Paul is consistently praying for many different churches. He doesn't pray vaguely for each church, he knows their specific needs. He doesn't just pray for them and do nothing to help them; he could easily use his chains/imprisonment as an excuse not to help them. But he didn't he sent people to each church or sometimes went there himself when he wasn't in prison. To the Colossians he sends Tychicus and Onesimus. Paul didn't just pray he acted as well, I believe Prayer and Action can be like a pair of scissors when they are both used in a situation, we are more effective for God.
Colossians 4 v 1-6 - PRAYER
Paul says we should devote ourselves to prayer and be watchful in prayer. Persistence in prayer is an expression of faith that God will answer them. If I pray and the answer is slow this may just be God's working is will over my life. Paul asks the Colossians to pray for him that doors may be opened and that he will be able to evangelise to more people. Paul wanted prayer so he could reveal the mystery of Christ - the Good News of Salvation! Paul then goes on to teach a key principle about the company we keep and the opportunities we have to share the gospel with non-Christians. Paul wants us to evangelise but teaches the principle of how much we let people speak and influence in our lives. Paul wants us to evangelise as people seasoned with salt so when people get a taste of the gospel they want to more and this provokes questions within them. Overall Paul makes this point - that we should devote ourselves to praying persistently and being watchful in prayer.
"Concrete prayer brings concrete answers."
In Luke 18 v 1-8 Jesus uses this parable to illustrate how to pray persistently..." 1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’
4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”
6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”"
Colossians 4 v 7-18 - ACTION
Tychicus was one of Paul's representatives and he probably delivered the letter to the Colossians and the letter to the Ephesians. Paul sent these two faithful men of God to encourage the church in Colosse by telling them stories of what is happening with other churches across that part of the world. Then Paul mentions some of the other guys who send their greetings from prison - Epaphras who pioneered the church in Colosse and Aristarchus who travelled with Paul on his third missionary journeys. There were also others. These were all men of faith who were willing to anything for the growth of the church. These men and many more across the world over the past 2,000 years are who the writers of Hebrews talk about at the end of Hebrews 11 v 39-40, "39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect." These men would be added to this list of faith and so can we, because it is an open ended list. Paul was willing to send two men of faith to support the church in Colosse; he acted by providing the church with help.
I sometimes pray for something but forget to be proactive.
The question for me is this: What areas of my life am I praying for but not being proactive enough?
No comments:
Post a Comment