Praying With The Preacher
Sermon
Sermons On The Second Readings
Series I, Cycle C
Sharlon and I returned recently from a brief trip to Tuscumbia, Alabama, where we served from 1978-1985. The trip had no other purpose but to check on some dear friends whom we learned to love while we were there. On the way to Tuscumbia we stopped in Huntsville and called Sharlon's cousin, Wayne. He was too sick from the chemotherapy to come to the phone. He is going back to the Mayo Clinic next week. He is 47. Sharlon told his mother to tell him that we are praying for him.
Upon our arrival in Tuscumbia, we went to see Guy and Grace, our parents away from home while we were there. Both have been ill. Guy is 88 and walks with a cane. As we left he gave to me a prayer. "One day you will get a phone call. We hope that you will come," he asked with moisture in his eyes.
"I will always be there for you," I replied.
We then visited Marguerite, my secretary for seven years. She is in her eighties, has had several surgeries, and is taking care of an invalid sister. With all her problems, her parting words were, "I pray for you every day."
Next we went to see Shubie and Carolyn. When we arrived in 1978, he was the mayor, the most heralded coach in the storied history of the school, and one of the finest speakers I have ever heard. Due to health problems, he now has some speech difficulties which did not prohibit him offering to me a prayer of encouragement. "You know that I love you," he said. "You'll always be my preacher."
We saw Walter and Marcia. Our prayer for him was one of gratitude for his amazing recovery from a recent stroke. He bought me the best chocolate milkshake that I have had in years.
John and Mary were next on the list. She looked great and acted graciously, as usual. John, a surgeon, spoke in frank terms about her cancer. We assured them of our prayers.
Dr. Hugh, my cousin and cherished friend, had just gotten married a week earlier. My prayer for him and his new bride was one of blessing and congratulations.
As I left my parents' home the next day, I told them that I loved them, which may be the highest form of prayer. When we left my wife's parents on the same day, Sharlon cried and so did her father. Tears may be the most sincere form of prayer.
Nine situations in three days -- such is the stuff of real life. The continuing thread weaving through each of those experiences was prayer. But you know that! You have your own list. You have your own concerns for friends and family as we all ride the ups and downs of living. For most of us, it is as natural as breathing to pray or to request for someone to pray for us. It is our defense, our means of coping, our way of life.
Now, agreed, there are those skeptics who chide and scoff that prayer does not work. They question its validity because supposedly they prayed and seemingly their prayers were unanswered. A waste of time, superstition, or a crutch for the weak, they claim. Also, there are those who say that God already knows what you need. Didn't Jesus say that? So why inform a God who already knows? Some state that prayer does not work or it is a waste of time. We respond that we know better. We respond that those who say that prayer does not work are probably not praying or working.
Sometimes we are just that confident and self-assured. We quote Frank Laubach who stated that "more things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of." We agree with Douglas Steere when he notes that "coincidences" happen. We rejoice in the findings of people such as cardiologist Randolph Byrd of San Francisco Hospital who randomly divided 393 cardiac patients into a control group and another group that would receive intercessory prayer for ten months. Although neither the staff nor the patients knew who was receiving prayer, the prayer recipients had significantly fewer complications. They were five times less likely to receive antibiotics. None went into cardiac arrest, compared to twelve in the control group. None needed a mechanical ventilator, compared to twelve in the control group. None of the prayer recipients died, compared to three in the control group.1 We are not surprised to learn that prayer works with scientifically measurable results. Sometimes we are totally confident that some things happen when people pray that do not happen when they don't.
Then, there are times, on the other hand, when we are not sure about anything, Prayer remains a great mystery, incomprehensible, and beyond our understanding. Let me assure you, this is not a theological treatise, a polemical argument or a philosophical dissertation. This may be the most incomplete sermon I have ever preached. Who could claim to contain prayer in one sermon? I preach it as one who struggles daily with prayer and spiritual formation. I do not know how to pray. I do not know anyone who claims to be an expert in prayer. I do know of some whom I would name as faithful or disciplined in prayer. I cherish those whom I ask to pray for me, but I really do not know of anyone who boasts of prowess in prayer. The ones I know who are disciplined and faithful, the ones in whose prayers I have confidence, humbly confess their struggle and inadequacies.
