SANCTIFICATION: A NEW DEVOTION

COLOSSIANS 4:2-4

JANUARY 23, 2000

 

Prayer can give the believer a taste of God's glory. For as he learns to rest in the Lord's might, to cast his cares upon the Lord, and to call upon God to do what no other can do, he lives in dependence upon One who transcends all comprehension. Yet that One has bid the believer to call upon him and to bring his needs unto him. 

 

Most religions have some type of prayer in which the devotee recognizes something of his helplessness and the power of another who might grant his desires. From this we find men praying to the moon and praying to statues carved from wood. Like the prophets of Baal in ancient Israel, they call upon their god with pitiful cries; yet, those gods do not hear nor answer.

 

Those who know Christ are called upon to pray, even commanded to pray. For through the means of prayer, God has chosen to grant the needs facing his people in daily life.

 

What is prayer? There are some great explanations of prayer in Christian literature. John Piper has stated it quite simply: "asking God for things" [sermon at Bethlehem Baptist Church, 1/09/00]. He further points out that "things" means more than "stuff." It points to the heart's desire of the believer, which ultimately leads to a desire for the Lord and his will.

 

On an occasion when D.L. Moody was speaking to a grade school in Scotland, he asked the question, what is prayer? Instantly, hundreds of little hands went up. He called upon a young boy at the front who quoted the answer to question #78 in the Shorter Catechism; "Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God, in the name of Christ, by the help of his Spirit, with confession of sins, and thankful acknowledgment of his mercies." To this Moody responded, "Be thankful, son, that you were born in Scotland" [Piper]. This classic definition of prayer shows that it encompasses more than asking, yet it involves asking for the heart's desires in Christ's name.

 

Sometime we allow our theological convictions to become excuses for not praying. That is an unfortunate mistake. J.I. Packer explains that there is no conflict between God's sovereign foreordination and the effectiveness of prayer in the believer's life. "God foreordains the means as well as the end, and our prayer is foreordained as the means whereby he rings his sovereign will to pass" [Concise Theology, 189]. Along this same vein, R.L. Dabney has written that God "does not command it because He needs to be informed of our wants, or to be made willing to help. He commands it because He has seen fit to ordain it as the appointed means for reception of His blessing" [Systematic Theology, 717].

 

In spite of this reality, Christians often find prayer to be the most difficult of disciplines. Here the believer leaves aside all props and meets in solitude with the living God, admitting his own helplessness and total dependence upon the Triune God alone. With all pretenses gone, the believer's heart is laid bare before the omniscient gaze of the Lord. Yet the Christian is called to pray. God is pleased to do things for the Christian in answer to prayer. It is through this means that he brings the divine will into reality for the Christian. Therefore, we must be devoted to prayer. How can such devotion develop for us?

 

I. Prayer as a personal priority   v. 2  

 

From Genesis to Revelation, we find believers praying to the Lord. Abraham, Joseph, David, and Daniel offer wonderful examples of believers bringing needs and praises before the Lord. They did so consistently, even if it meant personal peril. Prayer was a priority for them. We can surmise that one of the critical reasons for their deep spirituality was that prayer had a place of priority in their lives.

 

The same is true in the New Testament. We see that our Lord gave priority to prayer. We follow through the book of Acts and see the early believers praying privately and corporately. Paul's epistles are filled with examples of his own prayers, demonstrating that he gave priority to this spiritual discipline. It is no surprise, in a section that addresses the believer's sanctification, that Paul would exhort, "Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving." How are we to do this?

 

1. Persistence in prayer

 

First, we are told, "Devote yourselves to prayer." The word "devote" calls attention to something that is regular, loved, and prioritized. We are reminded in Acts 2:42 that the disciples were continually devoting themselves to prayer. Paul told the Roman believers to be "devoted to prayer" (12:12). The word is also used of a ruler's devotion to his task, that is, his busying himself with the priorities of his office. Devotion implies that you are busily engaged in something, persisting in it with regularity. With simplicity, Paul tells Christians everywhere to be devoted to prayer. Don Whitney wrote that you know you are devoted "when you make something a priority, when you will sacrifice for it, when you will give time to it" [Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, 62].

