When I Pray (Part 1)

Turn to Colossians 1 .

If you weren’t here last Sunday, we are beginning a new series on the book of Colossians

We are entitling this series “Christ Alone”

Encouraging us that in the midst of all the mixed messages and influences coming at us today to fix our eyes on Christ Alone

As we get into our passage today, my question for you is

Do you pray for others?

When you pray for someone, how do you pray?

What do you pray for?

I hope that all of you have someone or some people that you pray for regularly

And when you pray for them, what do you pray for?

Good health?

Strength for the day?

Maybe they’ve just experienced a tragedy in their lives, or they are going through a really rough time

And you pray for they will be able to endure

Or you pray that God will improve things in their lives

Maybe you pray for someone asking God to change their hearts

Or maybe they’ve been sick, so you pray that God will help them to feel better.

I don’t know. How do you pray

I confess to often feeling inadequate when I pray for people.

What is it that I desire for people?

What is it that God desires for them?

And I find that I quickly run out of words

Maybe you can identify somewhat

But, you know, when that happens,

Maybe you and I can make a practice of turning to Scripture and praying the type of prayers that we read there.

Because, some of these prayers, especially Paul’s prayers are just powerful

English Standard Version Chapter 1

3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, 6 which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, 7 just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf 8 and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.

So when you pray for others, how do you pray?

Here is the first thing that strikes me about Paul’s prayer. Not just in this prayer but in others as well:

Thanksgiving: Paul is a thankful person

“We always thank God”

When you and I pray, how much time do we spend being thankful?

Do you have a thankful heart when you come to God in prayer?

This can be a big challenge to me

You know, there are times when life is just good, and you are feeling blessed and things are going well and we remember to be thankful

We feel that thankfulness just sort of wells up inside of us

But, honestly, in those cases, if I’m really honest about it, I’d have to say that it can be sort of a selfish sort of thankfulness

Because, I’m feeling blessed or benefited in some way. Things are sort of going my way

But, you and I know that the real test of thankfulness is when life is challenging and hard and doesn’t seem fair

It’s when your travel plans have been thwarted and you find yourself sleeping on the airport floor

Or, when a loved one has died seemingly before his/her time

It’s in those really tough times that the real test of thankfulness comes

But it’s in those times that we really consider what we are thanking God for

Are we thanking Him for what He is doing for us to make our life better?

Or are we thanking HIm for who He is and that His work will always continue to be done in our lives despite our outward circumstances

At, any rate, a lot could be said about prayers of thanksgiving, couldn’t it?

But, I am challenged by how Paul expresses his thankfulness in this passage and in other places

Because, here he is thanking God for others. He says to the Colossian believers, “I thank God for you”

This prayer of thanksgiving is one that reminds the Believers that God is indeed at work in their lives

This is a reminder that we all need at some point, especially when things are hard and confusing

We often remember to thank God for what He has done for us. But do you remember to thank God for what He is doing in the lives of other people?

and do you remind others that you are thanking God for them.

Do you say to people, “I thank God for you” And here’s why I thank God for you

That is a challenge for me

This is something that I have not done nearly enough of

Can you imagine what this would do for the hearts of people if we would make this a practice? What would it do to your heart if someone would come up to you and say, “I thank God for you and here’s why”

What would it do to your relationship with other people if you would make it a practice to have a heart of thanksgiving for someone else and express that to them.

it would require me to look beyond their faults or whatever I have against them and look for the value in that person

Paul, here thanks God for 3 things that he sees in the Believers in Colossae that are evidence of God’s work in their lives:

Faith, Love, and Hope

Colossians 1:3–5 “3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel,”

Thanksgiving for your faith in Christ

You know, faith in Christ is something to thank God for

A lot of times, we tend to think of our faith as, well, our faith

We think that it is something that we work up

If I put my mind to it, I can have the faith that it takes to believe in Christ

We talk about our faith being a personal faith

It’s something that I need to have

And, generally, I think that we know what we are talking about.

