The Imbalanced Christian Life: Part 2

Joshua Steele

The Imbalanced Christian Life • Sermon • Submitted a year ago • Presented a year ago

Prayer

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Prayer is most simply defined as communicating with God.

When we talk about the Imbalanced Prayer Life, and the Priority of Prayer, we are talking about giving prayer its rightful place as our dominant form of communication in our lives.

More than any other form of communication, prayer is to have the priority.

How many of you talked to someone?…sent a text message?…a phone call?…an email?

Today is April 23, 2023.

Earlier this month, April 3, 2023, marked the 50th anniversary of the very first public phone call made from a mobile phone:

Mobile phone technology has come a long way since the first mobile phone call was made...

It was on 3 April 1973 that Motorola employee Martin Cooper made a call in New York on a Motorola DynaTAC – dubbed a "brick" due to its size and weight – which was widely regarded globally as the first public mobile phone call.

The device was 9 inches tall, comprised 30 circuit boards, had a talk-time of 35 minutes, and took 10 hours to recharge.

The average American checks their phone 96 times per day, or once every ten to 12 minutes. Though, we actually touch our phones up to 2,617 times per day and unlock our phones 150 times on average. That's a lot.

We all have face-to-face conversations, phone calls, text messages, direct messages, and emails.

We use video calling, video chats, FaceTime, and Facebook to communicate with one another.

We collaborate with co-workers and even ministry workers through various cloud-based documents.

We have more ways to communicate than we can do at one time…but what about the most important form of communication?

Where does PRAYER fit in all of that?

What would be the ratio of our prayer life as compared to other forms of communication?

Just as God has called us to live an imbalanced life of worship, God has also called us to live an Imbalanced Life of Prayer:

1 Thessalonians 5:17 NKJV

17 pray without ceasing,

This is one of the commands in the Bible that is an ongoing action.

We are also told the love never fails, we are told to never quench the Holy Spirit, and for not even a hint of sexual immorality to be named among us, but PRAYER is a discipline that should be connected to all of these and every command in Scripture. Prayer can be carried out in ANY situation!

We can truly PRAY without ceasing!

We can even PRAY while we are engaged in the other forms of communication.

We can pray while we are talking to other people:

Nehemiah 2:4–5 (NKJV)

4 Then the king said to me, “What do you request?” So I prayed to the God of heaven. 5 And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it.”

We can pray while we are sending that text or email.

Colossians 1:9 (NKJV)

9 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;

Paul was CONSTANTLY praying for the Colossian church, even while he wrote the epistle to them.

What would it look like if during every conversation after church tonight, each of us was silently praying for the person we are talking to?…praying about what words of encouragement we could give them?…praying for wisdom on how to best respond?

What if every email and text message was prayed about before we hit “SEND”? (I think the world would be a better place)

PRAYER should permeate not only all of our other communication, but also every other part of our lives.

We should be saturated in an ever-present conversation of prayer with God.

Prayer in the Christian’s life is a lifeline for spiritual livelihood.

Colossians 4:2 (NKJV)

2 Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving;

So PRAYER is:

I. Engaging With God

II. Watching For God

III. Thankful To God

prayer

I. Prayer Is: Engaging With God

Colossians 4:2a (NKJV)

2 Continue earnestly in prayer...

This word, “continue earnestly”, means to persist in something; specifically to busy oneself with, be busily engaged with, or to be devoted to

This is the same word Paul used in Romans 12:12 -

Romans 12:12 (NKJV)

12 rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer;

We also see this word in Acts 6:4

Acts 6:4 (NKJV)

4 but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

When you pray, are you truly ENGAGED with God?

Let’s look at three examples of this kind of praying:

Hannah

Epaphras

Jesus

I. Prayer Is: Engaging With God

A. Hannah

In the time of the Judges, there lived a woman named Hannah who could not conceive children.

She came to the temple for the annual feast and chose to pray for a son.