 

Prayer is a discipline of life that requires our taking the time and energy to develop. I believe that it helps us to see that Jesus Christ was devoted to prayer in his earthly life and continues in prayer even today in Heaven. The gospel writers record that Jesus "went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God" (Luke 6:12). We also find our Lord rising in early morning before day, to go to a solitary place for the purpose of prayer (Mark 1:35). The writer of Hebrews tells us that Jesus "always lives to make intercession for" those he saves (7:25). If Jesus Christ needed to pray and found time in the busy demands of his life for prayer, how much more should we seek to be persistent in prayer? Martin Luther expressed it like this: "As it is the business of tailors to make clothes and of cobblers to mend shoes, so it is the business of Christians to pray" [Whitney, 64].

 

Our Lord also told us that the means to receiving from God comes through prayer. "Whatever you ask in My 

name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it" (John 14:13-14). "So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you" (Luke 11:9). We see from this that prayer is the Lord's appointed means for giving his children what they need. If this is the means then we must be sure to develop persistence in prayer, for there is no lack of generosity on the part of our Lord in meeting the needs of his children.

 

Jesus explained to his disciples that prayer was necessary for them to experience the fullness of his joy. "Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full" (John 16:24). There is a direct correlation with the believer being satisfied with his needs being met and fullness of joy. Christ said that the means to this end is prayer. It is right to want fullness of joy; it is equally right to see that God has appointed prayer as the means to this spiritual condition.

 

As John unfolds the majestic scene of all creation and all the redeemed worshiping the Lamb of God in Heaven, he records that they had in their hands "a harp and gold bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints" (Rev. 5:8). While prayer in dependence upon the Lord may be despised by the world, it is revered in Heaven. The prayers of the saints are brought into the presence of the Lord as acts of worship and dependence upon Him who unfolds all the intricacies of human history. Our prayers have lasting value even in Heaven!

 

Seeing that prayer is important is one thing. Setting time to pursue prayer is another. For persistence in prayer to develop, the believer must establish time each day for prayer. While we are to "pray without ceasing," so that prayer is to be an attitude of our hearts throughout the day, in order to do this we must carve from our hectic pace daily time for prayer. Prayer gets pushed aside quicker than anything because it does require much discipline of concentration. Let me recommend that you be realistic in this. You may not be able to devote several hours to prayer, like Luther, Wesley, or Brainerd. But do what you can do. It is better to start small and work up than to never start at all in a discipline of prayer. When you know that you have a regular place and time for prayer, it helps to keep you focused and less likely to fall prey to distractions.

 

If you do not have a regular time of daily prayer, then I want to exhort you to take a step for action today, by determining how and when you will spend time in prayer. Each of us can take time to pray. It is a matter of budgeting our time and sticking to a schedule for prayer. This does not mean you cannot pray at other times. If prayer is left to chance, there is the strong chance it will not happen. Make this a priority for your daily routine.

 

2. Alert in prayer

 

Paul also tells the Colossians, "...keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving." "Keeping alert" means that you develop a sense of watchfulness or vigilance. It may be that Paul had in mind the story in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus told the disciples to "watch and pray," but they fell asleep instead. It means that we are to keep our spiritual senses keen so that we are alert to a consciousness of prayer.

 

It seems that "keeping alert" in prayer shows us an intensity that continues to linger in our lives when we are devoted to prayer. As our hearts have communed with the Lord, our thoughts of him linger throughout the day. Consequently, we are more alert to the spiritual dangers coming our way as the adversary tempts us to sin. We are more sensitive to praying for God's will in each situation. Charles H. Spurgeon had a wonderful comment in this regard:

 

You may not always be in the exercise but you may always be in the spirit of prayer. If there shall not always be iron in the furnace to melt, yet let there always be the fire to melt it, if not always shooting the arrow up to heaven, yet always keep the bow well stringed, so shall you always be archers, though not always shooting; so shall you always be men of prayer, though not always in the exercise of prayer [MTP, vol. 7, p. 92].

It is obvious that we cannot be constantly uttering prayers, but we can be in an attitude of prayer, "keeping alert" to those things for which we must call upon the Lord or give thanks to him or offer confession or express praise.

 

What are we to pray for during the day? We are especially to pray for those things we find commended to us in Scripture, whether they involve the commands of our Lord, his promises, or examples of specific prayers. The kind of watchfulness Paul is calling for keeps the believer's eyes focused upon people's needs, while their hearts are wedded to the Lord as Provider.

