Word of Salvation – Vol. 43 No. 35 – September 1998

 

Paul’s Non-Stop Prayer

 

Sermon by Rev. P. Smit on Colossians 1:9-14

Scripture Readings: 1Chronicles 22:5-13

Suggested Hymns: BoW 66a; 156; 452; 440; 451; 527; Rejoysing-2: 392; 306

 

Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

With a barrage of demands on our time, it's hard to keep up the pace.  Sporting activities and commitments; school projects and assignments; unspoken demands to put more time in at work; visiting family and friends; for mums just keeping up with the housework, let alone the 24 hour requirements of nurturing a family.  And somewhere, if possible, squeezing in a bit of walking or physical exercise.

Amongst all these daily assignments – when do you get time for spiritual exercises?  When on earth do you get time to pray for yourself, your family, let alone the church?

One of the greatest needs is to have a deeper relationship with our Father in Heaven.  We desperately need His strength to do that.  The greatest need of the church today is a deepening spiritual life in Christ.  In our passage, Paul asks God to give a deeper spiritual walk to the Colossians.  In our day this prayer is just as important for us.

Today I want us to unpack the meaning of this prayer.  But I also want to encourage you to use it as a model for your prayers.  Let us then look at Paul's prayer.

The first example he gives us, is to:

a.  Pray Without Ceasing

In verse 9 Paul begins by saying, "For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you."  Literally, Paul says, "Since we heard about you we have not ceased to pray for you."  I've been praying for you non-stop.

Charles Swindoll said of all the things in the ministry – from Bible Study to Discipleship, to meetings and visits of all the things we could be doing, the hardest thing of all is prayer.  Why?  He gave a few reasons.  We don't see the one we speak to.  We don't always get instantaneous answers – praying requires faith.  And in our culture today, we think we should be doing something, not stopping to pray.

All these things keep us from prayer.  But Paul, along with our Lord Jesus, and all those who have prayed, know that through prayer God is pleased to supply power.  Through prayer spiritual victories are won.  Spiritual battles are conquered.  Strength comes through God answering your prayers.

So Paul made it his purpose to pray non-stop, for these Colossians.  Moment by moment, day by day, when he had an opportunity, Paul prayed.  You can play a vital role in the spiritual life of this church, even if you don't stand up the front here on Sundays.  You can play a vital role, by praying moment by moment, day by day, for the spiritual life of your pastor, for the spiritual life of your elders and for the spiritual life of your brothers and sisters here.

So, pray without ceasing.  That's number One.  Now let's move on to see what Paul prays for.

The second thing we learn is, that he prays:

b.  That You May Be Filled with the Knowledge of God's Will

The Greek says that "You may be filled."  If your spiritual life is like mine, then you'll be able to say that your spiritual fervour can ebb and flow with the tides of life's circumstances.  At times we feel close to the Lord, at other times we feel distant.  Paul prays, that you may be filled to overflowing.  Filled with the knowledge of God's will.

In Paul's day there was plenty of knowledge floating around.  Philosophy was big business.  Homer, Aristotle, Plato, those ancient intellectual giants, seemed to understand the mysteries of life.  Today, we can esteem knowledge, too.  University degrees, college diplomas..!  These things are valuable and good, but there is a more important knowledge.  It is: knowing how God wants you to live.

The greatest knowledge is to know God's will.  The greatest knowledge is: the knowledge that God wants you to be a person with a godly, gentle, patient character.  The knowledge that God wants you to be pure and holy; to avoid sin and temptation.

That's the knowledge that Paul is praying these Colossians will have.  To know God's will, for their living.  Paul prays that God will fill them with that knowledge.  That knowledge comes by knowing God's Word.  In Romans 12:2, God's Word says: "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will."

Paul prays that they will be filled with a knowledge of God's will: "With all wisdom and spiritual understanding.”

I'm sure that the Colossians were just like you and me.  They had struggles in their families, with decisions about their children.  They probably had relationship tensions and hurts with others.  They had struggles in their understanding of God's Word.  They were vulnerable to being led astray.  They were human, just like us.

But Paul prays that God will fill them with the knowledge of His will.  But not just abstract knowledge that allows them to sprout Bible truths in Bible trivia games.  Paul prays that this knowledge will come with all wisdom and spiritual insight.  The wisdom that Paul prays for is that ability to discern inner qualities in others.  That they will have good sense, good judgment.  That's wisdom.

He prays for spiritual understanding.  That the Colossians will be able to put the facts together, that they will know God's will, and then, that they will have insight to apply it to the situations that arise.  How desperately we need these qualities.

Are you parents praying this for your children?  That they will know God's will, yes, but also that they can apply His will with insight and wisdom when they make choices regarding friendships, regarding employment, regarding how they will use their leisure.  We, as parents, as single people, as young adults, and as the church need these qualities.  Paul knows that they need it, and he prays.

