Colossians: Prayer as Continual Communion

Well, this morning I want to share with you a powerful truth.

This principle is so powerful that it can actually change how you live your life of faith.

Now, if you remember last year I declared Kirk Cousins to be my future best friend.

Remember Kirk Cousins?

He was the quarterback for the Vikings.

And the dream was real.

It was so real, I showed you a picture of us as best friends.

This was our future.

And uh then the Falcons, after that declaration, the Falcons made this incredible offer to him, and he he took the cajillion dollars, and he was moving to Atlanta, and I just could see the future.

He was gonna move to Marietta, and you know, we were gonna get coffee at Session Stand and a beer at Two Birds, we were gonna grill out together, you know, our families were gonna be friends, maybe he would tithe.

I don't know.

It's all very possible.

All things are possible in Christ Jesus, is the verse.

So the Falcons got him, and I thought, we were on our way.

Um, and can you believe it?

He has never called.

He's not not even once.

But I've been watching the games, and we have another big one at one o'clock.

Um, but I don't stalk, like I'm not on the socials stalking him.

I don't really even keep up with the Falcons during the week.

I don't think about the Falcons uh on a day-to-day basis.

I don't even think about the Falcons on a week-to-week basis.

The Falcons really have no impact on my life, really, at all.

I don't think about the Falcons until Sunday, and then sometime Sunday morning I think to myself, you know, like there's probably a Falcons game today.

I wonder what time that is.

That's kind of the extent of my fandom.

I'm not really a fan, is what I'm saying.

I'm more of a fair weather fan.

It's a it's an add-on to my life, is what it is.

I live my life and then I watch the game.

Now, my father-in-law Frankie, he's totally different.

He is a Falcons fan for decades, decades.

It turns out there's like tens of y'all around Metro Atlanta that have been Falcons fans for decades.

We're talking Georgia Dome Falcons fan, not like Mercedes-Benz, and it's like, oh, let's go down to the Falcons.

No, no, we're talking Georgia Dome, boring concrete building.

Falcons fans.

He knows uh what time the game is way early in the week.

He knows who played well, who's gonna play well, who's not gonna be playing today.

Uh he thinks about the Falcons during the week.

And he watches them when they're great and it's exciting, and he watches them when they're horrible.

He is a Falcons fan and he lives his life.

Those things are integrated in his life.

Not like me.

I'm very, very different.

I live my life, and then I watch some Falcons games.

So, and the difference is the difference is devotion.

The difference is steadfastness.

And that's the point, that powerful point, right, that I promised.

It's in our verse.

I'm gonna tell you the point.

You're gonna be just like so blown away, it's gonna be amazing.

You talk about it during the week.

Uh, and then I'm gonna read the verse.

Here's the point.

Point number one Christians do not live their lives and then pray.

Christians live prayerful lives.

Those are two different things.

Right?

The first is the add-on, it's the fairweather fan.

The second is much more holistic, it's integrated, it's a dynamic way of faith in life.

That's what Paul's talking about, Colossians 4, too.

Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.

That phrase continue steadfastly in prayer.

In the original Greek, the phrase emphasizes the prayer devoted.

Meaning it's not about like praying all day necessarily how long your prayers are and making sure you say the right things.

Um, it's about prayer being integrated into all aspects of your life.

So it's not a coke machine, right?

It's not the transaction, put the quarter in, get the coke out.

It's it's it's relational, it's holistic, it's integrated.

It's about relationship and connection, intentionality of time and energy.

So, yeah, there's set prayer times.

That's an expression of a life where prayer is integrated.

This is a huge transformation of prayer being from something you do when you want something.

Anybody else?

I mean, is that just me?

I become I'm fantastic at prayer when I want something.

It's a transformation of that to prayer being the way you live your life.

When I asked my mentor Scotty Smith, he he prays in the morning, prays when he walks, prays in the car, it's integrated.

So, why you why do you do that?

Why do you do that?

He said, I need to start my day lingering in the welcoming presence of our Father.

I'm just as susceptible as anyone to living a driven life rather than a called life.

I begin my day with Sabbath rest, slowly reading the scriptures, remembering the gospel, and fellowshipping with our Father.