But still we pray! It is in this same spirit that a pastor, Epaphras, sidles up to his hero in the faith, Paul, and asks him to pray for his young and struggling church in Colossae. The founding pastor, Epaphras asks Paul to pray with him about a heresy creeping into the young congregation that teaches that Jesus was not the unique son of God, but a member of a hierarchy of angels. Thus, our text from the book of Colossians is Paul's effort to pray with the preacher as has been requested. He begins his epistle to these young Christians whom he has never seen or visited with a prayer. Well, it is more than a prayer; it is actually more of a result of a prayer already prayed or the report of a prayer. In fact, the entire epistle is an effort by Paul to put feet on his prayer, because that is all he can do since he is in prison. So, Paul prays with the preacher and helps us to learn more about what prayer actually does.
Prayer does something for the person requesting prayer. In requesting prayer for his church, Epaphras is doing the highest and most noble thing he knows to do for his beloved people. He is asking one whom he loves and respects to lift them up in the presence of God. He is placing them in God's hands through one most familiar with the hands of God. Epaphras is not shirking his responsibility or calling. He is continuing to serve his people. Epaphras is not being negative. He has informed Paul of their love in the Spirit (v. 8). He may be doing the best thing or the only thing he knows to do. He may be at the end of his rope. His prayer to Paul to pray for his people may be an act of sheer desperation! He would not be the first or the last pastor to find himself in such a predicament.
In pleading with Paul to pray for his people, Epaphras is not only doing the best or only thing he knows to do, he also is freeing himself from isolation. He is reminding himself that he is not alone or abandoned. He is making himself available to the support and encouragement of the family of God. He is drawing upon the resources of a greater reality to help bear his burdens and thus avoid the warped perspective that isolation sometimes can bring. There is wisdom in seeking the wisdom of greater numbers.
I love the story told by Harry Golden who asked his father, "If you don't believe in God, why do you go to synagogue so often?"
His father replied, "Jews go to synagogue for all sorts of reasons. My friend Garfinkle goes to talk to God. I go to talk to Garfinkle."2
Or, perhaps Epaphras petitioned Paul to pray, in a conscious effort to distribute the load more evenly. How can one care for so many -- then or today? Sharlon and I find ourselves as very active members of the sandwich generation with aging and ailing parents on one hand and young adult children with children of their own on the other. Believe me, those three generations are in different worlds. We are the ones called upon to bridge the gap between them. Perhaps Epaphras needed Paul's prayers to bridge the gap.
Prayer not only helps the person requesting prayer, it helps the person that receives prayer as well. Spiritual formation has no finer advocate than Glenn Hinson. In his book, The Reaffirmation of Prayer, Dr. Hinson writes articulately about the "love energies" of intercessory prayer. He states that when we pray for someone, God actually transfers our love energies to supplement his own, to add a little something extra to effect a healing, conversion, or some other manifestation of God's will. If love energies can effect the growth of a house plant, why not the higher forms of consciousness, like a human being? Is this not somewhat the theory of the ancient practice of acupuncture? The body functions well when certain energies flow through it. Disease clogs the flow. Needles are inserted to open up the channels and restore their proper functioning. Dr. Joel Avery, a thoracic surgeon, once witnessed a video of a patient undergoing bypass heart surgery with no benefit of any anesthetic, except that of acupuncture. If love energies can work in the operating room or with a plant, then why not with prayer?
Paul prayed and joined his love energies with that of God to help bring about the desired results in the young church. Paul prayed that they would live lives worthy of the Lord and seek to please him in every way (v. 10). He prayed that they would be filled with knowledge of his will with all spiritual wisdom and understanding (v. 9). He petitioned them to bear fruit in every good work (v. 10). He desired for them to be strengthened with God's power, enabling them to have endurance and patience (v. 11). His fondest desire was that they would joyfully give thanks unto the Father (v. 12), which may have effectively summed up his ambition for them. What better gift could the Colossians receive than the gift of gratitude? What better gift could anyone receive? If I could pass on one gift to those that I love the most, it would be the gift of gratitude. To be able to choose gratitude in any circumstance certainly is one of God's most gracious gifts. And we are free to choose.
Derl Keefer tells the story of a sick and elderly woman who lived in abject poverty. Someone asked for what she had to be thankful. Looking at the shabby walls in her room she replied, "For the sunshine through the cracks."3 The choice is ours. We can choose to cuss the cold or to be grateful for the sunshine, both of which seep through the very same cracks. Somehow, I feel that prayerful people more often than not choose to be grateful.
Prayer not only helps the one requesting prayer and the one being prayed for; dare I say it, it can help the one to whom the prayer is prayed. Is it impossible to believe that in some way, prayer from his children brings delight to the great heart of God? Prayer is the highest way of living out our personal relationship to God. As Thomas ˆ Kempis remarked, "Prayer brings about a familiar friendship with Jesus." Could it be that God actually experiences the joy of companionship with his children when they seek to be with him in prayer? Nothing brings me greater joy that when one of my children telephones me, asks my advice, or just wants to spend time with their father. Somehow I suspect that God feels the same way when we desire only to seek his presence. Why else would he create us in his image with the capacity to have fellowship with him?
