Kingdom Praying - the Prayers of Paul

Kingdom Praying - The Prayers of Paul
 

2 Corinthians 1:8-11; Romans 15:5-6,13

January 25, 2009

In ”Experiencing God Day-by-Day, Henry Blackaby tells us to be “ Steadfast in Your Resolve”. He begins by quoting Luke 9:51 When the days were coming to a close for Him to be taken up, He determined to journey to Jerusalem

It is easy to become distracted in the Christian life! The moment you understand what God wants you to do, it will seem as though everyone around you requires your time and attention! When the time came for Jesus to go to the cross, He “set His face” toward Jerusalem, so that nothing would prevent Him from accomplishing His Father's will. So obvious was His resolve to go to Jerusalem that the Samaritans, who hated the Jews, rejected Him because they recognized that He was a Jew traveling through their village to the hated city of Jerusalem.

Jesus determined not to digress from His mission, but He took time to minister to many people along His way. He sent out seventy disciples into the surrounding towns (Luke 10:1). He healed lepers (Luke 17:11–19). He cured a man of dropsy (Luke 14:1–4). He brought salvation to the home of Zaccheus (Luke 19:1–10). He continued to teach His disciples (Luke 15:1–32). Jesus did not refuse to minister to others as He went to Calvary, but ultimately He refused to be deterred from His Father's will.

If you know what God wants you to do, set your sights resolutely toward that goal with full determination to accomplish it (Prov. 4:25). Your resolve to go where God is leading ought to be evident to those around you. Beware of becoming so sidetracked by the opportunities around you that you lose sight of God's ultimate goal for you. Do not succumb to the temptation to delay your obedience or to discard it altogether. Once you have received a clear assignment from God, your response should be unwavering obedience.

 So, where do you begin being steadfast in your resolve? One good way would be to look at the Apostle Paul.  He gives an interesting picture of prayer in 2 Corinthians 1:8-11. He talks to the Corinthian believers about all the hardships he has been through on the missionary trip which he and his team have taken. He says: "We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and He will deliver us." The team had sensed that death could come to them at any moment. But then he goes on to say: "On Him we have set our hope that He will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many."

Here Paul was not talking about prayer in a casual way, not simply stating that when he was on this missionary journey he knew that some people were back home praying and that gave him comfort. No! He believed that there was a battle going on in the heavenlies which required a different kind of praying, prayer like that spoken of in Matthew 11:12: "From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it." The way "forceful men lay hold" of the kingdom, overcoming the gates of hell, is through prayer. Paul believed forceful men among the Corinthian believers were laying hold of the battle through prayer and that prayer had a profound impact on what was happening! Paul, when encouraging people to join in prayer, writes in Romans 15:30: "I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me." Paul needed prayer warriors and so do we!

Paul uses another image in Colossians 4:12. Here he was talking about a friend whom the Colossians knew, Epaphras: "Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured." If we were wanting people to pray for us, how many would want that kind of prayer: "…join me in my struggle," "…wrestling in prayer." Wrestling is hard work. The Apostle Paul prayed differently than most of us pray in church prayer, didn’t he?  We don’t see much wrestling in prayer going on, do we?

The way most believers are praying is what I call, "little answerables." Most of us are praying for the everyday "fix it" needs of our life. Life may be going along all right. Something happens to upset it, and we want to pray that away and get back to normal. As Western believers, many of us have this sense of entitlement that for the believer, life should be good. Much of the prayer efforts of any given church, and of my own life as well, are probably "fix it" prayers.  "Get this turned around, God," "change this so they can be free of that pain or of that illness, or so this financial need can be taken care of."

Most of the time prayers offered for such situations are made out of love for the one who requested prayer. Because we want to show love for them we pray as they request. We pray the obvious – not thinking about what God wants to do through this situation. Nothing is wrong with people asking for these needs, and nothing is wrong with people praying for them. It is a way to show love to the body. But most of the time we don’t pray about the bigger kingdom things. We need to focus a greater portion of our prayer times on kingdom kind of things.

