By: Rev. Arnel Tan
“Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart/”
Colossians 4:2 NLT
As prayer is so important in the life of Christ it was also so important in the life of Paul and the early church. In fact Paul’s admonition to all the churches was to be a people of prayer. He made mention of Ephapras to be a man who agonize in prayer (4:12). As Christ modeled it became an attraction to his disciples that they requested Him to teach them how to pray! Prayer and Christ are inseparable and so role of prayer in living out our new life is essential.
Paul exhorted the church to devote themselves in prayer. The word “devote” speaks of urgency and priority meaning this should never take second place in the lives of those who follow Christ. Just like in any other relationship the barometer of intimacy and being close is when both parties are not just in talking terms but eagerly looking forward for that delightful moment of communion and conversation.
Paul said devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and thankful hearts. How are these instruction applied? If prayer is an essential part of living the new life, being alert would mean being focused. Remember prayer is not a play ground but a battle ground, it is here that the ultimate hatred of hell us unleashed to prevent any child of God from enjoying God. Being alert means to be focused on God himself and not be distracted by the problems and needs that we bring to Him. Prayer in the new life is finding sufficiency and significance on God Himself. There are times that we think we are praying when in reality we are talking to ourselves. Prayer is talking to God and not self talk.
In prayer we loose our focus on self and direct all our attention and energy to seek God. The new life is about living the will of God in our lives, remember it’s no longer self but Christ and in prayer a Christ centered life and a God first living, Holy Spirit empowered living is happening. Take away prayer, we are not living the new life, we still trust our efforts. What prevents us from enjoying the new life is not unanswered prayer but it’s the tragedy of unoffered prayers. In prayer we are invited to be authentic. Yes we can direct all our complaints to God Himself then at the end we become thankful people instead of bitter ones. In other words when the Lord is doing further transformation of our attitudes and providing us spiritual breakthrough He is doing it when we are in prayer! The new life is a life of prayer, the more weak and messy the more we kneel at the throne of grace for mercy.
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