February 16, 2025 | Purposeful Prayer

Purposeful Prayer | Missions Conference 2025

Colossians 4:2–4

Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. 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—that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak. (ESV)

Prayer is central to a thriving relationship with God, yet many struggle with it, often seeing it as an obligation rather than a privilege. George Waller, preaching from Colossians 4:2–4, challenges believers to see prayer as an invitation into God’s presence, where they are fully known and loved. He highlights common obstacles—legalism, self-sufficiency, and unbelief—that hinder effective prayer.

Rather than approaching God with rigid formality, Waller urges believers to come as children—honest, expectant, and dependent. Prayer is not merely presenting requests but engaging in a dynamic relationship where God delights in responding. He emphasizes perseverance and attentiveness in prayer, noting that spiritual warfare is real, and lives are at stake.

Waller shares powerful stories of how prayer has moved God to act, from biblical examples to modern-day testimonies of divine intervention. He stresses that missions and ministry hinge on the prayers of God’s people. Whether interceding for missionaries or seeking God’s will in daily life, believers participate in His work through prayer.

The sermon closes with a call to committed, steadfast prayer, not as a duty but as an act of faith and partnership with God.

Transcript of Purposeful Prayer | Missions Conference 2025

Well, I, uh, I stand here this morning, and I would say to you that, uh, when Lyle called me, uh, a month, six weeks ago, and said, George, we were wondering if, uh, you would speak at a missions conference, and on prayer, I told him, well, I’d have to pray about that. Uh, and the reason was because, honestly, uh, I could not think of any subject that I would feel less qualified to speak on than prayer.

Because in my mind, I don’t pray enough. And so I thought, I don’t know if I can, I don’t know if I can say yes to that. The Lord made it clear to me that not only should I speak this morning, but I will. And as I prepared for this morning, what I realized was this really wasn’t for you at all. This was totally for me. You get to come along for the ride. Okay? And I have been incredibly blessed along the way.

Our passage this morning, you can turn, there will be Colossians chapter 4, verse 2. Uh, and we will get there. But before we do, I want to talk a little bit about the notion of prayer and the challenges that we have in that.

Opening Prayer

So as we step into this, would you join me in prayer for just a moment? Father, thank you for your presence in this room. Thank you spirit of God that you are the one that opens up your word. You’re the one that gives us eyes to see, ears to hear, touches our spirits and our hearts as no other.

Thank you that as I stand here you can give the grace to me to get out of your way and let you use me solely as a vessel. Let these words that come through my mouth not be mine. Oh, Jesus, may they be yours. May you receive glory. May our, all of our hearts be moved and motivated by the things you have to say this morning. We want you, Father, to be high and lifted up. We want you to burn into us your vision for the world. In the midst of our missions conference So to that end we pray in Jesus name, Amen.

Where Does Prayer Play a Role in Our Lives?

Horatious Bonar one time said nothing so quickens prayer as trial. It sends us at once to our knees and shuts the door of the closet behind us. Isn’t that true? It is not hard for us to pray when we are under trial of some type, physically, relationally, financially. When trial comes, we’re quick in prayer.

But the real question is, in the day to day, where does prayer play a role in our lives?

Relationship need communication in order to thrive. And we call that prayer when it comes to our relationship with God. In order for our relationship with God to thrive, we gotta talk and we gotta listen. Now here’s, here’s the key. We are excellent at talking, right? Not so much at listening.

In my relationship with Judy, if all I do is talk at her and tell her, tell her, tell her, tell her, and then turn and walk away and she’s not said a word or had a chance to or has said a word but I haven’t listened, that’s really not a relationship to speak of. And so part of the challenge here we have is the notion of what does it mean in prayer to hear God so we know the heart of God as we are sharing our heart with Him.

In prayer we tell God about ourselves, about our circumstances, about the circumstances of others. That’s what we do when we pray. We express to Him our affection and we ask for His help and His grace and for some of We enjoy his transforming presence.

But the challenge is that for many of us, that is not the case, enjoying his transforming presence. The case is, we come with our list of, I need you to, and walk away. And the challenge of that is the way that we’ve approached I need you to list with the Father. is such that it’s, here it is, I don’t know if you’re going to do it or not, but I sure hope you do, maybe. But now you know what, I’m wanting.

What Gets in the Way of a Healthy Relationship with God

So, what is it that gets in the way of a healthy, real relationship that moves the heart of God? Well, there’s an excellent book by Brian Hedges, uh, Christ Formed. In you,  The Power of the Gospel for Personal Change. It’s an excellent book. In fact, the elders went through this last year. And, uh, in that book, one of the things he talks about in a section of it is the whole notion of spiritual disciplines and how they play a role in personal change and maturity. And one of the things he talks about in there is the combination of meditation and prayer.

