Paul says to the Colossians in
Colossians 4 verse 2, continue in prayer. Literally be strong
in prayer. Persevere in prayer. Don't stop. And watch in the same. Don't
fall asleep. Be awake. Look for your answers. And do so with thanksgiving.
thanking God for however he answers. Prayer. Prayer, what is prayer? Prayer is essentially the acknowledgement
of God. That's what it is more than anything
else. We acknowledge that God is God. that He is in control,
that everybody and everything is in His hand, and He can do
whatsoever He's pleased to do. He's got the power to act. He's got the power to not act.
When we pray, we acknowledge that God is God indeed. And when we pray, we acknowledge
something about ourselves. We acknowledge that we're unable to do anything. We acknowledge
that we do not have any control at all. And we need him to act
in our behalf. We acknowledge our sinfulness. We acknowledge our weakness.
We acknowledge our dependence upon him. When we pray, not only do we
acknowledge God, not only do we acknowledge our need of him,
we ask for things. A lot of my prayer is asking
for things. You know, as a matter of fact,
the first time the word prayer is used in the scripture, if you turn
to Genesis 20, I think this is very interesting. And Abraham journeyed from thence
toward the south country, and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur,
and sojourned in Gerar. And Abraham said of Sarah his
wife, She is my sister. And Abimelech the king of Gerar
sent and took Sarah. But God came to Abimelech in
a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead
man. For the woman which thou hast taken, she is a man's wife.
But Abimelech had not come near her. And he said, Lord, wilt
thou slay also a righteous nation? Said he, nodding to me, she's
my sister. And she, even she herself, said he's my brother.
In the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have
I done this. And God said unto him in a dream,
yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart,
for I also withheld thee from sinning against me. Do you realize
the only time that you and I don't sin against him is when he withholds
us from it? Aren't you thankful for withholding
grace, restraining grace? I'm so thankful for that, but
let's go on reading. Therefore, suffered I thee not to touch
her. Now, therefore, restore the man his wife, for he's a
prophet and he shall pray for thee and thou shall live. Now, Abraham didn't seem to act
very honorably at this time. I mean, he'd let his wife go
into this harem. He lied about her, afraid for his own neck.
But yet when God speaks to Abimelech, he says, he's a prophet and he
will pray for you. Look down in verse 17. So Abraham prayed unto God. And
God healed Abimelech and his wife and his maidservants, and
they bear children. Now, God did what he was going
to do through the prayers of Abraham. And God's going to do
what he does through the prayers of me and you. That's the way
the Lord acts. Now, last week, I found out that
Aubrey had an interview at a local high school for an art teacher
position. And you know what I did? I prayed. that the Lord would
move the hearts of whoever made that decision and that he would
cause them to hire her. You know, the Lord does do that.
Proverbs 21 says the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. As
the rivers of water, he turneth it whithersoever he will. Everybody's heart is in the hand
of the Lord. And as the rivers of water, he
turneth it whether so ever he will. And I watched for an answer. And I did so with thanksgiving.
Thankful if he gave her the job, thankful if he didn't because
something else would be better if she didn't get it. That's
what it everything give thanks for this is the will of God and
Christ Jesus concerning you. Thankful. And I watch for the
answer. If nothing happens between now
and fall, she got the job. But do you know that the Lord
determined that before I ever prayed about it? She didn't get the job because
I prayed. If she gets the job, she got
the job because God determined for her to get that job. And
he moved me and whoever else he moved to pray for her about
it, to pray for it, because that is the way the Lord acts. A prayer. I want to preach a
message on prayer, and something I never
want to do is preach a message where an unbeliever could walk
in and not hear the gospel. I don't want to ever do that.
