The Necessity of Prayer
“The Necessity Of Prayer”
Today we’re continuing our teaching series on a book of the bible called Colossians. It’s all about discovering a new life in Christ, and what we’re talking about specifically today is the necessity of prayer. We’re talking about the necessity of prayer, especially regarding daily life and missional living. Prayer is one of the things we’ve been focusing on as a church this year, and it’s one of our codes, one of our core values here at City Awakening. Something you’ll often hear us say is we want prayer to be our first response, and our continual response. We want prayer to be our first response, not a last resort. Are you doing that?...Are you treating prayer as your first response and your continual response, or as a last resort?...Are you treating prayer as a daily necessity, or as something you only turn to when life’s falling apart?...
If you treat prayer as a last resort rather than as a daily necessity, it reveals something about your heart. It reveals that you think you can sustain and control your life without Christ. It reveals that you think you can go through daily life relying more on your strength than Christ’s strength. But eventually something will happen in your life to remind you that you aren’t as self-sufficient as you think. Eventually something will happen in your life to remind both skeptics and believers, that we aren’t as in control of our lives as we think, and we need the help of Christ. The text we’re studying today is a reminder that we need to rely on Christ daily. It’s a reminder that we need to treat prayer as a daily necessity, not as a last resort. Let’s turn to Colossians 4 and get into it. If you’re new to the Bible, you can find Colossians in the last quarter of the Bible, and we’ll be in Colossians Ch. 4:2-6. Title of today’s message is The Necessity of Prayer, and the big idea of the message is prayer is a daily necessity, not a last resort...Prayer is a daily necessity, not a last resort...
Here’s your context. The Apostle Paul is the author of this book of the Bible, and he writes this to the Colossian Church located in a city called Colossae, which was a part of the Roman Empire. The problem he’s addressing is they’re mixing their faith in Jesus with Roman beliefs and cultural practices. So Paul’s correcting their false beliefs and teaching them that Christ is sufficient in all things. In Ch. 3 he teaches Christ is sufficient in transforming our lives and relationships. But in ch. 4 he’s about to teach that we need to rely on Christ’s sufficiency for daily life and missional living. We need to treat prayer as a daily necessity, not a last resort. Let’s check it out.
Colossians 4:2-6 states, “Devote yourselves to prayer...” Paul says to devote yourselves to prayer, meaning make prayer a top priority in your life. There are two primary instructions Paul is giving us in vs. 2-6. The 1st is on prayer, the 2nd is on missional living, and he starts things off with prayer. It’s because prayer is the power that fuels effective missional living. In the words of D.L. Moody, “Every great movement of God can be traced back to a kneeling figure.”Every great movement of God can be traced back to somebody on their knees devoted to prayer like Paul says. E.M. Bounds states, “The Church is looking for better methods; but God is looking for better men...What the Church needs today isn’t new methods, but men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. The Holy Spirit doesn’t flow through methods, but through men. He doesn’t anoint plans; he anoints men—men of prayer.” Our church has a lot of mighty men, but we don’t have enough men mighty in prayer. Our church has a prayer team that meets every Sunday morning to pray, and there isn’t one guy on that prayer team. I’m very thankful for all the women praying on that prayer team, but I believe God is calling some of you men to help carry the weight of prayer with the women. Our church methods and strategies are good, but they’re powerless without prayer. We need both men and women who are mighty in prayer, who are devoted to prayer, like Paul says.
Listen our prayers aren’t meant to be a casual, occasional spiritual activity that we only turn to as a last resort. They’re meant to be a devoted, dedicated, daily expression of our love for Jesus and our daily dependency on him. They’re a daily expression of our faith and trust in Jesus. When we aren’t dedicated to prayer, it reveals we have more faith and trust in ourselves than in Jesus. It reveals we think we can survive the day without Jesus. But daily prayer is a reminder that we need to seek God’s help and guidance for our lives, because we aren’t as self-sufficient or as in control of our lives as we think. Daily prayer is a reminder that we’re created beings who need our Creator. What’s your prayer life reveal about you?...Does it reveal a daily dependency on yourself, or on Christ?...Are you more devoted to scrolling or praying?...Paul says we need to be devoted to prayer. We need to make prayer a daily priority, a daily necessity, not a last resort. We need to build our schedules around prayer, instead of barely fitting prayer into our schedules...We need to build our schedules around prayer, instead of barely fitting prayer into our schedules...E.M. Bounds states, “He who fritters away the early morning in other pursuits than seeking God, will make poor headway seeking him the rest of the day. If God isn’t first in our thoughts and efforts in the morning, he’ll be in last place the remainder of the day.” We need to be devoted to prayer.