And he points out a really interesting thing in there that I could relate to. And I think you can relate to are there are some serious obstacles that get in the way of us having effective prayer. One of those obstacles that gets in the way is what he calls legalism. Now it’s not the legalism like you think of the typical church. But it is the legalism that comes in the sense that we sometimes come to God motivated by obligation rather than privilege.

It’s a fine line of our attitude, but it’s a significant one. I come to God, you know, I’m a Christian, I’m supposed to pray. If I don’t pray, I’m not a good Christian. And so the whole aura and attitude of my coming to Him is one of, well I gotta do this. Whereas the truth is, it is a privilege that we can come into the portals of heaven to the throne of grace with complete freedom

Why? Because what do we always say at the end of prayers when we pray? I pray, I pray I pray and then what do I say? “In Jesus name.” Most of us are taught that simply as we grow up by listening to it and it’s like, I guess I’m supposed to say in Jesus name Right?

But the truth is, when you look at the Word of God, the fact of the matter is, the reason we should be saying that is because there is no other way into the presence and portal of God at the throne of grace except through Jesus. There is none other. Jesus himself says in John 14, 6, I’m the way, the truth, the life, and no man comes to the Father but through me.

Wow. Paul says in Ephesians 2 18 through him. I have access in Romans 5 He says through him. We also have obtained access by faith so Rather than this being some legalistic obligation, the reality is this is a privilege, an opportunity, a wondrous thing that you and I as believers have been given that we can walk up to the door. “Father, I’m here.” and what do we hear? “Oh, come right in. I’ve been expecting you.” That’s the truth.

The second thing that gets in the way for us is the whole notion of self sufficiency. Oh my. We get so busy in life. So incredibly busy. That we get up in the morning, we go through the day, we get to the end of the day, we’re exhausted, emotionally, physically, we maybe carve out three minutes, five minutes to pray some perfunctory prayer, and we’re asleep.

We’re exhausted.

What’s the solution? Well, in our self sufficiency, we exhaust ourselves fixing stuff, doing stuff, working through stuff all day long. And we get caught up in that. And then when we come to God, we come to God with that same attitude of, I’m the adult here, and Lord, I’m going to get this right, so let me get the words right, let me take the right posture, have the right tone of voice, let’s get it all right, like I do everything else in my life, so that I’ll be acceptable. But Jesus says, That God reveals to those who are not the wise, but those with a heart of a child, in Luke 10: 21.

Many of us have been taught to pray in un childlike ways, Miller says. We change our tone, we change our sound of our words, we attempt to do adoration before supplication. And then he says this interesting thing, consequently, we veil our hearts and pretend to be something that we are not.

So I come to God, and I put on the, the aura of this is who I am, because I’m supposed to feel this way and do this, when in truth, what I am is a mess. I’m a absolute train wreck.

And when I can come to him as a child, I come in a way that my heart is wide open, my needs are there, and I come expecting that he will take me in his arms, snotty nose and all, and say, I love you, and I’m here to hear you out. I had a picture of this, some of you may have seen this. Uh, this week on the news. There’s a perfect picture of this. So Elon Musk is in the Oval Office with the President talking and his child’s there. And he’s crawling all over him. And he’s standing there in the most powerful office in the world and his child, X, four years old, is standing next to the President picking his nose, rubbing his hand.

Now, People say, well, that’s ridiculous. But that child, X, is a picture of the heart that says, I’m okay. I’m okay with my father. Just like I am. I don’t have to worry about what anybody thinks. He accepts me in my mess. That’s how children are. And the Word of God says, Come to me as a child. Come to me with your mess.

Come to me wide open. Know that I will accept you just like you are. No pretense. Nothing like that. No poser. Just be you. The third thing that gets in the way is when we come trying to be the adult, we also forget when not coming as a child that we’re coming to him as our father. And when we forget that, it creates a state of unbelief.

How many of you have come and prayed, and prayed, and asked for specific things, and you get up and you walk away from that moment, and if you’re honest with yourself, the words inside that we don’t speak but we feel is, I really hope God does something.

As if he might not, as if I’m not sure, as if did my prayer count, do I really believe that God will do what he says?

God said in Mark’s, Matthew 6, he says, listen, I clothed the fields with beautiful flowers. I feed the birds of the air. I do all of that. How much more will I clothe you, O you of little faith?

