Rooted In Prayer: Praying for Others

One of the underlying values that has guided me as a pastor over the years is this: Nothing of eternal value can take place unless God’s people pray.  I saw this value at work in my youth ministry in Albany, Oregon when I started making prayer a priority in that ministry.  We prayed for students to step up and lead, and they did.  We prayed for students who had walked away from God to come back, and they did.  We prayed for students to start reaching out to their peers, and they did.  Lives were changed and students were saved because we had started to pray for one another.

Then when we went to plant a church in Langley, BC, with some 200 committed prayer partners we prayed for God to open doors of opportunity for Jesus, and He did.  We asked God to raise up workers for the harvest, and He did that too.  From that we saw an awakening and joy as many young adults experienced God using them for the first time to lead someone to Jesus. Not only that, but we asked God to provide property for a building, and not only did he provide the land, but He moved our people to give generously so we paid it off and paid for it to be serviced as well.

Then when God led us to come to Robson we asked God to give us a new group of prayer warriors to pray for us, and He did.  We asked Him to raise the funds we needed and a team to launch, and He did that too.  And then we started asking God to open doors and open hearts to Jesus and he answered those prayers too.  And He’s still answering the prayers of His people.  He’s raising up leaders, He’s healing the sick, and He’s saving people in their 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. God is building His Church all because God’s people have prayed. So I’ll say it again: Nothing of eternal value can take place unless God’s people pray.

So here’s the deal: if nothing of eternal value can take place unless we pray, then maybe it’s time we raised the bar in our prayer lives. But how would God have us do that?

He shows us in Colossians 1:9-14.  For it’s in these verses Paul reveals how he prays for God’s people.  And his model is a great model for raising the bar in our prayer lives.  Because his model shows us how we can pray for one another. So if you’ve brought your Bible with you today, let’s look at how we can up our game in praying for one another. And he gives us four ways to do that. And the first way we can raise our game in prayer is by…

Praying Continually ”For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you.” I want to make three observations here: First, Paul had received a good report about this church.  The Colossians had a great reputation.  They were known for their faith in Jesus Christ and their love for all the believers.  What we see here is that they were an including church, every single person was was loved in that church. So this was a healthy group of Christ followers.  The second observation is this:  Paul wasn’t alone in praying for them.  He had a team praying for them. ”For this reason, since the day We heard about you, We have not stopped praying for you.”   And the third observation is that Paul made it a point to let them know that they were constantly in their prayers.  They were continually holding this church up in prayer.

So that begs the question:  Why was it so important for Paul’s team to continually lift this church up in prayer?  And the answer lies in the fact that there were false teachers in their midst who were trying to lead them away from Jesus. These teachers were promoting a religion that stressed keeping rituals and rules.  They also taught that spiritual growth was attained by discipline of the body (asceticism – which basically says that the body is evil and must be punished) and they also taught that to be spiritual you had to have a special insider knowledge either through visions or the worship of angels. So these false teachers had cooked up a Heinz 57 religion. They had mixed together bits of legalism, angel worship, asceticism, human wisdom… along with a bit of Jesus, and were serving it up as the way to be spiritual.  As a result they were downgrading faith in Jesus and promoting a spiritual enlightenment apart from Jesus.

Does that ever happen today?  Well, in recent years, angel worship has gained in popularity (I even had an old high school friend who posted a picture of her angel on facebook this week.  Also religion focusing on right behavior is still seen as a sign of superior faith in many churches.  Moral behavior is exalted over gracious living.  And in some circles having some kind of mystical experience is elevated over simple faith in Christ.  So today people want to create their own version of Christianity based on special rules or experiences, rather than focusing on Christ alone.  And that can be a danger to us too. That’s why we need to be continually praying for one another.

But how are we to do that? What should be our focus?  That’s what we see next. Paul and his team were not just praying continuously for God’s people, but they were: Praying Purposefully  “We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way.”

What a great way to pray for a brother or sister in Christ. I’ve begun praying this way regularly for the guys in my journey group.  Let me make a couple of teaching points here to show you what exactly Paul and his team was praying for.  First, they asked that these believers would be filled with the knowledge of God’s will. The idea is that they would come to the place where they would gain a complete understanding of what God wants them to know, and that they would become “completely certain” of what God wants them to know.

This was a prayer that countered the false teachers who were promoting some kind of special insiders knowledge apart from Christ.  So the knowledge Paul is praying for is the knowledge of what God has done for them and in them through Jesus Christ. This knowledge comes through the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives.  It is not a knowledge that comes through human wisdom or philosophy.

In other words, Paul is asking God to give each believer a certain and complete knowledge of all we have in Jesus.  He’s asking that every believer would know with certainty that “in Christ” we have all we need.  He is enough.  We don’t need to add some special insider knowledge to what we already have in Jesus.

We don’t have to worry about whether we are good enough to be approved of God.  Now, in Christ we are holy in his sight, without blemish and free of accusation.  We don’t have to worry about obtaining special insider knowledge to be included in God’s family.  For we have Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.  And now, we don’t have to worry about keeping certain rules or practicing certain rituals. For now, in Christ, we have the forgiveness of sins and have been made fully and spiritually alive in Christ.  In Christ we have all we need!

So his team prayed with this purpose: that every believer would be filled with this knowledge of God’s will for us in Christ.  This is a prayer God wants to answer.  So this may the most important prayer we can pray for one another.  For when we have complete certainty that Christ is all we need, then we will be free to live a life worthy of our Lord and please Him in every way.  Do you pray this way for others?  This is raising the bar in prayer.

