Colossians 1:3-14
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and has made known to us your love in the Spirit. And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
3 ELEMENTS OF POWERFUL PRAYING
1) MOTIVATION
Colossians 1:9
And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you,
Colossians 1:3-5
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints because of the hope laid up for you in heaven.
Matthew 6:6
But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
1 John 5:14-15
And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
Hebrews 4:16
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Matthew 7:7-11
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”
“God does not give us His word merely to quiet our noise, and to keep us hopeful for a while, with the intention of putting us off at last; but when He speaks, He speaks because He means to act.” -Charles Spurgeon
2) CONTINUATION
Colossians 1:9
And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you …
Colossians 4:2
Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.
1 Thessalonians 5:17
Pray without ceasing.
DEVELOPING DISCIPLINE IN PRAYER
• PLAN
Mark 1:35
And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.
• PROTECT
• PRAY THE SCRIPTURES
3) DEMONSTRATION
Colossians 1:9
… asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will
… that they may be filled with knowledge of his will…in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
Colossians 1:10
… so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord,
… fully pleasing to him:
… bearing fruit in every good work
… and increasing in the knowledge of God;
Colossians 1:11
… being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy;
Colossians 1:12
… giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.
Colossians 1:13-14
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.