In these closing instructions to the church at Colossi that we just read the Apostle Paul is giving an exhortation not just to these Christians, but to all Christians.

He tells us to be devoted to prayer, that it is something that should be both central and ceaseless in our lives. He also says that we should be "watchful" and what he means there is the same thing that Jesus told his disciples in the garden of Gethsamane on the night he was betrayed. "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation." The exhortation to be thankful refers to both the how and why we pray. We pray out of unending gratitude for the work of Christ in salvation.

Christians, Paul is saying, must be devoted prayer-warriors, always alert and praying lest you fall into sin and temptation and above all filled with heart-felt praise and thanksgiving at the completed work of Christ in salvation.

When he wrote these words, Paul himself was in chains, imprisoned in a Roman jail awaiting trial for the "crime" of spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And yet, Paul is not concerned to ask the church to pray that he might be released or that his conditions would improve, or that his aches would go away, or any of those self-concerned kinds of things. No, Paul whose entire ministry was one living testament to the grace and power of the Lord Jesus Christ, begins his epistle by telling the church in Colossi that he has not stopped praying for them every day. Paul writes in Col. 1:9:

Paul, the Apostle, the Pastor in chains, far from being despondent at his situation is always concerned to pray for the sheep, because Paul knows only to well that our bodily circumstances and well being fall far behind our spiritual health in order of importance. As he puts it in 1 Timothy 4:8 "For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come."

Here in the United States I think we are all too prone to reverse that truth, and exalt our physical well being to the exclusion of our spiritual growth. I am reminded here of the Chinese Christian pastor who came to the United States and toured US evangelical churches asking them to pray for the persecuted church in China. By the end of the tour however, he was saying "we in China need to be praying for you." Persecution had actually sharpened the spiritual vigor of the Chinese church, while peace and prosperity had created all too many spiritually lazy churches.

What Paul does ask the church in Colossi to pray for, is the same thing that I have been asking all of you to pray for, that God would providentially create a door of opportunity for effective evangelism. And think for a moment of where Paul was at the time! Here is a man in prison asking that we would pray for opportunities to preach the word of God. Paul knows that while he may reach the ear, only God can reach the heart, and that God is ultimately sovereign in salvation. And yet God has graciously decreed to make the prayers of His people the powerful means by which his Gospel would go forth to the saving of souls. How we should be struck to the core at the importance of prayer in salvation if the Apostle Paul himself made that his own special request to the people of the church. I have been particularly struck by the request made by godly men from this church, who while they themselves have been sent to go in harms way have asked that we would pray that the Lord would open up doors for the word for them where they are being sent, and I would ask you all to especially honor their request with your own prayers.

Paul's words here have opened up to us a window on the importance of prayer in the Christian life, in both its centrality and power. Lets delve a little deeper into that shall we?

First let's note that there is no such thing as a Christian who does not pray. There is no such thing in this regard as a mute Christian. Even if we cannot physically speak, we can and must still pray. Think about it, Salvation itself is indelibly marked by prayer! The Word of God read or preached goes forth with power, you hear, your heart is forever changed, you are born again. You believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you cry out to God in faith and repentance seeking salvation. Just as naturally as the first act of the newborn is to cry, the first act of the new believer is to pray. I have no need really to tell that to those of you who have been born again, your own experience will bear a far more eloquent testimony than I can. But for those of you who haven't, I must warn you, that no individual who has never truly humbled himself and cried out to God in a prayer of repentance and faith in this life can expect to spend eternity with him in heaven.

Once that new life in Christ is begun with prayer, it is continued through prayer. The Christian is to be a ceaseless prayer. Now that doesn't mean that we are praying continuously, for instance, no one yet has figured out how to pray and sleep at the same time. What it does mean is that there is never an end to our practice of prayer. We are to be habitual prayers. Men and Women of Faith are Men and Women of Prayer, as J.C. Ryle puts this relationship eloquently when he says:

"I know that the elect of God are chosen to salvation from all eternity. I do not forget that the Holy Spirit, who calls them in due time, in many instances leads them by very slow degrees to acquaintance with Christ. But the eye of man can only judge by what it sees. I cannot call anyone justified until he believes. I dare not say that anyone believes until he prays. I cannot understand a dumb (by which he means Mute) faith. The first act of faith will be to speak to God. Faith is to the soul what life is to the body. Prayer is to faith what breath is to life. How a man can live and not breathe is past my comprehension, and how a man can believe and not pray is beyond my comprehension too."

Prayer is as natural to the Christian as eating, and just as important, for in eating we are physically strengthened and nourished, but by prayer we are spiritually strengthened and nourished.

Let me tell you a story about a Father I know. He has a son whom he adopted out at the greatest possible cost out of the worst possible circumstances, the boy would surely have had only misery and death to look forward to had he not been adopted. And also let me tell you, there was nothing in this kid to recommend him, in choosing him his adoptive Father was being really compassionate. He picked this kid up, changed his life, took him into his home and gave him everything he could really need, and yet the behavior this Son displays towards his Father, especially considering all that he's done for him is incredible.