The whole point here is, beloved, our Father in Heaven delights, gets giddy in coming and meeting your need. It gives Him great joy. Ask, and you will receive. It delights his heart to do that.

So, the notion of unbelief, self sufficiency, um, legalistic approach, those things get in the way a lot of times of what the Father wants in heaven. And what is that? He wants us to come. With a heart that says, this is fun. This is an opportunity. I’m not alone. He will hear me. He loves me in spite of my mess.

So here we go. And you burst through the doors into the inner courts of the portals of heaven. At the feet of the Father. And you say, here I am. And I want to talk to you. And the father says, I’m so excited. Let’s talk.

Devote Yoruself to Continual Prayer

Now in that context, we’re talking about missions this week. And I find it interesting, both in Ephesians 6 and in Colossians 4, it’s almost identical wording what Paul says to each of those fellowships. But I chose to just pick Colossians 4 for this morning. He says there in verse two, devote yourself to prayer. Be alert in it with thanksgiving. The New American Standard will say with an attitude of thanksgiving. And I found it interesting this word for devote It actually has the idea of being steadfastly attentive. So the ESV uses the word steadfast when we look at it. It says continue steadfastly in prayer. Same idea. So this idea of being devoted to being steadfast, attentive, unremitting in the care of something. Now we’re talking about prayer. It has the idea of continuing all the time in this place, persevering and not fainting.

So we see this over and over in Scripture. In Acts 1, verse 14, these all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer along with women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers, devoting. Being steadfastly attentive, persevering all the time in it, not fainting. A little further down, Acts chapter six, verse four, but we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.

Romans 12, rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, and what? Be consistent, or constant, or devoted in prayer, depending on your version. The whole point here is, over and over and over, whether it’s Luke, whether it’s Paul, the point is, I need you to hear me when I say, you must be steadfast, you must persevere and not faint, and you must do this all the time. Be devoted to prayer.

Be Alert in Your Prayer

And the very next statement, be alert in it. Now, if I have to be alert, that would say to me that I have to be alert about something.

What are you alert about? The word there for alert in the Greek has this very interesting notion to it. Some translations will say watch. I thought, well, that’s pretty generic, what does it really mean? And as I drilled down, look what I found. This is like, whoo, to take heed, lest through remission or indolence some destructive calamity suddenly overtakes one.

Did you hear that? Take heed, lest through remission or indolence some destructive calamity suddenly overtakes one. I went down a little further, and this is a, this is a good one. The same idea of this word, employ the most punctilious care of a thing. Now I didn’t win a spelling bee, okay? And I always had this thing that said, if you can’t spell it, don’t use it.

So guess what? I’ve never used punctilious, okay? But let me tell you something about what that means, because it’s so relevant to our conversation this morning. The notion of being punctilious, the notion of being alert, includes painstaking, thorough, meticulous, conscientious, exact, precise.

So Paul is saying, in your prayer, do not be remissive. Do not be lax. For the danger of destructive calamity coming, in fact, be thorough, and meticulous, and exact, and precise, and painstaking in how you pray, because why? Because the kingdom of God, lives are on the line.

Why alert? Because ladies and gentlemen, you are in a warfare this morning, whether you know it or not. Whether you are aware of it or not, as you sit here in principalities and powers in high places, there is war over your soul and over the souls of those who are around you. Let that sink in. Because this past week, I would venture to say, 99 percent of us went through the week and not once had the notion or the thought that I’m in a war.

That doesn’t change the fact that you are. That doesn’t change the fact that there are in fact, as in fact, a roaring lion, roaming, looking for the moment, seeking who he may devour. The thief comes, John 10, 10, to seek, kill, and destroy your relationships, your soul, your ministry, your physical body. You are in a war.

Be punctilious. Be meticulous. Be precise. Be exact. Persevere. Recognize the importance and the power of prayer in order to participate with God in this thing we call mission and ministry in the lives of those around us.

And you’ll say, well, I’m not a minister. No. You are a minister. You’re a missionary exactly where you are.

Even in retirement, I have found myself more of a minister than I ever was standing up here. Stunned by how God makes opportunities and I’m going, wait, wait, uh, Jed’s doing that now. No. We’re all doing this. We’re all significant. There is not an insignificant person sitting here this morning under the sound of my voice who does not have significance because your prayers make differences.

God Moves Because of Our Prayers

And I’m going to give you some examples here as we end this morning of exactly how that happens. Two examples from Scripture. In 2 Samuel 21, Saul and Jonathan have been killed. Saul has given the directions that when they died, they were to be buried in his father’s burial site. And so the Israelites take and they bury the two of them in that place.