 

Let me suggest that as we set a time for prayer each day that we establish come kind of pattern in our praying. This will help to keep us disciplined for the purpose of prayer. John Piper recommends that we pray in "concentric circles," beginning with ourselves. We alone know our own needs best, so we can offer these before the Lord, seeking to make sure that our own hearts are passionate for the Lord. Then we should move to the next concentric circle of our families, offering up specific prayers for their needs. From there we might move to the circle of our church leadership and the ministries God has entrusted to us. I seek to make this a part of each day's content of prayer. From this point, our concentric circles move out into the congregation, praying for our fellow church members, then on to our fellow believers in other churches and places. We have had the privilege of meeting a lot of Christian brethren over the past few years that are engaged in ministry. Can it be that one of God's reasons for bringing them our way is so that we might faithfully pray for them? In this way we are joining in the fellowship of their ministries in the same way the Philippians had joined Paul in his work (see Philip. 1). Then we certainly should move to another circle of praying for those who are unbelieving and need the gospel. This can include people locally as well as the work of missions and the need for the gospel to penetrate the various people groups across the globe. We can add yet another circle in praying for our governmental leaders and world leaders in general. In all things, we are to pray for the kingdom of God to come in mighty power in each situation, manifesting the rule of Jesus Christ over all things.

 

3. Thanksgiving in prayer

 

What is to be the attitude of our prayers? Paul wrote, "Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving." Thanksgiving is the acknowledgment that the Lord is our provider and that he faithfully provides. It recognizes that the Lord reigns over all, demonstrating his mercy and kindness in abundant ways. Thanksgiving helps the believer to remember that it is the Lord who is at work, not some mystical power in a prayer. We do not "say a prayer" as if there is some magic to the words. Occasionally someone will tell me, "Say a prayer for me." That carries with it, though I'm sure unintentionally, the superstitious idea so prevalent in some circles that puts more value in the act of the prayer than in the One to whom we pray. Thanksgiving unto the Lord sets the mind firmly upon him and not upon some mystical sense in our prayers.

 

Thanksgiving remembers God's gracious promises. It is an acknowledgement that He alone is the giver of every good and perfect gift; that he is faithful to his promises. It also reminds us that the Lord is able to do far beyond all that we ask or think (Eph. 3:20-21). We are not exhausting the resources or ability of God by any request, however large it might be. The key is learning to mesh our wills with the will of God. Thanksgiving helps us to do this. It also helps to keep us dependent upon the Lord. We are not thanking ourselves but him who has accomplished all things on our behalf.

 

Is prayer a personal priority for you? I trust that each of us will reflect upon this exhortation to pray, not with a sense of guilt that produces no action, but with a determination to obey the Lord as he has enabled us.

 

II. Prayer as a kingdom priority   vv. 3-4

 

Prayer does involve personal and family needs. But it also is a call to the broader work of God's kingdom. This is where the believer in the quietness of the place of prayer, engages in wrestling on behalf of gospel work throughout the world. You enter into the fellowship of another person's ministry as you pray. The Philippians had done this to such a degree with Paul that he wrote to them, "You all are partakers of grace with me" (Phil. 1:7). "Partakers" means those with whom I am involved in a fellowship; it was a fellowship of their participation through prayer and their financial gifts.

 

Kent Hughes tells of a mission station with the China Inland Mission that was experiencing an unusual sense of God's blessing upon their work. There seemed to be no explanation for this since all of the mission stations appeared to have laborers of equal devotion and ability. But as Hudson Taylor, the founder of CIM, traveled and spoke in England, he met a man after a service that began to inquire about this particular mission station. It seems that his college roommate was the man who led that station and this man had committed himself to praying daily for that work. Afterwards, Taylor remarked, "Then I knew the answer." God had honored the secret praying of this brother in England by accomplishing the divine will through the means of his prayers [Kent Hughes, The Supremacy of Christ, 138].

 

1. The ministry and prayer

 

Paul requests of the Philippians that with their personal praying, they would include him and his work as well, "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." Here the verb for praying is intensive, calling for the Colossians to be involved in this work themselves. Paul desired that his labors would be part of the "concentric circles" of their prayer lives. In a similar vein, he asked the Ephesian believers, "and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains" (6:19-20).

 

I regularly receive requests from brethren to pray for them. They do not approach this casually, but often with a sense of intense need. Sometimes it is due to great conflict in their ministries. Other times it is due to opposition from the world about them. For some, it is a burning desire to be used of the Lord in spreading the gospel.

