This past Sunday we walked through Colossians 4:2-6, looking at two fundemental aspects of how Christ-followers communicate:

We speak to God about others. We speak to others about God. 

Speak to God: 

“Prayer is, for the most part, an untapped resource, an unexplored continent where untold treasure remains to be unearthed. It is talked about more than anything else , and practiced less than anything else. And yet, for the believer it remains one of the greatest gift our Lord has given us outside of salvation.”  -Calvin Wittman

At its core, prayer is a personal response to what we know about God and his work in our lives. The Word, Christ, became flesh and dwelt among us. He came to us, and now our lives are defined by how we respond and communicate with him as our Lord and Savior.

God calls us to be consistent and persistent in our prayers. We must continually pray to God to guide us and not lose heart. 

What does this mindset in prayer provide for us?

• It Shows us that God is in control of our lives; He is God, not us.

This mindset helps us realize that any answer we get from God is a result of his grace, because we don’t deserve his gifts. God’s delays make us grateful for all the many ways he continually provides for us.

• Endurance in our prayer life helps grow our utter dependence on God. 

If God instantly answered all of our prayers, wouldn’t we lose the sense of urgency for God’s power in our lives? We would get numb to God’s power, almost expecting or predicting it.

• Consistence and persistence in prayer purifies our heart and motives when we pray.

As we continually bring our requests to God, vocalizing them to Him, we are forced to think and re-think what we are praying. We are pushed to evaluate our motivation and our aim for the things we bring to God.

Colossians 4:3-4 instructs that we are called pray with God's Kingdom in mind. 

God calls for us to participate, through prayer, in the work of those in our churches and across the World to share the good news of Christ with those who were far from God.

We must also remember that prayer is the foundation and fuel to share our faith with others. 

Speak to others: 

• We are called to share Christ with kindness in a winsome and wise way. 

“Wisdom is knowing what to do for the glory of God when the rule book runs out. It’s knowing how to become all things to all men without compromising holiness and truth. It is creativity, tact, and thoughtfulness. It’s having a feel for the moment and having an eye for what people need or want.”  -John Piper

• We must also be gracious in our approach.

This means that how we present God’s truth matters as well. We are to be pointed and clear in what it means to follow Christ, (we must repent, turn from sin and believe in Christ as our Lord and Savior), but we must also be pleasant in our approach. 

• We must meet each person where they are and walk with them toward Christ.

We are to know how to answer each person that God puts in our lives because we truly care for them, we truly want to get to know them, to meet them where they are so that we can make God’s truth relevant to their lives.

Hope you have a great week! See you Sunday. 

Pastor Sam