How to Approach Prayer
Col 4:2-6
2Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; 3 praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; 4 that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak. 5 Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. 6 Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.
There are some themes that Paul returns to regularly. These are the reoccurring points that he wants to make sure that his readers are not able to miss or avoid. It has been said that to a non-believer, prayer appears to be an utter waste of time. However, to those who believe in God, it is crucial. Of course, Paul was in the camp that believed that the greatest work we can do is that of prayer. Some quotes about prayer that I found when looking are:
- “Prayer does not fit us for the greater work; prayer is the greater work.” Oswald Chambers.
- “The man who mobilizes the Christian church to pray will make the greatest contribution to world evangelization in history.” Andrew Murray
- “Talking to men for God is a great thing, but talking to God for men is greater still.” E.M. Bounds
- “God does nothing except in response to believing prayer.” John Wesley
- “There has never been a spiritual awakening in any country or locality that did not begin in united prayer.” ~ D.A.T. Pierson
- “To get nations back on their feet, we must first get down on our knees.” ~ Billy Graham
- “To desire revival…and at the same time to neglect(personal) prayer and devotion is to wish one way and walk another.” ~ A.W. Tozer
If you have ever thought about it, you will realize that there are millions if not billions of various situations in all the Christians, in their homes, in their jobs, in their churches and in all their lives. There would seem to be no possible way that God could address what to do in each and every situation that could arise. There is not mention in the Bible about exceeding the speed limit because the top speed when God last directed someone to add to it was about 30 mph by a common horse. So God, in His remarkable wisdom, had Paul lay out the principles that could give us the guidance we seek in short small segments such as what we read here. He doesn’t get too obvious about it, like saying in case I have missed anything. But the Holy Spirit speaks to Paul when he calls us to be a people who are “Devoted to prayer”.
There are no long messages about how to grow your church or what kind of bread you are to have when you gather for the Lord’s Supper. Paul strikes a cord that he knows will resolve the most confused among us, devote yourself to prayer. I like to quote sayings about the importance of prayer, but what if we spend just a few moments talking about what is prayer. Seems silly, doesn’t it. We have an idea about what prayer is, it is so basic. But if it is basic, tell me how do you view prayer? What is prayer to you? For me, it is a child at the foot of the throne of his adopted Father, asking Him for something that he may or may not be capable of doing himself. I have always viewed prayer as an activity that takes place before the Father, with the Son sitting beside the Father assuring that we have the right to be in that most Holy place because of the Son’s work for our redemption. Sometimes it is a pleading for the changes I sense I need in my own heart, sometimes it is just talking and trying to figure out what should be done, and most times it is pleading the case for someone I care about or the loved one of someone I care about. When I pray, I sense that I am the only one making a request although I know that throughout the world there are people more worthy than I am making requests at the same time. But I also know that the power of prayer is not in the person praying, but the authority to come before the One who can effect change on behalf of the person praying. It is not the size of the faith, but it is that the faith is present. I am also aware of the great benevolence of the Father, and that I would not want to get something that request, even if I have prayed for it. I would only want that which the Father knows would be good for me to have, or for others to have as well. I put things out on that table because I don’t want it to be said of me that “I have not because I ask not”, but at the same time I don’t want to get what I pray for at the cost of my soul. (“And He gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul.” Ps 106:15.
What is faith the size of a mustard seed? What does that really mean? It is not the size of the seed, but the belief that becomes the life shattering lesson. So many people might spend a lot of time trying to defend the choice of the mustard seed. Jesus chose it because it was seemingly so insignificant and it accomplished such large things. Faith, real faith shouldn’t be measured or assessed as if it were currency.
This section addresses how to talk to God. The manner of our prayers should be marked by devotion. To be devoted in prayer is to purposefully plan to pray. You know, it isn’t a fair shot to take because today all of us are here on a day when we might be torn between two things. We would like to be home watching the football playoff game and yet we have choses to be at church. Why? Because we want to show ourselves to God and man that we are more devoted to Him and His church than we are to that game where 22 men face each other and try to carry a small piece of leather across a chalk line while 70,000 people scream in the freezing cold trying to prompt them to succeed. And while they play their grown-up game, the players make more money in one year than most of us will ever make in our lifetime, and many of the people who attend the game will spend more money to sit on a cold seat than we make in an entire month. One might say those fans are devoted, and you would be right. They are devoted, but not to prayer although I would guess that one team or the other might be soon praying about what is about what is going to happen in the game. But devoted fans.
Could you describe yourself in the same terms about your prayer life? Are there things that you are willing to set aside to pray? Sacrifices that you are willing to make in order to have time in prayer? Are the times when you are willing to commit yourself to being uncomfortable for the sake of prayer? Have you ever seen some of those people who paint up their faces for a football game? I’m not suggesting that works for prayer, but there is a point where you have to agree that a person is sold out for their team. Are we sold out to pray? I’m not – shamefully.
The next thing that is brought out about prayer is that we must stay “alert in prayer”. The picture that comes to mind quickly for me is the disciples in the garden. They had Jesus as their leader and He requested they pray and they fell asleep. They feel asleep. In the middle of the night, that’s normal but that doesn’t make it right. The Lord of Creation asked them to assist Him by prayer and they fell asleep. I regret to say that I would have most likely been snoring with the rest of them had I been there. I would have been just as guilty of not being alert in prayer. And the Lord of the Harvest has asked you and me to join with Him in prayer for workers in the Harvest. Do we wonder why there are lapses in the number of people coming to Christ in our world and in our church? When was the last time we prayed for workers for the harvest.
I also believe this phrase “alert in prayer” means even more than just staying awake while in prayer. To be alert in prayer also means that we are praying with active minds. This is not a mindless exercise. It is not the reading of a list to God that He already knows better than we do. God is not illiterate. He has already read your lists and he knows better than we do what is on our list. God wants us to meet with Him and bring our requests to Him, so that we might see our faith strengthened by His responses to our prayers. If prayer is a battle, and we approach as such, we will have a better understanding of what it means to be alert in prayer. I have never been in battle and if I was to share the one time I was shot at, it would involve paintball guns and a bunch of jr high friends of my sons. However just in that small situation, my heart rate was up and I was alert. It wasn’t life or death, and between you and me and the others in the room, it is kind of pathetic. But I can only imagine what it would be like to be in a place where real bullets are aimed in your direction. I would like to add the idea of purposeful prayer. Not some of the random prayers that are sometimes heard like “please bless our missionaries”, but specifics.
The next part is also an attitude to bring with your into your prayers. An attitude of thankfulness. What is the opposite of thankfulness? Critical, ungrateful, unthankful, thankless. I cannot imagine a child of God approaching His father with such a spirit. But I will admit that there have been times when I have done that. When that happened, I would suppose one of two things might happen. God might smile and say, well at least you are showing me your real heart. The other thing that happens is that God would say that it’s best that I don’t. But there are days you might not find a lot of things to be thankful for, once you seek to find things to rejoice about, you will find many things.
- Can we list a few things that we can find to be thankful about even though our world and everyone around us is crumbling?
All this was about how we approach God, next week, we’ll look at what we do when we approach God. How do we pray for other believes, and missionaries, and church leaders.