How to Pray Powerfully for People

The long distance companies want your business. Hardly a day goes by when you do not see an ad—either in the print media or the electronic media—for Sprint, MCI, or AT&T. The competition between these giant telecommunication companies is fierce because they have a product that everybody wants.

They have the ability to enable you and me to reach out across the miles and touch someone; to make connections with them; to communicate with them. And that is a very powerful privilege.

But it’s nothing new. The Bible tells us about a man who had a similar ability ‘way back in the 1st century. This man’s name was Paul. Now he didn’t have a cellular phone and a long distance area code, but he still had the ability to reach out and touch someone. He did it through the power of prayer.

In chapter 1 of the book of Colossians, Paul is living in the city of Rome. He’s actually under house arrest there awaiting trial. But his thoughts are not preoccupied with his own problems—he is concerned about a group of young Christians who lived roughly 900 miles away in an obscure little town in the middle of Asia Minor.

And these new believers were wrestling with some very serious spiritual problems. They had a lot of confusion in their minds as to what it really meant to be followers of Christ in a non-Christian world. And the difficulty was that Paul couldn’t be there to talk to them. He couldn’t be there to answer their questions. In fact, Paul had never even met these people. He had only heard about them from a friend of his named Epaphras.

But he wanted to help them. And the only way he could help them was through the power of prayer. He could pray for them. And that’s what he did. Paul made a tremendous impact on these people simply by praying for them. And that’s something that you and I can do today in the lives of the people that we care about. We can reach out and touch someone through the power of prayer.

Let’s see what we can learn about prayer in Col. 1. In this passage, which begins at verse 9, Paul tells us how he prayed for the Colossians. He tells us what he prayed for the Colossians. And he tells us what kind of results he was expecting from his prayers.

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you…

How did Paul pray for the Colossians? What was the character of his prayer? It was persistent. He didn’t stop praying for the Colossians. He prayed for them again and again, every day. They were always on his heart.

You know, the Bible says a lot about the power of persistent prayer. In fact, Jesus told his disciples several stories about it. In Luke 11, he told them the story of a man who went next door to his neighbor at midnight to ask him for three loaves of bread because unexpected company had come to his house.

Well, as you might expect, the neighbor didn’t want to get out of bed at that hour, so he shouted at his friend to go away. But the friend just stayed there at the door, knocking and knocking until finally the man got up and gave him the bread.

And Jesus said “It works the same way with prayer. Keep on asking and it will be given to you; keep on seeking and you will find; keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you.” Be persistent in prayer.

Another time, Jesus told his disciples the story of a widow and a judge. The widow had a case that needed to be settled, but the judge was a hard-hearted, corrupt man and he refused to hear her case. But she just kept coming back and coming back until finally he gave in—just to get her to stop bugging him. The Bible says that Jesus told his disciples that story in order to teach them that they should pray and not give up.

We should be persistent in prayer, because persistent prayer reaches the heart of God. If a wicked judge would finally give in and hear a woman’s case just because she was persistent; if a sleepy neighbor would get up and give his friend some bread because he was persistent in knocking on the door—how much more will our heavenly father hear our prayers when we are persistent.

We’re not talking about vain repetition here—just saying a prayer over and over again by rote thinking that God will hear us. No, Jesus warns us against doing that. We’re talking about a fervent urgency in our hearts that drives us again and again to our knees before God about a particular issue.

The Bible says in James 5:16 that that kind of prayer—the fervent prayer of a righteous man—is powerfully effective. Persistent prayer reaches the heart of God because it’s coming from our heart.

Secondly, persistent prayer changes me as I pray. There’s an old saying “prayer changes things”. A better way to put it would be “prayer changes me, so that God can use me to change things.”

One of the amazing things about prayer is that it changes not just the one who is being prayed for—it changes the one who is doing the praying. And that change may be even more profound.

Someone has said “God doesn’t become more willing to answer our prayers because of our persistence, but we may become more capable of receiving His answers.” And maybe that’s why God doesn’t answer our prayers right away—because he knows that we are not ready to receive the answer he wants to give us. There needs to be a change in us.

