"For This Reason "...

Praying When You Don't See The Answers

Prayer lists can be long; sticking to them or ‘covering the bases’ can feel hard or become dry and habitual rather than feel effective, and especially when we don’t ‘see’ what is happening for ourselves. Yet we are all called to be prayerful people who spend time in God’s presence, interceding for others and trusting and believing that He hears and answers our prayers according to His perfect will and purpos. Last time I checked, that can be hard work. Even getting down to it properly in the first place let alone keeping at it, especially when we don’t see the answers, straightway or indeed ever!

Paul had never visited the church at Colosse as far as we know when he penned his letter to the Colossians, probably from Rome. He had only ‘heard of their faith’ from Epaphras, a close companion of Paul and a native of Colosse, who having heard the gospel from Paul took it back to his hometown it seems, hence the church in Colosse was born. Epaphras also later brought his concerns to Paul about false teaching now affecting the new church. Paul wrote the letter we have now to encourage them onwards in their faith and to refute that false teaching.

Our focus today is the first part of the letter. Many of Paul’s letters are characterised by giving thanks as an opening after giving the traditional greetings. Paul thanks God for their faith he has only heard about, not experienced or seen for himself. Yet he has been faithfully praying for them, without seeing the answers to his prayers, which were no doubt frequent and persistent.

Paul has heard of their faith and also their love and he attributes both to the hope they have in Jesus and the response that they had made to the good news brought to them by Epaphras. Paul reminds them that this same gospel is bearing fruit all over the world (as he knew it!)

Then in verse 9, Paul expresses his prayers in writing for the Christians in Colosse. He has not stopped praying for them, even though he doesn’t know them, has never met them, and cannot see what is actually happening or hear about what’s happening in a hurry – no phone or WhatsApp for Paul, just a messenger with two legs!

But what does he pray for them?

1. He asks that they may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will and have spiritual wisdom and understanding.
    
2. He prays that this will mean that they live lives worthy of the Lord, pleasing Him in every way and bearing fruit in every good work for Him, and hence growing in their knowledge of God.
    
3. He prays they may be strengthened with all power according to God’s might so that they may endure and have great patience, joyfully giving thanks.
    
4. He reminds them of the reason they should always have thankful hearts. God, through Jesus, has qualified them to share in an inheritance in the kingdom of light. They have been rescued from darkness and brought into Jesus’ kingdom. They are redeemed and forgiven.

There are immediate situations that cause us to pray – a specific request for prayer for a particular need. We pray for the duration of the crisis or situation as we are prompted to. There are many other situations and people we pray for over the long term. We may not see those people very often or even at all. We may never know the answers to our prayers this side of heaven. We may know little of their wider situation in the first place.

The message from this passage and the example of Paul, is that praying is costly but never ineffective! Paul did not know the Colossians; he had little knowledge of their daily lives; he was probably unaware of individual or specific needs. But he did know one thing – what God had started in them, He would be faithful and complete. His prayers are for them to go deeper in their relationship with God and keep on track, not to be tripped up or side-tracked or derailed by anything.

If people do not know Jesus, their deepest need is to know Him; to know His love and grace in their lives; to know His forgiveness and the power of His life-giving Spirit.

If people (believers) have come to faith and do know Jesus, their deepest need is to ‘keep going’ and move on, going deeper, growing in their relationship with Jesus, as Paul prays here.

The wonderful thing about prayer is that we can absolutely pray for those we hardly know. I can pray for Pastor Wang Yi in prison in China – I’ve only read about him. I can pray for a pastor in trouble-torn Syria I have never met and never likely to this side of heaven! I can pray for a CAP client on the phone I have only spoken to that one time. How about a prayer or two for someone I notice who ‘isn’t quite right’ as they walk down the street? They won’t know I’ve prayed for them, but what if God does something amazing anyway? … I believe every prayer is heard.

What challenges me from this passage is Paul’s enthusiasm and care in his prayers. He has ‘not stopped praying’ – we can only imagine what he means by that and I'm not sure my sometimes feeble efforts match up at all!

If there is one thing that we are taught throughout the bible from Genesis to Revelation it is the importance of spending time with God in prayer – Abraham, Moses, David, Nehemiah, right through to the apostles including Paul – all learned the paramount importance of a healthy prayer life.

To intercede effectively for others we need to be cultivating and growing our relationship with Jesus. As we understand how deeply we are loved and consider His amazing grace to us, we are compelled to pray for whoever crosses our path, near and far.

So why not go for a walk now and be sensitive to His prompts – pray for a few strangers along the way! Who knows what God does with our prayers, but I am convinced every heartfelt prayer is heard and answered, according to His wisdom and purpose.

What an amazing gift prayer is! What power we have available to us…so PRAY!