Praying With Impact - Part 1

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Monday, May 9th. How do you know if you are praying for something that's in the will of God?

Today's podcast gives you a lesson in praying with impact. If someone should say to you, how can I pray for you? What would you say?

Would you have something specific that you could say? Well, sometimes you might, sometimes you may not. Or sometimes you may be a little too embarrassed to even answer the question.

And you may think, well, they're being a little nosy. No, they really want to know how to pray for you. Do you have an answer?

And let me ask you this. Do you know how to pray for someone else? Well, your answer may be, you know, I have so many issues in my own life, I don't have time to pray for somebody else. Well, you really do. You either don't because of sin in your life. You don't because you don't care.

Maybe you don't because you don't know how. And it's interesting to me when I talk to people about praying for them or for other people. But when somebody says, well, be sure to pray for me. Well, what do you mean by that? In other words, when you say, well, you all pray for me.

What do you mean by that? Well, what do you want me to pray? How do you want me to pray? So, I want you to turn to the first chapter of Colossians. And I want us to read a few verses here. Paul was in Ephesus about three years and preaching the gospel and one of his converts that he mentions here was Epaphras, and he went to Colossae and probably began preaching there.

And so, Paul didn't know them personally. And so, he writes this epistle, and here's what he says in verse seven, Just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bondservant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf, and he also informed us of your love in the Spirit. For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you'll walk in a manner worthy of the Lord to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all power according to His glorious might, for the attending of all steadfastness and patience, joyously giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. For He rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. You may think, well now, how in the world is that prayer going to affect anybody that I know?

So, I want us to look at it because, yes, it will. If somebody asks me, well, pastor, what can I pray for you? Here's what I say. Pray Colossians chapter one, nine through fourteen.

Watch this carefully. It doesn't make any difference what's going on in your life. That prayer will fit your life.

There are six different parts to it. Now, I want us to take each one of them for a few moments and think about it. And you may think about it in the light of somebody praying for you, but you may also think about it in the light of praying for other people. I think about how many parents, for example, who have small children, very, very small.

And they pray, Lord, bless them, help them to grow up and be good and this, that, and the other. I want you to think about something as a parent. When you bring a child into this world, you bring a life that is going to spend eternity somewhere. And you have the privilege as a mother, as a father, as a grandparent, of helping to mold that life.

And to mold it so it will move in a certain direction and accomplish certain things in life. You're the molder. You have an awesome responsibility. And one of those responsibilities involves this awesome opportunity of praying for that child. And when you think about praying this prayer for any child, it's going to have an awesome impact. And one of the things that interests me oftentimes or young people, and sometimes they're in their twenties and thirties, and they will come through the line and they'll say, you know, my grandmother made me listen to you. And I think about it.

That grandmother didn't know that she was molding that boy because he was standing here or a girl. Now they're saved and walking in the will of God and doing what God would have them to do. So, what I want you to remember is this. You have the privilege of either molding that small child or you have the privilege of impacting somebody else's life. Now, I ask you a simple question. How much time do you spend praying for other people? I didn't expect you to give an answer or we'd have been terribly embarrassed. Because most of us spend most of our time praying for our three favorite people, me, myself, and I. Amen?

That's what happens. And then when somebody gets in trouble, they get sick, and they're going to die or have an accident or something, then all of a sudden we get to praying for them. But I want you to think about this prayer and each part of it because the truth is we want somebody to pray this for us. You need to target somebody that you can pray this prayer for, that you want to see God rescue them or change something in their life or grow them up to be godly. So, I want you to think about your children.

Moms and dads. And I want you to think about your grandchildren. And think about your friends. And think about, most of all, somebody praying this prayer for you. It'll impact your life. So, let's look at these verses for a few moments.

Here's what He says. For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that number one, watch this, ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. Now, it's always right to pray that somebody would know the will of God for their life. And I can remember before my kids were born, I began to pray that God would show them His will for their life and then I would kneel down with the bed at night when they were home and I'd always talk about the will of God. We want to pray for God to show you His will. They didn't have any idea what I was talking about.

But you know what? Put it in their mind. And this is why it's so important that you begin to program the minds of your children so early they don't even know what you're talking about. The Spirit of God does. And the Spirit of God will take that truth and He will work it into that child's mind. Praying, listen, He says, praying that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will for your life. And notice what He says in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. What you're praying for when you pray for somebody to know His will, you're praying that they may know the direction that God has set for their life.