Not resting is a recipe for disaster.

It might build a huge stock portfolio, but it will bankrupt a heart.

See, prayer's not asking for things and just moving on.

It's never worked.

It's not fulfilling, not holistic.

Paul says, no, no, no, there's a much more holistic, integrated way to live faith.

Which brings us to point number two.

Prayer is continual communion with the Heavenly Father.

Continual communion.

Two weeks ago, beloved Bear 399.

Do you remember Bear 399, the Tetons?

We talked about her last year.

You probably don't remember.

I actually think about bears during the week, not the Falcons, but Bears.

Bear 399, two weeks ago, sadly, sadly, was hit by a car and she died.

And she's the most famous bear in the world.

She's 28 years old.

She was hit by a car along the highway in the park.

Devoted followers all of the world.

It was a big deal.

Like, not to necessarily you, but to other people, it was a big deal.

She has 60,000 followers on Instagram.

And this is a famous bear, this bear.

And she passed away.

Now you can watch a documentary about her on Amazon Prime.

It's entitled Queen of the Tetons.

I've seen it, yes.

Thank you.

I've seen it.

I can recommend it.

You probably won't like it.

I loved it.

I had a great time.

But you can watch it.

And in the film, you learn about photographer Thomas Mangelson.

Here's Thomas Mangelson, famous photographer.

He lives in Jackson, Wyoming, and he first photographed Bear 39.

He first photographed her back in 2006.

He made her famous, his photographs of her.

But she also made him famous.

He has become famous as a photographer because of this one bear.

For almost 20 years, his whole life has been about one bear, Bear 399.

Every single spring, he would wait for days and weeks on the side of the road, just sitting and waiting.

When will she come out of hibernation?

Will she come out of hibernation?

Where will she be?

And then daily, every single day, every day, all day, all spring, every day, all summer, every day.

He's on the side of the road, moving up and down along the highway, looking for bear 39.

He lived in constant readiness to see her and to photograph her.

And that's the word steadfast in our verse.

Steadfast is constant readiness.

The word steadfastly means persevere in constant readiness.

So this prayer is not like sledging into some prayer booth or your recliner where you pray and you fall asleep if you're like me.

Like if you pray too long, you just, yeah, you know, but it's okay.

I think naps are incredibly spiritual.

It's not like I gotta go, uh I gotta go do this prayer thing.

It's not even necessarily like, oh, I gotta do it twice.

If I do it twice a day, then I've like checked it off.

No, it's it's an integrated, it's communion with the Heavenly Father.

It's moment by moment.

It's the set times, but those are expressions of an integrated life.

Because it's also when you go for a walk or you're working out or you're in the car or you're parenting and it's crazy and your head's going wild, right?

It's when you're doing the dishes, when you're working, it's when you're in a business meeting.

It's all of this.

It's integrated into your life.

It's not and then I pray.

It's a prayerful life.

Back to the verse.

Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.

The word watchful means cautious or active attention.

And that's point number three.

Prayer with the Heavenly Father means we are actively attentive to Him.

So we're doing other stuff.

Like we're in church, or we're at lunch, or we're working out, or you're cutting the grass, or you're doing the dishes, or you're working on your homework, whatever.

You're doing other stuff, but then there's this other part of you, this inside part of you, that has an attention, not just of what you're physically doing here, but there's attention to the Heavenly Father that I have a creator that loves me, who fully knows me and loves me, who forgives me in Jesus.

And that this very God promises to be with me, that there's an attention inside your heart toward him constantly.

Watchfulness, that attentiveness.

It's a call to learn from the past and plan for the future, but we're gonna live in the present.

The Buddhist, man, the Buddhists have taken this.

I mean, they have really ran with like living present, right?

Like live present.

It's like, but this is Christian, like we have this.

To live present, to be watchful, slowing down, opening your eyes to this moment, to the good around you today.

Okay, so we're gonna be watchful.

We're gonna be integrated, we're gonna be watchful.

And then Paul continued, continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.

The word thanksgiving means active gratitude and a heart of thanks.

Point number four is this prayer with the Heavenly Father is filled with thankfulness.