How can we move our prayers to become more kingdom focused? What is a kingdom prayer? This is what we’re going to focus on this morning. We’re going to follow Paul to learn how to pray kingdom prayers. And, by the time I’m finished, I hope you will know what kingdom praying is all about.

First, let’s define a kingdom prayer. A kingdom prayer is something that has lasting value, eternal value, and importance in the kingdom of God. For example, praying for someone’s salvation. God wishes that none should perish (2Pet 3:9). For this reason, we should be wrestling in prayer for the lost, or for a certain country to be open for the Gospel, or for opportunities to spread the Good News of Jesus’ death and resurrection to our unsaved family and friends and neighbors. If you don’t feel a real heavy burden for the lost, then you should be wrestling in prayer that God would give you that burden. Kingdom prayers have etrernal value.

Second, we can also pray kingdom prayers in "little answerable" situations. We are praying a kingdom prayer when we know we are praying in God’s will. In Romans 8:26-27 we have the Holy Spirit’s role in prayer. It says that when we don’t know what to pray for, "the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will." Sometimes I am so focused on what I want to see God doing that I miss what God wants. The Holy Spirit helps me to pray according to the will of God. Kingdom prayers are in God’s will. Thy will be done. Thy kingdom come! (Matt 6:10) That’s kingdom praying – wanting God’s will done on earth as it in heaven!

To help us focus more on kingdom things, let us look at some of Paul’s prayers. They can be a model for us. Paul had a lot of people under his care with needs. He had started churches throughout Asia Minor and people were being persecuted for their faith. There are twenty-one places in Scripture where Paul is asking God to do something, but in all of the prayers of Paul, I seldom see Paul praying for a specific need for a specific person. I would be surprised if Paul never prayed for answers to specific personal needs, but we do not see that in Scripture. When Paul lived it would be difficult to keep up with praying specific needs for specific people because communication was not what it is today. It could take a month or more to get a word from a church a distance away and to know what is happening.

In Second Corinthians 12 Paul did pray something very specific for himself. He prayed that the "thorn" in his flesh would be removed. We do not know what it was, some theologian conjecture it was his failing eyesight. Paul felt it was something that was hindering his ministry, keeping him from being as effective as he could be, and so he asked God to remove it. What did God say? He said, "My grace is sufficient for you" (v. 9). God would get greater glory by that “thorn” being in Paul’s life with God giving him the enablement to overcome it and to function with it.

Many believers observed "The International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church." Do we not usually pray about getting the persecuted out of their trouble, as Paul  prayed about his "thorn"? I am not for Christians being persecuted, but I know historically that wherever the Church was persecuted, it thrived. In The Christian and Missionary Alliance Church, their largest mission field in 1975 was Vietnam. In it was the largest national Church they had outside the U.S., probably 70,000 to 80,000 believers and hundreds of churches. In 1975 Vietnam fell to the Communists and missionaries had to leave, pastors were persecuted and many of them were thrown into prison for years. Now that the country is opening up again and Westerners are getting back in, they are analyzing where our churches are. They were thirty years without any missionaries or outside help whatsoever, and the Church today is around a million believers. The same thing happened in China. Why the increase? It has something to do with persecution. If we had prayed to end persecution, and if God had listened, would the church have grown? I don’t know, but I suspect that it wouldn’t. It’s more likely to have grown comfortable and complacent and stagnated like the church in the prosperous west.

What Paul’s recorded prayers do say to me is that instead of praying for specific answers to specific needs, maybe I need to think about praying in the same vein as Paul. We will examine a few of his prayers this morning.

Oftentimes we want to pray people out of things and God wants to use difficult things in people’s lives to grow them to be more kingdom-minded, to cause people to be drawn to things of the kingdom. Thy will be done! Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. That is what Paul had in mind when he prayed for endurance for the church in Rome. Turn with me to Romans 15..

In Romans 15:5-6, Paul prays: "May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." In Romans 15:13, Paul prays: "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."  Endure, encouragement, unity, joy, peace, trust, hope, power to persevere.