 

And this is reversed, as I also make requests of others to pray for us. There have been plenty of times that a pastor or church member from another church has told me that they pray for us. I was so encouraged recently when a sister church in our city from another denomination told me that they pray for our church regularly. In this sense, there are others whom we may not know personally or may not have met, who have joined with us in the work God has entrusted to us at South Woods.

 

This is where we come to grasp something of not only the organic unity of the local church but also all the elect of God scattered across the globe. We may differ in some areas but we desire to see the truth of the gospel of Christ spread abroad. So we enter into one another's labors. We are ministering in Bangladesh, Ivory Coast, Ecuador, and Japan, even if we have not set foot in those countries, for we have joined others in the ministry through prayer.

 

As fine a preacher of the gospel that Paul assuredly was, he still saw the necessity for the Lord to open the door to preach the Word. He did not want to depend upon his abilities or charisma to get the job done. So he asks the Colossians to pray specifically about the ministry of the Word. This request needs to still be prayed for regularly! When the young church had undergone persecution, then gathered to pray, they asked for boldness in preaching the Word of God (Acts 4:29). The faithful praying of the church at Antioch accompanied Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey and beyond (Acts 13:3). Let us sense this same burden to pray for gospel work across the globe.

 

2. Doors for the Word

 

Paul's request was simple: open doors for the Word and clarity in speaking the Word. "Praying...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." It is important to see what Paul did not make request for at this time. He was a prisoner of Rome, having no liberty to come and go as he pleased. Yet he did not ask them to pray for his release, though that may have been important. Instead, he wanted prayer for the Word to go forth. Paul saw God's providence at work even where he was located. He wanted the Lord to open hearts of those he encountered during his imprisonment. The gospel would be reaching some in that way that would otherwise never hear the truth of Christ.

 

One pastor in Bulgaria was arrested in 1985 and put into prison. His only crime was preaching the gospel in his church. He was sentenced to eight months in prison. During this time he did all he could to speak forth concerning Christ. Here is what he said about this, as his own people labored with him in prayer: "Both prisoners and jailers asked many questions, and it turned out that we had a more fruitful ministry there than we could have expected in church. God was better served by our presence in prison than if we had been free" [John Piper, Let the Nations Be Glad! 101-102].

 

There are doors waiting to be opened. Some are in Memphis neighborhoods, offices, and schools. Some are found in apartment buildings or college campuses. Others are located in Muslim, Buddhist, or Hindu countries. Some doors still have the markings of totalitarianism on them, but they wait to be opened. Some of these doors are closed to official missionaries, but they still will be opened by the power of God. Will you be regularly engaged in prayer for God to open doors for the Word to go forth in conquering power?

 

3. A clear gospel message

 

It is not enough to just have an open door. There must also be a clear message: "...so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak." For the unbelieving mind, the gospel of Christ is indeed a "mystery." It is unknown apart from divine revelation through the proclamation of the Word and work of the Spirit. We are called upon to pray that God might do just that; make the Word clear, removing the mystery, so that sinners might believe.

 

We cannot be presumptuous even in our own services. We can assume that everyone can understand what is being taught, but that is not true apart from the grace of God. Paul certainly knew the gospel, but only the Holy Spirit can make it known to the blinded human heart. Will you pray for divine unction upon the preaching and teaching each week? We need praying before, during, and after our times of gathering together, so that the Word of God might take root and bear fruit for Christ's glory.

 

This text is a call for us to set aside time in our prayer lives for the ministry of the Word, both in and through our church, and with others whom we join our hearts in gospel proclamation. We must not become so concerned about our personal comforts, that we neglect praying for the work of the gospel.

 

I am going to ask you to do something quite specific. Jot down the names and perhaps the countries of at least ten people you know that are seeking to proclaim God's Word. With this list in hand, pray at least once a week throughout the year for their work, that the Lord might open doors for the Word and that the Word might be preached with clarity. As you faithfully engage in prayer, you are entering into spiritual labor with someone else. You may never visit Bangladesh or Zambia or France, but you are involved in the work of those who labor in those countries as you pray.

 

Conclusion

 

There are two big dangers when hearing a message on prayer. First, we can let our minds run wild on the enormity of prayer and world needs, becoming so overwhelmed that we do nothing. Second, we can have good intentions to develop a discipline of prayer, but never start.

 

I want to challenge each of us to commit to have a regular time of prayer each day, praying in concentric circles as we have noted, and particularly praying for the larger work of God's kingdom here and across the globe.

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