Someone has said that prayer is not overcoming reluctance. Prayer is laying hold of God's highest willingness. Could it not bring great joy to God to see us acknowledge him and place ourselves in a position where we can receive his very best? Could our prayers actually touch the great heart of God? I dare think so.
Perhaps the greatest benefit of prayer is offered to the person who prays. Paul, in his prayer to people he does not know, assumes a tender tone and an encouraging spirit. In other letters, such as to the Corinthians, with whom he is more familiar, the great apostle is much more direct and aggressive. To Colossae, he is more tactful even though Epaphras has briefed him well on the problem. Of course, Paul is wise enough to know that we do not use the same tact with everyone, but perhaps he is searching for a common ground that will open communication. Could there be a more common ground than prayer? Perhaps Paul is looking for a common denominator. Could there be a more common denominator to Christians than Jesus? Possibly this is why Paul pens the first chapter as he does and lays a common foundation upon which both he and the young church can walk.
Paul knows that in prayer we must begin by listening to God in order to receive his wisdom, guidance, and understanding (v. 9) to know how to pray. If real prayer does indeed begin with God, then should we not spend time in solitude and silence to listen to that for which God wants us to pray? It might be a bit presumptuous to assume that we already know how to storm the gates of glory. It is out of our time with God that we develop the understanding both to voice our prayer and to accept God's answer. As Jesus said, "Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me" (John 15:4 NIV). As we abide, take up residence, in him, we not only learn more of his word and spirit, but also we are better able to enter with him into the ministry of intercession. We may never be so close to Christ as when we intercede for others, because he is interceding as well. "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will" (Romans 8:26-27 NIV).
Paul also knows that in prayer our main task, possibly our only task, is to hold that individual up before God. In doing so, we love them in a way that can be accomplished in no other way except through prayer. As William Law said, "Nothing makes us love someone so much as praying for him." We simply hold the individual before our loving God, asking for his will and their highest good. In prayer we wish them well in accordance with God's loving will for their lives. We do not always know the best for them, but God does.
This is how we can do the difficult task of praying for our enemies. We move beyond ourselves and pray for God's best in their lives. In doing so, we begin to see that person more and more as God sees him/her. His will becomes more and more our will for the other person. Whether their relationship to us is right or not, our relationship to them can be. When we truly pray for our enemy, he becomes less of a real enemy and is further along the road to becoming our friend, at least from our perspective. And that is the only perspective we have the choice to control.
Also I think that Paul perceived that when we pray for someone we increase the amount of good in the world. "For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves" (v. 13 NIV). We actually can play a role with God in adding to the light and dispelling the darkness.
William Bausch relates an intriguing episode. The Japanese monkey "Macaca Fuscata" has been observed in the wild for a period of over thirty years. In 1952, on the island of Koshima, scientists were providing monkeys with sweet potatoes dropped in the sand. The monkeys liked the taste of the raw sweet potatoes, but they found the dirty sand unpleasant.
An eighteen-month-old female named Imo found she could solve the problem by washing the potatoes in a nearby stream. She taught this trick to her mother. Her playmates also learned to wash their potatoes, and they taught their mothers, too. The cultural innovation was gradually picked up by various monkeys before the eyes of the scientists. Between 1952 and 1958, all the young monkeys learned to wash sandy sweet potatoes to make them more palatable. Only the adults who imitated their children learned this social improvement.
Other adults kept eating the dirty sweet potatoes. Then something startling took place. By the autumn of 1958, 99 monkeys on Koshima Island had learned to wash their sweet potatoes. But later that morning -- and here is the breakthrough -- the one-hundredth monkey learned to wash potatoes.
Then it happened. By that evening almost everyone in the tribe was washing sweet potatoes before eating them. The added energy of this hundredth monkey somehow created an ideological breakthrough. But notice. The most surprising thing observed about this was that the practice then spontaneously jumped over the sea: colonies of monkeys on the other island and the mainland troop of monkeys at Takasaki-Yama began washing their sweet potatoes.4
Could it be that this dynamic of the one-hundredth monkey could pertain to the laws of good and prayer as well? Could it be that if enough of God's people prayed, adding to the good in the world, that the collective good would be greater that the sum total of its parts? It certainly is true of evil. Remember the Holocaust? Why can it not be true of good? When we pray, we can actually cause the field of good to be so strengthened that it could reach beyond our intention of imagination. When we pray we add to the light and good of the world.