I don't care what the subject is. Every time I preach, I don't
care if it's on prayer, whatever it is, I want to make sure that
I preach a message that an unbeliever can walk in and hear the gospel. So you pray for me that I'll
be enabled to do that as I try to consider this thing of continuing
in prayer. That's what Paul says to the
church at Colossia. Continue in prayer and watch in the same
with thanksgiving. Continue. Don't quit. You'll
be tempted to. Don't stop and watch in the same. Wait for the
answer. Watch for the answer and do so
with thanksgiving. Now, only a believer can pray. Did you know that? Only a believer can pray. Now, I realize everyone has made
attempts at prayer, but I never live. Somebody gets in trouble,
things are not going their way, maybe they're sick, maybe they've
lost something, maybe they're in trouble, and they say, Lord,
if you're out there, help me, help me, and I'll believe in
you if you help me. Everybody's prayed like that,
even people of, you know, someone who's never heard the gospel
or they believe in some kind of higher being. And if you're
out there, help me, get me out of this mess. I need your help. Now, that's not really prayer. I think of what the Lord said
to Ananias regarding Paul the apostle when God made himself
known, the Lord Jesus Christ made himself known to Paul the
Apostle, and he said, Behold, he prayeth. He never has before,
but he is now. Behold, he prayeth. You see, not everything that
goes under the name of prayer is prayer, is it? The Lord gives
us that example of the Pharisee in the temple. Scripture says
he stood and prayed thus with himself. I love the way it says
that. His prayer didn't get any further
than that. He stood and prayed thus with himself. He wasn't praying to God. He
thought he was, but he wasn't praying to God. And you can tell
he wasn't praying to God just by the things he said. No confession
of sin, no plea for mercy, just, God, I thank you that I'm not
as other men are. And he compared himself with a bunch of other
people and thought, I come out pretty good. But his prayer didn't
get any further than the ceiling. He stood and prayed thus with
himself. You see, God, listen to me real
carefully, God will not speak to you nor let you speak to him
apart from Jesus Christ. I want to repeat that. I like
the way it sounds. It's the truth. God will not
speak to you, nor will he allow you to speak to him apart from
Jesus Christ, the great mediator, the great high priest. You see,
God's holy. God hates sin. God cannot be approached if there's
any sin on that person approaching Him. And the only one who can
approach Him is the Lord Jesus Christ. And He, as our great
High Priest, takes the prayers of His people, as our Mediator,
and presents them to the Father, and they're a sweet-smelling
savor to the Father. My prayers. God says, they smell
good. And there's only one reason,
because the Lord Jesus Christ presented them to him and they
are heard only for his sake. And isn't that why we pray in
his name? When we pray in his name, we pray, Lord, Hear this
prayer just for his sake, in his name, as he presents it to
you. Don't look at me in the prayer
because I don't get anything if that's the case. You please
hear this prayer for his sake. I only come in his name. We realize the only reason we
can be heard is because of his mediation. Now, I brought a message
a few months ago entitled, The Believer Defined by Prayer. And
I think this is very interesting. Prayer. Prayer tells us who God
is. Prayer tells us what a Christian
is. Prayer tells us the gospel. This
is not just some kind of asking for things. I mean, you
think of the prayer that we read at the opening of this service.
Our Father. Prayer begins with an our. We're
part of something bigger than us. We're part of that great
us of which Paul spoke of when he said, if God be for us, who
can be against us? Our Father. That's my Father
and the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I go to my Father
and your Father. My God and your God because I'm
united to Christ. I can come into His presence
and be heard for Christ's sake. Our Father. He's my Father. He's my Father. He's our Father. He's my Father. He's our Father.
God is the Father. The God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Tells who He is. Hallowed. The next thing He says, our Father
which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. His name is who
He is. His name is His glorious and
excellent attributes. His name is His holiness. His
name is His absolute sovereignty. His name is His justice. His
name is His grace. Everything that God is, is proclaimed
in His name. Hallowed. And here's how a believer
responds to the name of God. Hallowed. Holy. is thy name."
