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A Pattern of Powerful Prayer

In Touch / Charles Stanley
The Truth Network Radio
January 22, 2025 12:00 am

A Pattern of Powerful Prayer

In Touch / Charles Stanley

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January 22, 2025 12:00 am

Dr. Stanley highlights the importance of humility by sharing a powerful pattern of prayer he learned as a student of God’s Word.

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Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Wednesday, January 22nd. Praying for others can be confusing and often difficult, but targeting real needs helps us center our requests in the right direction. Stay with us to hear a pattern of powerful prayer. If someone should ask you, how can I pray for you?

What would you say? Would you be able to give them a very clear answer and say, I want you to pray for me in this area or that area of my life? And sometimes we really don't know how to answer someone when they say, how shall I pray for you? Yet all of us have needs for prayer and probably one of the greatest assets of our life is to have somebody we know who loves us, somebody who's concerned about us, who genuinely will call our name. Now, oftentimes we want to pray for someone and we don't know what to pray for. So oftentimes we will say, well, Lord, let's bless them and help them and meet their needs and so forth.

And so it's so general that oftentimes, likewise, we just sort of forget to pray for them when we just move on, unless we keep saying the same thing over and over again. There are many patterns in the Bible, many prayers, but I want you to turn, if you will, to Colossians chapter one, because here is a prayer that I have oftentimes prayed for people, many people over the years. One thing I know about this prayer, every time I pray it, I'm right on target.

Secondly, I know that God, listen, that God is hearing what I'm requesting. I know that every single thing I ask in this prayer is the will of God. I do not have to ask Him, Lord, if it be Thy will, answer this prayer. I know absolutely without any question that it is the will of God and that God will indeed act in my behalf as I make these requests for someone else. And so when we come to this prayer, I want us to read it with this in mind. This is a prayer that all of us need to pray for ourselves. It is a powerful prayer that you and I can pray in behalf of someone else. Listen to what he says beginning in verse nine. He says, For this reason, speaking of what he's just said in this first paragraph or so concerning their love and their devotion, 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 and all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may 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 attaining 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 delivered 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. Now that's a rather short prayer. I wish I could pray a prayer as short as that, that was as full of the rich truths and the awesome requests that the Apostle Paul made for these Colossians. Now I titled this message not just prayer, but a pattern of powerful prayer. Why do I use the word powerful? Because this prayer, if you'll analyze it, listen, it is a powerful prayer.

What do I mean by powerful? Simply this, that it has within it the energy and the strength of Almighty God. It has within it the authority of God. What makes your prayers and mine effective in penetrating and life changing is that we're able to pray with a sense of authority. That authority must be based on our relationship to Jesus Christ.

And secondly, it must be based on the truth. And it must be based on the assurance that you and I have that if we pray this prayer, God is going to respond accordingly. Now let's look at this prayer and I want you to think about it for yourself. If you want God's best for yourself, you pray this prayer for yourself. If you want God's best for someone else, you start praying for them. If you will pray this prayer, something will transpire in their life.

So I want us to look at it and look at these requests that He made. And so He said that He ceased not to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. Now when He said filled with the knowledge of His will, He's not talking about just some ethereal kind of ideas possibly, but we're talking about the fullness of the knowledge of the will of God. When He talks about the word knowledge here, that word really and truly means, listen, it means more than just an idea.

It means experience. God wants us to experience His will. So when He says here that they may be filled with the knowledge of His will, that is a fullness of the understanding of the will of God. Every single one of us need to know daily and oftentimes hourly and oftentimes moment by moment, what's the will of the Father in this? What's the will of the Father in this? What's the will of the Father in this? To pray for God to give you the fullness of the knowledge of His will. Now listen, as we said before, that isn't just factual knowledge, that is experiential knowledge and that is a knowledge of what He's doing in our life, what His purpose is and what His plan for our life is and oftentimes His ways.

What is the next step in this particular situation? God will answer that prayer. Look at His second request. He said now first of all, filled with the knowledge of His will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding so that you and I may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. Well, the first request was for a sense of direction, the will of God.

Secondly, the quality of life. He says that you and I may walk worthy of the Lord. Now what does He mean by that? Well, to walk worthy of the Lord is to walk in a fashion, listen, that is in keeping with who we are. You and I say that we're the followers of Jesus Christ. We are Christians.

And to be a follower of Jesus Christ, then if I make my conduct and my behavior such, then I'm going to walk in a manner that is worthy of being called a Christian. Does that mean we'll never sin? No. Does it mean we're perfect?

No. But it means, listen, that our sense of direction, that our heart's desire, that the character of our life, the quality of our life, the direction for our life is to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. And I want to say again to parents and grandparents, listen, you start praying that prayer for your children. Listen, when do you start? You start before they're born, unless they already are. Start before they're born. You say, well, how's God going to answer my prayer? My children aren't even born.

I want to tell you something. God knows all about your children before they're ever born. You don't think God will answer that prayer? Yes, He can. And yes, He will. God will hear and answer our prayers.