Warren Wiersbe tells the story of a young man who was horribly burned in an accident. He spent weeks and weeks in the burn unit of the hospital, experiencing terrible pain as his wounds were treated. His pastor visited him every week.

One day the young man seemed to be very depressed. He cried out in frustration “Pastor, Ever since the accident, I’ve been praying for a miracle—I’ve been praying that God would heal me, but he hasn’t. Why hasn’t he healed me? Why hasn’t he done a miracle?”

The pastor said “God is doing a miracle. But it isn’t the kind of miracle you’ve been looking for. Over the past several weeks, I have watched you grow spiritually. Before the accident, you used to have very little time for God, and very little use for other people—especially those who were less fortunate than yourself.

“But ever since the accident, I have watched you begin to walk closer with God. You are growing in your faith. And you have become more loving and patient and merciful toward other people because of the suffering you have experienced. And that, to me, is a greater miracle than the healing of your body. God is at work healing and building your spirit.”

When you and I persist in prayer, it puts us in a position where God can work on us—where he can do open heart surgery on us—on our heart, on our spirit, on our attitudes. Persistent prayer changes me.

And thirdly, persistent prayer impacts the people I am praying for. The most powerful thing you can do to help someone, and to change someone, is to pray for them. And pray for them persistently.

Jesus said “If you’ve got an enemy—somebody who is really making life hard for you—what should you do? Try to make life hard for him? No. Pray for him. And someday God will change your enemy into your friend.

If you really want to change people, pray for them.

Paul’s prayer for the Colossians was characterized by persistence. And the content of his prayer was purposeful. Look at what he prays for in verse 9…

…since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will…

I am impressed by the content of Paul’s prayer. He didn’t pray for their physical needs; he prayed for their spiritual needs. And he didn’t just pray a nebulous prayer like “God bless the Colossians”. He prayed for three specific things to happen in their lives:

1. that they would know the Word of God

2. that they would understand it and see how it applied to their lives

3. that they would live it

And I have a feeling that if we’re going to be powerful in prayer, we’re going to have to be praying for these kinds of things to happen in the lives of the people on our prayer list too.

1. Paul asked that God would fill them with a knowledge of his will. What does this mean? We often use the term “God’s will” to refer to his specific guidance for you and me personally. Who should I marry? What career should I go into? Those kinds of decisions we have to make.

But that is not what Paul is referring to here. When he talks about God’s will here, he’s talking about God’s absolute will, God’s general will, all that God has willed. And this information is found in the OT and the NT—the Bible, the Word of God.

In other words, Paul prayed that the Colossians would know the Word of God. That they would know the mind of God as he has revealed it to us in Scripture. And he prayed that they would be filled with that knowledge. The word “filled” that he uses there was a common Greek word that they used to refer to a ship that was ready for a voyage. It was fully provisioned, fully equipped, and ready to go out to sea. The Word of God equips us for living.

But he prays for something else…

2. He prays that they would be filled with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.

What’s the difference between a smart person and a wise person? Well, a smart person knows a lot of facts. But a wise person knows how to apply those facts in daily living.

Wisdom means to have discernment—to be able to make good decisions. Understanding means to have insight—to be able to see into the true nature of things.

Way back in the 1960’s, the U.S. Government sent out Peace Corps volunteers to teach people in third world countries the principles of modern farming. So they would go out to these countries, and gather the farmers into a classroom, and they would teach them all about modern agricultural management—soil conservation techniques, crop rotation, irrigation methods, and all that. And the farmers would take it all in.

But then they would go back out into their fields and proceed to do just what they had done for hundreds of years. Nothing changed. They had their heads full of facts, but it didn’t make any difference in the way they lived.

And that can happen to Christians too. They get so smart they get dumb. It’s possible to come to church week after week, year after year, and get your head filled with facts, but if the truth isn’t coupled with wisdom and understanding, it isn’t going to make a difference in the way you live. And that’ll turn you into a very unappealing Christian.

