As we begin the third part of our brief study about prayer, I want to stress and repeat the point that the Bible does not just teach us one way of how we should pray. If we read the many portions of scripture of people praying, we will notice many different reasons and ways people prayed.
For example, both in the Old and New Testaments many prayers acknowledge God as, “O Sovereign Lord…” as we see in these examples.
Deuteronomy 9:26, “I prayed to the Lord and said, “O Sovereign Lord”.
Judges 16:28, “Then Samson prayed to the Lord, “O Sovereign Lord.”
Acts 4:24, “When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,”
As we have studied in the past two weeks, we have the two examples of how not to and how to pray that Jesus gives us in Matthew 6:5-8. And the nine different points or characteristics of what our prayers at times should include as Jesus also teaches in Matthew 6:9-15.
We learned how Jesus prayed in John chapter 17 which gives us one indication of our maturity of how we can pray for others. We learned that in spite of the critical events that would lead to His crucifixion that Jesus knew He was going to confront, He did not focus His prayers on himself or the upcoming events. Jesus focused His prayer on the needs of others.
Last week we studied the fact that as we mature in our prayer life, we start to pray or intercede for others to experience in their relationship with God as we are experiencing Him in ours. In other words, the content of our prayers for others is drawn from our own experience in our relationship with God. This is seen in how Epaphras, the apostle Paul’s ministry companion, prayed for those of his home church in Colosse. The NIV describes the way Epaphras prayed as “wrestling in prayer”, or in other words, “always contending on your behalf in his prayers”, Wuest. Colossians 4:12-13, 12 Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured.
We all want those we pray for to be blessed especially when we are not aware of any specific need. But how do we want them to be blessed? How can we pray for those whom we care about when we are not aware of any specific need they might have? A good example is how Epaphras prayed for those of his church, of which he had no idea of what they might be confronting. However, he knew what he prayed for them was always needed in the life of every faithful believer. The New Living Translation in Colossians 4:12 tells us what the content of his prayers were, “…asking God to make you strong and perfect, fully confident that you are following the whole will of God.”
The apostle Paul in the beginning verses of four of his letters to different congregations, expressed a characteristic in his opening prayers that is a very important point that our prayer for others should include, being thankful or our gratitude to God for those whom we are praying for. Of course, in the letters to the churches in Ephesus, Phillipi and Thessalonica, Paul personally knew many people of the churches that he was writing to. That is why in his prayer for them Paul says that he remembers them. When we pray for others, are we thankful to God for who the person is or persons are in Christ? In order to do that we first must recognize or remember them as we experienced them in the past. This is what we see in the opening verses of these three letters.
Ephesians 1:15-16
15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.
Philippians 1:3-5
3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now
1 Thessalonians 1:2-3
2 We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. 3 We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
As we see in Paul’s prayers for these believers in Christ, we must ask ourselves when we pray for others, do our prayers also include how we want God to work in their lives in similar ways as we see in Paul’s prayers for these congregations?
Ephesians 1:17-19
17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe.
Philippians 1:3-5
6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Two of the congregations that Paul wrote to, he prayed for them yet he never had the opportunity to visit them, but we read that Paul was still able to thank God for them.
Colossians 1:3-5
3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints— 5 the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel 6 that has come to you.
Romans 1:8-10
8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. 9 God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you 10 in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you.
Giving thanks or expressing our gratitude to God for someone or something should be a normal characteristic of our prayers. When our prayers include our heartfelt expression of gratitude and acknowledgment to God for others, it demonstrates our spiritual maturity.
Another indicator of a maturing prayer life is, as Pentecostals who are baptized with the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues; praying in tongues should be a regular and normal aspect of our prayer life. When it is we will understand by our experience what the Apostle Paul meant when he wrote to the Roman congregation in Romans 8:26, We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.
There are many more verses about prayer in the Bible however these next two portions gives us other insights to the topic of prayer in our lives.
Colossians 4:2
Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
16 Be joyful always; 17 pray continually; 18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
When we pray be mindful to pray not just to get something from God or tell Him what you want Him to do in a particular situation, but to also express your worship and gratitude first.
Pastor John