The Church in Rome was starting to experience persecution and these believers were trying to survive in a city hostile to Christianity. Paul doesn’t pray for safety or protection for them. That is the first thing most of us would think to pray. Instead, Paul prays for unity in verse five and six and  for joy and peace in verse 13. Why? Both verses contain the words, "so that." Nineteen of Paul’s prayers contain those words, so that. Paul prays, "I pray this ‘so that’ something great will happen." In verse 18, look at it with me again. “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace … so that … you may overflow with hope and power.” Now look in verses five and six again: “May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity … so that … you may glorify God.”  The unity of believers brings glory to God. Jesus prayed for unity of believers in John 17. Jesus prayed "that all of them may be one, Father…so that the world may believe that You have sent Me" (Jn17, 21). Our prayers also need to be infused with kingdom purposes … so that …. We overflow with hope and power and unity … so that … we, too, glorify our God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul knew that when outsiders saw the unity of the Church they would be drawn to Jesus Christ in great numbers. Therefore, rather than pray for the obvious, for protection, Paul prayed with kingdom eyes: something like "Give them unity, Lord, so that people would be attracted to the Gospel." When the Church is in unity, something happens in the heavenlies, and people are attracted to the God we serve.

There are many communities in Canada where groups of pastors are praying together. In one of those communities, five to seven years ago, they started doing Concerts of Prayer together. The pastors prayed together each week. They had intercessors from churches gather one Tuesday night a month to pray for their community. There was a lot of unity. Three or four years ago the mayor noticed this. He was not a believer, but he came to the pastors’ group and said, "I understand your intercessors pray each month for the community. If I gave you prayer requests that were around the vision we have for this city, would they pray for that?" "Sure," they responded, "we will do that." So every month the mayor’s office sends a list of needs. There is something about unity that causes people to be drawn to the God we serve. Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done, Lord, here in Cut Knife, too! Can you say as the Psalmist in Psalm 40:, “I delight to do your will, O my God …”? Let’s go back to Romans fifteen again for a minute. Have you still got your Bibles open to Romans fifteen?.

In the second part of Romans 15:13, Paul prays for joy and peace amid the turmoil of their lives so that they would overflow with hope. People who have hope in tough times are very attractive to those who don’t have hope. Some have watched a believer go through a very difficult situation, maybe a health need or a difficult family situation, and they see see they do it with a sense of trust or a sense of peace, even a sense of joy. Unbelievers wonder at that. "How can they do it?" they think. "I couldn’t do that." That gives the believer a chance to share Christ. God uses those things to build character into our lives and to give us opportunities to share the hope we have because of Christ in us. Hope does not disappoint (Rom 5:5). Hebrews 6:18 says we who have taken refuge in God have strong encouragement to hang onto. He is the hope set before us! He is the hope we want others to see in us.

Yes, we want to pray people out of difficult things but God may want to use those things to grow His kingdom and to attract people to the Gospel. Paul knew that, so rather than pray people out of these difficult situations, he prayed that they would have peace and joy and hope in the midst of them, so people would be attracted to the Gospel. In Romans 5:3-5, Paul told us he exulted in tribulation, knowing tribulation brings perseverance;  and perseverance, character; and character, hope.

Now, let’s look at another of Paul’s prayers. The setting is Ephesus. Ephesus was the center of the worship of Artemis or Diana. At one time when Paul was there, some of his companions were attacked by a mob. Paul knew the stress and pressure the church was under. But instead of praying the obvious for them, protection, he prays for spiritual development and fruit. Turn with me now to Ephesians chapter one. In Ephesians 1:15-19 we read: "For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe." I, too, often pray that the eyes of your hearts would be open to know the hope you have.

A little later in Ephesians 3:16-19 Paul prays: "…that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." What better kingdom prayer could we have for each other than to pray we would grasp the depth of Christ’s love for us – a love that surpasses our knowledge, and that we would be full, to the fullest measure of that kind of love for each other. That’s the love that unifies! That’s the love that should be in us proving we are Christ’s disciples (Jn 13:35). “This is my commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you … you are my friends if you do what I command you … This I command you, that you love one another (Jn 15:12,14,17)

That’s a kingdom prayer! Whatever a person is going through, whatever is happening in his or her life, we should pray that it would serve to bring them into a deeper love relationship with Christ. Paul was always praying for things that would develop godly character, Christ-likeness, wisdom, discernment.