That means a believer worships God. That's what a believer is,
he's a worshiper. He worships Him who is worthy of worship. Isn't that what prayer is? We
worship Him. Hallowed be thy name. We worship Him who is worthy
of all worship. Oh, how glorious is his name. I love the way David said in
Psalm 8, O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all
the earth. Hallowed be thy name. Then the next thing he tells
us to pray, our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy
name, thy kingdom come. A believer is a subject of this
great kingdom, the kingdom of God, and he is the great king. And our desire is for his kingdom
to come. I love what the thief said, Lord,
remember me when you come into your kingdom. Isn't that a glorious
prayer? I want to pray that prayer every day. Lord, remember me
when you come into your kingdom. Thy will, the next thing He tells
us to pray is, thy will be done. Now the Lord says, after this
manner pray you. This is something we ought to pray every time we
pray. Lord, thy will be done. Now in making that statement,
first we're saying, He's absolutely sovereign. His will is in control. And we're saying, this is what
we want. I want the Lord's will to be done. I want Him to take
my will and conform it to His will, to where it's not my will,
but it is His will. Every believer wants that thy
will be done. Don't you want the Lord's will
to be done? And bless God, we know will be done because he's
God. He doeth according to his will in the armies of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his
hand or say unto him, what doest thou? Thy will be done. That
tells us what a believer is and that tells us who God is. Somebody
whose will is done. Give us this day our daily bread. Now, when we pray that, we're
saying, we're totally dependent. I'm totally and completely dependent
for whatever I have for him to give it to me. Give us this day
our daily bread. And we confess that he's a great
giver. He gives. Give us this day our daily bread. And then we pray, forgive us
our debts. Forgive us of our sins, as we
forgive those who are indebted to us. And now when we pray that
prayer, we're saying, here's what we're confessing what we
are, we're sinners. Every time I pray, I'm conscious of that.
I've never prayed in any way without being conscious. I'm
a sinner, and I need the forgiveness of sins. And I ascribe to God
what only God can do. Only He can forgive sins. That shows His absolute authority. I'm in His hand, and I need for
Him to forgive me of my sins. He's the only one who can do
that. And then I love the way the Lord taught us to pray, as
we forgive those who are indebted to us. You know, the most God-like
thing me or you can ever do is forgive. May God enable us to
forgive. The Lord tells us on down, we
won't be forgiven if we don't. That's his word. Somebody says,
does that mean you're only forgiven if you forgive? No, it means
you forgive if you've been forgiven. That's what it means. If you've
been forgiven, you will forgive. And if you refuse to forgive,
it's because you know nothing of forgiveness. Forgive us of
our sins as we forgive those who trespass against us. And then he taught us to pray,
lead us not into temptation. Now when I pray that, I'm talking
about my weakness. If I'm even tempted, I fall. I know myself enough to know,
just don't let me even be tempted. Don't let me be put in a place
where I can fall. I know what I'll do. Lead us
not into temptation. And we confess once again when
we pray that, His absolute and complete sovereignty. He can
keep us from being tempted. He can deliver us from being
led into temptation. And then we pray, deliver us
from evil, deliver us from the evil one, deliver us from this
evil world, most especially deliver us from the evil of ourselves.
