the priority of prayer and the need for a focus and worship of Christ as we approach him in prayer. I issued you a challenge of spending 15 minutes each morning focusing your mind and heart on Christ. I hope you were able to use that to start your day and that it will become part of the routine of life.
Today we are going to look at another prayer of Paul and the effect that he sought for the people of Colosse and for us.
Prayer serves many purposes in our lives. The best purpose, however, may be that prayer changes our focus as we talked about last week, but prayer also changes our actions.
E. M. Bounds said:
“The secret of success in Christ’s kingdom is the ability to pray.”
E. M. Bounds
“Purpose in Prayer”
Today we want to look at principles that will give us success in our walk with Christ.
“For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Colossians 1:9-14(NIV)
I. Purpose
“For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.” Colossians 1:9
Paul begins by speaking of being filled with the “knowledge of his will spiritual wisdom and understanding.”
This lays a foundation of purpose for the life of the believer. No longer are we to rely on our own wisdom and our own knowledge, but we have a new source of understanding.
Spiritual wisdom and understanding helps us to live beyond ourselves.
We become filled with the desire for deeper things and more important meanings in life. We strive to be influenced by the Spirit of God in our actions.
As Paul speaks of this type of knowledge, he is expecting that it will strike at the center of the believer’s life.
The church at Colosse was surrounded by pagan religions that worshipped all types of gods. For some Christians in the town, Christ was being regarded as an add-on figure to their spiritual life. Paul is writing to them and establishes at the beginning a foundation of knowledge, wisdom and understanding that flows through Christ.
As Eugene Peterson points out,
“Paul writes to them (Colossians) in an attempt to restore Jesus, the Messiah, to the center of their lives.” The Message Commentary
The knowledge of the will of God leads us to a purpose of a life devoted to God.
II. Practice
“ And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God” Colossians 1:10
Paul prays that the spiritual wisdom and understanding will impact the life of the believer.
“A life worthy of the Lord” means the believer acts in a manner appropriate of a child of God.
The knowledge of God has an impact on our actions.
It changes us because we view Christ as central and of priority in our lives. We now live to please God and not ourselves.
Paul points this out in his letter to the church in Galatia.
“My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God’s Spirit. Then you won’t feed the compulsions of selfishness.”
Galatians 5:16(The Message)
The bottom line of all sin is selfishness.
Paul calls us to live life directed by God’s Spirit not our own.
The practice of living for Christ enables us to produce spiritual results from our actions.
III. Patience
“being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience” Colossians 1:11
Paul prays that the Spirit of God would produce patience and endurance in our lives.
Paul prays that we would be strengthened so that we may have patience and endurance.
Jewish tradition repeatedly stressed the virtue of enduring test to show God sovereignty.
Endurance, patience and joy are often interlinked in the scripture.
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:2-4 (NIV)
Testing of our faith produces depth in our relationship to God.
Prayer helps us to have patience in the midst of struggles.
IV. Privilege
“and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
Colossians 1: 12-14
Paul notes that because of Christ, we no longer live in darkness, but in the light of God.
Light and darkness are often contrasted to show the different sides of good and evil.
“Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.”
Exodus 14:19-20 (NIV)
“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” Isaiah 9:2(NIV)
“Wake up. Put your face in the sunlight. God’s bright glory has risen for you. The whole earth is wrapped in darkness, all people sunk in deep darkness, but God rises on you, his sunrise glory breaks on you.”
Isaiah 60:1-2(The Message)
God has moved us from darkness (death) to light (life) through Jesus Christ.
“Redemption” meant the freeing of a slave by paying a price for that slave. God has made us free from the slavery of sin through the death of Jesus.
Paul’s prayer for the church at Colosse was that they would:
1) Understand God’s will- Purpose
2) Be impacted by spiritual wisdom- Practice
3) Be joyful to endure hardship-Patience
4) Recognize their relationship to God-Privilege
For us, we must determine that our lives are going to be lived for a purpose beyond ourselves. We must determine that the spiritual life of Christ is the desire of our hearts.
