Prayer and the Spirit’s Power

Bible Passage: Colossians 4:2-6

Over the course of this series we have looked at the importance of evangelism, and some of the things we can do to share our faith with those around us. In this message we think about the role that prayer plays. If we were left to our own best efforts, then our evangelism would be fruitless: none of us have the power to see the hearts of those around us changed. What is needed is a work of God in the life of the person, and sharing our faith this is something we should do prayerfully, trusting that God will both help us to share and bring about a response in the person we are talking to. In this passages, Paul is speaking to Christians in Colossae and calls them to a life of devoted, watchful and thankful prayer.

Prayer For Doors to Open: Paul encourages the Colossians to pray for the spread of the gospel. In particular he asks for prayer for himself and his co-workers (v3), that ‘God may open a door for our message’. There are several different kinds of open doors that we might pray for in evangelism. At the most basic level, there is the open door to a conversation, where an opportunity comes up when talking with somebody to share the good news about Jesus, to give a word of testimony or to invite the person along to something. A second kind of open door needs to go along with the first, and this is about a receptive heart, that as we share about Jesus there is a readiness within the person to receive what is being said and respond in faith. Elsewhere, Paul speaks about a third kind of open door, where an opportunity to pioneer a gospel work in a new place arises (such as Paul discerned in Troas in 2 Cor. 2:12). As communities we should always be on the look out for where God is opening doors for us to plant into new places.

Prayer for Clear Proclamation: Paul’s second prayer request is for himself, and it comes from a recognition that sharing the gospel takes courage and skill and he needs help if he is going to be clear in proclaiming the good news to those around him (v4). When Jesus commissioned his disciples to be his witnesses, he told them to wait until he had given them the Spirit, because the Spirit would empower them for the task they had been given. Paul could be confident then in asking for prayer for his sharing of the gospel, knowing that the Spirit has been given for this exact reason. As believers today, we have the same Spirit as Paul did, and we can pray the same prayer, that God would help us to be clear and bold as we speak to those around us about Jesus.

Watch For Opportunities: As part of Paul’s general encouraging of these believers to pray, he encourages them to be ‘watchful and thankful’ (v2). Being watchful in prayer means being spiritually alert and looking out for where God is moving. Just as the believers were to pray for open doors for Paul (and themselves), they should also be looking for God’s help to spot what opportunities he is putting before them. This moves beyond prayer into action, and in verses 5-6 Paul instructs them to make the most of every opportunity. It is interesting that this instruction is paired with a call to show wisdom in their actions and graciousness in their words. Opportunities are not only those ‘open goal’ moments that come our way, but can often be relationships which we need to steward well and build a foundation through wisdom and kindness before an explicit opportunity to speak about Jesus arises; but even then we should be ready to take that opportunity when it does arise.

Potential Applications:

• Much of this passage is about prayer. A good response would be to create time for either open prayer or prayer in groups, around the themes that Paul is speaking about here.
• You could invite people to write down the names of a couple of people they want to share the gospel with, and then challenge them to pray daily for God to open doors to speak about Jesus with those people.