Now, let’s look at another of Paul’s “love letters”. Philippians 1:9-11: "And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ – to the glory and praise of God." That’s kingdom praying!

In most of Paul’s prayers he has a "so that" which tells what he wants to happen. In the Philippians’ lives is he wants them to be discerning of what is best, and he wants them to live pure and blameless lives. So, what does he pray? He prayed that their love would abound more and more in knowledge and in depth of insight. He prayed that they would become more loving toward each other, that they would have knowledge of Christ’s love for them, etc. Are you beginning to see the connection between the results and the love Paul prayed for?

What would happen in our church if all of a sudden a grace of love came over our congregation so that everybody started loving one another like Christ loves the church. Everybody begins to get a deep understanding Christ’s love for them. What would happen to the petty little annoyances and offences that tend to keep us distracted and bogged down? We wouldn’t get offended. We wouldn’t want our own way. We would sacrifice our opinion and accept that of others. If that happened in our church, do you think we would live more blameless lives? Of course we would! We’d start to be discerning about kingdom purposes and doing what’s best to grow God’s kingdom. That is what Paul wanted to happen so he prays for love.

I want to venture a little farther on this track, so go with me to the book of Philemon. It is a single chapter of twenty five verses right before the book of Hebrews. Philemon was probably a Christian businessman. We believe he had a house church in his home. Paul had come into contact with a man named Onesimus who was one of Philemon’s slaves who had run away. Onesimus had come to Christ and hewanted to return to Philemon and make things right so Paul sent a letter urging Philemon to take him back into fellowship. Paul writes to Philemon, starting in verse 4: "I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ" (v. 6). When we say, "…share your faith…" we think of sharing with an unbeliever what Christ has done in your life, but Paul is probably referring to sharing with the believers what Christ was doing in their lives. We, as a church, need to share with one another what Christ is doing in our lives. It is faith-building. Not only is our faith built when we see Christ in our own lives; it is faith-building when we see or hear what He is doing in the lives of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Right? You bet!

In this passage and verse seven, For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you., Paul wants Philemon to a full understanding of everything he has in Christ. He prays that Philemon would be active in sharing his faith. What is the connection between sharing your faith and having a full understanding of all you have in Christ? If you are constantly sharing what Christ is doing in your life and giving glory to God for it, do you think God would give you things to share? God gives plentifully you when you share, and you learn more about God’s love, and His being a provision, and His trustworthiness and His faithfulness. Sharing and getting a deeper understanding of who He is go hand in hand. In other words, be heavenly-minded so you can be some earthly good! Colossians 3:2 says, Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Then share those “heavenly-minded things!

 Before and after church we stand around chatting about our week. Seldom do we talk about spiritual things. If in those times, we would share one thing that Jesus Christ did that week, or something fresh and new that they have learned about God in our devotional time – if we were sharing what Christ was doing, our eyes would be opened. We would start to look for such things. Instead of taking things as coincidences, we would realize what God was doing for us and they we share it. It would be an exciting thing to do. God would be getting glory. This happened to Marcy and I this week. One of the missionary couples we support is leaving the mission field. WE wanted to dedicate their funds to another missionary couple. Not knowing who to contact, I asked Marcy to write to a couple with SEND who we supported years ago. WE found out they had just lost some of their support. We didn’t know this, but God knew. We are excited to pick-up their shortfall and, of course, they are too! I love to share with you when I see God putting supply and demand together so beautifully. This brings hope to me, unity to the body, and glory to God!  That is what Paul is praying for here for Philemon. Get active in sharing your faith, because if you do that, you’re going to get a greater understanding of who Christ is and what He’s doing for you and for Good Shepherd Community Church.