When we pray for someone, we are called to envision that individual and be sensitive to his/her particular needs. Even though Paul had never been to Colossae and had only conferred with the pastor, he was amazingly specific (vv. 9-12). He was not as specific as the individual in Dr. Hinson's book who prayed in response to a drought on the American frontier. "Oh, Lord, we need rain bad; send us rain. We don't want a rippin', rarin', tearin' rain that'll harrer up the face of Nature, but a drizzlin', drozzlin', sozzlin' rain, one that'll last all night and pretty much all day, O Lord."5
Effective intercessory prayer also encourages us to put feet on our prayers, to become a part of the answer to that for which we pray. We must remember that the epistle to Colossae is not the first time that Paul prayed for the congregation. As noted, the letter is really a report of the prayer that already he has prayed. The letter is part of his effort to put feet on his prayer because he is in prison and cannot be involved more directly. It was the best he could do. Look how God has used it for 2,000 years. Isn't it awesome to think that God would use something we do?
The agronomists tell us that God supplies 95 percent of the resources, energy, and ingredients to grow a stalk of corn. The farmer only supplies five percent. But God must leave that five percent which the farmer supplies in order to grow a stalk of corn. We, too, can cooperate with God in prayer and who knows -- we may actually contribute the missing ingredient to what he is trying to accomplish. Who knows?
A Sunday school teacher had noticed a young boy delivering newspapers on Sunday morning during the Sunday school hour. He began to pray for that boy. He then began to feel that God wanted him to do more. The next Sunday, he saw the lad again. The Sunday school teacher approached him and invited him in, but got the stern reply, "Do you see this stack of papers, mister? If I don't sell them, I don't eat. My mother is sick in bed, my dad's dead, and this is our living." The Sunday school teacher then taught his finest lesson as he went with the young man to deliver every paper! That young man is now one of the leading surgeons of that state and the chairman of deacons of that church. Praying for others helps us externally to become part of the answer to our prayer.
Paul begins his word to a people he does not know with a tender tone and a prayer seeking for that which they hold in common. He finds that common denominator in Jesus. "For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins" (vv. 13-14 NIV).
We are all sinners saved by the grace of God through Jesus' death on the cross. That is what we have in common. That is greater than anything we can ever hold in difference. That bridges any gap of distance or difference. It is our common ground that we are sinners saved by his grace that brings us to our dependence upon prayer.
Wow! If prayer does so much, there is only one question that remains. The story is titled "The City of Everywhere" and is written by Hugh Price Hughes. It is a story of a traveler who went by train to a city where he had never been. When he got off the train, he noticed that everyone there was just like the people in all of the other places he had been except for one thing. No one was wearing shoes! "Odd," he thought.
He commented to the first person he met in the train station about no one wearing shoes. The man said, "That's right."
The traveler said, "No one is wearing shoes, are they?"
"That is true."
The traveler said, "Let me ask you another question. Why aren't you wearing shoes? Do you not believe in shoes?"
"Oh, yes," the man said, "I believe in shoes."
"Well, then why aren't you wearing shoes?"
"Ah, why aren't we wearing shoes? That's the question."
He went into a restaurant, same scene, no one was wearing shoes. He asked another individual, "Sir, may I ask you a question? I notice that you are not wearing shoes. Are shoes not available to you? Do you not believe in shoes?" "Oh, yes, shoes are available. We believe in shoes." "Well, why are you not wearing shoes?" "Ah, why aren't we wearing shoes? That is the question."
Befuddled totally, the man left the restaurant, walked down the street, and stopped the first man he saw. "Sir, I notice you are not wearing shoes. I understand you know about shoes, and I understand that shoes are fully available to you. Do you not know the benefits of wearing shoes?"
The man said, "Of course, we know the benefits of wearing shoes. Go down that street and you will see the finest shoe factory in this part of the country. Every week the manager of the shoe factory talks to us about the benefits of wearing shoes."
The traveler said, "Let me get this straight. You know about shoes, you believe in shoes, you know the benefits of wearing shoes, and shoes are available to you. Then, pray tell me, why aren't you wearing shoes?"
"Why aren't we wearing shoes? Ah, that is the question."
And the question is: "Why don't we ... pray?"
