Ever Prayed For These? If Not You Should

Colossians 4:2
Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.

Colossians 4:3
And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.

Colossians 4:4
Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.

Colossians 4:12
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.

Prayer is our communication with God. Communication is what keeps relationships alive. When communication ceases the relationship ends. There is no relationship without communication. Prayer maintains our relationship with God. Prayer restores our relationship with God. A believer who doesn’t pray is not a believer. A believer who prays once in a while is hardly a believer. Prayer is and should be our way of life!

Prayer gets corrupted when we treat it as a requisition form to get stuff from God. Prayer ceases to be prayer when it becomes an opportunity to hand over a list of needs to God. A relationship where the only communication is making requests and demands will not survive for long. Communication should be an opportunity to interact, appreciate and express concerns, fears, and expectations as we do to our friends.

Luke 18:10-13
(10) “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. (11) The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. (12) I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
(13) “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

The effectiveness of prayer is not in its length but in how interactive it is between a person and God. A very short prayer may be much more interactive and effective than a long prayer full of hubris. God expects genuine communication and expression of faith and trust and not just verbose rhetoric. Do you interact with God in prayer or do you read a list of needs and take off?

There is a degree of selfishness that attends to many of our prayers. We pray for ourselves and all that which in one way or another concerns us. We pray to address our needs. We pray to secure our peace. Our prayers have a glaring absence of concern for others and for God’s kingdom on earth. That is why Apostle Paul in our Bible passage of consideration today, commands the church to pray and he specifies what should be part of the prayer.

After encouraging the church to be prayerful, Apostle Paul tells them to first pray for the gospel work. Pray that God will provide opportunities for the spread of the gospel. Pray that the preachers and all believers who must spread the gospel will get the opportunity to do so. If you have a very good sermon but you do not have an opportunity to preach it, it is as good as you never had a sermon.

We need to pray for opportunities to spread the gospel. Opportunities to preach in presidential palaces of various countries. Opportunities to preach in mega rallies and to millions of people. Opportunities to preach to the online world with millions of views and comments. Opportunities to share free literature that will actually be read by the middle and top class who hardly attend evangelistic meetings. Apostle Paul tells the church to pray so that God opens the door for preaching of the gospel. A door is the opportunity to preach. A door to Europe, America, Asia, and the orient. Have you ever prayed for these? If not, you should!

The next thing that Apostle Paul tells the church to pray about is that the gospel will be preached clearly. Clarity of the message being preached is a subject of prayer. If we preach and nobody understands what we are talking about, it is as good as not preaching. Cultural barriers can affect the clarity of the message. Academic barriers and economic gaps between the preacher and target audience can affect the clarity of the message. Poor media platforms and systems can affect the clarity of the message. The personality of the preacher can affect the clarity of what he/she is communicating. Stereotypes can affect the clarity of the message. Preconceived ideas can affect the clarity of the message. Without clarity, the preaching mission has failed. Apostle Paul tells the church to pray for clarity of the message. Have you ever prayed for these? If not, you should!

Finally in this chapter, Apostle Paul writes about a man who is praying for the church. The man is Epaphras. We can learn from this man how we ought to pray. Epaphras prays for the church and he prays that the believers in the church may stand firm in the faith. To stand firm in faith is to remain faithful even when circumstances challenge us to be unfaithful. To stand firm is to prove to the world that our faith can withstand pressure and still deliver a better life. To stand firm is to live an exemplary life under all circumstances. Standing firm is an irrefutable form of preaching since its practical. Have you ever prayed that God’s people can remain faithful to their calling amidst present-day challenges? Have you ever prayed for these? If not, you should!

Our understanding of prayer must inform us to make it a moment of interacting with God. Our prayer life should go beyond the lists that we give God to meet our needs. Our prayer life must show that we are concerned about others, and we are also concerned about the progress of the gospel work on earth. May God teach us and help us to pray, in Jesus’ name, Amen!

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