Why? Because these are the things He wants to do. Listen, these things delight Him that you and I would, listen, that we would search to know His will, hunger to know His will and walk in it. We will walk in a manner that is worthy of who we are. Listen, we name the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, character, conduct, conversation, listen, should be so like His. They cannot miss Jesus within us. Something about our countenance should say to them there's something different about Him, something different about her.

Listen to this third request. He said, not only that we walk in a manner worthy of Him to please Him in all respects, but bearing fruit in every good work. Father, He ought to be doing. We are asking now, not only for direction for their will, quality of life in walking a manner worthy, but now bearing fruit in every good work.

What are we talking about? The wise investment of their life. What are they doing with their life? Father, and again I say, praying for your children, praying for your grandchildren, praying for others. You see, busyness is not a wise investment of life necessarily. And all works aren't good works. And He said that you and I may walk in a manner that's pleasing to Him. And He says that we may bear fruit in good works. It is the will of God that your life and mind be fruitful. That means we're not to live for ourselves. We don't belong to ourselves.

We belong to Him. That is, the overflow of our life should be good works. The overflow of our life should not only be the character of Christ, the overflow of our life should be good works.

That is, listen, involved in, committed to, actively carrying out, actively involved in doing something that brings glory to God and has eternal value. When you and I pray for someone else, we should pray for our children. Lord, make their life count.

Listen, why live your life? Why raise up children if their life is not going to count? Just to grow up in this godless world, this evil, sinful, wicked, vile world, if they make it through this world, they've done something absolutely fantastic, then why not, listen, entrench within them the Spirit of God. Instill within their hearts a desire to be used of God. Instill within their hearts a desire to know the will of God, the purpose of God, the plan of God, and to walk in it in their life. Listen, when you and I understand what God's purpose and plan for our life is, listen, all the engines start up, all the, listen, all the motors go, because all of a sudden there's a sense of purpose. When you and I pray, if we pray for someone to know the will of God, to walk, listen, to walk in the character of our Lord Jesus Christ, and, as He says here, in every good work, in every good work. Now that next request is, He says, that they might increase in the knowledge of God.

Now I do love that. Listen, increasing in the knowledge of God. What does He mean by that? If I'm growing, I'm moving forward. If I'm growing, I am attaining, I'm possessing something good's going on in the inside of me if I'm growing in the Lord. The Word in the Greek really is to increase in our knowledge of God. Now there are a lot of people who have increased in their knowledge of God over the years as they've studied and studied and studied.

That's not what that means. Listen, not just head knowledge, but increasing in the knowledge of God. Listen, experientially, that is, what do I know about Him that I didn't used to know? What do I understand about God I didn't understand in my daily walk, in my experience, in my troubles and trials and heartaches and burdens?

Those things I can't fix, those things I try to fix. What do I know about Him? How much more do you know about Him today than you knew a month ago or a year ago or six months ago?

How much more do we know? He said, the prayer is that you and I would increase in the knowledge of God. When a person begins to grow and increase in their knowledge of God, one thing for certain, no person who is increasing in their knowledge of God will ever be bored. There's no such thing as a bored person who is increasing in their knowledge of God.

You know why? Because as you increase in your knowledge of God, here's what you're going to discover. You're going to discover a new freshness, you're going to discover a new zeal, a new energy, a new motivation, a sense of direction in your life. That's why when you and I pray for someone to increase their knowledge of God, listen, we can expect to see the evidence. A person who's growing and increasing their knowledge of God in his ways, they're going to be excited. There's going to be that freshness about their life, that energy, that excitement about their life.

Why? Because when you discover who the Lord is, the more you discover about Him, the more excited you get. You just think about praying, Lord, that my son or my daughter, my grandchildren, my friend, my brother, this student who is in trouble, who needs to know you and who's going through some difficult and hardship and trial and they don't understand what's going on, Lord, that they may in this understand who you are, that they may increase in this difficult, trying, hurtful, painful time in their life. Listen, don't always pray for God to remove pain and heartache and problems because sometimes that is God's platform.

Sometimes that is the atmosphere. Sometimes that's the field that God is using to do what? To bring them to an understanding of who He is, to bring them to an understanding. I think all of us will acknowledge the fact that when we are hurting and the pain's there, we are the most open to hear from God. He doesn't say and you relieve them from any of that. He says, fill them with the knowledge of your will, walk in a character that's similar to our Lord, bearing good fruit in every season, increasing in the knowledge of God.

I want to say something else. If you're satisfied with just knowing that you're going to get saved, there's something big missing in your life, my friend. Ask yourself the purpose, why did God save you? Not because you deserved it. Why did God save you? Because He loved you and because He wanted to so live His life in and through you that you would become a living witness of who He is, that He would be glorified in your life and He would make your life count. Just being saved is not enough.