____________
1. Matthew Linn, Simple Ways to Pray for Healing (New York: Paulist Press, 1998), p. 53.
2. Harold Kushner, When Bad Things Happen to Good People (New York: Schocken Books, 1981), p. 122.
3. Michael Duduit, The Abingdon Preaching Annual 1995 (Nashville: Abingdon Press 1994), p. 249.
4. William J. Bausch, A World of Stories (Mystic, Connecticut: Twenty-Third Publications, 1998), p. 246.
5. E. Glenn Hinson, The Reaffirmation of Prayer (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1979), p. 114.
Upon our arrival in Tuscumbia, we went to see Guy and Grace, our parents away from home while we were there. Both have been ill. Guy is 88 and walks with a cane. As we left he gave to me a prayer. "One day you will get a phone call. We hope that you will come," he asked with moisture in his eyes.
"I will always be there for you," I replied.
We then visited Marguerite, my secretary for seven years. She is in her eighties, has had several surgeries, and is taking care of an invalid sister. With all her problems, her parting words were, "I pray for you every day."
Next we went to see Shubie and Carolyn. When we arrived in 1978, he was the mayor, the most heralded coach in the storied history of the school, and one of the finest speakers I have ever heard. Due to health problems, he now has some speech difficulties which did not prohibit him offering to me a prayer of encouragement. "You know that I love you," he said. "You'll always be my preacher."
We saw Walter and Marcia. Our prayer for him was one of gratitude for his amazing recovery from a recent stroke. He bought me the best chocolate milkshake that I have had in years.
John and Mary were next on the list. She looked great and acted graciously, as usual. John, a surgeon, spoke in frank terms about her cancer. We assured them of our prayers.
Dr. Hugh, my cousin and cherished friend, had just gotten married a week earlier. My prayer for him and his new bride was one of blessing and congratulations.
As I left my parents' home the next day, I told them that I loved them, which may be the highest form of prayer. When we left my wife's parents on the same day, Sharlon cried and so did her father. Tears may be the most sincere form of prayer.
Nine situations in three days -- such is the stuff of real life. The continuing thread weaving through each of those experiences was prayer. But you know that! You have your own list. You have your own concerns for friends and family as we all ride the ups and downs of living. For most of us, it is as natural as breathing to pray or to request for someone to pray for us. It is our defense, our means of coping, our way of life.
Now, agreed, there are those skeptics who chide and scoff that prayer does not work. They question its validity because supposedly they prayed and seemingly their prayers were unanswered. A waste of time, superstition, or a crutch for the weak, they claim. Also, there are those who say that God already knows what you need. Didn't Jesus say that? So why inform a God who already knows? Some state that prayer does not work or it is a waste of time. We respond that we know better. We respond that those who say that prayer does not work are probably not praying or working.
Sometimes we are just that confident and self-assured. We quote Frank Laubach who stated that "more things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of." We agree with Douglas Steere when he notes that "coincidences" happen. We rejoice in the findings of people such as cardiologist Randolph Byrd of San Francisco Hospital who randomly divided 393 cardiac patients into a control group and another group that would receive intercessory prayer for ten months. Although neither the staff nor the patients knew who was receiving prayer, the prayer recipients had significantly fewer complications. They were five times less likely to receive antibiotics. None went into cardiac arrest, compared to twelve in the control group. None needed a mechanical ventilator, compared to twelve in the control group. None of the prayer recipients died, compared to three in the control group.1 We are not surprised to learn that prayer works with scientifically measurable results. Sometimes we are totally confident that some things happen when people pray that do not happen when they don't.
Then, there are times, on the other hand, when we are not sure about anything, Prayer remains a great mystery, incomprehensible, and beyond our understanding. Let me assure you, this is not a theological treatise, a polemical argument or a philosophical dissertation. This may be the most incomplete sermon I have ever preached. Who could claim to contain prayer in one sermon? I preach it as one who struggles daily with prayer and spiritual formation. I do not know how to pray. I do not know anyone who claims to be an expert in prayer. I do know of some whom I would name as faithful or disciplined in prayer. I cherish those whom I ask to pray for me, but I really do not know of anyone who boasts of prowess in prayer. The ones I know who are disciplined and faithful, the ones in whose prayers I have confidence, humbly confess their struggle and inadequacies.
But still we pray! It is in this same spirit that a pastor, Epaphras, sidles up to his hero in the faith, Paul, and asks him to pray for his young and struggling church in Colossae. The founding pastor, Epaphras asks Paul to pray with him about a heresy creeping into the young congregation that teaches that Jesus was not the unique son of God, but a member of a hierarchy of angels. Thus, our text from the book of Colossians is Paul's effort to pray with the preacher as has been requested. He begins his epistle to these young Christians whom he has never seen or visited with a prayer. Well, it is more than a prayer; it is actually more of a result of a prayer already prayed or the report of a prayer. In fact, the entire epistle is an effort by Paul to put feet on his prayer, because that is all he can do since he is in prison. So, Paul prays with the preacher and helps us to learn more about what prayer actually does.