In this world which drifts away from God's Word, we need the backbone of the knowledge of God's will and his wisdom and insight to live for Christ.

So Paul prays,

b.  That you may be filled with the knowledge of God's will.

And then he prays,

c.  That you might live a life worthy of the Lord.

The reason Paul prays for the Colossians and us to be filled with a knowledge of God's will is so that their lives may change.  So that each day afresh they may conduct their lives in a way that is worthy of the Lord.

Each Anzac Day, Australians march to give honour and respect to the war dead.  At the 11th hour on 11th day of the 11th month, there is a minute's silence.  Australia shows respect because those fallen in war paid the high price for our freedom.  We honour them.

So, too, God.  He paid the high price for our freedom.  He sent Christ to do battle with our enemy – sin – and He won the victory by shedding his blood.  Because of that high price paid for us, each day again we are called to honour him; to live in a way that is worthy of the Lord.

How do we live in a way that is worthy of the Lord?  Paul spells that out.  His prayer is:

d) that you might bear fruit in every good work.

e) that you might be growing in your knowledge of God.

f) that you may be strengthened with God's power to have great endurance, and patience (vs.11).

Imagine the impact of your prayers as you pray these things for your husband or wife, or child, or your Christian family.  To pray that they will bear fruit!  That the fruit of the Holy Spirit might blossom in the work they do.  That love will be demonstrated in their actions.  To pray that they might grow in their knowledge of God for as that knowledge grows, then attitudes can change.  To pray that this knowledge of God will give them wisdom and insight for living.  To pray that as they bear fruit and grow in knowledge of God, that God's power, through the Spirit will be unleashed in their hearts.

Paul prays in verse 11 that they will be strengthened with all power, according to God's glorious might.  This is amazing, because in Ephesians 1:20 Paul says, "That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms."

You can pray that God will strengthen you and others with the same power He used in raising Christ from the dead.  That is mind blowing.  The resurrection power of God can be at work in your life and the life of your children and in the life of this church if you pray.  And the purpose of that power?  For great endurance and patience.

The Christian life is not a 100m sprint – it’s a marathon.  You know disappointment.  You know trial and hardship.  Some of you have even despaired of life at times; some of you have felt the sentence of death.  Some of you even now are wondering, when will this hardship end?

Hudson Taylor was a missionary in China.  He and his mission were persecuted by the Chinese government.  He wrote to a colleague these words:

"You can scarcely realise what it is to be out here, to know and love our dear workers, to hear of their sorrows and difficulties, their disappointments and their strife; learning of sickness, needing arrangements for help if possible, receiving telegrams asking direction in peril, or telling maybe of death; accounts coming of massacre and arson, and all the untold incidents of our every varying experience – not to speak of the ordinary responsibilities of a mission approaching five hundred in number.  There is just one way to avoid being overwhelmed – to bring everything as it arises to our Master [in prayer]; and He does help and He does not misunderstand." (A man in Christ, Roger Steer, p 325).

God's resurrection power comes to us for endurance, for being faithful in the hard times.  For being patient in difficulty.  God's power is available to us to run the marathon.  And in His strength you can do it, as you pray.

And finally Paul prays that:

g) that you might be thankful, and joyful to God.

Because God has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his Kingdom of light.  He has rescued you and me from a life darkened by sin.  He has taken the initiative in grace to reach out to us when we least deserved it.  And in Jesus Christ he has forgiven us and redeemed us.

Isn't it marvellous that God has qualified you to be his child?  You didn't need to pay for your sin.  All you needed to do is trust in Jesus Christ who took the punishment on your behalf.  God is the one who has secured your salvation.  Isn't that enough reason to be joyful, and thankful?  Isn't that enough reason to pray and continue in prayer?

Praying is hard work.  But remember it's God's work.  When you labour in prayer, lives can be changed – Godly directions can be forged, for you, your family, your friends, and your church.

I want to leave you with the example of Epaphras.  In Colossians 4:12 Paul writes of him:

"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."

Epaphras was always labouring and wrestling earnestly in prayer.  Will you labour earnestly in prayer too?  Will you commit to pray for yourself, your family, your spouse, your children?  Will you commit to pray for this church, that God will bring us more deeply into fellowship with himself?

Pray without ceasing.

Pray that we may be filled with the knowledge of God's will.

Pray that we may live a life worthy of the Lord.

Pray that we might bear fruit and grow in our knowledge of God.

Pray that we may be strengthened with God's power to patiently endure.

And pray that we might be thankful, for God's grace in Jesus Christ.

Pray, for Jesus' glory, pray!

Amen.