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How are we to Pray?
Colossians 4:2-3
1. Prayer must be devoted
2. Prayer must be done in thanksgiving
3. Prayer must be dependent on God
1. INTRODUCTION
i.
The book of Colossians is first and primarily about the greatness and sufficiency of Christ.
Colossians emphasizes who Christ is but also what He has done.
So Paul reminds us through this book, that in light of who He is and what He has done, this is what we must do.
So what does the Christian have to do? Well Paul tells us in Chapter 1:9 that we must not cease in prayer.
We must pray for those who come to faith and not cease in our prayer for them.
What must we be praying for?
That those who are new in Christ would walk in a manner worthy of the Lord to please Him and bear fruit in every good work (1:10).
So what does increasing in the knowledge of the Lord do?
It strengthens us with all His power so that we could endure in all steadfastness and patience, joyously giving thanks to the Father who has allowed us to be children of God (1:11).
ii.
What we learn from this is the importance of prayer and how prayer is intertwined within the Christian life.
We are reminded how important prayer is in the life of the believer.
Then in 2:5, Paul tells us that although he is absent in person, nevertheless he is with the church of Colossae in spirit because he’s praying for them and with them.
He reminds them to be established in their faith just as they were instructed and to overflow with gratitude (2:5-7).
iii.
Paul then goes on to Chapter 3 reminding them of their position in Christ.
Colossians 3:16-17 tells the church at Colossae to let the word of Christ richly dwell within them, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
He then closes that statement by telling them, whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks through Him to God.
This leads us to the context for our theme.
Paul’s reminder throughout the letter is thankfulness.
Due to the greatness and sufficiency of Christ, whatever we do, must be done in thankfulness.
This leads us to the topic that is before us today.
How are we to pray?
Paul lays out 3 ways in which we are to pray.
Prayer must be devoted, Prayer must be done in thanksgiving, and finally, Prayer must be dependent on God.
2. BODY
a. Prayer must be devoted (4:2)
i. Paul starts the section in verse 1, by reminding us that you should know that you have a master in Heaven.
Knowing that you have a master in Heaven, devote yourselves to prayer.
When we look at this phrase, we think what does it mean to be devoted to prayer?
We can think about devoted means to keep at it, to persevere, to endure.
ii.
This is all correct, but Paul gives us more than that.
Paul tells us in verse 1, knowing that you have a master in Heaven.
Notice that his devotion to prayer is directly connected to knowing we have a master in Heaven.
So devotion is knowing that you have a Master.
What does devotion look like in this sense?
It is to know who God is.
Not only knowing who God is, but knowing He is your master.
iii.
Paul has previously in chapter 3:18-25 gone over how wives and husbands must act, how parents must behave before their parents and how slaves and masters must act to one another.
Paul closes that statement in 3:22 by telling us “fearing in the Lord.”
Then in verse 23, Paul starts by telling us, whatever you do, do your work heartily, do it from your heart, as for the Lord rather than for men.
iv.
Paul starts this reminder to tell us that everything we do, we must do in our devotion to God.
This is why Paul tells us in 4:2, that when we pray, it must be unto God, unto Christ.
Knowing whom it is we are serving, we must always do all things in light of who Christ is.
This is a strong reminder, that our prayers, the way in which we pray, must always be devoted to a person.
v.
I am reminded by when we say things like I am devoted to my wife.
This means that I will keep my promises to her, I will remain faithful to her.
I will be the man that I said I would be to her when I took my oath to marry her.
This is what I believe prayer to be.
Paul tells us to be devote yourselves to prayer.
It means to always pray, to always trust, to always communicate with God.
But it also means, that I will look to the person of Christ.
It means that I will pray because I am devoted, I am bound to this person.
Prayer creates a connection between God and us.
It is through prayer that our relationship with God grows.
When Paul tells us to be devote yourselves to prayer, Paul is reminding us who our Master is and our relationship to Him.
Paul reminds us in 3:24, it is Christ whom you serve.
Therefore, devotion in prayer, in trusting and confiding and relying on Him, it is all done in our personal relationship with Christ.
vi.
So how are we to pray?
Our prayer lives must be devoted.
When I think about devoted in a personal level within relationships, I am reminded of depth.
When we think about depth in relationships, it is the ability to talk about more honest things.
It is to delve into matters that go beyond the mundane, the ordinary.
It’s not conversations that deal with what did you do today, what did you eat, what are you going to do later?
But rather, it deals with the person.
It deals with conversing about how the person is doing or how they feel.
It is to know more about the person.
vii.
That is what our prayer lives must be.
It isn’t a simple mundane practice of telling God what I am doing, what I will do, and what I will eat today.
But rather, it is to be devoted to God.
It is to tell Him what it is that is going on in us.
It is to be honest with God.
But the catch is, to know that He is listening.
I think we struggle in our prayer lives because we don’t actually believe that He is listening.
And when we know that He is listening, we don’t know how to pray because we think it’s supposed to sound a certain way.
We are consistently repetitious to the point that we forget what we’ve prayed about.
Years of this type of prayer cause us to be bored in our prayer lives.
And the more bored we become in our prayers, we are discouraged to pray at all.
viii.
But Paul reminds us, be devoted to prayer.
Just as a wife is subject to her husband and the way a husband must be devoted to his wife and his children, do all things in fear of the Lord.
Our prayer lives must be practical in our relationship to Christ.
Just as we are constantly learning in learning our relationships with our loved ones, we must constantly be learning in our relationship with God.
We must learn how to pray better.
We must learn more about Him.
But the most important thing is, we must be devoted to Him.
We must do it from our hearts like Paul writes in 3:23.
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