Our faith is a personal faith in that I need to have faith. I need to believe in what Jesus has done

I can’t have faith for Sam or for James, or for Carrol, or for my kids

I need to believe, and each person needs to believe in what Christ has done for us

But sometimes that personal faith also turns into this sort of “I need to somehow summon up enough faith to stay faithful”

And in times when it feels like God isn’t so close, when He feels distant, we start to wonder, “well what’s wrong with me?”

Why don’t I seem to have enough faith?

But, you know, I believe that the Bible would teach that our faith isn’t something that we work up.

It’s not something that we sort of dig deep and pull out of ourselves

Rather, it is something that is given to us by God Himself

There is that tremendous passage from Ephesians 2:8 “8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,”

There is a lot in these verses as you know

And there are some questions around this statement, “it is the gift of God”

When it says that, what is it talking about? Salvation, God’s grace, faith?

Well, I confess that I’m not a Greek scholar, but as I understand it, there is evidence to suggest that the “gift” being spoken of here is, in fact, the gift of faith

Our faith is a gift from God

The very fact that we are able to have faith at all is a gift from Him!

And it’s something to be thankful for!

And the reason that I would tend to think this is because this isn’t the only passage that would speak to this

Acts 5:31 “31 God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.”

Acts 11:18 “18 When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.””

Acts 13:48 “48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.”

Acts 16:14 “14 One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.”

All of these passages speak to the active role that God has in our salvation

Not only was it His plan send Jesus to introduce the Kingdom of God, die on the cross and make a way to be reconciled to God,

But He also enables us to have the faith to believe in what He has done

Our faith, our belief is from Him and when we feel plagued by doubts, we have the privilege to cry out to HIm and say, Lord please give me more faith!

I’m reminded of the story in Mark 9 where a man brings his boy who was tormented by a demon to Jesus for healing

And Jesus tells him, “All things are possible for one who believes”. And the man cries out, “Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief!”

When I don’t have enough faith, help me to have faith

So, the point of what I’m saying here this morning is that faith is something to thank God for

in your own life and in the lives of others

When you think of someone and that person has been an inspiration in your life, or left an example of godliness

Thank God for the faith that He has given that person

And “BTW”, who is the faith in?

It’s in Christ Jesus

You know, a lot of people say, “I have faith. I believe in God”

A lot of people cry out to “god” when they are in trouble

But you don’t know always know what they mean. Is this a small “g” god?

Is this just some sort of “force” out there?, some sort of presence?

BTW, there are more and more churches, some of our charismatic churches that seem to be talking about God more and more this way

They talk about His presence, inviting His spirit

And it seems to becoming something that you have to invoke, or create the right atmosphere for this presence to show up. That generally happens in church

And you wonder, what do they do during the week

Is God, real? Is He personal, does He make a difference every moment of every day

Paul says, “I am thankful for your faith in Jesus Christ

See now, we are getting more specific.

There would probably be a lot of people who would say, “I believe in God. But when it comes to Jesus…well…not sure about Him. Yeah, He was a good man and all.”

Faith in Jesus Christ: that is something to be thankful for

And again, not just an agreeing that, yeah, Jesus was a real man and lived centuries ago

No, it’s faith in Jesus being the very Son of God and faith in what He has done to reconcile me to the Father and faith that today He is alive and active in my life today

Thanksgiving for your love for all God’s people

Paul says, “I thank God for the love that you have for His people”

You know, one of the clearest evidences that the Holy Spirit is at work in the hearts of people is their love for the people of God

It is their love for God AND for the people of God

Jesus said, “this is how everyone will know that you are my disciples: it’s your love for each other”

You know, this is something to thank God for, because, again, the evidence of love in the people of God is not always a given. It’s not something to be taken for granted.

Love for the people of God by people who call themselves people of God, unfortunately is not something that always happens the way that it should

The other day I was watching an interview with a very well-known Christian singer

And he told the story of his childhood

His parents got saved and his father became a Pentecostal preacher. There was nothing he liked to do more than preach

But his father was very harsh toward RT and his brothers—physical and emotional abuse

And then his father became an alcoholic and the abuse became even harsher

And meanwhile RT was discovering his own love for music and talent for playing the guitar and singing

And he would sing regularly in the church

But his dad kept getting thrown out of the church because of his alcoholism

But RT still wanted to sing and would show up at the church with his guitar

And the people would ask him, “What are you doing here? We don’t want you here. Get out of here!”