For thine is the kingdom, thine is the power, and thine is the
glory. Many recite that prayer, the
Christian lives it, the Christian believes it. When I pray, I confess
who and what I believe. I believe God is God. I believe
that He's an absolute, sovereign, supreme control over everything
and everyone, and He's worthy of praise and worship. He has
the power to give me whatever it is I'm asking for, and He
has the power to not give me whatever I'm asking for. He's
holy, and I would only expect to be heard for Christ's sake
because of His mediation. And He's merciful. He delights
in the prayers of His people. He delights in the prayers of
His saints. Isn't that wonderful? God actually, when I come into
His presence through the Lord Jesus Christ and pour out my
heart before Him, He delights in that prayer. We confess that
He's omnipresent. I'm never in a place where He's
not there and cannot hear. We confess He's gracious, He
hears. We confess He's all-wise, He knows what we should have
and what we shouldn't have. And He's immutable. I can always
count on Him to always be the same. His name is, O thou that
hearest prayer. And you know, when we pray, we
confess we believe God's a God of means. Now, this is so important. God is a God of means. Turn with
me to Ezekiel 37. You're familiar with this passage
of Scripture. Many of you are. Zechariah 36, I'm sorry. God
talks about all these things He's going to do. He says in verse 24, for I will
take you from among the heathen. Verse 25, I will sprinkle clean
water upon you. Verse 26, a new heart also will
I give you. Verse 27, I'll put my spirit
within you. Verse 29, I'll save you from
all your uncleannesses. Verse 30, I'll multiply the fruit
of the tree. He talks about all these things
that He's going to do. Now, Look at verse 37. Thus saith the Lord, I will yet
for this, all these things that I'm saying I'm going to do. I
will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel to
do it for them. Now listen to me, everything
you're ever going to have, you're going to ask for everything. Now, when I pray, I confess what
I believe about myself. I'm powerless to bring something
about. I don't have any control. I'm dependent. I'm utterly needy.
I'm sinful. I need His mercy. I need His
grace. I need His forgiveness. Poor and needy is the way David
described himself. Poor and needy. I pray things
like this. Draw us. And we'll run after
these. I know if He doesn't draw me,
I won't come. So I pray, draw me. Draw us. That's what the
Shulalite woman said in Song of Solomon. The very first couple
of verses. Draw us! And we will run after
Thee. Cause me to do Thy will. Make
me to go in the way of Thy commandments. Incline my heart to thy testimonies
and not to covetousness. Order my steps in thy word and
let not any iniquity have dominion over me. Turn away mine eyes
from beholding vanity and quicken thou me according to thy word.
You are prayer I pray the most. Lord, save me. Lord, save me. I used to know one time prayer,
I prayed that thousands of times. Lord, I know he's the Lord. Look down upon me and save me. And we pray for one another.
While we pray for ourselves, we pray for one another. Preserve
them, save them, keep them, draw them to yourself. deliver them
from the evil one. What we pray for ourselves, we
pray for God's people. We pray for one another. I love
the way the Lord taught us to pray, our Father, which art in
heaven. Turn with me for a moment to
James chapter five. Verse 13. Is any among you afflicted? Well,
let him pray. It's the best thing you can do.
Pray. Is any married? Let him sing
psalms. Is any sick among you? Let him
call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing
him with oil in the name of the Lord. Now, I believe that that
anointing with oil is a reference to the use of means. Remember
how oil and wine was poured into the Samaritans' wounds and used
as a use of means? I think it's talking about medicine,
going to the doctor and all that kind of stuff. But pray for one
another. If you're sick, pray for one another. I think the
anointing with oil is talking about the use of means. Somebody
says, well, I'm just going to trust God to heal me. I'm not
going to use means. That's foolish. That's all it
is. It's foolish. Thank God that he provides the
means. Use the means. He's a God of means. Verse 15,
in the prayer of faith, shall save the sick and the Lord shall
raise him up. And if you've committed sins,
they shall be forgiven him. And then he says, confess your faults
one to another. Don't try to pretend to be what
you're not. Confess your fault. That doesn't
mean confess your individual sins to one another. Don't do
that. But you confess what you are. You really do. You don't
try to pretend to be what you're not. Confess your faults one
to another and pray one for another that you may be healed. Now listen
to this statement. The effectual, fervent prayer
of a righteous man availeth much. And every believer is a righteous
man in Christ. And prayer avails much. Whatever you want to pray about,
pray about it. It avails much. And then he says Elijah was a
man subject to like passions as we are. You know all the things
you struggle with? Elijah did too. He struggled
with the same fallen human nature that you do. He had the same
fears and anxieties that you have. Elijah was a man subject
to like passions. And the word passions is always
talking about something negative, this particular word. It's not
talking about something positive. It's talking about something
negative. He's got the same problems you did. And he prayed earnestly
that it might not rain and it rained down on the earth by the
space of three years and six months. This man of like passions of
me and you, he prayed that it might not rain. Now, God moved
him to that because it was a judgment against Israel because of Ahab
and Baal worship. But the Lord moved him to pray
because the Lord was going to send a famine in the land. Elijah
prayed, it didn't rain for three years and six months, verse 18,
and he prayed again and the heaven gave rain and the earth brought
forth her fruit. Now, child of God, you have a
heavenly father who hears you. You have a Savior who presents
your prayers to the Father and makes them acceptable. You have
God the Holy Spirit enabling you to pray and giving you the
things to pray for. And everything that you have,
you will ask for. The Lord said, ask and you shall
receive, didn't He? Seek and you shall find. Knock and it
shall be opened to you. Everyone that asks receives.