And you see, the reason that ought to start so very early in life is a kid should not have to go to school and think, oh well, what am I going to do one of these days? They should have been prayed for so often and so much that at least they'll begin to understand what their gifts are, what their talents are, what their skills are, and where their real, true, genuine interest lies. And how they want to spend their life and how they want to use it and what are, what's their goals and objectives and so forth in life. And so, by the time they get to the point of making those decisions, when that parent has prayed for them to know the will of God, know the will of God, know the will of God, know the will of God, that child is going to be set in a very secure position. I know that God has a will for my life. I know that He'll show me what it is and I want to do His will because I know that His will is the best will, the best plan I could possibly follow. That child starts off with a sense of self-confidence, a confidence based on the fact of their relationship to God.

And notice what, how He says it. He says, not only to be filled with the knowledge of His will, in all spiritual wisdom. That is wisdom that says, I want to see things like God sees them. I want to be able to know that it's God speaking. Spiritual understanding, being able to discern between God speaking and me figuring this out for myself. So that, think about this, where would you be in life if somebody had prayed for you that way when you began life? If your parents had started praying for you to know the will of God for your life and to be willing to walk in His will and His plan, to be able to distinguish between what is true and false, good and right and wrong and evil, where would you be at this point? And the truth is probably most people would say, well, I'd be a lot further along.

I'll be running in a different direction than I'm running in now. That is the privilege you and I have of impacting people's lives. And you remember what Jesus, in the eleventh chapter of Luke, He was praying and the disciples came upon Him. They must have probably were quiet for a little bit and listened to Him because when He finished praying, they said to Him, Lord, would You teach us to pray, like John the Baptist taught his disciples to pray. Now, they must have heard that John the Baptist had done that and certainly they wanted Jesus to teach them because they had been listening to Him praying and talking to the Father and He prayed with a sense of confidence and assurance and boldness, no doubt. And so, they were saying, teach us to pray.

So, the truth is, you can go to church for years and years and years and years and years and listen to sermon after sermon after sermon after sermon after sermon and not necessarily know how to pray. What I want you to see in this passage is, here is a way very specifically you can pray that will impact the lives of people you pray for. And you say, well, I don't know how to do that.

Well, let me just give you a little suggestion right up front. You may, if it's somebody that you're really concerned about, maybe one of your children, write that child's name or that person's name in your Bible on the margin. Then when you read it, you'd say, Lord, now I'm asking for John that you would fill him with the knowledge of your will for his life.

In other words, you just go right down the list. So, the truth is, you can. And listen, all of us want to be prayed for. And I tell you, somebody says, what do you, how do you want me to pray for you? I just say, look at Colossians one, verses nine through fourteen.

So, watch what he says. He says, with all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that's the first. And until we understand the will of God and know His will for our life, then we're still floundering. You don't want to just pray to make somebody feel good. You want to impact their life.

And impact means change. And so, you have the power, the privilege, the awesome opportunity of doing that. Because the truth is, we all want to know the will of the Father for our life, whether we are sixty or whether you're six. Then notice the second part he says. To be filled with the knowledge of His will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.

Well, what is that? What you're saying is, you want that person to walk in a way, in a manner that is befitting of who we are. We are followers of Jesus Christ. If I'm a follower of Jesus Christ, He has a right and the world has a right that our lifestyle, our daily walk is a lifestyle that's patterned after the life of Jesus.

Now, that doesn't mean that you're walking up and down the roads preaching the gospel. But it means His character, who He was and who He is in our life. Walking in a manner that is pleasing to Him. And so, when you think about that, you think about the person you're praying for, what kind of life are they living?

Whatever it is, your prayers can impact their life, make a change, change their life in a way that'll be very evident because when you talk about the idea of walking in a manner worthy of the Lord to please Him in all respects, we're talking about a person's lifestyle. For example, remember this, when Jesus left, He said to His disciples, I'm leaving you, the Holy Spirit's going to live in you, with you, and upon you. And so, that means that every single one of us who is a follower of Jesus is an extension of His life. He says He's seated at the Father's right hand to make intercession for us. But He's left us here. That's why He doesn't get you saved one day and take you home tomorrow. He leaves us down here to bear witness and a testimony and influence, make an impact in the lives of other people. And so, you and I have the privilege of praying for that person that their lifestyle, their behavior, their conduct, their language, the things that they do would be consistent with the person of Jesus Christ as to how He lived.