Again vs. 2, “Devote yourselves to prayer; stay alert in it with thanksgiving.” The phrase stay alert can also be translated as stay awake or keep watching out. He’s saying one of the reasons we need to be devoted to prayer, is so we’ll stay alert spiritually. 1st Peter 5:8 says, “Be alert; be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.” Jesus gives a similar warning to his disciples when praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. He says in Mark 14:38, “Stay awake and pray, so you won’t enter into temptation., The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Jesus tells his disciples to stay awake, but they fell asleep. They fell asleep on the necessity of prayer, just like many believers today are falling asleep on the necessity of prayer. The devil’s greatest strategy today isn’t to tempt us, it’s to distract us. It isn’t to tempt us with sinful things; it’s to distract us and make us busy so we’ll stop praying and seeking Christ. What about you, are you spiritually awake or spiritually distracted?...What’s distracting you or making you so busy, that it’s keeping you from praying and staying alert spiritually?...
Paul says we should be devoted to prayer, so we’ll stay alert spiritually, but he also says we should pray with thanksgiving. He writes that while sitting in a Roman prison for his faith in Jesus. But he isn’t discouraged because he’s learned to pray with thanksgiving, and he’s teaching us to do the same. It’s because he knows gratitude can help change our perspective on life. When we pray with thanksgiving, it can help us shift from focusing on the blessings we don’t have, to focusing on the blessings we do have. It can help us shift from focusing on the glass being half empty, to the glass being half full. It can help us shift from focusing on being frustrated with life, to being thankful for life, especially for the new life we have with Christ. Are you doing that? Are you spending time thanking God, or just making requests to God?...When you’re going through difficult situations are you asking God to help change your perspective so you can still see your blessings?...What if your difficult situations are intended to wake you up, to make you spiritually alert, so you’ll realize you aren’t as in control as you think, and you need Christ’s help?...
Again vs. 2, “Devote yourselves to prayer; stay alert in it with thanksgiving. 3 At the same time, pray also for us that God may open a door to us for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains, 4 so that I may make it known as I should.” Notice Paul’s now asking them to pray for God to open doors. He’s asking them to pray specifically for God to open doors to share the Word, to share their faith in Jesus with others. What’s interesting is he’s asking them to pray for this while in chains, while sitting in a Roman prison. If that were us, we’d probably be asking for prayers to remove our chains and get us out of prison. We’d probably be asking for prayers to change our difficult situation and get us back to a comfortable life, not asking for open doors while living a difficult life. It’s because we’re more focused on living a comfortable life than a missional life, but Paul’s more focused on living a missional life than a comfortable life. We pray for God to get us out of difficult situations, but Paul prays for God to use his difficult situations. We pray for comfort, but Paul prays for mission. He prays for God to open doors, to share his faith in Jesus with others. In Philippians 1 we learn Paul’s difficulty in prison served a divine purpose of spreading the gospel. He says in Philippians 1:12-13, “What happened to me has actually advanced the gospel, 13 so that it’s become known throughout the whole imperial guard...” The imperial guard was a group of elite Roman soldiers specifically trained to protect the Roman Emperor. So these guys are like our Navy Seals, and Paul says his suffering helped make the gospel known to them. What if you prayed for open doors like Paul?... What if you viewed your life and difficult situations with divine purpose, instead of as divine punishment?...
See the reason Paul wanted prayers for missional living over comfortable living, is because he viewed his life and difficult situations with divine purpose. It’s because he knew Jesus cares about reaching those far from God, and Paul was willing to do whatever it takes to help with that mission, including being in prison chains. He knew in The Parable of the Lost Sheep, Jesus taught he’s willing to leave the 99 to save the 1 lost sheep, and Paul’s willing to do the same. He’s willing to live a missional life over a comfortable life to reach the 1, to reach those far from God. But the question is, are you willing to do the same?...Are you willing to live a missional life over a comfortable life to reach the 1, to reach those far from God?...City Awakening my desire for our church isn’t to build a mega church, it’s to build God’s Kingdom. It’s to reach both skeptics and believers in our city, but it takes us as believers leaving the 99 to reach the 1. It takes praying for God to open doors, because like I said before, prayer is the power that fuels effective missional living. We don’t have to be argumentative or awkwardly force conversations when sharing our faith. Paul says we have to pray for open doors, then look for open doors, and share our faith when opportunities arise. When was the last time you prayed for open doors?...When was the last time you prayed for God to use you or your difficult situations, in ways that reach those far from God?... If God answered all your prayers this week, would there be anybody who came to faith in Christ because of your prayers?...We’re often praying for comfort, but Paul’s praying for open doors.