He goes weeks without really talking to his dad at all, he's embarrassed about talking to his Father in front of his friends, his dad feeds him and he doesn't say thank you, he got him a job and again he never said thanks, his Father has sent him letters saying explicitly, just call on me and I'll be there to help. And yet about the only time he hears from his son is when he's gotten into trouble again has tried everything else, and now because there's nothing else to do, he finally turns to his father as the last resort begging him to bail him out. Then when his dad has helped him out he goes right back to his old habits. He hardly ever tells his Father he loves him. He hardly ever apologizes to his Dad or asks him to forgive him. While this kid is willing to talk to his friends, he never talks to his father about his problems, or his concerns. The saddest part is, his Father is truly the only person in His life who could really help him out.

It's awful isn't it? Well I'm going to break all the rules this time and actually identify the people in my example. The Father, of course is God, and the adopted son, I'm afraid is a lot of the people I'm speaking to today. You can all see how unnatural and wrong it is for a child not to communicate with their loving Father, and yet how frequently do you think of how much MORE unnatural and wrong it is for Christians, not to be talking to their supremely loving Father in heaven.

When we consider all that the Father has done for us, how He did not hesitate to sacrifice His only begotten Son the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, How he continues to feed us, uphold us, provide for us, and sustain us, how can we not pray? When we know how important it is in the salvation of the lost, how can we not pray? When we know how great a benefit prayer is to us, how can we not pray?

If a lawyer were to inform you today that you had come into a great inheritance, would you consider the drive to his office to sign the papers be a duty and a burden and put it off? Would you consider it a hardship to have to grasp the hand that was going to pull you out of the floodwaters? And yet how many of you consider prayer to be something you do as a reluctant duty.

We have been given access to the throne-room of the Lord of the Universe, through the completed work of Jesus Christ. As Christians we can come boldly into the presence of God and lay before Him through prayer our adorations, our Confessions, our Thanksgivings, and our Supplications. This is a huge benefit! We have all this because of the mediation of Christ on our behalf, and I should point out that as 1 Tim 2:5 tells us: "For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" We don't need to pray to Mary or the Saints, we can go directly to God through Jesus Christ. Praying to anyone else is useless, and worse than that it is blasphemous to do so. Why on earth would we need another intercessor when we have the God man Jesus Christ plead our case before the throne of Grace?

Prayer could and should be our greatest source of comfort, when we are heavy laden with burdens and sorrows, troubles, we should turn to the Lord in prayer, for we have his assurances in the Psalms "Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you," and "Cast your burden upon the LORD and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken." Go through the Psalms in fact, they are filled with gracious assurances that the Lord will hear the prayers of his Saints and be your rock, your fortress, your deliverer; your God, your strength, in whom you can trust; God is your buckler, and the horn of your salvation, and your high tower. To whom else should you flee in times of trouble? Who else can prepare you to meet those times and protect you in them?

A Pastor at seminary speaking of the necessity of prayer shared the following example from his own pastor's ministry. He had just officiated at the wedding of one of the members of his flock, she was a strong Christian from a strong Christian family, and she married a man whom she was deeply in love with. While he was a Christian, his parents weren't. I won't go into details but a few days after the wedding, while the newlyweds were on their honeymoon, they were both killed in a car crash. He said that only prayer can prepare a minister to handle that kind of sudden tragedy in a congregation, he also commented that the difference in what happened in the two families was also telling. The Christian family, while devastated by the loss of their daughter, sought refuge in the Lord. They prayed. Because they fled to the rock in their time of need, they endured. The parents of the groom did not, and they fell apart. The mother suffered a break down, and they ended up divorcing a short time thereafter. Christ is that cleft in the rock whom we can and should flee to in prayer when the storm breaks over our heads. Just as we fled to Him for forgiveness of sin and salvation, we should continue to go to Him throughout our lives in times of distress and sorrow and trouble.

There is so much more that could still be said about prayer, but alas time makes that impossible, so in closing let me deal with some objections to praying you may have even now.

Perhaps you're saying "I don't know what to pray" – Do you really have no concerns in your life? No sorrows, no doubts? Is there no one who is sick about you, no one who is unconverted? Most importantly, are you not grateful to God for his abundant mercies? If you've never prayed at all, don't you desire salvation in Christ – or do you honestly prefer death and hell?

Maybe you're saying "I don't know how to pray" – It really isn't difficult. It requires nothing but faith, and heart and will. You don't need book learning, or wisdom, or anything else. Just go to God humbly and speak to Him from the heart. Give him your praise, offer up your Confessions, your thanksgivings and implore him in your supplications.

Maybe you're saying "I'm too busy to pray" – Really? Are you also too busy to watch TV, to read the paper, to exercise or play golf? Can you really say you can't set aside 15 minutes of your day?

Or is it that you aren't really interested in prayer at all? If that's the case, I would beg you to please reconsider. The Bible tells us that Christians are a praying people, the first act of the church after the ascension of Christ was to gather together in an upper room and devote themselves to prayer. A person who never prays has no basis for calling themselves a Christian, a person who never prays has never truly been converted.

If that is the case, if have not confessed Christ as the sole source of your salvation, then you are still dead and stinking in your sins for as Acts 4:12 tells us "There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved." If that is the case then now is the day to start your praying life, now is the day to Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and to call on the name of the Lord in prayer, for scripture tells us that "Whoever will Call on the Name of the Lord will be Saved!"

Let us then go before our merciful Lord in prayer:

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