2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. (Colossians 4:2)
Thoughts: Prayer is to be accompanied with thanksgiving. Why? God tells us to be thankful for our own good but also for the ultimate good- the glory of God. We are made to glorify and enjoy God. Giving credit, giving honor to God is part of what thankfulness to God involves.
Watchfulness is also to be accompanied with thanksgiving. For an impatient person (like me) this is hard to imagine. When I think of watchfulness, I think of a soldier on guard in a watchtower waiting for the sun to come up and seeking to guard the people. So how does someone who is on the alert thankful at the same time? Watching soldiers are grateful for their loved ones, their home, their king, their people, their blessings. These things motivate them to be disciplined, alert, careful, and caring about their watch. They are guarding these things against enemies and things that would destroy them. If we are not grateful for our faith, for our God, for our true home, for our church, then we will have a hard time guarding these things. If we are not grateful and thankful about what we have then we will lose heart when the tough time comes.
Prayer: Lord, help me to be thankful in the midst of my prayers and in the midst of my waiting for your love.
2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful (Colossians 4:2)
(Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane- Hoffman- where he said to watch and pray)
Thoughts: For most in the secular West, prayer is something we do when we're in trouble, sad or grieving, caught in a jam or don't know where to go. But here the advice given not only to the Colossians but to all of us is to devote ourselves to prayer.
Prayer is conversation with God. It is talking to God in a relationship, but as many who have a consistent prayer life say, it is also listening. While the Spirit of God speaks through the Word, the Spirit speaks in providence and in that still small voice when we are watching for it as Elijah was watching for God's presence.
Our passage says we should be watchful and thankful. Jesus said it in the garden- watch and pray lest you fall into temptation (Mt. 26:41). Watching means watching like watchmen in a tower looking for the enemy, but also for a relief column. We are to be people looking for God's hand and thankful for it. The world is not watching for God and are blind to His movements. But we are called to watch and be thankful.
The way to watch, the way to listen is to pray. Not just a rote prayer- or someone else's prayer. But developing your own prayer list, your own prayer life. A prayer list may be for government officials by name, for specific requests for your family members,church leaders and members, sunday school or Bible study group, and people you work with if you work. Taking a long, slow time to pray is important if you want to be devoted to prayer.
Prayer: Help me to watch and pray with thanksgiving, Lord. Help me to be devoted to you by being devoted to prayer.
