Pray
Colossians 4:2-4
January 20, 2013
As you can tell this morning we are going to talk about
This very important topic of prayer.
Ever since we started missions month this year,
I’ve had it heavy on my heart that at least one of the messages
Needed to be in regard to prayer, especially as it relates to missions.
We actually talked about prayer a few weeks ago on Wednesday night.
We are studying Amos and we saw what is really one of
The most remarkable instances of effective prayer in all of Scripture.
Amos 7:1-6 “Thus the Lord GOD showed me, and behold, He was forming a locust-swarm when the spring crop began to sprout. And behold, the spring crop was after the king’s mowing. And it came about, when it had finished eating the vegetation of the land, that I said, “Lord GOD, please pardon! How can Jacob stand, For he is small?” The LORD changed His mind about this. “It shall not be,” said the LORD. Thus the Lord GOD showed me, and behold, the Lord GOD was calling to contend with them by fire, and it consumed the great deep and began to consume the farm land. Then I said, “Lord GOD, please stop! How can Jacob stand, for he is small?” The LORD changed His mind about this. “This too shall not be,” said the Lord GOD.”
When you think about it, that is really a remarkable occurrence.
Here we have the sovereign, all-knowing, perfectly holy God
Actually bending to the request of mortal man.
And as we talked about then, I’m not sure how or even why prayer works.
I don’t know if God so moves in our hearts to make us pray for His will,
Or if there are certain things that aren’t set.
But one thing that is undeniable in Scripture is what James taught us:
James 5:16b “The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.”
Prayer is indeed a mystery, and yet answered prayer is a promise.
John 14:13-14 “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. “If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.”
It really doesn’t get much clearer than that.
God promises to answer prayer.
The other thing we know about prayer is that it is commanded.
1 Thessalonians 5:17 “pray without ceasing;”
The Christian is called to a life of prayer,
And it is obvious that we
Should take full advantage of this privilege.
Now granted prayer is an extremely broad topic that we could spend a great deal of time on,
But this morning I want to talk to you about prayer
Especially as it relates to missions.
PRAYER IS ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL TO MISSIONS
And I want to give you a few reasons why this is so,
Before we get into our text.
I can think of at least 4 reasons why prayer is so vitally essential
in regard to our mission here on earth.
1) THE INFLUENCE OF SATAN
If our struggle was only against man,
Then maybe we could obtain victory through natural means.
But our struggle is not just against man.
We have a supernatural foe.
Ephesians 6:12 “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
Our enemy is not human.
Satan works against us in the spiritual realm.
1 John 5:19 “We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.”
2 Corinthians 4:3-4 “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
Missions is not as simple as just going somewhere
And proclaiming the gospel.
The reality is that this world is encapsulated in darkness,
Deceived by the devil, held in his stronghold.
And the only way for us to get the gospel through
Is if someone first removes the veil that Satan has cast over their hearts.
2 Timothy 2:24-26 “The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.”
God must do this.
And if we have a spiritual foe, then we need a spiritual ally.
Charles Spurgeon said, “Prayers are the believer’s weapons of war. When the battle is too hard for us, we call in our great ally, who, as it were, lies in ambush until faith gives the signal by crying out, “Arise, O Lord.” Although our cause be all but lost, it shall soon be won again if the Almighty doth but bestir himself.”
You are not going to overcome the powers of darkness
By human ingenuity or power.
Prayer is essential to overcome the blinding influence of Satan.
Another reason:
2) THE INFATUATION OF HUMANITY
Often times those who would push us into mission work
Will play upon our emotions by painting a picture for us
Of millions of poor, pitiful, souls, who are sitting by the road
Simply waiting for someone to please come and tell them about Jesus.
How discouraging it is for mission teams to arrive
And find out that this reality does not exist.
When you go on mission, you may occasionally find your Ethiopian Eunuch
Who is waiting in a chariot reading Isaiah 53
Just waiting for someone to explain it to him, but that scene is rare.
WHY?
Because humanity is not sitting around
Wondering how they can be made right with God.
Humanity is chasing sin.
Ephesians 2:1-3 “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”
The world isn’t moving with a hunger for God.
The world is chasing sin and the sensual desires of the flesh.
