Colossians 4:2

The Book of Colossians chapter 4. I’m going to read verses 2 to 4, our focus on verse 2. Continue in prayer. And watch in the same with Thanksgiving. 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 am also in bonds, that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak. May God bless to us the reading of His Sacred and Holy Word this morning. During the Thirty-year-year-s War, there were two or three Protestant officers who were hiding together in a cave. And we find that each day a little girl was sent from a local farm, to bring them some food. One day a stranger happened to meet these Protestant officers in the woods, and they joined the Protestant officers in the cave. They were naturally suspicious of him, but talked so much like a Christian, he had everybody fooled. After a while, the girl came with the food supplies. And being polite, they offered the guests. the food to eat first, and to their surprise, he began eating without giving thanks. He was what they expected, a spy, and his lack of prayer gave him away. They managed to barely make their escape from the Catholic dragoons that were dragoons that were going after them on horses. But prayer is an identifying mark of a Christian. It’s clear from all of Scripture that Christians engage in prayer. Christians pray privately in the prayer closet. They pray publicly in the worship services. Christians utter oral prayer as well as silent prayer. We have those who, like Solomon, who’s prayed before the whole congregation, we have those like Hannah, who prayed silently, with her lips moving, but no words coming out of her mouth. Christians pray using different postures. Jesus sometimes prayed evidently standing, sitting, and kneeling. Prayer can be deliberate and planned, or can be spontaneous. But the bottom line is Christians pray. Let me begin by saying this. Let’s talk about your need for prayer. The word prayer here is emphasized right after all these commandments that he has given us of what to do here in Chapter 3. Here is a serious call for you to pray as a Christian. Think of all the Christian duties you’ve been called to do. You’re to seek heavenly things, not earthly things. You’re to mortify sin according to verses 5 through 9. of chapter 3, put off things. You are to cultivate spiritual graces, according to verses 10 to 12. You’re to put on other things. You’re to forgive others, he tells us in verse 13. Love others, verse 14. Let the peace of God rule in your hearts, verse 15. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, verse 16. Do everything to the glory of Christ in verse 17. And then fulfill God’s commands regarding home and work, chapter 3, verse 18 through chapter 4, verse 1. How do you feel about your ability to obey the Lord in all these areas? That’s pretty long list of things. Pretty demanding list, isn’t it? Doesn’t Christ remind you that without him you can do nothing? And so isn’t it interesting? As soon as he gives us all this list of what he wants us to do, the first thing he tells us to do, pray, because we need it. We see the importance and the weight of all these Christian’s duties, and we need help. It should drive us to our knees. The Bible says we’re to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. It is a demanding task and humanly impossible to do alone. The only way you can live the Christian life and honor Christ is for God to work in you both the will and the due of faith. His good pleasure. So you’re going to find, along with Paul, that the good that you would do, you don’t do, and the evil that you would not do, you find yourself to do. So you struggle as you go through this life. If you don’t realize your need to pray for Christ to strengthen you and enable you to obey God’s revealed will in all these areas, then you’re not to pray for Christ to strengthen you. proud and know nothing really about the Christian life. Don’t just bemoan your inability to do these things and throw up your hands in despair because men ought always to pray and not to faint. And therefore the key issue is, well, give me help, strengthen me to do this work, to live the Christian life. We’re to go to Christ in our need and obtain help and grace for us in that time of need. For who is sufficient? for all these things. Who can say they can do all these things? We can do all things through Christ. That’s what the scripture tells us, but not on our own. We’re like the were to be like the fabled giant when Hercules whom Hercules could not overcome for a long period of time you recall. Every time the giant was thrown down and touched the earth, he got stronger. And had more vigor. and Hercules had to hold him up in his arms and hold them off the ground and strangle them to vanquish him. Whenever you’re thrown down, touch Christ and your faintness and your weakness and he will restore your soul. Isaiah 4029 says to them that have no might, he increases their strength. The righteous man may fall seven times, but God rises them up each time. He lifts them up. So you see your need for prayer. Now your need to persevere in prayer is what he emphasizes here. He says continue in prayer. Many professing Christians never get serious about prayer until a problem arises in their life and it’s an emergency situation like a 911 call. Scripture talks about continual prayer, praying without ceasing. Continue steadfastly