She was so ENGROSSED in her prayer, so FERVENT, so ENGAGED with God in silent prayer that her lips were moving but no one else could hear - she was so ENGAGED in her prayer that it didn’t matter to her who saw her or what people thought of her - she wanted to ENGAGE with her God.

This action of prayer-engagement made such an impression on Eli the priest that he thought she must be intoxicated:

1 Samuel 1:12–13 NKJV

12 And it happened, as she continued praying before the Lord, that Eli watched her mouth. 13 Now Hannah spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk.

Could our prayers ever be so ENGAGED WITH GOD that they might be mistaken for intoxication?

Are we so ENGAGED in prayer that people think we must be under the influence of something else?…are we INTOXICATED in our prayers?

Ephesians 5:18 (NKJV)

18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,

Is the Holy Spirit in charge of our prayers?…or are we vainly trying to scrape our prayers together with cliques and the same old, worn phrases that we always use?

Hannah provides us with a portrait of one who is completely ENGAGED in prayer.

Let’s look at two other examples from Scripture:

I. Prayer Is: Engaging With God

A. Hannah (1 Sam. 1:12-13)

B. Epaphras (Col. 4:12)

Colossians 4:12 (NKJV)

12 Epaphras, who is one of you, a bondservant of Christ, greets you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.

Epaphras was so ENGAGED with God in prayer that Paul described it as “laboring fervently”

This means that Epaphras was fighting, struggling, and wrestling with God in prayer.

Colossians 4:13 NKJV

13 For I bear him witness that he has a great zeal for you, and those who are in Laodicea, and those in Hierapolis.

Paul goes on to say that Epaphras has “great zeal” or concern for the churches, which tells us the motivation behind his ENGAGEMENT in prayer.

Epaphras sets a good example for us - first of all our zeal/concern for others should be so great that we begin “laboring fervently” for them in our prayers.

I. Prayer Is: Engaging With God

A. Hannah (1 Sam. 1:12-13)

B. Epaphras (Col. 4:12)

C. Jesus Christ (Luke 22:44)

Luke 22:44 NKJV

44 And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

Jesus was so ENGAGED in prayer, and His emotions and mind were under such stress that His capillaries under the skin burst and blood and sweat mingled and ran down his face.

NOTE: We are not expected to literally BLEED when we pray - just that we should be passionate and completely focused.

Jesus so believed in prayer that it became an effort of His entire being - His entire Person was ENGROSSED and ENGAGED in fervent prayer.

When we are ENGAGED in our prayers, we are living out the IMBALANCED CHRISTIAN LIFE IN PRAYER

Question: Is your prayer-life ENGAGED with God?

I. Prayer Is: Engaging With God

II. Prayer Is: Watching For God

Colossians 4:2 (NKJV)

2 Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it...

To be be vigilant in prayer is to be in constant readiness in it, to be on the alert to prayer needs, to be wide awake to the necessity of prayer.

Not only must we be ENGAGED in prayer, but we must also be WATCHFUL in it.

Jesus commanded WATCHFULNESS:

Mark 13:33 NKJV

33 Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is.

Also, the apostle Peter:

1 Peter 5:8 NKJV

8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

Paul again to the saints at Ephesus:

Ephesians 6:18 NKJV

18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—

This watchfulness is not only for God to show us what or when or who we should pray about, it is also to watch for God to ANSWER our prayers:

George Muller was a man of faith that lived and worked during the late 19th century.

He ran children’s homes and orphanages on nothing but prayer.

He was a true man of faith. Listen to his comments on the subject of the need for watchful prayer:

300 Quotations for Preachers from the Modern Church Persistence and Patience in Prayer

It is not enough to begin to pray, nor to pray aright; nor is it enough to continue for a time to pray—but we must patiently, believingly continue in prayer until we obtain an answer. And further, we have not only to continue in prayer unto the end, but we have also to believe that God does hear us and will answer our prayers.