And if you are going to try and present the gospel simply on terms of
“My way is better” you’d be right, but you’ll never convince them of it.
The world wants sin. The world wants sensuality.
The world wants money, and possessions, and power, and sex, ecstasy,
And things like that.
The gospel is totally unattractive to a natural man
Because it calls for denial of self, and that is what man loves most.
And because this self and sin infatuation is so strong
The only possible way it can be broken
Is if the Spirit of God brings conviction into that life.
Only God can show a sinner his sin and draw him to the gospel.
John 6:44 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.”
And so obviously we must pray to the only One
Who has the power to change the leopards spots.
The Influence of Satan and the Infatuation of Humanity both require prayer.
3) THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF SALVATION
Humanity cannot produce or achieve salvation on his own.
Namely because humanity can’t pay for his own sin,
Only Christ can do that.
Salvation must be the work of God and God alone.
Remember the rich young ruler walking away sad, having chosen to keep his wealth and lose his soul?
Matthew 19:23-26 “And Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. “Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were very astonished and said, “Then who can be saved?” And looking at them Jesus said to them, “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
When faced with the reality of what salvation requires,
Peter accurately understood it.
And that is true, it is impossible with humanity.
Salvation is only possible with God.
And if salvation is only possible with God, how can we expect to lead anyone to salvation without God’s help?
The notion that people can be saved apart from prayer
Is an arrogant and faulty notion.
You can’t have effective missions without faithful prayer.
The Influence of Satan, The Infatuation of Humanity, The Impossibility of Salvation
I’ll give you one more (I’m sure there are others)
4) THE IGNORANCE OF THE MISSIONARY
I know this is not flattering, but it is true none the less.
So God is working on a human soul, somewhere in this world
And has them ripe for the gospel.
Let’s say there is another Ethiopian Eunuch out there. (I’m sure there is)
• Do you know where he is?
• Would Philip have naturally taken that desert road?
God knew that Macedonia (Europe) was ripe for the gospel,
But Paul kept trying to stay in Asia (Turkey).
GOD had to literally block him to get him where he was supposed to go.
Look at a sea of people, can you tell which ones are ready to hear?
Our eyes don’t see the spiritual realm.
• We don’t know where to go.
• We don’t know who to approach.
• We don’t know the pains of their heart.
UNLESS – God guides us there.
We must pray because in our own ability
We are too ignorant to know where to go or who to approach.
We need the guidance of God.
Now those are just a few reasons why prayer is so important to missions.
Satan is too influential
Humanity is too infatuated with sin
Salvation is too impossible
Missionaries are too ignorant
We must cry out to God for Satan to be defeated,
For humanity to be convicted, for salvation to be permitted,
And for insight into how to move forward.
Prayer is essential.
Now that is why, routinely when the International Mission Board
Folks talk about missions you always hear the same three words.
GO, GIVE, PRAY
And let me say this.
To many, of the three things on that list,
Praying looks like the easiest of the bunch.
“I sure don’t want to go…”
“I can’t afford to give…”
“I’ll just commit myself to prayer.”
And many choose this
Because it looks like the least burdensome of the three.
I ASSURE YOU IT IS NOT!
If you would commit to be a prayer warrior you are in for a long battle.
You will face sleepless nights, heavy burdens,
Intense concern, and tested faith.
It is those who go or those who give who get off easy.
Virginia Owens wrote (in Nov. 1976 edition of Christianity Today)
“Christians have always interpreted splitting the temple veil during the crucifixion as symbolic of their liberation from the mediated presence of God. Henceforth they were “free” to approach him directly – which is almost like telling someone he is “free” to stick his head in the lion’s jaws. For once you start praying there is no guarantee that you wind find yourself before Pharaoh, shipwrecked on a desert island, or in a lion’s den.”
This is no cosmic teddy bear we are cuddling up to. As one of the children describes him in C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia, “he’s not a tame lion.”…
Consider Moses, again and again intervening between the Israelites and God’s wrath; Abraham praying for Sodom; the widow demanding justice of the judge. But in the combat with god…we must be ready to bear the consequences…”Jacob’s thigh was put out of joint, and he went away lame…Whoever wrestles with God in prayer puts his whole life at stake…”
Awful things happen to people who pray. Their plans are frequently disrupted. They end up in strange places, Abraham “went out, not knowing where he was to go”…
How tempting to up the stakes, making prayer merely another consumer product. How embarrassing to have to admit not only that prayer may get you into prison, as it did Jeremiah, but also that while you’re moldering away in a miry pit there, you may have a long list of lamentations and unanswered questions to present to your Lord. How are we going to tell them they may end up lame and vagrant if they grasp hold of this God?”
