Church Planters Develop the Prayer Life of Their People

 

Hello my brother, hello my sister, my name is Dean Davis and this is Multiply, a podcast that provides a word of encouragement for village church planters.

Have you ever taught a small child to pray?  My wife and I taught our own children to pray and now we are helping our grandchildren learn to pray.  When children learn to pray they often say something like this, “Thank you God for this day.  Help us to have a good day tomorrow.”  Now, there is nothing wrong with this prayer.  In fact, it is always good when we direct our thoughts and our words toward our Father in heaven.  But, this prayer, “Thank you God for this day. Help us to have a good day tomorrow.” is rather self-centered.  Now, of course, it is the nature of a child to be self-centered.  So it is very important for good parents to help children grow to think of other people and their needs.  Soon children learn to pray for the needs of people beyond their own family.  When my son Nathan was about four years old he prayed every night for our neighbor, a girl named Veronica who was bedridden with osteomyelitis, an infection that was eating away her hip bone.  He prayed every night for weeks that God would heal her.  Then one night he stopped praying for Veronica and he never mentioned her in prayer again.  Soon the doctor said the infection was gone. Veronica was healed.

It is a wonderful thing to teach children to pray. It’s better yet to teach them to pray for people beyond themselves and their immediate family. The Apostle Paul, an exemplary church planter, was concerned about the prayer life of the Colossian Christians.  His words found in Colossians 4:2-5 help us develop a balanced prayer life.  Paul says, “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.  And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.  Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.”  

 Paul wanted his grandchildren in the faith to be devoted to prayer.  He wanted them to watch out for themselves and trust God to protect them.  He wanted his disciples to be thankful.  But that is not the whole story.  Paul wanted his followers to be concerned about people who were not a part of their family or their church.  He said, “Pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ.”  He wanted his followers to think about outsiders and pray for the Gospel to spread to their hearts.

One of the greatest privileges you have as a disciple maker is to teach people to pray.  Teach them to pray for themselves and to pray for others.  At first they will pray like children and that is okay.  But help them learn to pray like mature adults lifting up the needs of others, advancing the Gospel of Christ.  God delights to answer those prayers.  What a joy you will have as you see the faith of your church members grow week by week.

This is Multiply, offering a word of encouragement to village church planters.

If you have found this message to be helpful, please forward it to fellow church planters and disciple-makers who may need encouragement.  Feel free to share it on What’s App, Facebook, and other platforms you use to connect with others.

Be encouraged, God is with us! EC-27

#EncouragementforVillageChurchPlanters #Colossians #LearnToPrayer

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