in prayer. Praying always, Ephesians 618. And so these things are what are emphasized. A day shouldn’t pass without us lifting up prayer to the Lord. There are daily needs that should be demanding of constant prayer, like your health, your own and others. Your daily bread. Your well-being of your family. The well-being of your church. Your financial needs. needs, the forgiveness of sin, the fruit of the spirit, wisdom and knowledge of God’s truth, witnessing for Christ, the advancement of his kingdom, the mortification of sin, the adoration of God, our nation, and living in a peaceable life. All these things are needs among many others. You should realize how dependent you are daily upon the Lord’s goodness, providence, and power in your life. You need for God to renew your inward man daily. There’s not a day that doesn’t go by that you don’t need a fresh supply of God’s grace. That you don’t need to be protected against your enemies, sin, Satan, and the world. Let me make this observation. Continuing in prayer requires you to live in day. Day to by day, God consciousness. By that, I mean, as the scripture says in Proverbs 3, 6, in all thy ways, acknowledge the Lord. We should see God’s hand in everything. We should see that everything becomes an occasion for prayer, because God is in control. If God sovereignly controls all things, and we believe that, then we should pray that God would direct all things for His glory and for our good, as He promised to do. When something good and wonderful happens to you and your life, you should immediately thank God for it. When something what we thought, think is evil or bad happens, we don’t give up in despair. We turn to the Lord and ask him to change the situation or give us more grace to endure the situation. Your life becomes a continual ascending prayer. It gets to the point where we’re going to the point where we’re going to change the situation. we realize that every moment of every day may be a time when we have to lift up a prayer for this or that of the other as we go along. Sometimes we don’t have time we’re at work or something. We can’t go into the prayer closet, perhaps, but we can say a silent prayer. We can ask the Lord’s help in our situation where we are and under what circumstances we find ourselves. So we find ourselves offering up prayers at all times in all circumstances. they must persevere in prayer because God does not always immediately answer your prayers. If God immediately answered all our prayers right off the bat, where would your faith be? How would it ever develop? How would you develop patience? All these things are being developed by the Lord. And so God must be sought again and again at times for certain things. You remember Jesus taught the parable of the persistent neighbor. the man goes to his neighbor and his neighbor’s a close friend and he requests three loaves of bread from him to feed a guest who has arrived in town. Now that wasn’t so bad that your neighbor would come over and ask for some bread. But it was midnight when he gets there. And the house is all locked up. The children are all in bed sleeping and so is the man himself in bed. It was very inconvenient for him to get out of that bed. and get those three loaves of bread. And yet because the neighbor is a friend, and because he’s persistently knocking at his door, the man gets up to meet his knee. And you can imagine this neighbor, you know, pounding on the door, calling out, please, John, help me. I need your help. I need three loaves of breath. And he keeps knocking and calling out and he isn’t about to give up. Now spiritually, Jesus indicates that this portrays how we should. be persistent in prayer. Jesus said, I say unto you, ask, and it shall be given you, seek, and you shall find knock, and it shall be opened unto you, Luke 11.9. You remember the other parable that Jesus told us about, the parable of the poor widow. In this parable, there is a powerful judge in a certain city, and also living in that city is a poor widow. Now, the widow comes before the judge and says, avenge me. of mine adversary. And it appears that this woman has been swindled. We don’t know if he’s been swindled out of property or house or lands or what the case may be, but she’s been cheated out of something. And she goes to the judge. Now, we’re told this judge didn’t fear God or man. He doesn’t really care about her case. He doesn’t want her even be bothered with her case. So he tries to ignore it, but the woman’s desperate. So she shows up every. every day at the court. Every day, she’s pleading, please avenge me. Eventually, the judge grows weary of hearing her, please, and he says, you know, why do I got to take care of this case, or she’s going to just keep coming every time. So he looks into her case, he resolves the matter for her. And then Jesus says this, and shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long long. with them. I tell you who will avenge them speedily. Luke 18 is the story and that conclusion that Jesus draws. For our God is not indifferent to our case. He loves us. He’s concerned about us, but we have to learn to persevere. Perseverance and prayer greatly contributes to the increasing and strengthening of your faith. You may not suspect that. But that’s part of its purpose, is to teach you and to have your faith be strengthened. So you need to persevere in