Paul’s Passionate Prayers
“Praying for Our Church Family”
Colossians 1:9-14
Wayne J. Edwards, Pastor
Have you ever thought, “How can I pray for the members of Heritage Baptist Church?
- How can I pray for Pastor Wayne and Mrs. Linda, or the other staff members, paid and unpaid?
- How can I pray for my fellow believers? I’m sure some of them are struggling with the pressures of life, but I feel uncomfortable asking them about it.
- How can I pray for the various ministries of Heritage Baptist Church, and for those connected with them – especially those who are involved in our Livestream ministry, those who are teaching our children and youth, and the pastors in Nicaragua and the Philippines?
In Colossians 1:9-14, the Apostle Paul revealed how he prayed for the Church at Colossae, and in so doing, he gave us a prayer pattern to us in praying for those in our church family.
- Verse 9 – Paul mentions his practice of prayer.
- Verses 10-12 – Paul listed the petitions in his prayers.
- Verses 13-14 – Paul revealed what prompted him to pray.
- Verse 9 – “For this reason, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you.”
The Church at Colossae was started by Epaphras, who was converted under Paul’s ministry in Ephesus and then returned home to establish the church.
- Having received the letter from Epaphras regarding the threat of false teachers, Paul said, “Since the day we heard it, we have never stopped praying for you.”
- Even though we may not know what each family in our church is going through, much less each individual, as Paul prayed each day for the church at Colossae, perhaps even using the same language every day, we can pray for our church family.
Paul had two main petitions in his prayers for the Church at Colossae.
- That they would be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding,
- That they would walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him.
- Notice how the second petition comes out of the first.
- Paul prayed that the believers in the Church of Colossae might have a full knowledge of God’s will and a thorough understanding of God’s truth as revealed in His Word.
- God’s will is not revealed to those who randomly open a Bible and read a verse or two occasionally.
- God’s will is revealed to those who have disciplined themselves to a daily study of God’s Word, illuminated by the Holy Spirit.
Now we can see how the second petition comes out of the first.
Paul’s goal was for the Christians in Colossae to walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing unto Him, which is the process of daily sanctification. Then Paul identified four specific ways Christians should pray for one another.
- Verse 10 – “Being fruitful in every good work.”
- Galatians 5:22 – “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”
- Hebrews 13:15-16 – “Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.”
- Philippians 4:17 – “Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account.”
- Philippians 1:22 – “If I’m to live in the flesh that which means fruitful labor for me, yet which I shall choose, I cannot tell.”
- Verse 10 – “increasing in the knowledge of God.”
- Psalm 1 – “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law, he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree, planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.”
- Titus 2:2-5 – “That the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience; the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things, that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.”
- Verse 11 – “Being strengthened with all might.”
- Those who have genuinely been born again are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, but not every believer is filled with the Holy Spirit, and not every believer has fully yielded their lives unto the leadership of the Holy Spirit.”
- Galatians 5:16-18 – “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
- Verse 12 – “giving thanks to the Father.”
- 1 Thessalonians 5:18 – “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
- Philippians 4:6-7 – “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
- Verses 13-14 – “He (God the Father) has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.”
- 2 Corinthians 5:21 – “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
“The prayer power has never been tried to its full capacity…if we want to see mighty wonders of divine power and grace wrought in the place of weakness, failure and disappointment, let us answer God’s standing challenge, “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not.”
~ Hudson Taylor