It will get you to heaven, but it won't get you where God wants you to be. And so God has something bigger than that. Then I want you to notice what else He prays. He prays for them, and we should certainly pray for ourselves. But notice how He says it. He says, knowledge of God strengthened with all power according to His glorious might.

Why is that important? Because, first of all, without God's intervention in my life, I won't know His will. I certainly will not be able to walk in a relationship with Him that is certainly indicative of who He is in my life.

I certainly will not be able to bear any real fruit that has any real lasting value to it. And I certainly could not know who God is without the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. You and I have been so blessed to be indwelt by Almighty God Himself. And notice He says He has strengthened with all power. Listen now, He says, according to His glorious might or strength, not strengthened in my own energy, not strengthened in my own abilities and talents, but strengthened by the presence of God, relying upon Him, trusting in Him. And I think one of the prayers that we could pray for others for whom we're concerned is, God, don't let them trust in their own strength. Lord, listen, drive them to their knees until they desperately have to depend upon You and rely upon You. And before You humble themselves to cry out, God, strengthen me and energize me and anoint me. God, don't let me do it in my own strength. Strengthened by the power of His glorious might, God able to work in that person's life. And then notice this last request He makes. He says, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in life. What in the world does that mean?

Listen to that. Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints. Joyously giving thanks. Is it not true that a joyous person who has a sense of gratitude is contagious? In other words, when you're around somebody who is joyous, a person who's grateful, there's something contagious about that kind of person.

You see, how can I give thanks in difficult times and hardship times? He says, here's the reason. Because number one, He says, you have been qualified.

Look at that. He says, you have been qualified. Qualified, He says, to share in the inheritance of the saints. That is, God, by His grace and goodness and love and mercy saving us, making us one of His children, He's qualified us for a warrant. The second motivation He says is this. He says, He delivered us from the domain of darkness.

What does that mean? That when you and I were saved, we were taken out of the realm of Satan and under His control and placed in the realm of light under the control of the Lord Jesus Christ, now we have Him as our Lord Master. Listen, we have a reward waiting for us. Now we are walking in His power, in His light. He says redeemed. That means that we've been purchased by the blood of Jesus at Calvary in such a fashion that we are no longer the slaves of sin, that we have been freed. And He says the forgiveness of sin is the fourth thing there. He says our guilt and the penalty of our sin has been put away.

Now you think about this. I don't believe anybody can pray that prayer for someone else consistently without God doing a mighty work in their life lest they resist and resist and resist. And the longer, listen, the longer we pray that, the more prideful and arrogant and rebellious they're going to become or they are going to, listen, they're going to weaken under the loving pressure of God. Are there people who will resist?

Yes, they will. And the people I've prayed for and prayed for and prayed for, have they yielded? No, they have not.

Not yet. But you see, when do we give up? We don't quit.

We don't give up. Now, my friend, listen, it doesn't make a difference where someone is on the face of this globe or up in space. According to Almighty God who does not lie, He will answer this prayer. Here's what He says. If we make any petition according to His will, He hears us. And if we know He hears us, we know that we have the petition we desire of Him. I may not get it soon.

I may get it late. It may not happen until after I'm gone. It may be that someone can resist and resist and resist and resist and rebel and rebel and rebel until my prayer, listen, my prayer as effective as it may be, may never change them.

I'm not going to tell you that I guarantee you God will change everybody you pray for. I can't do that. I can tell you one thing. Now listen to this carefully. If they never yield, I will be richer, richer, richer, richer.

Why? Because my prayer for them merited reward and glory, but not only that, it kept me sensitive to my Lord about His will for my life and His work in my life and my knowledge of Him and His strength in my life and all the things that go on and all the things that are mentioned in this prayer. There is no way to lose praying this prayer for someone else. And I believe most of the time, the vast majority of the time, if you and I will trust God with that prayer, He will make a difference in someone's life. So let me ask you this. How many of you sitting out there, if you were really honest, would say, you know, I can't name anybody that I know is praying for me.

I wish somebody would. Well, I'm going to pray for you right now. And I'm going to believe that beginning of this very moment, God is going to begin to work in your heart, especially. Listen, He will begin instantly if you will say to Him, Lord, I'm going to listen to this prayer and I want you to do this in my life. And my friend, one thing for certain, anytime anybody opens their heart, I can guarantee you, you open your heart to Him. God will answer this prayer in your behalf.

I'm going to pray for you right now. Father, in Jesus' name, I just ask you that every single person who's heard this message, every single person, Father, who hears this message, that each of these requests may become a living reality in their life, that they'll understand your will and the fullness of it. They will walk in the likeness of the Savior. They will be able to invest their life and not spend it. They will grow in their understanding and knowledge of you.

They will be able to be strengthened by you and they will grow to be able to joyously give thanks to you for every aspect of their life. Father, in Jesus' name, make this prayer of Colossians a living reality in every single person's life. In Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for listening to A Pattern of Powerful Prayer. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
Whisper: medium.en / 2025-01-22 02:16:23 / 2025-01-22 02:24:53 / 9

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