(sited in MacArthur’s Colossians commentary, pg. 180-181)
When you commit to prayer, you are committing to 24/7 service.
This is especially true in our day where most missionaries serve across the world, in different time zones, and most of their work is being accomplished when we would rather be sleeping.
As a prayer warrior you must hold and wrestle and trust
As the last line of defense when all others have surrendered.
The prayer warrior is the last hope and the final reinforcements.
Acts 12:5 “So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.”
Those who commit to pray cannot drop the ball
Anymore than those who commit to preach can choose to be silent.
The call to pray is not an easy mantle to accept.
Of the 3, “Go, Give, Pray”,
Those who choose to pray had better be up to the task.
This is reality.
Prayer is essential to missions,
But don’t view it as some 2 minute token time
That allows you to quickly run back to your other endeavors.
• If you would commit to go, then go.
• If you would commit to give, then give.
• If you would commit pray, then pray.
If you would commit to none of these things, then see yourself completely uninvolved in missions and disobedient to the Lord.
Now I realize that is quite a lengthy introduction this morning,
But let’s look at our text.
It won’t take us a long time, for the truths revealed here are not difficult to understand, but are vitally important to remember.
So here in this letter to the Colossians, Paul is writing from a prison cell.
2 main points.
#1 THE REQUIREMENT
Colossians 2:2
There is nothing confusing in the statement Paul makes here.
It is so direct all that is really needed is to meditate on it a while
And then to put it into practice.
Obviously the mandate is to pray.
But Paul gives three specific qualities that our prayer life must contain.
1) PRAY WITH COMMITMENT
“Devote yourselves to prayer,”
This is no simple command just to pray in the morning,
Or pray before a meal, or to pray before bedtime.
This is a call to be absolutely devoted to prayer.
Make prayer the weapon you will not give up on.
And this is an important command, because often times
Those who commit to pray can quickly become discouraged.
I’ve told you before, “God doesn’t work a drive through window”.
Often times prayer is not answered immediately.
At times it is, but that is not the norm.
We often see those times of wrestling first.
And in our society of instant gratification,
There are those who would quickly throw prayer aside
Simply because it doesn’t seem to work as quickly as we would like.
That is why Paul said, “Devote yourselves”
Jesus said:
Luke 18:1-8 “Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, saying, “In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man. “There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘ Give me legal protection from my opponent.’ “For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.'” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge said; now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? “I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”
Have faith that God answers prayer,
Even if your faith has to endure a little while.
God has recently burned into my heart:
Matthew 7:7-11 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. “Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? “Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!”
The reality is that God answers prayer.
He moves to the request of His children.
But just because He doesn’t move as fast as you like,
Don’t quit, keep praying.
Pray with Commitment
2) PRAY WITH DISCERNMENT
“keeping alert in it”
In the most literal sense this would be “not sleeping”
And we’ve seen that before.
Matthew 26:40-41 “And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? “Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
And we could probably all take a little solemn application here.
One of the biggest hindrances to our prayer life
Is our own human frailty and weakness.
We are too tired, or sleepy, or busy.
Don’t be.
Be “alert” in prayer.
But this doesn’t just speak of not sleeping.
This also indicates being aware of the things
That need to be prayed for.
I understand that we live in a world of much sickness and pain
And hardship and suffering.
And I by no means want to trivialize how hard it is for people
Who are battling physical ailments and diseases.
But does anyone ever notice that in 95% of our prayer meetings or on most of our prayer lists, the list is consumed with prayer for kidneys and livers and hearts and hips and knees and tumors and other ailments?
It is not that those things should not be prayed for,
If I’m sick I want prayer.
But all too often absent from the list are our spiritual struggles.
And again, I’m not saying that people should list the embarrassing struggles of their life for all to see, but these are things the church should be praying for.
