The Focus Of Prayer Series

THE FOCUS OF PRAYER

D.L. Moody once entered a tavern in order to ask the bartender if his two little girls might be allowed to attend his Sunday School. He was told that there was an atheist club that met in that bar every Thursday night and the owner of the bar did not want to offend them. Moody looked into the face of this man and pleaded with him on behalf of his girls. Finally, the man’s heart was touched and he said, “Preacher, I’ll tell you what I’ll do. If you’ll come down here this Thursday night and debate with those atheists in a joint discussion, and win, you shall have the children. If you do not win, my girls cannot go to Sunday School. “Agreed,” said Moody. He left the tavern and went right out and saw a crippled newsboy he knew who really knew how to pray. He told him, “Tommy, I need you this Thursday night!”

When the hour of the meeting arrived, Tommy and Moody entered the tavern. It was full of men sitting on whiskey barrels, beer kegs, and even on the bar—eagerly awaiting the coming debate. Moody began by saying, "Gentlemen, it is our custom to open our meetings up with a word of prayer. Tommy, come up here and lead us in prayer.” Tommy began to pray to the Lord for the souls of all present. As the tears began to roll down the little fellow’s cheeks, one by one the men began to leave the tavern until there was no one left except the bartender, Moody and the praying boy. Moody turned to the father and said, “I claim your girls for my Sunday school!” The bartender answered, “All right, you win. But it’s an odd way to fight!” Moody answered, “True, but it is the way I win most of my battles.”

Today we are continuing in our series on prayer. Last week we talked about the power of prayer – this is WHY we pray. Today I want to talk about the specifics of prayer. In other words, WHAT should we be praying for. Maybe you have heard this story;

A father walked by his daughter’s bedroom door which was cracked just enough so that he could see that she was kneeling beside her bed in prayer. Interested to find out what subjects a child would bring before God, he paused and listened. He was puzzled though to hear her reciting the alphabet: "A, B, C, D, E, F, G …" She just kept repeating it. He didn’t want to interrupt her, but soon curiosity got the best of him and he broke into her prayer. "Honey," he asked, "what are you doing?" "I’m praying, Daddy," she replied. "Well, why are you praying the alphabet?" he asked. She explained, "I started my prayers, but I wasn’t sure what to pray. So I decided to just say all the letters of the alphabet and let God put them together however He thinks best."

Sometimes we are asked to pray for people and we wonder what we should be praying for them. What to pray for missionaries, pastors and other people, some of whom we may have never met. Paul had never met the Colossians, but he faithfully prayed for them. His prayers teach us how to pray for others, whether we know them or not.

Col 1:9-12 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. 10 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, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.

One of the greatest privileges that we have as believers is to pray for others. So often our prayers are focused upon our own wants and needs. God has called us to be others focused. So, what is it that we need to being praying for in the lives of others? Four things;

1. Pray for Purpose

The first thing that Paul prays for the Christians in Colossae is that they might be filled “with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.” This is a powerful prayer. This is something I also pray for people, that they would understand God’s will for their life. As believers in Jesus, this is an important but often difficult thing to understand.