We have looked at how Paul prayed his kingdom praying, but let’s get practical and apply it. For example, take someone who perhaps has a sore foot. I believe in divine healing and in laying on of hands and praying for the sick. So that is what I would do. But I also know God doesn’t always heal instantly. He may want to do things in this person’s life. Maybe the afflicted believer has a neighbor who isn’t a believer and when the latter hears that the one with the sore foot will need surgery and will be laid up for a while, she takes her some meals or runs errands for her. Thus the neighbor comes in touch with the believer more than she ordinarily would. So the believer is able to share Christ with her. Maybe that is what God wants to do. Have you seen something like this happen – God turning to good somehingthat doesn’t appear to have good in it?

Think of a student struggling with a class. She wants to be a doctor. Her father is a doctor. She wants to follow in his footsteps no matter what. But maybe God has something else in mind for her. She may not turn God’s way until she struggles with her own choice. Do you know anyone struggling with a life-changing decision? Believe me, God is in it. So struggle! Wrestle in prayer!

How about a neighbor with whom there is a boundary dispute? The neighbor wants to put in a fence with the posts on the property of the believer. Maybe God wants to do something in the heart of the neighbor because of the way the believer responds in that situation. So we approach prayer needs carefully and ask, "What does God want to do?" Do not just pray the first obvious thing – "Fix it, Lord." Ask, "How does God want to grow His kingdom in and through this?" What will bring Him glory?

There are three principles you can follow when you kingdom pray.

 1. The first is, don’t immediately jump to the obvious when you pray for a need. Instead, start by seeking God as to how He wants you to pray. What is it He wants to do in the situation? What might His will be? Is there something you sense God wants to do? What’s the "so that"? What would give glory to God in this situation? Begin to pray that.

Take time to breathe a prayer – "Holy Spirit, how do You want me to pray?"

 2. The second principle is, don’t be so quick to pray the result. Pray the process. Pray for spiritual development and fruit in the life of the one with the need. Ask God, "What characteristics, what things are You wanting to grow in this family? What do You want to do to bring glory to Yourself in this situation?"

 3. The third thing is, what do you do when you don’t know what to pray? You’ve asked God and you aren’t getting anything. Pray Scripture. What’s a promise from Scripture you can grab hold of and pray for that person? Is there a verse that God quickens in your heart to pray for that person? Like Paul, think about what we can be praying for spiritual development in people. Do they need love? Wisdom? Revelation? Hope? Encouragement? Joy? Peace? Trust? Unity? Endurance? Strength? Seek God, asking, "What is it You want me to pray?"

Let’s pray.

Blessed Lord Jesus, Gethsemane was Your school, where You learned to pray and to obey. It is still Your school, where You lead all Your disciples who desire to learn to obey and to pray even as You. Lord, teach me there to pray, in the faith that You have atoned for and conquered our self-will, and can indeed give us grace to pray like You, kingdom prayers.

0 Lamb of God, I would follow You to Gethsemane, there to become one with You, and to abide in You as You do to the very death yield Your will to the Father. With You, through You, in You, I yield my will in absolute and entire surrender to the will of the Father. Conscious of my own weakness, and the secret power with which self-will would assert itself and again take its place on the throne, I claim in faith the power of Your victory. You triumphed over self;  deliver me from self. In Your death I would daily live: in Your life I would daily die. Abiding in You, let my will, through the power of Your eternal Spirit, only be the tuned instrument that yields to every touch of the will of my God. With my whole soul do I say with You and in You, "Father, not as I will, but as You will."Thy will be done; Thy kingdom come, on earth as in heaven.

And then, blessed Lord, open my heart and that of all Your people to take in fully the glory of the truth, that a will given up to You is a will which can be used in Your service, to Your desire, and Your purpose, and Your determination, is according to Your will. A will which, in the power of the Holy Spirit , can loose and  bind in heaven and on earth I want to ask whatever is Your will, and to have You say it shall be done.

0 Lord Jesus, teach me to pray as you taught the disciples. Saying:

Our Father who art in heaven,

Hallowed be Thy name.

'Thy kingdom come. Thy will

be done, On earth as it is in heaven.

'Give us this day our daily bread.

'And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us

'And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the gloryforever and ever.

Amen.