Text: Colossians chapter 2
Spotlight: Colossians 2:1, 2:6

Struggling in prayer…for relationship, not religion.

Paul begins chapter 2 with another apostolic prayer for the church. He prays for them to be encouraged in heart, united in love, so that they might have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ. In verse 1 he specifically uses the word “struggling” in reference to prayer In this usage he means struggling specifically in prayer. Effective prayers are warfare prayers. We can’t pray from something and then give up when our prayer is not answered. Often, we must struggle in prayer, continually laboring and striving in intercession before God until the need is met or God speaks to us an answer. Whether it is for a personal need or for another person we should labor and strive in prayer and not give up. Paul demonstrated this tenacity of prayer in his ministry and the results were obvious in that the church grew at an amazing rate and the gospel was spread throughout the world and any signs and wonders were seen. I think this concept of struggling in prayer has been somewhat lost in the church today. I think we have given up on prayer as a lifestyle because we haven’t seen the results we were looking for in the way we were looking for them. Much of this is due to the instant gratification nature of our culture. Whether we admit it or not, we have become accustomed to instant results or instant gratification. We want it now or we don’t want it at all. God wants us to strive in prayer, to pray continually (I Thess. 5:17). He wants us to be a church that centers everything in our lives around prayer. God is calling his church to a 24 hour a day, 7 day a week prayer movement that will continue until the day he returns. The Lord gave me this scripture last night, II Peter 3:11-13, “Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.’
I really locked on to the phrase “Hastening the coming of the day of God.” Does this mean that by our efforts the church can hasten the day of the Lord’s return? How could this be? It can only happen when we cry out to him day and night for His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. Isaiah 62:6 says “You who call on the Lord give yourselves no rest.”
It’s important to not exactly what Paul is praying for when he prays for the church at Laodicea: Encouragement, love, understanding of God’s mysteries and strong faith. There will always be a religious establishment. There will always be people who will try to convince us to serve them and their purposes rather than God’s, especially in the church. There are so many churches today that are caught up in religion and religious practices. I would venture to say that even most bible believing Pentecostal churches that operate in the gifts of the spirit struggle with religion. There is a fundamental part of our sin nature that resides in each one of us that will always lean more on rules and regulations rather than the Holy Spirit. It’s safe and we like it.
Every morning of my life I wake up and I have to make a decision. I can lean on rules and regulations and find my security in what I have accomplished for the kingdom or I can cry out to God for a fresh infilling of His Spirit and be “rooted and built up in Him” (v.7). There is an important key for us believers here in verse 6: “so then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him,” This statement may seem simple but it is packed with a deep truth. Most believers get saved and accept Jesus Christ as their savior and then go on living in their own strength and by these human rules and regulations that Paul is warning against. They acquire enough faith to believe that Jesus is in the heart and then they quit relying on faith and live out the rest of their Christianity by natural strength. To continue living in Him mean to use the same “blind faith” that you exhibited when someone told you about Jesus and you said yes to allowing Him in your heart and then applying that faith every day to every situation in your life. Giving God glory and allowing Him to supernaturally provide for you every day.
In the Old Testament we are given many models of how to live. One of my favorites is where God provided manna for the Israelites every day. He told them not gather it but just to get enough for that day. I think the same principle applies for us now. I have found that no matter how close I feel to God in the evening, when I wake up in the morning I feel kind of spiritually dry. I think the reason that is, is because God wants me to cry out to him today for “fresh manna” from heaven. He wants us to practice daily dependence on Him and “continue to live in Him.”

How to pray this Scripture:

Dear Lord Jesus, I pray that you would encourage my heart and that I would strive for unity in the body of Christ. I pray that you would give me complete understanding that I might know the mysteries of God. I pray that I would not be deceived but that I would strive to live in you and be rooted and built up in you and that my faith would be strengthened. I want to have fullness in you. Thank You Jesus, Amen.

Other Scriptures to read:

*I encourage you to make a study of Paul’s apostolic prayers. Here is a list of most of them:
Romans 1:9-11, II Corinthians 13:7-9, Ephesians 1:16-18, Ephesians 3:14-19, Philippians 1:9-11, Colossians 1:9-12, I Thessalonians 3:10

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