So this is Paul's moment here to comment on prayer.

The thing he comments on is thankfulness.

Years ago, Christy and I were treated to a marriage retreat at Sea Island at the resort, like that real fancy resort right off of St.

Simon's Island.

We were invited and then we were treated, which is the best, right?

Like to get invited, you're like, eh, that's like seems like a big bill.

But to be invited and treated, and so we got there, and we got in our room, it was beautiful, like this beautiful archway, the top day one, we're like, oh, thank you, God, this is amazing.

Oh my gosh, this tile, you know, like all the thread count, what thread count is this?

Or like I haven't had thread count like this before.

So grateful.

Like, I can't believe these people are treating us.

Day two, she's like, yeah, it's pretty I'm pretty grateful, but like the thermostat, when I put it on, when I put it on 70, it felt like 72.

And that's just annoying.

So that was day two.

And then day three, it's like, eh.

Like the palm tr the palm trees outside the window, they're in the way of my view.

And like the mattress is okay, but I they should have updated it last year.

Like, like day three is not the same as day one.

You know the feeling.

Because it's the same feeling when somebody gives you a stack of free Chick-fil-A sandwiches.

And the first one, you're like, this is amazing.

This is awesome.

Like you are like, you, you're like, I that moment where you hand it over, you're like awesome free sandwich, and then like the stack, you get down to about the third or fourth one, and you're like, will you hurry up with my sandwich?

Like you're not, you forget to be grateful.

Like you're not, you're just like, just hurry up with a sandwich.

Like something changed so quickly, right?

We can normalize the goodness, and then we just forget to be grateful.

This is what happens, this Old Testament story in Deuteronomy 8.

Moses leads this massive amount of people out of slavery, out of Egypt.

Horrible life situation, this people group across the desert into good land, their people's land.

And then listen, listen to the warning, listen to how quickly we can forget the goodness of God.

Deuteronomy 8, 10 through 18.

And when you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.

Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws, and his decrees that I am giving you this day.

Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase, and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud, and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt and out of the land of slavery.

He led you to the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land with his venomous snakes and scorpions.

He brought you water out of the hard rock.

He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you, so that in the end it might go well with you.

You may say to yourself, My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.

We can just pause.

That's like us going, like, like, I well, I'm I did it.

Like I just did.

Like I controlled all the circumstances and I orchestrated all this, I controlled all this, I made it happen.

I'm the cause, I'm the source.

My children would say, I'm the Sigma, like I'm the man, right?

You know, you you're with me?

You with me?

Verse 18.

But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers as it is today.

It is he who gives you the ability.

Moses is saying, Don't forget.

Like, don't forget to be thankful.

Like the one adjective that Paul uses when he talks about prayer is thankfulness.

Like that should be the thread in all of our communion with the father.

That you see the paycheck hit the account, and you go, ah, thank you.

You see the child, you see the husband, you see the stock portfolio, big bump this week.

Everybody love that, right?

And you go, thank you.

Wow, that's amazing.

It'll go down later.

But then it comes back up.

And then it goes down, and then it comes back up.

Thank you.

You see the ocean or the mountains or the trees or your health or your family or somebody caring for you or loving you.

Thank you, thank you.

Now, what does all this mean for your life?

Well, in practicing the way John Mark Comer, the author, he he helps us build a life deeply rooted in God's presence.

What does it mean to pray?

How do you even how do you get there?

Like, oh, integrated, holistic prayer?

Like, oh my gosh, that sounds amazing, but it feels a little far off.

He guides us the practice of prayer with four points, almost like four steps.

The first is talking to God.

Just begin.

Step one, just begin to talk to God.

What do you say?

Whatever.

You're free to say whatever.

Prayer becomes the woven fabric of daily life.

You're building a routine connection with the Heavenly Father.

If you don't even know where to start, you can use the Lord's Prayer.

There's an Anglican book called The Book of Common Prayer.

It will lead you every day.

Give you prayers in the morning, in the evening.

I use a book called The Valley of Vision.

It's a book of Puritan prayers.

I prayed one this morning, read through it, contemplated, meditate it, prayed it.

Because sometimes I just don't have the words.

I don't even know.