There were some Christians in the NT like that. They lived in the city of Corinth. And they knew a lot of Bible truth. Their heads were packed full of Bible knowledge. But their lives were a mess, because they didn’t see how the truth related—they were lacking spiritual wisdom and understanding.

Where do we get spiritual wisdom and understanding? It comes from the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit’s ministry in your life, the words on the pages of your Bible are nothing more than words—just dry, empty facts that you can master and even memorize—but which will not make a difference in your life.

One of the ministries of the Holy Spirit is to illumine the truth—to turn the lights on it. To help you see how it applies in your life.

So Paul prayed that they would know the Word, and that they would know it in spiritual wisdom and understanding. But he prayed something even more…

3. He prayed that they would live the Word. “In order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way” he says in v. 10. The KJV uses the expression “to walk worthy of the Lord”.

In the Christian life, there is no separation between learning and living. God’s truth has to filter down into our lives in order for it to do any good. D. L. Moody said that every Bible should be bound in shoe leather in order to remind us that we need to take the truth out into the streets and walk it.

Obedience is the key. Jesus, in John 14:21, said “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me.” A Christian isn’t a Christian because he says he is; a Christian is a Christian if he is living the truth of Jesus’ teaching.

When we walk with the Lord in the light of his Word

what a glory he sheds on our way.

When we do his good will

he abides with us still and with all who will trust and obey.

Last week, we changed our clocks back, which meant that everybody got to church on time. But in the spring, it’s a different story! You always get someone who forgets to change their clock and shows up just as church is ending.

Well, in one church, that happened. A man forgot to set his clock properly and he came rushing into church just as the postlude was playing. People were filing out of the sanctuary, shaking hands with the pastor. And this man rushed up to the pastor and said “I can’t believe it, Pastor, is the sermon over?”

And the pastor smiled and pointed to the people going out of the church and said “No sir, the sermon is just beginning.”

When you walk out of church today, the sermon is just beginning. When you wake up tomorrow to go to work, the sermon is just beginning. When you close your Bible after your quiet time, the sermon is just beginning. When you sit in front of your computer, when you relate to your kids at home, when you get behind the wheel of your car, the sermon is just beginning.

Paul prayed that the Colossians would not only know the truth, and understand the truth, but that they would live the truth. Because he knew that if they would live the truth, they would become powerfully productive believers.

Persistent purposeful prayer produces powerfully productive people. (Don’t try to say that with your mouth full!)

Obedience to the Word of God results in changed lives. Look at the kind of people Paul was praying that they would become in verse 10…

…bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.

Productive people are:

1. Fruitful in every good work—they are the kind of people who are great to be around; they are a blessing to others. They have a nourishing, refreshing impact.

2. Growing to know God better—deepening their relationship with him. And as they grow to know him, they become more like him.

3. Strong and stable. God’s power working in them gives them two things:

a. endurance—that is the ability to handle challenging circumstances

b. patience—that is the ability to deal with challenging people.

4. Joyfully thankful. They are full of gratitude for all that God has done for them. They see life as a gift to be enjoyed to the full, because it comes from the Giver of all good gifts.

These are the kind of people Paul prayed that the Colossians would become. And you and I can pray the same kind of prayers for the people in our lives. We can pray that they would know the will of God; that they would understand it and see how it applies; and that they would obey it and live it. And that God would make them into these kind of people.

Our persistence in prayer is the key. The enemy would like nothing better than to stop us from praying these kinds of focused, purposeful prayers. Samuel Chadwick wrote:

Satan dreads nothing but prayer. His one concern is to keep us from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but he trembles when we pray.

If we’re going to make a difference as Christians living in a non-Christian world, we’re going to have to pray persistently, and purposefully, for the people around us.

Early service only…

We thought it would be appropriate to conclude our service today with a time of prayer when we can begin to put into practice what we’ve learned. So Pastor Scott is going to come now and lead us in that time of prayer, and I would invite you to participate.