Prayer does something for the person requesting prayer. In requesting prayer for his church, Epaphras is doing the highest and most noble thing he knows to do for his beloved people. He is asking one whom he loves and respects to lift them up in the presence of God. He is placing them in God's hands through one most familiar with the hands of God. Epaphras is not shirking his responsibility or calling. He is continuing to serve his people. Epaphras is not being negative. He has informed Paul of their love in the Spirit (v. 8). He may be doing the best thing or the only thing he knows to do. He may be at the end of his rope. His prayer to Paul to pray for his people may be an act of sheer desperation! He would not be the first or the last pastor to find himself in such a predicament.
In pleading with Paul to pray for his people, Epaphras is not only doing the best or only thing he knows to do, he also is freeing himself from isolation. He is reminding himself that he is not alone or abandoned. He is making himself available to the support and encouragement of the family of God. He is drawing upon the resources of a greater reality to help bear his burdens and thus avoid the warped perspective that isolation sometimes can bring. There is wisdom in seeking the wisdom of greater numbers.
I love the story told by Harry Golden who asked his father, "If you don't believe in God, why do you go to synagogue so often?"
His father replied, "Jews go to synagogue for all sorts of reasons. My friend Garfinkle goes to talk to God. I go to talk to Garfinkle."2
Or, perhaps Epaphras petitioned Paul to pray, in a conscious effort to distribute the load more evenly. How can one care for so many -- then or today? Sharlon and I find ourselves as very active members of the sandwich generation with aging and ailing parents on one hand and young adult children with children of their own on the other. Believe me, those three generations are in different worlds. We are the ones called upon to bridge the gap between them. Perhaps Epaphras needed Paul's prayers to bridge the gap.
Prayer not only helps the person requesting prayer, it helps the person that receives prayer as well. Spiritual formation has no finer advocate than Glenn Hinson. In his book, The Reaffirmation of Prayer, Dr. Hinson writes articulately about the "love energies" of intercessory prayer. He states that when we pray for someone, God actually transfers our love energies to supplement his own, to add a little something extra to effect a healing, conversion, or some other manifestation of God's will. If love energies can effect the growth of a house plant, why not the higher forms of consciousness, like a human being? Is this not somewhat the theory of the ancient practice of acupuncture? The body functions well when certain energies flow through it. Disease clogs the flow. Needles are inserted to open up the channels and restore their proper functioning. Dr. Joel Avery, a thoracic surgeon, once witnessed a video of a patient undergoing bypass heart surgery with no benefit of any anesthetic, except that of acupuncture. If love energies can work in the operating room or with a plant, then why not with prayer?
Paul prayed and joined his love energies with that of God to help bring about the desired results in the young church. Paul prayed that they would live lives worthy of the Lord and seek to please him in every way (v. 10). He prayed that they would be filled with knowledge of his will with all spiritual wisdom and understanding (v. 9). He petitioned them to bear fruit in every good work (v. 10). He desired for them to be strengthened with God's power, enabling them to have endurance and patience (v. 11). His fondest desire was that they would joyfully give thanks unto the Father (v. 12), which may have effectively summed up his ambition for them. What better gift could the Colossians receive than the gift of gratitude? What better gift could anyone receive? If I could pass on one gift to those that I love the most, it would be the gift of gratitude. To be able to choose gratitude in any circumstance certainly is one of God's most gracious gifts. And we are free to choose.
Derl Keefer tells the story of a sick and elderly woman who lived in abject poverty. Someone asked for what she had to be thankful. Looking at the shabby walls in her room she replied, "For the sunshine through the cracks."3 The choice is ours. We can choose to cuss the cold or to be grateful for the sunshine, both of which seep through the very same cracks. Somehow, I feel that prayerful people more often than not choose to be grateful.
Prayer not only helps the one requesting prayer and the one being prayed for; dare I say it, it can help the one to whom the prayer is prayed. Is it impossible to believe that in some way, prayer from his children brings delight to the great heart of God? Prayer is the highest way of living out our personal relationship to God. As Thomas ˆ Kempis remarked, "Prayer brings about a familiar friendship with Jesus." Could it be that God actually experiences the joy of companionship with his children when they seek to be with him in prayer? Nothing brings me greater joy that when one of my children telephones me, asks my advice, or just wants to spend time with their father. Somehow I suspect that God feels the same way when we desire only to seek his presence. Why else would he create us in his image with the capacity to have fellowship with him?
