Category: Sermons

Randy Chamberlain takes a look at faith through the examples of Old Testament saints. Take a journey to strengthen your faith through their example.

What does it mean to pray in the Spirit? What does it mean that the Holy Spirit prays with groans? Our passages today help us answer those questions.

There all kinds of things we can and should pray for. We pray for those people and events hoping we know the Lord’s will regarding those needs, but we don’t know for sure. However, there are things we know are God’s will to pray for. He lists some things that we can about every day for each believer and we know they are God’s will. Let’s pray for one another.

There is no doubt that we believe God answers prayer. Yet there are times He doesn’t. Why? In today’s message we uncover eight different reasons why prayers may be hindered. It would be good for us to do an assessment to determine if any of these might be the reason our prayers seem to fall on deaf ears.

How do you have peace, especially in the middle of life’s storms? Paul gives us a template. Pray with thanksgiving. Don’t allow anxiety to rob you of a thankful heart which is a key to experiencing God’s peace. This peace is supernatural – it comes only from God. It is superior – it is beyond our comprehension or anything manufactured by the world. It is security – it guards, shields, protects our otherwise anxious hearts and minds. When we think about the virtues listed in verse 8, they will help us offer our petitions with thanksgiving so that we can experience the peace of God.

We all experience impossible situations, from a human perspective. That’s where we find Peter who is sitting in prison on the eve of a public trial. But the church was praying to God for Him. What an important lesson for us to remember that when we pray, don’t forget your faith. And don’t forget to invite others to pray with you.

In our passage today, Jesus provides us with a model for prayer – a primer on what should be included. But before He tells us the how, He also shows us a couple of areas to avoid when we pray. We aren’t to be pretenders – hypocrites. Neither are we to engage in problematic prayers – prayers that are wordy or wearying in the sense of babbling. Although we are invited to pray and to bring our requests to God, we must remember that prayer is worship. They are for God’s glory and our good.

Why is it that prayer seems to go unanswered? Jesus gives us some guidelines for prayer to be answered. There are two conditions. The first is that we must abide (remain, live in) Christ. The second is that His Word must abide (remain, live in) us. We need to let it permeate our being and then obey it. We may read the Word of God. We may even know the Word of God, but if we do not live it out, let it control us, then prayer won’t be answered. There are other conditions for answered prayer like not living in sin, husbands treating wives with the respect that is due them, praying in Jesus’ name, and even praying according to the will of God as some conditions for answered prayer. Jesus says that when we abide in Christ and His Word abides in us we ask what we will and it will be done. He answers according to His person, because of who He is. He answers according to His power. He answers according to His promise. Is Christ abiding in you? Is His Word abiding in you?

Jesus gives us a command to always pray so that we don’t faint. In light of the previous chapter, the incentive is to pray and keep praying until the Lord returns. We are always to pray about all things, but in this case, pray until He comes back so that we don’t lose heart by all the things happening in the world today. God is not like the unjust judge who was badgered until he agreed to hear the widow’s case. God is a just, loving and benevolent God who wants us to bring our requests to Him.

What does this year look like for you in regard to your effort at spiritual growth? As we consider Paul’s words to the church at Colossae, he is excited by what he hears regarding their church and their faith in Christ. He also has some words to exhort them to stand strong and remain united so that together they can remain firm in the attacks from false teachers. As we consider this passage, let’s also consider for our church how we might endeavor to grow in godly character in the year ahead.