Praiseful Prayer

Colossians

Paul wrote to Colossae to be read and forwarded to the church in Laodicea

Both churches up against false teaching—threatening the purity of the Gospel

Despite to opposition, Paul recognizes the church’s commitment to the Gospel.

In verses 1-8, he tells them how he thanks God when he prays for them.

The point of the entire letter is to admonish them against accepting things that only appeared as wisdom.

How much does that sound like today? The world tells us things that are in direct opposition to the Gospel.

The reason mentioned in verse 9 (for this reason) is talking about the church’s reception to true wisdom

Content of the Prayer

Paul prays for “the knowledge of [God’s] will.”

Spiritual wisdom

not what appears as wisdom, but wisdom that comes from the Spirit.

Spiritual understanding.

Of course, this knowledge, wisdom, and understanding can only come if we are in His word.

Many of us don’t read the Bible regularly because “we don’t understand it.”

Paul counts it all as possible through prayer. Do you pray for understanding?

How often do you pray that others, specifically, understand His word? I know that I, myself, have to do this more.

Object of the Prayer

The Manner of the Walk.

ESV says “so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;”

Two Components

“Worthy of the Lord.” AxIos. In a manner deserving, befitting, appropriate

“Pleasing to the Lord in every way” Areskeia

Desire to please

pleasing satisfaction n. — the trait delightfully yielding to the will of another

person for their happiness. It stems from obedience, but has the added desire

Example: Military. Someone in the army may follow orders appropriate to the one who gives the order. But that sort of obedience doesn’t always have the desire to please the person on the position.

Or my first day in Marching Band in KY, just moved so I was late to the season—had no music or anything. At the end of rehearsal, welcome to marching band! Pushups with my section. I followed because of the position, but not out of desire to please the section leader.

Respect the position, not the person?

Worthy of the Lord — Humility

When it comes to God

Pleasing to the Lord — Praise

When it comes to God

Worship

Both humility and praise are at the heart of worship. It’s all about knowing who we are in relation to God, and behaving according to that relationship.

It is also about developing a desire to please God, to serve His will above our own, and to obey.

In our prayers, we can aim for both of these things. This is how we have worshipful prayer.

Whether the prayer is for ourselves or for others, it is an act of worship.

How do we “walk this walk?”

1. “Bearing fruit in every good work.”

Bearing fruit- to produce actions and natural consequences befitting one’s nature.

Work - Duty that a person is obliged to perform for moral or legal reasons.

Part of it is symbolism. A tree produces fruit as a natural consequence befitting of its nature. Fruit is lasting evidence that’s visible to others.

I watched an episode of Top Chef with Cathy the other day. There was a pastor as one of the contestants. You could TELL where she stood! She prayed through everything and gave thanks to God for all the works that she produced.

We should praisefully pray for this fruit as it shows in our lives.

2. “Growing in the knowledge of God”

Paul mentioned this in verse 9. We cannot be solidly cemented in prayer without an increasing knowledge of God and His will.

We can’t be pleasing to the Lord (desire to yield to His will) without knowing what it is.

Growing in the knowledge of God helps us to know our obligations and moral duties known as “good works.”

Reading the Bible alone can be apprehensive to some. There are group study opportunities within the church to help bridge this gap and enrich those of all seasons of Bible knowledge. When I worked down in Westfield, it was easy to listen to the Bible through a Bible app on my phone. That helped me seek the knowledge of God in order to grow.

George Muller Quote

3. “Strengthened with all power”

We’ve looked at bearing fruit and growing in the knowledge of God. The third way we can walk worthy is strengthened with all power.

At first, I wondered how this was a way we could walk. Then I realized, the strength and power comes from Him.

It is our job to rely on His strength that we find through the growing knowledge and practices of good works.

In another letter that Paul wrote, Phil. 4:13, he says that he can do all the things he was dealing with through Christ who gave him strength.

It is through this power that great endurance and patience comes.

We should praisefully pray to be strengthened with His power to fulfill His purposes.

4. “Giving joyful thanks to the Father”

Lastly, we are called to give joyful thanks to the Father.

The thanks is not only for the fruit, the knowledge, and the power.

It is also for our place in His kingdom—we share in the inheritance of His holy people.

Turn to your neighbor and say, “God has qualified you” “to share in the inheritance”

That inheritance is in His kingdom. We don’t deserve it, I don’t think any of us can walk worthy enough to get there, but he qualified us through faith!

Do you ever find yourself praying for food only to realize halfway through that you already prayed? That happened to me a few days ago. I found myself tempted to stop because I did my duty of prayer. However, when I remembered the link to praise, it was easier to continue regardless of the repetition.

We should prasiefully thank God for all that he does for us and through us.

SO

On one hand we have the content of prayer. He prays for the church to have the knowledge of God’s will.

On the other side, we have the methods of walking worthy and pleasing to the Lord.

The word So, tells us that one causes the other. He prayed for them to have wisdom and understanding of the Spirit in order that they would bear fruit, seek knowledge, lean on God’s strength, and give joyful thanks to God.

We have a lot to be thankful for, but true thankfulness comes from all these things.

For

The reason for all of these things is for a righteous reason.

He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

If that’s not a reason to have praiseful prayer, I don’t know what is.

If you have not, yourself, accepted this redemption and forgiveness found in Jesus, what’s stopping you?

Why wait for a magic moment in your life? Both desire and knowledge start somewhere, and that’s with God’s word.