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Tuesday... So what prayer is all about?


Colossians 4:2 (NLT), "Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart."

Tuesday... So what prayer is all about?

Yes, the Apostle Paul knows what prayer is all about and here in chains he writes in Colossians 4:2 (NLT), "Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart." Yes in prayer we are talking to God so be alert and thankful. Yes, God is who we are talking to when we pray.


Now verse 3 is very interesting. He writes, "Pray for us too, that God will give us many opportunities to speak about his mysterious plan concerning Christ." He starts with, "Pray for us too."

So what we would want others to pray for us too? Understand, we are asking them to talk to God. Yes it is important for us to be alert and also to be thankful. We are talking to God.

So what did Paul ask them to pray for?

Now the whole verse says, "Pray for us too, that God will give us many opportunities to speak about his mysterious plan concerning Christ. That is why I am in chains." And that tells you a lot about Paul and what was important to him.

But verse 4 is not the prayer that I'm afraid we would want prayed for us. Please pray that I will get out of this difficult situation I am going through. But not Paul. Verse 4 says, "Pray that I will proclaim this message as clearly as I should." But Paul, that is why you are in chains and you want us to pray that you would proclaim this message more clearly? Don't you want out of your chains?

Verse 1 says, "Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart." It is God we are talking to. And remember what his Son prayed on the night before he went to the cross. He didn't in his humanness want to go through what he was facing but he wanted to do God's will.

"Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart."

The Amplified Bible translates verses 2-4 this way. It says "Be persistent and devoted to prayer, being alert and focused in your prayer life with an attitude of thanksgiving. At the same time pray for us, too, that God will open a door [of opportunity] to us for the word, to proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I have been imprisoned; that I may make it clear [and speak boldly and unfold the mystery] in the way I should."

Again, "Be persistent and devoted to prayer, being alert and focused in your prayer life with an attitude of thanksgiving." Listen, God has a mysterious plan for our life. So be alert and focused on it and pray with an attitude of thanksgiving." Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning


 

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