Praying as privilege and partnership with God.

Colossians 4:2ff. Paul’s conclusion to the Colossian letter is driven by the principle that Christ is dwelling within the physical body of Christian people, and that to pray is to communicate with God, and it is to be involved directly in the work of God in the world. Prayer seems to be an annoyance to many, a drudgery to some, and a waste of time. Many Christians think that God is going to do what God wants to do, and that prayer has nothing to do with it. That is a view of the fatalist not the Christian. God loves our prayers and he is intent on listening to them and answering them according to his purposes. God has an intimate connection with the life of the believer in Christ and there is a leading of the Spirit of God (Romans 8:14; Galatians 5:18), and there is communication from the Christian to God, by means of prayer. Prayer is described in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, as “without ceasing.” It seems to be pretty important.

Colossians 4:2 – “Devote yourselves to prayer”(NIV), or “Continue steadfastly in prayer” (Colossians 4:2 ESV). There is in this direction, the exhortation to be serious about the content and the preparation of prayer. Prayer can be spontaneous and emotional, when called for. There is no prohibition on the panicked prayer offered up in an emergency, but prayer driven by our devotion to God and expressed in continued steadfastness, are here addressed. This is about a more regular and sustainable — a long-term — kind of prayer.

Preparing to pray.

To pray with devotion and steadfastness would require ordering our prayers and organizing them in some way. Concerted effort is not just in the offering of the prayer with physical engagement and emotional energy, there is work to prepare, time to think through what should be prayer about, and commitment to keep at the “work of prayer.” There is not only the continued habit of prayer, but the desire to pray well, with dignity, and thoroughly in our address to our Heavenly Father.

The Greek term translated “be devoted to” in the NIV, means, “continue in, keep close company with, be ready (as in preparing to embark on a boat-trip), to prepare for an event prior to it.” As applied to prayer, it means that there is serious consideration as to the content of the prayer, and the preparation of the one who is praying. This means that there is taking into account (a list perhaps) those things that need prayer, those individuals and events that merit prayer, and those matters of communion with God that are desired and necessary (confession, praise, thanksgiving, and the rest).

Practically, this would indicate a season of confession of sins, removing of offenses before God. It would certainly direct us to forgive others of their transgressions, as we have been forgiven ours. There is also a taking into account the long-term nature of the relationship with God, the encouraging truth that in our requests God always hears but he may delay or deny our petition. But the long-term nature of our relationship with God extends through the rest of our natural life and then continues forever with God in his home in Heaven. We see the eternal aspect to prayer that should keep us at it, not of weeks, or months, but for decades and then for eternity.

The preparation of prayer may be as simple as finding a place and a time in which you can pray. Many young Christian mothers, rise early before the family wakes, to have time alone and quiet with God. Busy people pray in the car, or while walking. If you put ear-buds in your ears while walking, people think you are listening to music, but you may just be praying in the silence afforded by the buds plugged into nothing, except God through Jesus Christ, by the Spirit’s help and his tender encouragement. Wonderful silence.

Be watchful in prayer.

The NIV omits the phrase, “in prayer” [lit. in it], and Colossians 4:2 reads like a list of three separate items, as if to say, “Be devoted to prayer; be watchful; be thankful.” But the grammar clearly points to three aspects of prayer. Devotion, watchfulness, and thanksgiving. The NET has Col. 4:2 this way: “Be devoted to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving,” all referring to prayer. This is a solid rendering.

Preemptive praying is watching people, paying attention to how people act, what they say, and noticing what they do. Watchful prayer looks for danger signs, for changes in attitudes, for weaknesses, for character flaws, and it makes those matters of prayer. Now, we don’t always understand what is driving a reaction, an expression of frustration, a poor attitude in another person, and we can and often get these things wrong. But watchfulness pays attention, and if there is an opportunity to ask, you may learn what is going on. But without being presumptuous, you can still pray for a friend who looks distressed, who is short in her replys and course in her language, who is pulling back from a friendship. You don’t know what the issue is until she tells you (even then, it may not be all of it), but you can still identify and pray for a need that is unknown to you but is known completely to your Father in Heaven. Be watchful of others and pray for them.

Be watchful of yourself, of course. The watchfulness is the same word as the guard on the city wall. You see the danger approaching as a distance – it may be a huge dust storm that would devastate a city, or a powerful tornado that would ravage a city’s people, or it could be a marauding army coming to pillage your town. But the watchman (watchwoman) stands guard and is paying attention. Watchful prayer is being aware of what is going on around you, in other people, and in the distance as far as you can see. Be watchful, not presumptuous and pray like mad.

With thanksgiving.

It has been said thousands of time that the best way to train a child to pray is to teach them to thank God for his gifts. A 4 year old can thank God earnestly for her new toy and describe it to the God of Heaven in tender details, explaining to him how much she loves it and how glad she is that God let her have it. Such expressions are very much in line with our thankfulness as mature believers as we pray to the God of Heaven. We make a listing of the things that God has provide. We give him praise for his gifts and we understand that the gift, as does every good and perfect gift, comes from God (see James 1:17).

Thanksgiving is simple and child-like prayer but it is the kind of prayer that should last our whole life long. When should you cease to be thankful? Thanksgiving is on the lips of God’s people in glory (see Revelation 7:12). All of eternity will be offering thanks to God for his salvation and in praise of his glory, forever.

Start with thanksgiving in your first prayer to the Father and keep praying that way forever.

Summary of Colossians 4:2.

Learn to pray by praying. Prayer is not learned by reading a book on prayer. Almost all books on prayer are dismal (O. Hallesby’s, Prayer, is an exception, and there may be a few others, but most are dreadfully dull or completely useless).

Learning to pray by praying means that every believer doesn’t need to learn to pray, they need to be disciplined enough in their day to take time for praying. Prayer is never difficult for the child of God. It is excruciating when we are locked in sin, or frustrated that God didn’t meet some want of our wants. But prayer is never more than a second from our hearts, and he gives us all we need as children of the Living God (Matthew 6:33).

It is right to think of this practical section in Colossians 4 as the outworking of the great mystery of the Christian faith, “Christ in you, the hope of glory,” see Colossians 1:26, 27; 2:2. The presence of Christ indwelling the Christian’s physical body should be inducement enough to pray and to seek fellowship with our God-within.

The Holy Spirit of God, of course, dwells within us as well.

John 14:17, “even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

Romans 8:9, “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.”

Romans 8:11, “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”

1 Corinthians 3:16, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?”

2 Timothy 1:14, “By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.” (ESV)

So prayer is not a matter of sending a trans-Universe message beyond the stars to a God, far, far, away. It is speaking to the God who lives within, close, inner-personal (and interpersonal). Prayer is not hard. It is our life with God.