And interestingly enough, in 2 Samuel 21, 14, it says, after they had done all the things the king commanded, burying them where they were supposed to be buried, And after that, God was moved by prayer for the land.

Let that sink in. God was moved to act because of prayer. Do you realize you have the power to move God in action by prayer?

Two chapters later, David. is going to do a sacrifice of a peace offering and a burnt offering and he’s going to do that sacrifice on the threshing floor of Aranah and he comes and he buys the land from him so that he can do this sacrifice and so he offers the peace and burnt offering in 2nd Samuel 24: 25 and it says So, the Lord responded, the New American Standard will say, was moved to the plea, the prayer, for the land, and the plague was averted for Israel.

God is moved by prayer to do things in major ways and in minor ways. It is prayer. That moves God. In fact, I remember an old saint that I read, excuse me, who said he didn’t believe that anything that was done in terms of kingdom work, anything at all, did not happen first because there was prayer behind it.

That’s just, that’s a stunning thought. That all the work of the kingdom of God on earth that happens It is generated by the faithful, believing prayers of the saints that move God into action. Do you realize the power we have given to us by our God to participate in the kingdom work here on earth? It is stunning. Stunning.

Examples of Effective Prayer

I’ve closed this morning with three examples in my life, and many of you would have other stories similar, but they are illustrative of what we’re talking about when we talk about prayer and missions.

If you have not gotten this book, I would highly encourage you in the back to get the Missions Conference booklet with all of our missionaries in it to pray for. And I’m not suggesting that you go home say okay now I got to pray for every one of them every day I’m not suggest that I would ask would you be good enough to pick one. Pick one that you’d say father I will faithfully, meticulously, exactly, precisely, perseveringly pray for this person this year. One can we get that? Why? Let me give you examples.

Years ago, 1977, exactly, I had the honor and the opportunity to sit in Dr. Charles Stanley’s study with him and another fellow named Dr. Leonard Ravenhill. Some of you may know that name. One of the greatest men of prayer that I ever personally met. And in that time, Uh, as a young guy, I knew, I thought I knew about prayer. I’d studied prayer and Bible classes, and I knew about prayer. So we go into the prayer time, and Dr. Stanley says to Dr. Ravenhill, Dr. Ravenhill, why don’t you open our time of prayer?

I would be glad to. He’s Scottish. So he bows his head. I bow my head. For five minutes, there’s nothing. There’s silence. I’m silent.

Finally, over a period of time, Leonard Ravenhill began to talk to his father in heaven. And what struck me was it was no pious words and throwing out all kinds of scriptures. Here was a man, as a child, pouring his heart out to his father with deep passion and belief of what he believed. wanted to see God do.

And he prayed, and he prayed, and 45 or so minutes later he was finished. Now all three of us are supposed to pray, and I’m sitting there thinking, oh me, I might get three minutes in. What I learned in that session though wasn’t just how to pray, but what I learned in that session was when Dr. Stanley prayed. How he, he was a, a great man of prayer as well, although he’s primarily known because of media of his teaching, but he was a man who prayed. And in his prayer, one of the things he prayed about was his family and his children, a covering of protection.

When we were finished, Dr. Stanley, shared with Dr. Ravenhill and myself and Dan DeHaan, who was with us, he said, I want to tell you a story. Where the church is in Atlanta is not a safe place and it wasn’t in 1977 either. And his daughter, Becky, was walking down the sidewalk beside the church and this sketchy kind of guy was walking toward her. And she felt a little uncomfortable, but he walked by her.

And it wasn’t just a short few seconds. She heard this scream, and he had attacked this woman behind her. Uh, by God’s grace, he didn’t kill her. But, afterwards, she was a witness, and with the police. And in the process of that, she asked the guy, Why did you walk behind me? And his response was, I wasn’t about to attack you with that big of a guy with you.

And she was alone.

Now let that sink in.

And here’s Dr. Stanley praying, Father, put protection over Andy and Becky. Protect them from evil.

When I was at Columbia, in chapel one day, A man named Dr. Stephen Olford, some of you may have heard of him, was a missionary kid from Africa. And in his message he told the story of the night that he and his mom and dad, uh, were in their home there in the jungles of Africa. And a tribe that they’d been trying to reach came, the warriors, to in fact kill them.

And Stephen and his mom came out on the front porch and his father came out and stepped down in front of the warriors and looked at them, and then all of a sudden, they turned and left.