He that seeks finds, to him that knocketh it shall be opened to
him. I love what the Lord said to
the woman at the well. He said, if you knew the gift of God,
the free gift of God and who it is that saith to thee, give
me to drink, thou would have asked him and he would have given
thee living water. Can I pray? Well, if you do so
in the name of Christ, knowing you'll only be heard for his
sake. But I've never done that before. We'll do it now then.
Do it now. Come to the Father through Jesus
the Son. That's the only way you can pray.
That's the only way you can be heard. But you will be heard. Abraham was heard. I think it's
glorious the way the first time prayer is mentioned, it talks
about Abraham after he had let his wife go in that horrible
direction. What he did was wrong. There was no justifying it. It
was a bad thing that he did. And yet, God says to Abimelech,
my servant Abraham will pray for you. If these horrible things
won't happen to you, he's a prophet. I'll hear him. Lord heard Abraham. And I'll
tell you why the Lord heard Abraham. He heard him through Christ.
He didn't hear him because he was such a good guy. You see
when it's mentioned what he did, but he heard him for Christ's
sake. God, listen to me real carefully,
God has decreed everything that comes to pass. There's no such
thing as chance. There's no such thing as good
luck. There's no such thing as bad luck. God has decreed everything
that takes place and it's all going to be done through the
prayers of his people. God is a God of means. Now, I
said all that to close up with this. Paul tells us there are
three things that we should do with regard to prayer. First
of all, he says, continue in it. Continue in it. Literally, be
strong in it. Be strong in prayer. Persevere
in prayer. Don't stop. Be importunate. I love the The parable the Lord
gives of that woman in Luke chapter 18. Let's hold your finger there
and turn to Luke chapter 18. Verse 1, And he spake a parable
unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray and not
to faint, not to lose heart, not to give up. not to stop,
saying there was in a city a judge which feared not God, neither
regarded man, and there was a widow in the city. And she came unto
him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for
a while. But afterward he said within
himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man, yet because this
widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming
she weary me. And that ought to encourage every
one of us to be continually coming. Continually coming. Importunate,
shameless persistence. Now, there is no reason why everybody
in this room cannot be strong in prayer. It may be there are
certain gifts you don't have, but everybody in this room can
be strong in prayer. You know, I read this recently
and it was a blessing to me. You all have heard me quote Charles
Spurgeon before, one of my favorite preachers, writers. I love to
read his sermons. And he was a man that the Lord
used in an unusual way. And someone asked him, what is
the key to your success? He said, my people pray for me. That's the key. My people, pray
for me. Nothing you could do greater
for me than to pray for me. Pray that the Lord would enable
me to preach the gospel. Pray that the Lord would enable
me to be a man after his own heart and a pastor after his
own heart. Pray for me that I won't go off on some kind of tangent.