And he recalls his confusion, thinking, “these people are supposed to be Christians. Why don’t I feel any love from them?”

And the pain from these experiences was so intense that RT became an alcoholic while singing with a Gospel music group and dealt with that for many many years and almost destroyed his life

He did not experience love from God’s people

We look around and there are various groups who have split off from other groups because they just couldn’t agree with them

There are some legitimate times when that might be necessary

But there are other times when you feel like some people have the attitude of, “Well, we can do church better”.

We’d just rather not hang around with “those” so-called Christians

And I wonder, where is the love for the people of God?

You know, just because someone says, “I am a follower of Jesus, it’s not a given that this person will be commended for his love for the people of God

And when you see the evidence of genuine and Godly love from God’s people, that is something to be thankful for

Because love is the very character of God

And it is the very first quality listed in the fruit of the Spirit passage in Galatians

Love evidenced by joy

Loved evidenced by peace

Love evidenced by longsuffering

When you see someone or a group of people who have genuine love for the people of God, that is a really good reason to be thankful

Why? Because it’s God at work

It is the clear evidence of God at work

And the challenge for you and me is

Are you thankful for the love that you see in other people for the people of God

Do you thank God for these people?

Do you and I tell others, “Hey, I thank God for you! I thank God for the love that you have for Him and for His people!”

Think how encouraging that would be and what it would do for our attitudes toward other people

The Hope laid up for you in Heaven

“I thank God for the love that you have for the saints because of the hope that is laid up for you in heaven”

The faith, and the love that we have for the people of God is based on this: We have hope of a future

It’s based on a correct view of eternity, that our final end is not here in this world, but it is with Jesus in the presence of God forever

I think that a lot of times our problems with each other, the things that cause us not to love each other , or the things that cause conflict with each other

Come from a narrow view

They come because all we see is the here and now

The material things of this world take a bigger place in our lives than they should and then that’s all that we see

And because others don’t see them the same way that we do, we fight about them

We fight about politics and social issues and dress issues, and music issues, and all kinds of things in church

Because these things have become far too important to us

But Paul says here, your faith and love for each other comes from the hope that you have for eternity

This hope “laid up in heaven” as Paul says here

Gives us the ability to look beyond things in this life.

Yes, they are important, but not as important as eternity

And we keep things in the right perspective

And instead of fighting about things we focus on living lives of faith and love

Having an eternal perspective helps us love God first of all

And from that love of God, we love each other

We know that we are only on this earth for a blink of an eye

And while there are things that are important to us, we keep our relationships free and clear with each other

Reminder of what God has done and is continuing to do

This is an encouragement, isn’t it? We need to hear and be reminded of what God has done in the past and is continuing to do

Just summarizing the next few verses, Paul says, you heard the word of truth from Epaphras and it is bearing fruit and increasing, just as it is doing in the whole world

This is what is happening in your life, and it is happening this way “in the whole world”

(Probably not in the entire world, but at least where the Gospel has been shared”

This is a reminder that

You are part of something big that is happening.

Paul reminds these Believers that God is working in your life just the same as He is working the lives of countless others around the world

Church, I would remind us of that same thing

We are part of something BIG that God is doing and has been doing for centuries

This is one of the things that I appreciated about the Perspectives class

it was the emphasis on that global perspective. The things that God is doing here in Kalona are the same things that God is doing in countless other Believers and churches around the world

The things that He is doing in the lives of Believers around the world is what He is doing here

You and I are a part of HIS story.

the Gospel has come to you and me just as it has to others around the world and it is bearing fruit

This should be such an encouragement to you and to me

The faithfulness and the power of God

The Gospel came to you and it is bearing fruit and it is increasing

Why? Because the Church has some how worked out the right formula and have all the right programs in place?

No, because God is making it increase

Remember what it says in 1 Cor. 3, Paul says, I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.

It’s God who does the real and lasting work

And when we see Him at work, this is somethign to thank God for

Because we realize again that it is GOD at work, not us

We don’t have to invent new and clever strategies of outreach necessarily.

Rather, we faithfully