prayer. The third thing I suggest you from this text is this. We see your need to be watchful in prayer. And watch in the same, he says. After you pray, you should be alert to see what God does next. Watch to see how God responds to your prayers. You should expect him to do something. And then Edinburgh, England, a little boy attended a church meeting. Spurgeon, who related the story, said the little boy had a prayer request. He said, I wish my sister could be got to read the Bible. She never reads it. If she could just read it just once, I’m sure it would do her good, and she would be converted and be saved. So the leader of the prayer meeting said, all right, you know, he relates to little boy’s request to everyone. one, and the people prayed for his sister to read the Bible and be converted. However, Johnny was observed before they actually got to the actual prayer, leaving the church. And the prayer leader thought, well, that’s kind of rude. Why would you leave the church? And so when he saw him next, he said, that was very rude of you to leave the church when you asked for, you know, a prayer request, and then you disappear. The boy said that. I didn’t mean to be rude, but I thought I would just like to be at home to see my sister read the Bible for the first time. Now, that’s what we, that’s what we, they actually believe that the prayer is going to do good and that it’s going to be answered. And so I just, I just want to see it happen. Thus, you ought to believe and watch with expectation for answers to your prayers. I’m afraid too many Christians are sort of like the early Christian church. You remember the early Christian church, they believed in the power of prayer. They were engaged in it all the time. At one point, they were gathered in an all-night prayer meeting that Peter might be spared and escape the judgment of the king at the time, King Herod. And he was in prison, and they wanted them to be released. and James, their former leader, had been put to death by King Herod. And Peter seemed to be the next in line to get his head chopped off. So while the king is praying, or excuse me, while the people were praying, we find that an angel comes and visits the prison, miraculously releases Peter, causes all the soldiers to fall asleep, causes all the doors to open up, and out comes Peter, out of the prison. And where does he go? I’ll go to the house where the prayer meeting is taking place. so he immediately went to John Mark’s mother’s house where evidently the church was accustomed to me. And it gets there and he knocks on the door and his voice is recognized by a young woman named Rhoda who goes to answer the door. She immediately rushes back, leaving Peter at the door, evidently and says, hey, Peter’s released to the people who were at the prayer meeting. Now, how did they respond to that? Thou art mad. Must be his angel. It can’t be him. Now, you would think they were praying that he would be released. You’d think that, yes, God answered our prayer. But some or other, they had trouble believing it, and they were slow to believe that God would answer the prayer so quickly as he did. Here they were praying for Peter’s release, but they weren’t watchful. They missed it here. So they were right about the prayer. They really believed in prayer, and that was great, but they weren’t watchful. The psalmist says in Psalm 5.3, in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, like a bow shot, I’m going to shoot it up. And it will look up to see what we’ll happen. When you shoot an arrow into the air, it goes up, and then it comes down. Well, our prayers go up, and then we expect God to do something down here. So that’s how we’re to look for. So you need to be watchful in prayer. The fourth thing I suggest you this morning from our text is you need to be thankful in prayer. He says here, watching the same with Thanksgiving. Now this is reminder to be thankful is necessary because we often forget to be thankful. I like the Psalm as he puts it in one Psalm 103.2. Bless the Lord on my soul and forget not all his benefits. You’re told about the ten lepers that Jesus miraculously healed. Now he healed him in such a way. He just told him I want you to go to the priest and be checked, basically. Go see the priest. And as they went to see the priest, they were immediately cured of their leprosy. They evidently, as they were going and fulfilling Christ’s command, some kind of current of healing came over them. They sensed it. You could look at their bodies and the white spots are disappearing and they’re cured of this dreaded disease of leprosy. But only one of them stopped and turned around and went back to see Jesus. and say thank you for healing. Remember the words of Jesus? Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Luke 1717. Now the lesson from this account is rather heart-searching and humbling. Do we give thanks to God for all the benefits he grants us? Sadly, I’m afraid we can be too much like the nine lepers that take God’s gifts and never say a word of thanks. Too often you can complain about what God didn’t give you while ignoring what he has provided for you. In abundance. So you need to pray for a thankful spirit which is in common among human beings. We tend to be forgetful. Above all, we should get a grasp grasp upon our own sinfulness and guilt. This is necessary to cultivate, I think, a thankful spirit. As Jacob once said, I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies. Genesis 32.10. That ought to make you thankful when you realize you’re not worthy of any of this. So this is a reminder. Be thankful and I think it’s necessary. We’re prone to forget. It’s only fitting that for you to thank God for previous mercies before you. you seek new blessings. Think about that. You know, scripture talks about the horse leech. The horse leech his two daughters that always cry out, give, give. Some people are like that when it comes to prayer. You know, give me this, give me that. Doesn’t scripture command let us come before his presence with Thanksgiving? Psalm 952? You know, those carnal and bloody sacrifices of the law have been abolished by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. and yet doesn’t the scripture say something about spiritual offerings? Spiritual sacrifices? And what are those spiritual sacrifices? Psalm 5014. Offer unto God Thanksgiving. You don’t have to bring a lamb. You don’t have to bring any turtle doves. They bring Thanksgiving. That’s the offering that God would have you bring to him. Dare you approach God without such a sacrifice and just plunded into a new list of what you want. Don’t you ever ask yourself what the Psalmist did in Psalm 116, verse 12. What shall I render unto the Lord for all the benefits, his benefits toward me? What should I render to him? there’s one answer to that, and that’s Thanksgiving. God is not our personal genie to do our bidding whenever we rub the magic prayer lamp. It’s only fitting. You know, you thank God for for previous blessings before you lay out New request. Third thought here under this is you have many reasons to be thankful. First Thessalonians 518 says, and everything give thanks. You should be thankful to God for all the temporal good. Didn’t God create you? Didn’t He preserve you? Doesn’t he provide food and clothing and shelter for you? Don’t you have a job? Don’t you have possessions that you enjoy? Don’t you have a spouse and a family, and I remind you that a prudent wife is from the Lord? Don’t you have health and earthly pleasures? When you enjoy a good meal and when you’re, you know, playing with the kids or whatever the case may be, whatever you enjoy of the benefits of this life, we ought to be thankful for all those things. You should be thankful for all the spiritual blessings God is giving you. Look at the means of grace. You’re thankful for, you should have to be thankful for what are, Word of God. For the church ordinances, like the Lord’s Supper this morning, for the ministers and teachers of the Word, for the spiritual graces, for electing grace and redeeming grace and regenerating grace and adopting grace and pardoning grace and justifying and persevering grace, that God grants us as His people. For our suitableness to heaven, that we have a right to it, that we have a hope of it because of Christ. We should be should be. thankful to Christ that we have such a head, a loving representative for us, such a surety who is a substitute and a loving guarantee of heaven for us, such a Savior that he would love us and give himself for us, such a high priest and advocate that he would intercede on our behalf daily, such a king that he would rule over us for our good, such a provider of life and joy and comfort in this life, such a provider with regard to peace and righteousness and salvation. She should be thankful to the Holy Spirit. Hasn’t the Holy Spirit granted you spiritual life? Didn’t the Holy Spirit draw you to Christ? Didn’t He enlighten your understanding? Does he not daily enlighten your understanding as you read the scriptures? Remove blindness? Doesn’t he provide spiritual virtues? is like the fruit of the spirit in your life. Doesn’t he become your spiritual teacher so that we are taught of God when we come to the scriptures? We’re guided, he guide you along the divine path, the narrow road. He’s your earnest of eternal salvation in the Bible, you’re guaranteed of heaven. You should be thankful for God’s oversight of your life. God’s chastening. that disciplines you like a father? God’s hedging up your way with thorns. Now, we don’t always appreciate that, but God keeps us out of sin at times by blocking us and preventing us. God’s speaking you from His Word. God enabling you to worship Him and Spirit and Truth. God’s good Providence, working all things for your good and I could go on and on this morning. I just wanted to give you sort of a summary of some things. There’s a lot to be thankful for. During the 30 years’ war, that traitor to the Protestants was exposed because he failed to pray when it came to eating food. Prayer is certainly identifying mark of a Christian. If you’re a Christian, you’re going to pray. And here we have some thoughts about prayer and how we’re to pray. You obviously need prayer to implement the teaching of Scripture. It’s impossible to live the Christian life without power of God resting upon us. You need to persevere in prayer because God doesn’t always immediately answer your prayers. He tests your faith. You need to be watchful in prayer and see what God does because he’s going to do something when we pray. And you need to be thankful in prayer. There’s a awful lot that God provides for us for which we ought to be thankful, both temporal and spiritual blessing. I think.