Someone has said that prayer is not overcoming reluctance. Prayer is laying hold of God's highest willingness. Could it not bring great joy to God to see us acknowledge him and place ourselves in a position where we can receive his very best? Could our prayers actually touch the great heart of God? I dare think so.
Perhaps the greatest benefit of prayer is offered to the person who prays. Paul, in his prayer to people he does not know, assumes a tender tone and an encouraging spirit. In other letters, such as to the Corinthians, with whom he is more familiar, the great apostle is much more direct and aggressive. To Colossae, he is more tactful even though Epaphras has briefed him well on the problem. Of course, Paul is wise enough to know that we do not use the same tact with everyone, but perhaps he is searching for a common ground that will open communication. Could there be a more common ground than prayer? Perhaps Paul is looking for a common denominator. Could there be a more common denominator to Christians than Jesus? Possibly this is why Paul pens the first chapter as he does and lays a common foundation upon which both he and the young church can walk.
Paul knows that in prayer we must begin by listening to God in order to receive his wisdom, guidance, and understanding (v. 9) to know how to pray. If real prayer does indeed begin with God, then should we not spend time in solitude and silence to listen to that for which God wants us to pray? It might be a bit presumptuous to assume that we already know how to storm the gates of glory. It is out of our time with God that we develop the understanding both to voice our prayer and to accept God's answer. As Jesus said, "Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me" (John 15:4 NIV). As we abide, take up residence, in him, we not only learn more of his word and spirit, but also we are better able to enter with him into the ministry of intercession. We may never be so close to Christ as when we intercede for others, because he is interceding as well. "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will" (Romans 8:26-27 NIV).
Paul also knows that in prayer our main task, possibly our only task, is to hold that individual up before God. In doing so, we love them in a way that can be accomplished in no other way except through prayer. As William Law said, "Nothing makes us love someone so much as praying for him." We simply hold the individual before our loving God, asking for his will and their highest good. In prayer we wish them well in accordance with God's loving will for their lives. We do not always know the best for them, but God does.
This is how we can do the difficult task of praying for our enemies. We move beyond ourselves and pray for God's best in their lives. In doing so, we begin to see that person more and more as God sees him/her. His will becomes more and more our will for the other person. Whether their relationship to us is right or not, our relationship to them can be. When we truly pray for our enemy, he becomes less of a real enemy and is further along the road to becoming our friend, at least from our perspective. And that is the only perspective we have the choice to control.
Also I think that Paul perceived that when we pray for someone we increase the amount of good in the world. "For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves" (v. 13 NIV). We actually can play a role with God in adding to the light and dispelling the darkness.
William Bausch relates an intriguing episode. The Japanese monkey "Macaca Fuscata" has been observed in the wild for a period of over thirty years. In 1952, on the island of Koshima, scientists were providing monkeys with sweet potatoes dropped in the sand. The monkeys liked the taste of the raw sweet potatoes, but they found the dirty sand unpleasant.
An eighteen-month-old female named Imo found she could solve the problem by washing the potatoes in a nearby stream. She taught this trick to her mother. Her playmates also learned to wash their potatoes, and they taught their mothers, too. The cultural innovation was gradually picked up by various monkeys before the eyes of the scientists. Between 1952 and 1958, all the young monkeys learned to wash sandy sweet potatoes to make them more palatable. Only the adults who imitated their children learned this social improvement.
Other adults kept eating the dirty sweet potatoes. Then something startling took place. By the autumn of 1958, 99 monkeys on Koshima Island had learned to wash their sweet potatoes. But later that morning -- and here is the breakthrough -- the one-hundredth monkey learned to wash potatoes.
Then it happened. By that evening almost everyone in the tribe was washing sweet potatoes before eating them. The added energy of this hundredth monkey somehow created an ideological breakthrough. But notice. The most surprising thing observed about this was that the practice then spontaneously jumped over the sea: colonies of monkeys on the other island and the mainland troop of monkeys at Takasaki-Yama began washing their sweet potatoes.4
Could it be that this dynamic of the one-hundredth monkey could pertain to the laws of good and prayer as well? Could it be that if enough of God's people prayed, adding to the good in the world, that the collective good would be greater that the sum total of its parts? It certainly is true of evil. Remember the Holocaust? Why can it not be true of good? When we pray, we can actually cause the field of good to be so strengthened that it could reach beyond our intention of imagination. When we pray we add to the light and good of the world.