Can you imagine what life would be like if we were all filled with this knowledge of Jesus?  There would be no more guilt, no more shame, and in its place would be the freedom to live the way God intends us to live; a new motivation for living the Christian life would fill our hearts, and we would now want to bring Jesus delight in how we now live.  That’s why Paul prays purposefully,so we might be free to live this new way of life. And that’s what we see next.  So Paul spells out what this new life consists of, and he so he spells out four ways, so now we don’t just play purposefully, but we can begin Praying Specifically!

That’s how Paul prays: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience,” Colossians 10:b-11

So the first mark of this new life is bearing fruit.Bearing fruit is the mark of every true Christ follower. As Jesus said, “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”John 15:8  So just what kind fruit would God have us produce?  Well, the Bible is full of examples:

Converts are to be considered fruit: You know that Stephanas and his household were the first of the harvest of believers in Greece, and they are spending their lives in service to God’s people. 1 Corinthians 16:15  The more you are filled with the knowledge of who Christ is and what you have in Christ, the more God will enable you to be part of the harvest. Some of you have never had the privilege of helping another come to faith in Jesus.  But God wants to fill you with Christ so that you will be free to bear this kind of fruit.  Remember, Jesus says: “If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit, but apart from me you can do nothing.”  So converts are fruit.

Praise is defined as a fruit: Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. Hebrews 13:15  This is not simply praising the name of Jesus in song, but lifting up the name of Jesus in the course of everyday life.  We do this every day.  We sing the praises of our spouse, our children or grandchildren.  And our culture is a master at this.  Our culture is constantly praising the name of actors or sports heroes. Why couldn’t it be said of us, that we’re always talking up Jesus?  When was the last time you spoke openly and joyfully about your Jesus?  This is what Paul was praying for!  Why shouldn’t we start praying this way for one another? That’s raising the bar in prayer, isn’t it?  Next,

Giving money is described as a fruit: For it pleased those from Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are in Jerusalem… Paul calls this giving fruit: Therefore, when I have performed this and have sealed to them this fruit, I shall go by way of you to Spain.  Romans 15:26-28 Generosity is the fruit of God’s grace exploding in your heart and releasing you to give.  The more you and I grasp all God has given us in Christ, the more we will be encouraged to give like God!  Giving is a fruit of Jesus living in us!  And finally,

Christlike character is a fruit: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Galatians 5:22-23  What a great way to pray specifically for one another: “Father help us grow in our love for one another, fill us with your joy and peace, give us patience to bear up when others wrong us, help us be instruments of kindness and goodness”…  Do you pray for one another this way?  Imagine the difference we could make if we did?  God wants to answer this kind of praying!  But that’s just bearing fruit in every good work.

He also prays that we might grow in our knowledge of God.  God wants us to know Him.  He will answer this prayer too.  You see, the more you grow in your knowledgeof God, the more confident you will be in your faith, the more you will risk stepping out for Jesus, the more you will want to partner with Him in what He wants to do.  What a great way to pray for one another!  That’s raising the bar in prayer.  God wants you to know Him.  We have a great big God.  Our God is a compassionate God, slow to anger and rich in love.

He also prays that in knowing Christ, we would be continually strengthened with all power according tohis glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience,  Don’t miss this!  God is not like a booster rocket giving believers an initial boost of power and then leaving us to fly on our own.  No, we have the potential to be continually strengthened with all power throughout our lives.  Here’s a picture of the booster rocketwe saw at the Kennedy Space Center earlier this month. This rocket generated 34.5 million newtons (7.6 million pounds) of thrust at launch, creating more power than 85 Hoover Dams.  But this rocket doesn’t hold a candle to the glorious power of God that’s available to us everyday!  For the power available to us everyday is the power of God Almighty.

What a way to pray for someone!  Too often we ask God to remove us from difficulties and trials.  But this prayer asks God for strength to endure anything.  This prayer calls on God’s power to help.  Do you pray this way? With God’s power we can overcome.  With the strength God gives we handle misfortune with grace.  With the strength God gives we can endure sickness and suffering.  With the strength God gives we can love the person who wrongs us.  Do you see how this raises the bar in prayer? Just imagine how your life might change if someone prayed this way for you; or if you started praying this way for others?  You just might become an unstoppable force for good in this world.  And don’t you think that’s exactly what God wants for you?

We need to raise the bar in how we are praying for one another, and this is such a great way to do it. But we’re not done, for in wrapping up his prayer, Paul brings us full circle to what Jesus has done for us and reminds us of the final way of praying that should characterize all our praying, and that is this:Praying Joyfully  And so he writes: “and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For 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.”  Colossians 1:12-14

The source of our joy is the gospel.  Our Father has not just rescued us from our lostness; our Father has not just removed us from the dominion of darkness; nor has our Father simply forgiven us.  No, here we see that once our Father united us in Christ, He qualified us to share in the inheritance of His holy people in the kingdom of light.  Here again, the gospel tells us we have it all in Jesus. In Jesus we have freedom, we have life, we have hope, we have a family and a future; and we have a heavenly Father who will never leave us nor forsake us. We have it all in Jesus.

And that should give us much joy.  So when we pray, lets pray with joy and thanksgiving –  for if our Father has already done all this for us in Christ, is there nothing to hard for Him?  God’s riches of grace found in Jesus is why we must raise the bar in prayer and start praying for one another.  Pray for others in your quite time.  Pray for your spouse, pray for your children.  Pray for your friends.  Pray for your Pastor. Pray in your journey group. Pray with your Journey Group.  Pray with your spouse.  Prayer is our great privilege and it unleashes our great potential – when we raise the bar in our praying.  So…

Pray for others continually – out of our love for one another

Pray for others purposely – that we might know all we have in Christ

Pray for others strategically – that we might bear much fruit, grow in our knowledge of God and be strengthened for anything we might face

Pray for others joyfully… And let’s see what God can do through us!

So Let’s pray… for one another!