Psalm 5:3 NKJV

3 My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; In the morning I will direct it to You, And I will look up.

Question #1: Is your prayer-life ENGAGED with God?

Question #2: Is your prayer life WATCHING for God?

I. Prayer Is: Engaging With God

II. Prayer Is: Watching For God

III. Prayer Is: Thankful To God

Colossians 4:2 (NKJV)

2 Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving;

1500 Illustrations for Biblical Preaching Thankfulness

A little boy was asked by his father to say grace at the table. While the rest of the family waited, the little guy eyed every dish of food his mother had prepared. After the examination, he bowed his head and honestly prayed, “Lord, I don’t like the looks of it, but I thank you for it, and I’ll eat it anyway. Amen.”

Sometimes, thankfulness is not easy, but what if the thankfulness here in Colossians 4:2 is not thanking God for what He has done (although we need to do that), but just being thankful for who God is.

This command for thankfulness is interesting because there seems to be no time for the prayer to get answered the way we want God to and the attitude of thankfulness to happen because of it. It seems that we are to be thankful to God even before He answers.

This same kind of attitude is even more clearly expressed in Phil. 4:6-7

Philippians 4:6–7 NKJV

6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Notice that the requests are made WITH THANKSGIVING…in other words, at the same time that the request is being made. Why?

Look closely at the result of such thankfulness in verse seven: We will receive the PEACE OF GOD. The prayers remains unanswered, yet we are still experiencing God’s peace.

Normally, we thank someone for something AFTER they have given it to us or AFTER they have done something for us…they hand us a gift and we say, “Thank you.”. We normally don’t say thank you to the gift-giver BEFORE we open presents at Christmas, we open the gift and with it still in our hands, we look at the giver and say, “Thank you.”…BUT THAT’S NOT WHAT IS BEING COMMANDED IN COL. 4:2!

We are to pray WITH thankfulness, not BEFORE thankfulness.

We are to be thankful DURING our prayer, not AFTER our prayer.

What if what we are asking for is the wrong thing for us?

What if what we are asking for is not good, even though we are certain that it is good?

THANKFULNESS is a main theme in the book of Colossians:

Colossians 1:3 (NKJV)

3 We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,

Colossians 1:12 (NKJV)

12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.

Colossians 2:7 (NKJV)

7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.

Colossians 3:15 (NKJV)

15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.

Colossians 3:17 (NKJV)

17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

Colossians 4:2 (NKJV)

2 Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving;

Did you notice that THANKFULNESS is a command without a caveat?

When things go well, it’s easy to say, “Thank the Lord!”…but when life takes a hard left turn, goes off-road and throws you for a loop, thankfulness becomes a lot harder.

We find ourselves praying a RESCUE ME prayer - “God, get me out of here!”

But notice Paul’s prayer request in the next verse:

Colossians 4:3–4 NKJV

3 meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains, 4 that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.

Paul is in jail! You would think that he would have been asking for a RESCUE PRAYER… “Pray to get me outta here!”

(Paul did request prayers for his release from prison at other times)

But that’s not his prayer request here…Paul prays for God to work right there in his situation…right where he is in that moment.

And he is praying with THANKFULNESS!

Where do you find yourself today?…right now?…What is YOUR moment?

While it’s not wrong to ask God for safety, reprieve, or rescue. why not pray that God would work in your moment, right where you are?

Question #1: Is your prayer-life ENGAGED with God?

Question #2: Is your prayer life WATCHING for God?

Question #3: Is your prayer life THANKFUL to God?

Conclusion:

How can we pray with such passion that we are completely ENGAGED with our God?

What will you do with Jesus Christ?

The most important choice you will ever make is your decision about Jesus Christ.

We all desire to have eternal life- but how do we receive it?…it’s only by faith.

We have a sin problem, and therefore are separated from God.

The wages of our sin is death

But God is holding out the gift of eternal life to anyone who believes in Jesus Christ alone - His death on the cross, burial, and His resurrection from the dead.