“Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.” (‭‭Colossians‬ ‭4‬:‭2‬ )

A Life of Prayer

Take a moment to think about the habit of prayer in your life. Is prayer a regular part of your life, or is it something you don’t really pay attention to?

As Paul is closing out his letter to the church in Colossae, one of the things he reminds them of is the importance of prayer. For Paul, prayer is more than just asking God for what he needs. Prayer is the way Paul’s energy and ministry is sustained. Prayer is a source of God’s power for Paul.

He asks the Colossians not only to engage in prayer, but to be devoted to it. Paul understood that if the mission of God was to be effective through them, they needed to be devoted to talking to God about every aspect of life.

This means they not only needed to spend time in prayer for a few minutes in the morning, but they needed to make prayer a part of their entire day.

Paul tells the church to be devoted to prayer, being watchful and thankful. These are two aspects of prayer that we can engage in as well.

The first is being watchful or discerning of what’s happening in your life. We can ask the Holy Spirit to help us discern what God is doing in and around us, to make us aware of His work. Second, we can use our time in prayer to worship God through thanksgiving and gratitude.

Prayer is a vital aspect of the Christian life. Spend some time not only praying to God, but thinking through how you can make prayer a central part of your spiritual life.