Page Four: Prayer And Wisdom - 8/04/13
He hesitated, not knowing if he should mention how he shared the message of Jesus with her husband. "Mrs. Hamilton, I explained the gospel to your husband that day. He pulled over to the side of the road and wept against the steering wheel. He gave his life to Christ that day."
Explosive sobs shook her body. Finally getting a grip on herself, she sobbed, "I had prayed for my husband's salvation for years. I believed God would save him." "Where is your husband, Ruby?" "He's dead. He was in a car crash after he let you out of the car. He never got home. You see, I thought God had not kept his promise. I stopped living for God five years ago because I thought God had not kept his word!" (Considerable influence for this message came from John Piper's "The Spring of Persistent Public Love", DesiringGod.org. From a sermon by Bret Toman, Power to Live the Golden Rule, 1/3/2011) [Found on www.sermoncentral.com/illustrations). A huge part of your prayer-life must be gratitude. First, your personal prayer life is central to your success in this world. Second, gratitude is an essential part of prayer. Third, God has called you to pray for others. And fourth, live in wisdom before the world. Colossians 4:5 “Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.” Closely tied to your prayer-life is your need for wisdom; especially wisdom as it relates to those outside the body of Christ. Paul says simply “walk in wisdom.” I love the story of the young man of 32 who had been appointed President of the bank. He'd never dreamed he'd be president, much less at such a young age. So he approached the venerable Chairman of the Board and said, "You know, I've just been appointed President. I was wondering if you could give me some advice." The old man came back with just two words: "Right decisions!" The young man had hoped for a bit more than this, so he said, "That's really helpful, and I appreciate it, but can you be more specific? How do I make right decisions?" The old man simply responded, "Experience." The young man said, "Well, that's just the point of my being here. I don't have the kind of experience I need. How do I get it?" The older man replied, "Wrong decisions!" [Found on www.ibmi.8k.com]. |
Personal prayer is certainly important. Gratitude in prayer is important. Prayer for others is important. And then Paul speaks about wisdom.
Now, the question from verse five is this. Why does Paul by the Holy Spirit join together prayer and wisdom? And here’s the answer. The Holy Spirit places wisdom right next to prayer for at least three reasons. One, Prayer is your life before God. Wisdom is your life before people. Two, God calls every Christian to pray to Him on every occasion that you need wisdom. James 1:5 “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” And three, wisdom affects every aspect of your life in this world. Practically speaking; you won’t need to worry about applying wisdom to your life in heaven. You’ll not have sin to contend with there. So, here’s what Paul is after. You especially need wisdom when it comes to how you should walk towards those who are “outside” the body of Christ. Colossians 4:5 “Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.” Your walk, folks, is your lifestyle. The LORD says this in Ephesians 5:2 “And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.” And He says Ephesians 5:8 “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:…” In Ephesians 5:15 Paul writes “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,…” Your lifestyle is critical to living among the lost around you. Those inside the body of Christ are those who are saved; the children of God; Believers; those who know the LORD; those who know that life’s principles come from God; those who listen to the Word of God and who seek to obey it. Those outside the body of Christ are the Unbelievers; they are the ones who, in many cases, deny God’s existence; they refuse to abide by God’s laws; those who think God’s ways are foolishness; the naturals. Here’s I Corinthians 2:14. “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” |