Col 1.11 Priority Prayer Requests - Gods Power

Priority Prayer Requests: God’s Power (Col 1:11)

| !! What if God Had an Answering Machine?

Imagine praying and hearing this:“Thank you for calling My Father’s House. Please select one of the following four options:1. Press 1 for requests.2. Press 2 for thanksgiving.3. Press 3 for complaints.4. For all other inquiries, press 4.”What if God used the familiar excuse: “All of the angels are helping other customers right now. Please stay on the line. Your call will be answered in the order it was received.”  |

-          Thank the Lord that we do not have lines of communication like that with Him, we can come to him at anytime and voice our prayers

-          And with all of the prayers that are being raised today across our world, God is able to hear every single one of them as if they were the only one, such is communication with God

-          We are studying a very powerful prayer that was prayed by the Apostle Paul for the Christians living in the city of Colossae, Paul could pray with great power and impact and he had very important priorities in his prayer life which we need to have in our  prayer lives

-          Let us read the full prayer once again this morning

I.                     Praying for God’s Power

A.        We need God’s power

·         The logical progression in this prayer

Ø          In verse 9 Paul prays that the Christians would become experts on God’s will for their lives, in application to us, that we would become experts on God’s Word

Ø          In verse 10, Paul prays that the Christians would walk worthy of the Lord, applying what they are learning about God’s will, living it out

Ø          In verse 11, now, Paul prays that the Christians would be strengthened with the very power of God to live the life they are called to live

Ø          Knowledge, application, power,……..the power of God is absolutely essential to living the Christian life, the Christian life cannot be lived by human effort, it must be lived supernaturally by the power of God

Ø          This is where so many self help groups go wrong, pop psychology, the new age philosophies, look inside yourself and you will find all of the strength that you need

Ø          People leaving families to go find themselves, when you find yourself you probably won’t like what you find

Ø          Listen to what Paul the Apostle said in Romans 7,

Rom. 7:15 through Rom. 7:19 (NKJV)
15For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. 16If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 18For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. 19For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.

Ø          The answer is that we need the power of God, we need to depend more on Him and yield ourselves to His power

·         The Power available to us

Ø          The words used in this verse are worth studying, one of the benefits to slowing down in the study of a Book in the Bible

Ø          Strengthened: dunamoumenoi, might: dunamis, both from the same root word, where we the words dynamite, dynamic

Ø          Literally, I am praying that you would be empowered with all power, Paul is not praying for coasting or cruising type power, he is praying for pedal to the metal power our lives

Ø          Power: kratos, In the NT kratos is only used of the power of God, the very power of God, His glorious kratos, His shekinah glory power

Ø          Measure….according to the glory of God’s power

Ø          Paul is praying not for us to be strengthened out of God’s power, but according to God’s power, strengthened with the limitless power of God Himself

Ø          How powerful is God anyway?  All the things He has done and what it says of Him in the scripture

Ø          Theologians refer to God as being Omnipotent, all powerful

| !! Pascal

The greatest single distinguishing feature of the omnipotence of God is that our imagination gets lost when thinking about it.   |

Ø          God spoke this universe into existence, God parted the Red Sea allowing a nation to cross over on dry land, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead

Ø          Strengthened with all might: the tense in the Greek means ongoing, continuous power, a prayer for the ongoing, continuous power of God to be at work in your life

Ø          Boost phase of missiles, satellites in orbit that burn then float, full throttle, continuous power

Ø          As amazing as this does seem, the Bible does teach that that is the power that is available to us as Christians

Phil. 4:13 (NKJV)
13I can do all things through £Christ who strengthens me.

Eph. 1:3 (NKJV)
3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
2 Pet. 1:2 through 2 Pet. 1:4 (NKJV)
2Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

| !! Parade Float

One New Year’s Day, in the Tournament of Roses parade, a beautiful float suddenly sputtered and quit. It was out of gas. The whole parade was held up until someone could get a can of gas. The amusing thing was this float represented the Standard Oil Company. With its vast oil resources, its truck was out of gas. Often, Christians neglect their spiritual maintenance, and though they are “clothed with power” (Luke 24:49) find themselves out of gas. Steve Blankenship, Source unknown  |

John 14:12 (NKJV)
12“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.

B.         Power for What?

·         The usual thought

Ø          Most of us think of power as some spectacular kind of external manifestation

Ø          We see power in the Earthquake, or the Fire or the storm

Ø          People in this world are about to see the power of America, missiles, explosives, technology, it’s going to be like fireworks

Ø          Perhaps you think of power as political power or climbing the corporate ladder power, you have power, you can boss people around

Ø          The word power gives us an image of outer power, external power, we don’t think of it as inner power

Ø          Most of our country is filled with people who are more externally minded, not inwardly minded

Ø          People doing whatever it takes to look good, to look powerful, to look impressive: liposuction, makeovers, breast implants, muscle implants…..most all of the pop magazines out there deal with outward stuff

Ø          We generally don’t really care about inward strength as long as we look good outwardly

Ø          This is sometimes true in our Christian walks

Ø          We think of power as the power to do miracles, to speak in tongues, to prophecy.  We think of power and anointing as the preacher who can get up there and really get the crowd going.

