A PRAYER FOR EVANGELISM

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com

In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Pray for us, too, that God will give us many opportunities to speak about his mysterious plan concerning Christ. That is why I am here in chains. Pray that I will proclaim this message as clearly as I should.

Colossians 4:3-4 NLT

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

The Apostle Paul became a changed man after his Damascus road encounter with Jesus (Acts 9:1-27). Once a fervent Jew and persecutor of Christians, he became the greatest evangelist for the cause of the Gospel after Jesus ascended to sit at God’s right hand (Acts 1:9), fulfilling the Savior’s proclamation that His followers would witness and testify to the salvation only found through Him “to the end of the earth” through the power of the Holy Spirit (1:8).

After His conversion, Paul became a dedicated evangelist, never afraid to take the good news of Jesus wherever God sent him. He embarked and finished multiple missionary journeys, three of which are documented in the Book of Acts although it’s believed Paul did go out on a fourth journey that is not documented in the Bible. The three journeys found in the scriptures all occurred before Paul wrote this letter to the Colossians while he was incarcerated in Rome.

Regardless of how many journeys total Paul took, there is no question that he gave up his life as it was for the cause of the Gospel. Perhaps there is no other person in the Bible who more closely mirrored the life of Jesus in this regard.

As we turn to our verses today from the fourth chapter of Colossians, we find Paul still in evangelism mode despite his imprisonment. Look again at his words here as he petitions his brothers and sisters in Colossae to pray for him:

Pray for us, too, that God will give us many opportunities to speak about his mysterious plan concerning Christ. That is why I am here in chains. Pray that I will proclaim this message as clearly as I should. Vv. 3-4 NLT

Yes, Paul was “in chains” in Rome but he wasn’t about to allow his loss of freedom to thwart his sharing of Christ with others. In fact, we know that Paul wrote four letters found in the New Testament from this time of Roman house arrest: Ephesians, Philippians, Philemon, and Colossians, the focus of our most recent study. In each of these letters, Paul continued to drive home the importance of preserving the purity of the Gospel the church had received, rejecting any false teachings that might be introduced. Paul also evangelized while in prison and testifies to this in these words to the believers in Philippi:

“Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear” (Philippians 1:12-14).

Despite being confined to his home, Paul still shared the good news of Jesus with whoever he could so everyone who knew of him knew of the “mysterious plan concerning Christ”. I find it fascinating that of all the personal things that Paul could ask the Colossians to pray for, he simply requested prayers for opportunities to continue to share the Gospel with others and the ability to “proclaim this message as clearly” as he should.

It was a prayer request for evangelism and perhaps all Christians should follow Paul’s lead as they awake each day with the chance to carry out Jesus’ Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). We should pray for other believers and then turn to our Lord, asking for His intervention in our own lives. The prayer might go like this:

Dear Lord Jesus, thank You for Your life, Your death, and Your resurrection which brought salvation to everyone who would believe in You. You called all Your followers to go and make disciples of all nations and I pray today that every single Christian believer would be obedient to Your calling. I pray that God the Father would provide them the opportunities to share the Gospel with the unsaved and do so with clarity for understanding. I also pray that You will use me today for the cause of the Gospel and offer myself to You as a living sacrifice. Please use me as You see fit to further Your kingdom here on earth and help other come to find eternal life through You. I pray all these things in Your precious and holy Name, the name of Jesus, the only name by which anyone can be saved.

Amen.  

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com