{"id":45,"date":"2004-08-30T09:31:00","date_gmt":"2004-08-30T13:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shadow.sombragris.org\/?p=45"},"modified":"2004-08-31T11:39:03","modified_gmt":"2004-08-31T15:39:03","slug":"sermon-the-discipline-of-prayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shadow.sombragris.org\/?p=45","title":{"rendered":"Sermon: The Discipline of Prayer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sermon preached on Villa Morra Baptist Church on August 22, 2004, 19.00 (Regular church evening service)<\/p>\n

Text:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n(2) Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. (3) At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison– (4) that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.
\n(Colossians 4:2-4, ESV)\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Introduction:<\/strong> There are a lot of messages and studies on prayer, but what about a down-to-earth, practical advice? Paul gives this kind of advice in this brief text on his Letter to the Colossians.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Prayer is a habit<\/strong>, v.2<\/li>\n
      \n
    1. Requires steadfastness, perseverance, commitment.<\/li>\n
    2. Requires being watchful<\/em>, i.e., with full dedication.<\/li>\n
    3. Requires an attitude of thankfulness.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    4. Intercession should not be missing from prayer<\/strong>, v. 3<\/li>\n
        \n
      1. Intercession –praying for<\/em>— is the door<\/em> to God’s power.<\/li>\n
      2. Intercession should be always linked to the proclamation of the mystery of Christ<\/em>.<\/li>\n
      3. Remember that you should always intercede for your pastors and spiritual leaders.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      4. Prayer is always practical<\/strong>, vss. 3 and 4<\/li>\n
          \n
        1. Prayer is always concerned with practical matters.<\/li>\n
        2. It should always refer to our daily lives.<\/li>\n
        3. It should always give us orientation for our living.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/ol>\n

          Conclusion:<\/strong> It is not easy to develop a prayer life. But prayer is the oxygen of the body of Christ. Let us pray that we might show Christ’s victory to this troubled world by our life of prayer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          Sermon preached on Villa Morra Baptist Church on August 22, 2004, 19.00 (Regular church evening service) Text: (2) Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. (3) At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":159,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shadow.sombragris.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shadow.sombragris.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shadow.sombragris.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shadow.sombragris.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/159"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shadow.sombragris.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shadow.sombragris.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shadow.sombragris.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shadow.sombragris.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shadow.sombragris.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}