{"id":279,"date":"2010-10-26T09:50:58","date_gmt":"2010-10-26T13:50:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.fbclafayette.org\/?p=279"},"modified":"2011-12-12T09:29:01","modified_gmt":"2011-12-12T14:29:01","slug":"four-results-of-right-prayers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/four-results-of-right-prayers\/","title":{"rendered":"Four results of right prayers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"YoungEarlier in our discussion of Colossians 1:9-14<\/a>, we found the content of Paul\u2019s prayer for the church in Colosse.\u00a0 In short, we realize that Paul\u2019s prayers were not simply about physical health, but more importantly, were about spiritual health.<\/p>\n

In Colossians 2:1-3 we find the heart behind those prayers.\u00a0 Paul was not praying out of duty.\u00a0 He was expressing a grieving heart toward those he genuinely loved and cared about.\u00a0 I think we could all be challenged to adopt the same kind of heart attitude so that we want the same kind of results from our praying<\/strong>. \u00a0\u00a0In this text, we find four results that Paul hoped would be accomplished through his prayers.<\/p>\n

Result #1:\u00a0 His friends would be encouraged in their hearts<\/h2>\n

Paul\u2019s letters were often written to people struggling.\u00a0 Discouragement can come from many different sources.\u00a0 In the case of Colossians, there appears to be some confusion about what to properly believe, and this state of confusion was discouraging.\u00a0 I have been involved with people who don\u2019t believe the Bible, and they struggle making decisions.\u00a0 This is not terribly surprising; confusion is discouraging.\u00a0 So, Paul prays that his friends would be encouraged in their hearts.<\/p>\n

Do you want this for your friends?\u00a0 Do you wake up genuinely hoping that your friends are encouraged in their hearts?<\/em><\/strong> Or\u00a0is your attitude ambivalent toward your friends?<\/p>\n

Result #2:\u00a0 His friends would be unified in their love<\/h2>\n

In verse 2, Paul continues expressing his desire that his friends would be unified in love.\u00a0 The church at Ephesus was encouraged to keep the “unity of the spirit in the bond of peace” (4:3).\u00a0\u00a0 The New Testament is clear that unity was as fleeting in the days after the ascension of Christ as it is today.\u00a0 Believers struggle to maintain unity because love is not exactly the key characteristic of our relationship with one another.\u00a0 Instead, our relationship with other believers revolves around social status, power in the church, and financial barriers.\u00a0 Paul\u2019s heart for his friends was that they would learn to love first and, in the context of a loving relationship, they would have unity.<\/p>\n

Do you model this for your friends?\u00a0 Do you show that when push comes to shove, love rules?<\/em><\/strong> Or are you more likely to \u201clove\u201d someone who can \u201clove\u201d you back?\u00a0 Are you more likely to \u201clove\u201d someone who agrees with you?\u00a0 At some point, the cycle needs to be broken by real\u00a0love.\u00a0 Will you be that person?<\/p>\n

Result #3:\u00a0 His friends would have full assurance<\/h2>\n

We might ask, \u201cFull assurance of what?\u201d In the book of Colossians, it appears that the truth of God\u2019s Word \u2013 and particularly the supremacy of Christ \u2013 is what is at stake.\u00a0 In other words, the truth of the gospel is what is at stake.\u00a0 Paul prays that his friends would have full assurance of their faith.\u00a0 Once again, this is a subject that faces all too many believers.\u00a0 Are the claims of Christ really true?\u00a0 Is Jesus really returning?\u00a0 After death, are we ushered into his presence, or is that simply all there is?\u00a0 These questions are questions people have.\u00a0 Paul\u2019s prayers result in, he hopes, their having a full assurance.<\/p>\n

Do you think about that?\u00a0 Do you want your friends to really be assured of the gospel?<\/em><\/strong> Do you want the single mom who is tempted in all kinds of ways to do wrong to be assured of the gospel?\u00a0 Do you want the teens, of which 3 out of every 5 leave the church, to be assured?<\/p>\n

Result #4:\u00a0 His friends would see the significance of Christ<\/h2>\n

There are some exegetical decisions that have to be made to determine whether this is really Result\u00a0#4 or a summary of the other three results. \u00a0For the purposes of this post, we will simply leave it as a fourth result. \u00a0The point is that Paul\u2019s friends would see that in Christ is wisdom and knowledge. \u00a0Thus, the more that Paul and his friends know Christ, the more they will live consistent with his wisdom and knowledge. \u00a0This is one of the many reasons that Paul explained in Colossians 1:18 that Christ is to have first place in everything.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t you want your friends to see the significance of Christ?<\/em><\/strong> Don\u2019t you want the college students to see the significance of Christ?<\/p>\n

Colossians 2:1-3 is a passage that challenges the very desires of our hearts. \u00a0Are we distracted by the various cares of this world, or are we genuinely hoping that our friends have these four results from our prayers?<\/p>\n

In order to accomplish these results, we need to pray for our friend\u2019s spiritual health just as fervently, if not more so, than we pray for their physical concerns.\u00a0 May God help us to pray for our friends and see results like this happen in their lives.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earlier in our discussion of Colossians 1:9-14, we found the content of Paul\u2019s prayer for the church in Colosse.\u00a0 In short, we realize that Paul\u2019s prayers were not simply about physical health, but more importantly, were about spiritual health. In Colossians 2:1-3 we find the heart behind those prayers.\u00a0 Paul was not praying out of… read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[97],"tags":[129,173,117,222],"yoast_head":"\nFour results of right prayers - Faith Church Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/four-results-of-right-prayers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Four results of right prayers - Faith Church Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Earlier in our discussion of Colossians 1:9-14, we found the content of Paul\u2019s prayer for the church in Colosse.\u00a0 In short, we realize that Paul\u2019s prayers were not simply about physical health, but more importantly, were about spiritual health. In Colossians 2:1-3 we find the heart behind those prayers.\u00a0 Paul was not praying out of... read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/four-results-of-right-prayers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Faith Church Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-10-26T13:50:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-12-12T14:29:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/files\/2010\/10\/prayer-young-woman1.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rob Green\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rob Green\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/four-results-of-right-prayers\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/four-results-of-right-prayers\/\",\"name\":\"Four results of right prayers - Faith Church Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-10-26T13:50:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-12-12T14:29:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#\/schema\/person\/044621790bd51280ac2491914cbf2301\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/four-results-of-right-prayers\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/four-results-of-right-prayers\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/four-results-of-right-prayers\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Four results of right prayers\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/\",\"name\":\"Faith Church Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#\/schema\/person\/044621790bd51280ac2491914cbf2301\",\"name\":\"Rob Green\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/faith-blog-assets.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/20200408120942\/GreenRob.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/faith-blog-assets.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/20200408120942\/GreenRob.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Rob Green\"},\"description\":\"Pastor Rob Green oversees Faith Biblical Counseling Ministries. 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