Effective PrayerSample

Prayer of Paul – Spiritual Empowerment for Others What caused Paul to pray? The church in Colosse was a new one and a group of false teachers, like the ‘Gnostics’, began to introduce new concepts which were contradictory to the scriptures. This kind of teaching started creating confusion, chaos and division in the church. Epaphras, a minister of this church, shared this situation with Apostle Paul. As a result, Paul began to pray for the church earnestly for them to know God and His will, to walk in a deeper relationship with the Lord and to be fruitful in their lives. How did Paul pray? Awareness of the situation: Paul was well-informed of the spiritual condition of the church in Colosse which led him to pray specifically, sincerely and with discernment. Knowledge of the scriptures: Paul prayed with the understanding of the word of God and therefore was able to do God’s will for the church and its believers. God sized prayers: Paul’s relationship with God and experience of answered prayers gave him the confidence to pray God-sized prayers. The words used in his prayer are all superlatives confirming his trust and the knowledge he had in the nature of God. Paul asked for spiritual empowerment: Paul prays for the church to be filled with spiritual wisdom, knowledge of God’s will and to be strengthened with God’s power to be able to discern between the good and evil. How can we pray like Paul? We should be faithful and continual in our intersession on behalf of other believers, many of whom we may not know or even meet. Our prayers should be from a place of thankfulness and sincerity; knowing that God is our Father who hears us. Like Paul, we should pray boldly in accordance to the will of God asking for bigger accomplishments in ours and the spiritual lives of others. We should ask for wisdom, knowledge and strength to know the Lord better and deeper. Jesus, Himself, said: “Take heed that no one deceives you..” Our confidence in the Lord should never waver because He who called us is faithful till the end.