Vs. 5, “Act wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time. 6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer each person.” Like I said before, there are two primary instructions Paul’s giving in this text. The 1st is on prayer, the 2nd is on missional living, and here he’s focusing on missional living. He says we should act wisely toward outsiders, meaning those who haven’t put their faith in Jesus. Part of acting wisely entails making the most of the time God has given us. Time is a gift, our days are numbered, and Paul says we should try leading as many people to faith in Christ while there’s time. We should leave our Sunday gatherings every week seeking to live a missional life, not a comfortable life. In fact 39 of the 40 miracles in the book of Acts all take place outside the church walls, not within them...That’s 39 of the 40 miracles, 97.5% of the miracles in the book of Acts, all take place outside the church walls, not within them. Some of the greatest work God wants to do isn’t within our church, it’s through our church. It isn’t within our church, it’s through our church, as we become more devoted to prayer, and mobilize in our city each week to go public not private with our faith.
But Paul also says how we do that matters. He says we should do it in gracious ways that are seasoned with salt.He’s emphasizing both the visible and verbal aspect of sharing our faith in Jesus. We’re to live and speak in ways that help bring salt and light into a world that’s often bitter and dark. Some of you might be skeptics who are resistant to Christianity because of the negative interactions you’ve had with Christians. If that’s you, don’t let it stop you from putting your faith in Christ, because Christ is so much greater than the worst example of his followers. Focus more on Christ than his followers, because he’s the perfect one, not his followers. As believers, we have to pray for Christ to help us balance grace and truth in our everyday conversations, especially with those who don’t know Christ. In John 1:14 it says Jesus was full of grace and truth. But we tend to have either grace with little truth, or truth with little grace. Grace without truth confuses people. Truth without grace crushes people. But grace with truth transforms people. Jesus was perfectly balanced with both grace and truth, and we need to pray for him to help us do the same. With the privilege of knowing Jesus, comes the responsibility of showing and sharing the good news of Jesus with others. But we need to do it in ways that reflect both the grace and truth of Christ. We need to do it in ways that help to build bridges, not barricades to the gospel. It isn’t our job to save anyone, because that’s God’s job. But it is our job to build bridges, not barricades to the gospel. It’s our job to get the message out about Jesus; it’s God’s job to do the rest. 1st Corinthians 3:5-8, “What is Apollos? What is Paul? Only servants through whom you came to believe, and each has the role the Lord has given. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.”
The big idea of the message is prayer is a daily necessity, not a last resort...Prayer is a daily necessity, not a last resort...In vs. 2 Paul says we need to be devoted to prayer. We need prayer to be a daily necessity, because our reliance on God is a daily necessity. You can try living a self-sufficient, self-reliant life all you want, but eventually something will happen to deflate your mini god complex, thinking you can sustain and control your life without God. Eventually something will happen to wake you up to the reality that you aren’t as self-sufficient or in control of your life as you think. Your greatest need, my greatest need, is daily reliance on a relationship with God, which Christ made possible through his life, death, and resurrection. Prayer isn’t about earning access to God; it’s about responding to the access Jesus has already given us through the cross.
It’s the necessity of the cross that should drive our desire for the necessity of prayer. When we realize how much Jesus was willing to suffer on the cross to have a relationship with us, it should drive our desire to have daily conversations with him. If Jesus loved us enough to die for our sins, then he’ll love us enough to hear our prayers. That doesn’t mean he’ll always give us what we want for a comfortable life; it means he’ll always sustain us through any difficulties we face in life. So if you’re a skeptic, don’t let your negative interactions with Christians prevent you from experiencing the new life you can have in Christ. If you put your faith in him and believe he died on the cross for your sins, he’ll give you a new life that relies on his resurrecting power, not your power. If you’re a believer, devote yourself to prayer, making it a daily necessity for your life. Schedule time this week to pray before scrolling or problem-solving. Schedule time this week to pray not just for your own needs and comfort, but also for God to open doors, and to help you balance grace and truth in daily conversations. Make prayer a daily necessity, not a last resort.