When we pray for someone, we are called to envision that individual and be sensitive to his/her particular needs. Even though Paul had never been to Colossae and had only conferred with the pastor, he was amazingly specific (vv. 9-12). He was not as specific as the individual in Dr. Hinson's book who prayed in response to a drought on the American frontier. "Oh, Lord, we need rain bad; send us rain. We don't want a rippin', rarin', tearin' rain that'll harrer up the face of Nature, but a drizzlin', drozzlin', sozzlin' rain, one that'll last all night and pretty much all day, O Lord."5
Effective intercessory prayer also encourages us to put feet on our prayers, to become a part of the answer to that for which we pray. We must remember that the epistle to Colossae is not the first time that Paul prayed for the congregation. As noted, the letter is really a report of the prayer that already he has prayed. The letter is part of his effort to put feet on his prayer because he is in prison and cannot be involved more directly. It was the best he could do. Look how God has used it for 2,000 years. Isn't it awesome to think that God would use something we do?
The agronomists tell us that God supplies 95 percent of the resources, energy, and ingredients to grow a stalk of corn. The farmer only supplies five percent. But God must leave that five percent which the farmer supplies in order to grow a stalk of corn. We, too, can cooperate with God in prayer and who knows -- we may actually contribute the missing ingredient to what he is trying to accomplish. Who knows?
A Sunday school teacher had noticed a young boy delivering newspapers on Sunday morning during the Sunday school hour. He began to pray for that boy. He then began to feel that God wanted him to do more. The next Sunday, he saw the lad again. The Sunday school teacher approached him and invited him in, but got the stern reply, "Do you see this stack of papers, mister? If I don't sell them, I don't eat. My mother is sick in bed, my dad's dead, and this is our living." The Sunday school teacher then taught his finest lesson as he went with the young man to deliver every paper! That young man is now one of the leading surgeons of that state and the chairman of deacons of that church. Praying for others helps us externally to become part of the answer to our prayer.
Paul begins his word to a people he does not know with a tender tone and a prayer seeking for that which they hold in common. He finds that common denominator in Jesus. "For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins" (vv. 13-14 NIV).
We are all sinners saved by the grace of God through Jesus' death on the cross. That is what we have in common. That is greater than anything we can ever hold in difference. That bridges any gap of distance or difference. It is our common ground that we are sinners saved by his grace that brings us to our dependence upon prayer.
Wow! If prayer does so much, there is only one question that remains. The story is titled "The City of Everywhere" and is written by Hugh Price Hughes. It is a story of a traveler who went by train to a city where he had never been. When he got off the train, he noticed that everyone there was just like the people in all of the other places he had been except for one thing. No one was wearing shoes! "Odd," he thought.
He commented to the first person he met in the train station about no one wearing shoes. The man said, "That's right."
The traveler said, "No one is wearing shoes, are they?"
"That is true."
The traveler said, "Let me ask you another question. Why aren't you wearing shoes? Do you not believe in shoes?"
"Oh, yes," the man said, "I believe in shoes."
"Well, then why aren't you wearing shoes?"
"Ah, why aren't we wearing shoes? That's the question."
He went into a restaurant, same scene, no one was wearing shoes. He asked another individual, "Sir, may I ask you a question? I notice that you are not wearing shoes. Are shoes not available to you? Do you not believe in shoes?" "Oh, yes, shoes are available. We believe in shoes." "Well, why are you not wearing shoes?" "Ah, why aren't we wearing shoes? That is the question."
Befuddled totally, the man left the restaurant, walked down the street, and stopped the first man he saw. "Sir, I notice you are not wearing shoes. I understand you know about shoes, and I understand that shoes are fully available to you. Do you not know the benefits of wearing shoes?"
The man said, "Of course, we know the benefits of wearing shoes. Go down that street and you will see the finest shoe factory in this part of the country. Every week the manager of the shoe factory talks to us about the benefits of wearing shoes."
The traveler said, "Let me get this straight. You know about shoes, you believe in shoes, you know the benefits of wearing shoes, and shoes are available to you. Then, pray tell me, why aren't you wearing shoes?"
"Why aren't we wearing shoes? Ah, that is the question."
And the question is: "Why don't we ... pray?"
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1. Matthew Linn, Simple Ways to Pray for Healing (New York: Paulist Press, 1998), p. 53.
2. Harold Kushner, When Bad Things Happen to Good People (New York: Schocken Books, 1981), p. 122.
3. Michael Duduit, The Abingdon Preaching Annual 1995 (Nashville: Abingdon Press 1994), p. 249.
4. William J. Bausch, A World of Stories (Mystic, Connecticut: Twenty-Third Publications, 1998), p. 246.
5. E. Glenn Hinson, The Reaffirmation of Prayer (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1979), p. 114.
