How to Approach Prayer<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Col 4:2-6<\/p>\n 2<\/sup><\/strong>Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with\u00a0an attitude of thanks\u00adgiving;\u00a03<\/sup>\u00a0praying at the same time\u00a0for us as well, that God will open up to us a\u00a0door for\u00a0the word, so that we may speak forth\u00a0the mystery of Christ, for which I have also\u00a0been imprisoned;\u00a04<\/sup>\u00a0that I may make it clear\u00a0in the way I ought to speak.\u00a0 5<\/sup>\u00a0Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward\u00a0outsiders,\u00a0making the most of the opportunity.\u00a06<\/sup>\u00a0Let your speech always be\u00a0with grace,\u00a0as though\u00a0seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should\u00a0respond to each person.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n There are some themes that Paul returns to regularly.\u00a0 These are the reoccurring points that he wants to make sure that his readers are not able to miss or avoid.\u00a0 It has been said that to a non-believer, prayer appears to be an utter waste of time.\u00a0 However, to those who believe in God, it is crucial.\u00a0 Of course, Paul was in the camp that believed that the greatest work we can do is that of prayer.\u00a0 Some quotes about prayer that I found when looking are:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 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.\u00a0 There would seem to be no possible way that God could address what to do in each and every situation that could arise.\u00a0 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\u2019t get too obvious about it, like saying in case I have missed anything.\u00a0 But the Holy Spirit speaks to Paul when he calls us to be a people who are \u201cDevoted to prayer<\/strong>\u201d.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s Supper.\u00a0 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\u2019t it.\u00a0 We have an idea about what prayer is, it is so basic.\u00a0 But if it is basic, tell me how do you view prayer?\u00a0 What is prayer to you?\u00a0 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\u2019s work for our redemption.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 It is not the size of the faith, but it is that the faith is present.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 I would only want that which the Father knows would be good for me to have, or for others to have as well.\u00a0 I put things out on that table because I don\u2019t want it to be said of me that \u201cI have not because I ask not\u201d, but at the same time I don\u2019t want to get what I pray for at the cost of my soul. (\u201cAnd He gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul<\/strong>.\u201d Ps 106:15.<\/p>\n What is faith the size of a mustard seed?\u00a0 What does that really mean?\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Jesus chose it because it was seemingly so insignificant and it accomplished such large things. \u00a0Faith, real faith shouldn\u2019t be measured or assessed as if it were currency.<\/p>\n This section addresses how to talk to God.\u00a0 The manner of our prayers should be marked by devotion.\u00a0 To be devoted in prayer is to purposefully plan to pray.\u00a0 You know, it isn\u2019t a fair shot to take because today all of us are here on a day when we might be torn between two things.\u00a0 We would like to be home watching the football playoff game and yet we have choses to be at church.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 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.\u00a0 One might say those fans are devoted, and you would be right.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 But devoted fans.<\/p>\n Could you describe yourself in the same terms about your prayer life?\u00a0 Are there things that you are willing to set aside to pray?\u00a0 Sacrifices that you are willing to make in order to have time in prayer?\u00a0 Are the times when you are willing to commit yourself to being uncomfortable for the sake of prayer?\u00a0 Have you ever seen some of those people who paint up their faces for a football game?\u00a0 I\u2019m 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.\u00a0 Are we sold out to pray?\u00a0 I\u2019m not \u2013 shamefully.<\/p>\n The next thing that is brought out about prayer is that we must stay \u201calert in prayer\u201d.\u00a0 The picture that comes to mind quickly for me is the disciples in the garden.\u00a0 They had Jesus as their leader and He requested they pray and they fell asleep.\u00a0 They feel asleep.\u00a0 In the middle of the night, that\u2019s normal but that doesn\u2019t make it right.\u00a0 The Lord of Creation asked them to assist Him by prayer and they fell asleep.\u00a0 I regret to say that I would have most likely been snoring with the rest of them had I been there.\u00a0 I would have been just as guilty of not being alert in prayer.\u00a0 And the Lord of the Harvest has asked you and me to join with Him in prayer for workers in the Harvest.\u00a0 Do we wonder why there are lapses in the number of people coming to Christ in our world and in our church?\u00a0 When was the last time we prayed for workers for the harvest.<\/p>\n I also believe this phrase \u201calert in prayer<\/strong>\u201d means even more than just staying awake while in prayer.\u00a0 To be alert in prayer also means that we are praying with active minds.\u00a0 This is not a mindless exercise. It is not the reading of a list to God that He already knows better than we do.\u00a0 God is not illiterate. He has already read your lists and he knows better than we do what is on our list.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 However just in that small situation, my heart rate was up and I was alert.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t life or death, and between you and me and the others in the room, it is kind of pathetic.\u00a0 But I can only imagine what it would be like to be in a place where real bullets are aimed in your direction.\u00a0 I would like to add the idea of purposeful prayer.\u00a0 Not some of the random prayers that are sometimes heard like \u201cplease bless our missionaries\u201d, but specifics.<\/p>\n The next part is also an attitude to bring with your into your prayers.\u00a0 An attitude of thankfulness<\/strong>. What is the opposite of thankfulness? Critical, ungrateful, unthankful, thankless.\u00a0 I cannot imagine a child of God approaching His father with such a spirit. \u00a0But I will admit that there have been times when I have done that. \u00a0When that happened, I would suppose one of two things might happen. \u00a0God might smile and say, well at least you are showing me your real heart. \u00a0The other thing that happens is that God would say that it\u2019s best that I don\u2019t. \u00a0But 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.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n All this was about how we approach God, next week, we\u2019ll look at what we do when we approach God. \u00a0How do we pray for other believes, and missionaries, and church leaders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" How to Approach Prayer \u00a0 Col 4:2-6 2Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with\u00a0an attitude of thanks\u00adgiving;\u00a03\u00a0praying at the same time\u00a0for us as well, that God will open up to us a\u00a0door for\u00a0the word, so that we may …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":774,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[83],"tags":[84,103],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1663"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1663"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1664,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1663\/revisions\/1664"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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