Prayer! Something New – Sermon 4 January, 2015

Prayer! Something New
Col. 4: 2-6
At the beginning of this New Year we hope and anticipate that something new happens in the world and in our lives. We are sure that good things happened in the year 2014, but we know that certain things which we had hoped and wished for did not happen. The loss of a loved one, health issues we had or one of our loved ones had, pressing economic situations, natural disasters, wars, violence, murder, killings and so on. As we have always done, at the beginning of the 2015 we wished each other a happy and prosperous year full of joy and happiness. In other words we are hoping for something new to happen in our lives and in the world.
As a church we also hope for new things to happen in our ministry, always in line with God’s will. We look to this New Year with expectation and hope for a better life. So we look for something new, which could change the course of our lives in the direction of a better life full of blessings.
My hope and intention in this New Year is that we as a church focus on more essential matters rather than incidental things. Yes, the plans we put in place, the programs and the activities we organise are important and we need to have those in the course of the year, but at the start of this New Year I urge you all to focus your attention on one of the essential aspects of our Christian faith. I want us to consider the matter of Prayer during the year.
Paul began his letter to the church at Colosse talking about prayer (1:3, 9) and now finishes his letter with admonition to pray, as well making certain requests and reminders. Paul was in prison for the last time and I believe he knew the end was near. He wanted to leave them with a few essentials for life and ministry. Two of these he spells out and the third he describes in his final greetings. In the last verses of Colossians we can pick out these three essentials for ministry that apply to all of us today. There are three things we must do if we’re to be successful in the Christian life. These are: Praying to God, Proclaiming the Word & Sharing the Ministry with others.
We will look in the first thing which is prayer and quickly mention the other two.
I. PRAYER – Praying to God
Nothing is more important than prayer. I like this description about prayer:
“Prayer is not designed as an intercom between us and God to serve the domestic comforts of the saints. It’s designed as a walkie-talkie for spiritual battlefields. It’s the link between active soldiers and their command headquarters, with its unlimited fire-power and air cover and strategic wisdom.”
There are four aspects of prayer that Paul gives in quick fashion:
A. Faithful Praying – “Devote yourselves to prayer”
– Pray with devotion. The word, “devote” means to “observe and obey firmly to.” It implies relentless persistence. We read in the book of Acts how steadfast the early church was: “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” (2:42) In Luke 18:1, Jesus told his “disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.”
Being devoted in prayer is similar to cheering on your sports team, regardless of whether they are winning or losing. Paul is saying something quite simple: Keep praying. Don’t give up. Be faithful.
To be “devoted” to prayer also means to be “ready at all times.” Paul is saying, “Always be ready to break into prayer, and do it instantaneously, at all times.” Many times the Bible says we are to pray continually. What does it mean to faithfully pray? Does it mean we must be whispering prayers to God every moment? No, but we are to be ready to break into prayer at any time. Prayer is like a muscle, the more you use it the stronger it gets and when you don’t use it weakens. It is awfully hard to get a muscle to work after it has weakened.
B. Watchful Praying – “being vigilant in it” or “being watchful” (wide awake)
Jesus said to Peter in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation” (Matt.26:41)
Verse 2 continues by saying that we’re to be “watchful” or awake when we pray. Paul told the believers in 1 Thessalonians 5:6 to not go asleep but to instead be “alert and self-controlled” as the time approaches for the Lord’s return. This exhortation brings to mind the words of Jesus to His disciples the night before He was crucified in Mark 14:34, 38: “Stay here and keep watch…Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” Because Peter could not stay awake when he was supposed to pray, he gave in to temptation and denied Christ a few hours later.
We must be watchful (on the alert) in our prayers. Be watchful! Remember, this advice comes from Paul, a prisoner of Christ.
C. Thankful Praying – “with thanksgiving”
Six times Paul stresses this in this short letter (1:3, 12; 2:7; 3:15, 17; 4:2). Probably half of our time in prayer should be taken up in thanksgiving. We overlook the many ways God blesses us. Being thankful in prayer, takes away from our tendency to pray selfishly.
Pray with thankfulness. We should never pray without thinking of at least one thing to thank God for. Gratitude is a stimulus to prayer. When we see answers to prayer, we will pray more.
He’s given us so many things. We can thank Him for His presence, His provision, His pardon, His promises, and for His purposes. Listen to how Paul puts his own preaching into practice in 1:3: “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you.”
D. Purposeful Praying (3a) – “praying also for us”
Too often our prayers are too vague and general. We pray, “Lord, we pray for peace” or “Lord, we pray for the sick and the poor”. It’s better to pray for specific regions and people we know and the needs they have and remember them by name if possible.
II. EVANGELISM – Proclaiming the Word
This is the responsibility of:
A. Leaders – “For us” (speaking of his team) and “I” (3,4)
1. Opportunity to speak (“open doors”)
2. To speak clearly (“make it manifest”)
Responsibility to preach clearly to the world needs prayers.
B. Laity
1. In your walk. Find the opportunity to lead others to Christ. Everything you say and do influences others.
2. In Your Talk. Walking alone is not enough. We must also talk the talk: Lovingly, attracting and persuading.
III. Sharing the ministry with others
This responsibility is shared with others.
Paul had a group of people who were his co-workers.
At the end of the letter he mentioned names, at least fourteen, who were faithfully serving the Lord.
We’ve all heard messages on the need to pray and the need to witness and yet most of us struggle because we know we’re not doing enough. We know that prayer makes a difference, that we have access to the God of the universe, that we can have peace as we pray, and that without prayer, we are powerless. And yet, most of us don’t pray like we should.
In one sense, prayer is simple; but yet, it is also the most difficult part of the Christian life. Ask any believer about their battles, and nine out of ten will tell you that maintaining a warm and deepening prayer life is one of their greatest challenges. Because so many have struggled for so long, it’s tempting to not pray at all. But then we feel guilty for not trying harder to cultivate a life of prayer.
There are several obstacles to prayer.
– We may not yet have a true relationship with God. In order to experience the joy of answered prayer, it’s essential that we are able to call God our Father. We can do that only if we’ve received Jesus Christ into our life.
– We may be more focused on asking for things than on knowing God more intimately. James 4:3 tells us that sometimes we don’t receive because we’re asking with wrong motives.
– We’re too proud. If the truth were known, some of us don’t really feel like we need any help. James 4:6: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
– We view prayer as a chore. When we see something as a “have to” we often fight against it. Only grace can truly bring us to our knees.
At the start of this New Year God is calling us to examine ourselves and to start the year with the decision to devote ourselves to prayer.

Krikor Youmshajekian