Isn't that really the one you want to live? A true follower of Jesus is going to want the character, the qualities of Christ in their life. And as we said before, you don't have to ask if it's the will of God. It is the will of God. It's the will of God that all of us walk in such a way, as He says here, in a manner worthy of the Lord to please Him in all respects.

If I want to please Him, I can't always please Him, please myself. When you begin to pray for someone else, here's what happens. Because when you pray for somebody that their lifestyle and their walk would be a way that's pleasing to the Lord in a manner that is pleasing to Him, then you're praying for God to change something about them. You see some habit in their life, some attitude, the way they talk, for example, the language they use. You begin to pray for God to work in their life.

And how many times have I heard testimonies of parents who've said, my kid was doing this or my son was doing that, my daughter that. And all I need to do is just pray and pray and pray and cry out to God. Prayer is the most powerful weapon you and I have.

Prayer can change anybody no matter who they are. And this is why we have all these testimonies about people in prison. What happens? The people back home, mothers praying, wives crying out to God for them.

And what happens? They turn on the radio in prison, they get saved and life gets totally changed. And we can impact a person's life in more ways than we could ever imagine if we take it seriously. Who is it in your life that you care enough about? What's the value you place on anybody's life that you want to spend time, invest time praying to God? Lord, show Him or show Her Your will for their life. Lord, I want You to work in the way they live their lives.

Pleasing to You, honorable to You, characteristic of the life of Christ. God changed their life. Speak to their heart. I've heard many a parent and seen many a parent wept over their kid's dilemma and the things and situations and circumstances they were in. And I wonder sometimes, well, did you just start praying after they got in trouble? I'm afraid that's what happens oftentimes. Parents never get serious about praying for their kids and allowing, can you imagine this?

Allowing your children to have parties, drinking parties at your home and all the things that go on today. And I'm thinking, those parents would say, oh, I, watch this, oh, I love my son and my daughter. And this is why I do this. No, you do not love them. No, you want to please them. And sometimes you want to live your life again the second time through them in their early life. If you love them, you would forbid it. If you love them, you would grow them up in a godly fashion. If you really and truly genuinely cared for them, you cared for them not on this life, but in the life to come. No, you wouldn't give them everything they want, let them do whatever they want to do, go anywhere they want to go.

You wouldn't sponsor parties where they can sleep that night all together and drink and carry on. That's love. That's not love. That's laziness, carelessness, indifference, selfishness, and all the rest, but it is not love.

It is not love. Well, listen to what He says, that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work. Listen to that, bearing fruit in every good work.

Which simply means what? That you live a life that is wisely invested. You don't waste it. Bearing fruit in every good work. That is, our life is not a waste, but it makes a contribution. And you think about people living their lives and most of their life is wrapped up in my job and my possessions and what I want and my pleasures and my plans and me, myself and I and my children and my husband and my wife, my, my, my, my, my. What about God?

Where is He in all that? You see, if we're really living in a manner that is pleasing to Him, I'm going to be thinking about somebody else more than myself. I'm going to be thinking about what can I contribute to them? Why can I help them? How can I motivate them? What can I do to encourage them to make their life count for somebody else? Notice how He says it. He says, He says, bearing fruit in every good work.

And so ask yourself the question, in what way are you bearing fruit that has a lasting value to it? I would hate to think that I live my life and the only thing I want to do is make enough money to have a good time and then one of these days die. I'll tell you how those people die. They end up dying this way saying, if I die. If I don't listen to that, if I don't listen to Him, if I don't listen to her, if I die, if I die, if I die, if I die. What a terrible way to spend one's life and end up in the only thing you have primarily, regrets. Because you see, money's not going to keep you a minute longer.

Your friends, they can't keep you. When God calls us home, there's nothing we can do to stay here one second. The one thing you don't want to do is end up saying, if I die.

And how many people die full of regrets? When, listen, you could die with a life that has borne fruit, listen, in such a way pleasing the Lord in every way, yearning in your heart for God, desiring to be what He wants you to be, increasing, listen, and He says increasing in the knowledge of God. Thank you for listening to Praying with Impact. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.