Pray for me that I'll continue to preach the gospel. Pray for
me that I always take the lowest seat in the house. Pray for me. May the Lord enable you to pray
for me. I believe you do. I believe you do. I pray that
you continue to do so. And the best thing that we can
do for one another is pray for one another. In the context of
our text, look what he asked him to pray about. Look in verse
3 of Colossians chapter 4. with all praying also for us
that God would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery
of Christ, for which I also am in bonds that I might make it
manifest as I ought to speak." Now, Paul was afraid he wouldn't
do this if they didn't pray for him about this very issue, that
he might make known the mystery of Christ and make it manifest
as he ought to. Now, continuing prayer, you and
I will have many temptations to not continue. in prayer, seemingly
unanswered. But I got to thinking about this. It's hard to believe that Gene
Rutledge isn't here with us, isn't it? I mean, he's only been
gone not that long. But how many times do you reckon
he prayed for his wife and children to come here? How many times? Every day for years. And the Lord took him, and he
never saw his prayers answered. And you know, right now, he's
not even concerned about it. He's not thinking, oh, but you know
what? The Lord's answered his prayers. Now, I don't know what
he's going to do with his family. I don't know. I hope the Lord saves them
all, but they've been coming every Sunday since he died. Now, his prayers were answered. He never saw it. But I know Gene, I don't know how many times he
asked me to pray for his children. Pray for my children. I mean,
he desired the salvation of his children. Well, he died. Well,
the Lord didn't answer my prayers. Yeah, he did. Yeah, he did. Continue to pray. The Lord's
timetable might not be our timetable. Continue to pray. Continue to
pray for your family. Continue to pray for your children.
I think of where Paul said to the Philippian jailer, Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved in thy house.
He said, thy house. And I believe everybody in his
house was saved. Well, Lord, you said that to the Philippian
jailer. Do that for me. Continue to pray. Continue. Don't give up. Don't lose heart. Men ought always to pray and
not to faint. Now he says continue in prayer.
Don't don't give up. And then next he says watch in
the same. Watch. Watch for an answer. Watch
for an answer. Believe you'll be answered. And
watch for that answer. I love the story of the little
boy with a bunch of people were getting together to pray for
rain. There'd been a drought and no rain. And the people said,
let's all get together and pray for rain. And they all got together
and started praying. The little boy said, where's
y'all's umbrellas? Makes sense, doesn't it? Where's your umbrellas?
Seems like if you really believe that, you'd be watch in the same watch for his
answers. And he says, do so with thanksgiving. Is there ever a time to not be
thankful? Now, with regard to the answers, the answers the
Lord's going to give me to prayer, let me quote a couple of scriptures.
First, Thessalonians 5.18 says, pray without ceasing, continually in an attitude of
prayer and dependence. Pray without ceasing. In everything
give thanks. Whatever it is, give thanks for
it. Even if it's hard to give thanks for it, give thanks for
it. For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
Now you pray without ceasing and you're thankful for whatever
way the Lord answers that prayer. However He answers it, that's
just fine because He's God. Be careful for nothing, Paul
said to the Philippians. Be careful for nothing but in
everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Let your request
be made known unto God and the peace of God, which passes all
understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ
Jesus. Now, we thank him for however
he answers our prayer. And here's my example. Paul had a thorn in the flesh. You have any idea how painful
a thorn in the flesh is? And there's no point in speculating
on what it is. Nobody knows. But I know this. It was painful. And it was the
messenger of Satan, Paul said, that would come and buffet me
and beat me black and blue. And he said, I asked the Lord
three times that this thorn might be removed. I don't know if that
means just three times or just means a whole lot of times. But
he kept asking that that thorn that was so painful would be
removed. And the Lord didn't say no. But
I tell you what he did say. He got an answer that was better
than this thorn being removed. Here's the answer he got. My
grace. is sufficient for thee." And
you know that statement thrills my heart. His grace is sufficient. I am quite happy to be saved
by pure, free, sheer grace. Aren't you? My grace is sufficient
for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Paul says, therefore, will I
glory in firmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon
me. Now, whatever answer he gives
us to our prayer, it's best, isn't it? Continue in prayer
and watch in the same with Thanksgiving. May the Lord press that upon
our hearts. Let's pray.