And often times that requires those in the church
To be alert to what is going on around them.
We live in our own little bubbles most of the time.
And the reality is, we aren’t always perceptive of other people’s struggles.
The command to pray is not just to work through the prayer list,
But to open your eyes, pay attention, keep alert,
And look for things that need to be prayed for.
Pray with Commitment, Pray with Discernment
3) PRAY WITH GRATITUDE
“with an attitude of thanksgiving”
God honors a broken spirit.
God honors a humble spirit.
But go before God in an ungrateful whining spirit
And see how far that gets you.
James 4:1-4 “What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”
When you pray, pray with a spirit of gratitude, not a spirit of greed.
At the very least be thankful that God even lets you pray.
Philippians 4:6 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
Is that not amazing that God wants to hear your “requests”?
(Not just your bare minimum needs, but also your “requests”)
Be thankful for that.
1 John 5:14-15 “This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.”
And there is so much more that we could say here,
But look at the basic requirement.
• Pray.
• Pray with Commitment
• Pray with Discernment
• Pray with Gratitude
Now let’s move on to the next point, and here is where we come back to missions.
#2 THE REQUEST
Colossians 4:3-4
First how to pray, now what to pray for.
1) FOR OPEN DOORS
“praying for the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned;”
Now as we already said, we are dependant upon God for open doors
Under normal circumstances.
We can’t save people we are always dependant on God.
But how much more did Paul need help since he was presently “imprisoned”.
It’s not like he could walk down to the synagogue and start preaching.
Every opportunity Paul received had to be a divine initiated opportunity.
(In reality this is always true, but even more apparent now to Paul)
It is also important that Paul did not want the door to his jail cell opened,
He wanted a door “for the word” opened.
He didn’t ask for prayer in regard to his own well-being,
He asked for prayer in regard to opportunities for the gospel.
And this is at the heart of praying for missions.
Missionaries need God to give them a platform.
They are in foreign countries, with foreign cultures, and foreign religions.
They are asking people to go against their traditional religion,
Their traditional culture, and the majority consensus.
This doesn’t happen naturally.
God must open doors.
We don’t just send people on mission and expect them in their own intellect and ability to be able to share the gospel.
We must send them and at the same time pray continually
That God will grant them opportunities for the word.
Pray for open doors
2) FOR CLARITY OF SPEECH
“that I may make it clear I the way I ought to speak.”
In verse 3 Paul called it “the mystery of Christ”
And that gives us all the info we need
To understand why he now asks that we pray for clarity.
What Paul is speaking of is a mystery.
It is not common knowledge.
Men will not naturally understand it.
1 Corinthians 2:14 “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”
And for that reason we need God to help us make it clear.
One of the biggest fears of people is that
When they try to witness, they won’t know what to say.
• Did you ever think of having someone pray that you will know what to say?
• Did you ever pray for someone else to know exactly what to say?
Paul did not take his preaching for granted.
He did not just trust in his ability to communicate.
He knew the issue he was facing.
• He was preaching spiritual truth to earthly people.
• He was preaching light in darkness.
• He was preaching righteousness to those who love wickedness.
• He was preaching the true God to pagan idolaters.
• He was preaching human foolishness to those who were educated.
• He was preaching denial of self to the selfish.
• He was preaching mysteries to the ignorant.
He needed help to get through to them.
He needed help to make it clear.
And so do missionaries everywhere.
Now those are to pretty easy and clear admonitions about prayer.
PRAY
• Pray with commitment
• Pray with discernment
• Pray with gratitude
PRAY FOR US
• Pray for open doors
• Pray for clarity of speech
Those are the things that Paul commanded in regard to prayer,
And if missions is to be successful then people must commit to pray.
Satan is too influential
People are too infatuated
Salvation is too impossible
We are too ignorant
We need prayer and those who will commit to it.
But rest assured if this is the occupation you choose,
Then get read to be committed,
For if prayer isn’t offered the mission will not succeed.
Those who go must go.
Those who give must give.
Those who pray must pray.
It is just as necessary as the others.
Samuel Chadwick said, “The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerles studies, prayerless work, and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks our wisdom, but trembles when we pray.”
That is true.
1 Thessalonians 5:17 “pray without ceasing;”