A few years later, that tribe was in fact reached. And the chief became a believer, and Dr. Oldford’s father met with him and asked him, Do you remember a few years ago, you came to us to kill us? Why did you not? And the chief said, There was no way that we were attacking you with the number of warriors that you had standing around you. We had no chance. We left.

There was none one there but the three of them, as far as they knew. There are stories like that across the world. I’ll leave you with one last story that really impresses me about the power of prayer.

In the British Isles in the 1800s, a man had been sent from a small church to Africa. He had been down there and had faithfully ministered there. Came back home to raise support and to try to get others to come with him to the mission field. It was a Sunday night. He’s scheduled to speak at the church. It’s dark. It’s raining. He goes, has his message. Walks in, and it’s essentially a small group of people, gray headed, and he’s thinking, I, I think I need to change my message.

I mean, none of these people are going to come back with me to be missionaries in Africa. And the Spirit of God really impressed upon him, do not change your message. Speak what I’ve laid on your heart. So they sang the songs and there was an organist and her son and it was a billowed kind of organ so he did the billows and she did the organ and they sang their songs and it was time for him to get up. And he gave his message about how much Africa and the world needed people to come. And he closed with saying, will you come? Will you come with me? Will you come? Who will do it? And from the corner, the voice comes from the boy, I will come. I will do it.

So after the message, the missionary meets with him and says, son, if you will come, what you need to do is you need to get a medical degree. So that you can come and meet the physical needs of people to have an opening to speak into their spiritual needs, just like Jesus. So he, in fact, went to London and got a medical degree. And as a physician, he went to Africa. His name was David Livingston. He was there for many years. Very successful. Reached numerous tribes and regions, never reached.

Was one time at this one place where, out of the jungle, not unlike the Ulfords, this tribal chief and witch doctor came with their warriors, torches lit, and they were going to kill him and his family and his workers and burn the place that night.

And they came, and they stood outside, and in a few minutes, they dropped their torches and disappeared into the woods. Just like with the  Ulfords.

A few months later, this tribe was reached. Livingston did it. Livingston sat down with this warrior and witchcraft doctor and asked, Why did you not kill us? And same thing, but so interesting, so precise. This warrior said, we were not about to kill you. You had 39 warriors standing around you. There was no way those great warriors, we could have taken. Not 39 of them. That’s why we left.

Number of years pass. Great ministry. Livingston goes back to England and he visited various churches and he visited his home church as a little boy where he grew up and he is sharing numerous stories about what happened in his ministry and he shares this story about this specific night, this specific day where the warriors came.

And he tells them what happened. And afterwards, this registrar lady comes up to him and she says, What date exactly was that when that happened? So Livingston tells her the exact date. And she goes to the registrar. Because the church kept a record of who was there on Sunday, who was there on Sunday night, who was there on Wednesday. By name.

And so she turns to the register on that day, she opens it up for that prayer time of that Wednesday night, and there were 39 people praying that night. How many warriors were there around him? 39.

Your Prayers Matter

We think, oh man, those are just crazy stories. Let me tell you something. Those are not crazy stories. That is how God moves in answer to your prayers and my prayers. When you pray for people in this book, do not think it is insignificant what you’re doing. It is profoundly significant what we are doing when we pray. And it is profoundly dangerous when we are remiss. And we do not pray. And we’re not, as the word punctilious, we are not meticulous and exact and precise and intentional and persevering over these people.

Prayer in our own lives for our children and missions moves things in spiritual realms that change the trajectory of ministry at any moment. This is why I do, every day, I pray for Jed and Erica, Jon and Rae, their children, and when Isaias gets here, that God would put a covering of protection over those families. Because that’s not some metaphorical, brrr, kind of prayer. I believe with all of my heart, He puts protection around them to guard their hearts and to guard them physically. That’s how God moves. Praise God. So do not discount your prayers, beloved. They matter. And they move things in the kingdom of heaven.

And I praise God that He is faithful to that. May you be encouraged today. Be encouraged. God hears you when you pray.

Closing Prayer

Father. We stand before your throne, and we do believe you, that you do miracles, even this moment. You do amazing things that we cannot often see, and won’t know this side of heaven, but we will know one day.

There is no inconsequential prayer. They matter. Thank you for that. Oh Jesus, deepen our faith. Help us come to you. The law, the knowledge that we come in the name of Jesus for freedom into the Holy of Holies. We come as children, messy as we are, totally accepted by our Father. We come to our Father knowing that you are good, and loving, and gentle, and kind, and merciful, and you hear our prayers, and as Israel found, you were moved by the prayers of your children. Thank you, Father. You are faithful and worthy of all praise and honor and glory. In Jesus name, Amen.