Ø          Power evangelism, power healing, the Power Team that will come to your church and break bricks with there heads in the name of Christ

Ø          James and John wanted to call down fire on the Samaritans….the power of God

Luke 9:54 (NKJV)
54And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, £just as Elijah did?”

Ø          Now certainly our ministry and our outward life should be in demonstration of God’s power

Ø          But the Lord primary wants to fill us with this kind of power in the inner man, through his very precious and gentle whispers to our souls

Ø          Remember what happened with that prophet Elijah in 1 Kings 19, Mt.  Carmel victory

Ø          It is God’s will for us to have a walk worthy of the Lord, to fully please Him, to bear fruit, to live a godly life and He wants to give us power to do so

Ø          His power is to be manifested primarily in you, dealing with your character, the inner man, the inner woman, so that the external will follow suit

·         Endurance through trials mentioned here

Ø          Praying that the limitless power of God would be applied to their life so that they can endure patiently, with long suffering, and with joy any and all of the trials, persecutions, and difficult situations that come their way

Ø          This is prayer for God’s limitless power in the inner man to develop depth of character that is essential for the Christian witness

Ø          The type of power that changes from the inside out, that helps us to keep going in times of great stress

Ø          | in the NT the characteristic of a man who is not swerved from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and sufferings                                Thayers  |

Patience: hupomone, endurance, steadfastness, constancy in the face of various trials and tough times

Ø          Hupo: under, meno: to remain, to remain constant in your faith even under the greatest of difficulties

Ø          Soldier stationed at his post during a time of danger: remaining at his post under scary moments

Ø          There are Christians that sing with great passion, “I surrender All” or “Onward Christian Soldiers”, but the first trial that they encounter sends them for the bleachers

Ø          It takes the supernatural power of God to develop hupomone, patience, endurance, constancy

Ø          Makrothumia: forebearance, longsuffering, fortitude

Ø          Thumos: passion, angry, heat, anger forthwith boiling up and soon subsiding again, Macros: long, long to get angry at someone

Ø          This has more to do with dealing with problem people than difficult circumstances, some people are great at solving problems but have difficulty in working with people and vice versa, the Christian needs the power of God to do both

Ø          There are some people that you will have trouble with, that’s ok, we love them

Ø          There are some people that rub you the wrong way, they get under your skin, they irritate you, they use you, how do we handle that situation as Christians?

Ø          | Henry Wingblade used to say that Christian personality is hidden deep inside us. It is unseen, like the soup carried in a tureen high over a waiter’s head. No one knows what’s inside—unless the waiter is bumped and he trips! Just so, people don’t know what’s inside us until we’ve been bumped. But if Christ is living inside, what spills out is the fruit of the Spirit. - Carl Lundquist  |

“It's easy to spot a well-informed man--his views coincide with yours.”

·         With Joy

Ø          Now this adds a whole lot more to the situation doesn’t it?  Now you see why you need the power of God

Ø          This is not patience and longsuffering through gritted teeth, screaming and kicking

Ø          This is patience and longsuffering with joy…….getting through the difficult circumstances and confrontations with problem people in your life with your faith in tact and maintaining an attitude of joy throughout

Ø          Lindsay tells us, “I don’t like to pick up!”……she hasn’t learned to pick up toys with joy

Ø          Well we need the power of God to pick up pieces of our lives and relationships with other people and do so with joy

C.         Source of God’s power

·         God’s power is manifested through the Holy Spirit

Ø          Since we are promised power according to God’s power, the source of this power is God Himself

Ø          The Bible teaches that a born again Christian is the temple of the Holy Spirit, He dwells inside us

Ø          The Holy Spirit is the power source for Christian living and He works in and through our lives as we yield to Him, as we maintain our personal relationships with the Lord

Acts 1:8 (NKJV)
8But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be £witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Luke 24:49 (NKJV)
49Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city £of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”

Galatians 5:22 through Galatians 5:23 (NKJV)
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

John 14:15 through John 14:16 (NKJV)
15“If you love Me, £keep My commandments. 16And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—  (allon: of like kind, heteron: different)

Conclusion

-          Knowledge of God’s will, walking God’s will, doing so in the power of the Holy Spirit

-          Power in the inward man and woman……don’t look to plastic surgery to improve your life, look to a dynamic relationship with the Lord and experience the explosive power of the Holy Spirit on the inside

The basic difference between physical and spiritual power is that men use physical power but spiritual power uses men.

Justin Wroe Nixon (1886–1958)