I'm too tired or I'm frustrated or I'm stressed.

I'm thinking about other stuff.

I just need somebody, will somebody else just help me, right?

Step one, talking to God.

Step two, talk with God.

Prayer moves beyond routine and into relationship.

We learn the freedom that we have because all of our selfishness, self-centeredness, all that sin is put on the cross.

We're fully forgiven, fully righteous in Jesus.

And so therefore we can just pray.

We don't have to constantly be analyzing ourselves how God's going to view us.

So we can share our pains, our hopes, our joys, our fears, and our gratitude, but also our sadness.

We can be thankful and we can ask for stuff, and then we can be thankful again.

We're going to talk to God, we're going to talk with God.

Step three, listening to God.

This is prayer as created space to hear his voice.

You're just starting to carve out a little space.

Listening prayer aims to cultivate a quiet mind and heart.

Receiving from God through the Word and from His Spirit.

Now, a way of listening to prayer is something called Lectio Divina, which is divine reading.

There's an app called Lectio 365, which can lead you through that as a resource.

But we read the scriptures slowly.

Read a verse, read a passage.

Listen for a word or a phrase that jumps out to you.

Could be a different word or phrase than the last time you maybe never noticed that word.

You listen for it, you read it, you listen for it, and then you begin to meditate on it.

You get quiet and still, you ponder the meaning of that word.

Begin to let the Holy Spirit just turn that over in your heart and your mind.

What's resonating.

And then you begin to pray, respond back to God, expressing yourself through gratitude or confession or whatever the Lord's doing.

And then lastly, you contemplate, rest quietly in God's presence.

And you're even moving beyond words.

It's the permission to just be just be with the Father as the beloved.

You don't even have to feel like you gotta say something or say the right thing.

And that's step four, being with God.

Contemplative prayer as a practice of union.

And we're moving beyond words to simple loving presence.

We're gazing and resting in the perfect love that God has for us.

Now maybe all that seems incredibly overwhelming.

Maybe it seems so far off.

Maybe it feels condemning, right?

Because you just don't pray, right?

I mean the Netflix cue, it's just back like you're like, oh, I'm behind.

I don't have time to pray, I'm behind.

I'm too stressed about that, right?

I know, me too, right?

Steadfast is a strong word.

That idea of that devotion, of like constant readiness.

Wow.

Being thankful always.

That's impossible.

And that's why point number five, we need the gospel.

Even in our lack of prayer, Jesus is enough for us.

Dane Ortland writes in his book Deeper, the commands of the Bible are the steering wheel, not the engine to your growth.

They are vitally instructive, but they do not themselves give you the power you need to obey the instruction.

That's what we've been seeing in Colossians.

Colossians 3 and 4, instruction, imperatives, how we should live, but it's coming out of what's true for us in Colossians 1 and 2, the indicatives, what's been indicated to us in Jesus.

All the lavish promises we have in Jesus, that we are forgiven, we are righteous, we are at rest.

Because all of that's already settled, how might we live now?

Chapters 3 and 4.

This is what it means.

Your prayerfulness doesn't make God love you any more than he already does in Jesus.

It means your life of prayer will come alive as you realize how lavish his love for you is.

And this is why we've been saying, and I'll close with this, we've been saying this we are beloved sons and daughters of the Heavenly Father before we are our roles and our practices.

How we should live is fueled by what is already true about us.

Now perhaps you're here and you have a question about that, or you have another spiritual question, and I'll be down front after service and would love to talk to you.

Let's pray together.

Heavenly Father, we thank you that you love us exactly where we are today.

Some of us stressed out, some of us feeling guilty, some of us celebrating something, some of us lonely, but all of us have a need in our hearts.

And when it comes to prayer, none of us, none of us do it steadfastly.

And none of us are filled with thanksgiving all the time.

So thank you for Jesus that in Jesus for your beloved children, fully righteous and fully forgiven out of such lavish love, would we commune all the more with you?

Would you, through us and in us, help help us to integrate prayer into our lives.

And maybe it filled with thanksgiving to you for all the goodness that you give to us in our lives, especially all the promises we have in Christ Jesus.

In his name we pray.

Amen.