"Devote yourself to prayer" (Col. 4:2)
Thoughts: Prayer and devotion go together like ham and eggs in the spiritual realm. In fact prayer is often defined as devotion and vice versa, It takes a whole lot of prayer to stay devoted to God. It takes devotion to God to be motivated to pray.
But how much do we have to pray in order to fulfill this command? The answer is not quantifiable. We should not expect to find a line in the sand on which this side lies devotion and the other is not enough devotion. The Spirit leads us, promts us, and helps us pray. Perhaps our task is to listen and respond in prayer when we are motivated to do so, but that is not quite the point of this command. We should have some order or plan to our prayerfulness. The discipline ofprayer comes out of this desire to be devoted to prayer. Monks and nuns pray at certain set times. Calvin invited all to pray five times a day: when we awake, eating 3 times, and when we sleep. The point is to have purpose In your time.
Perhaps too we should seek purpose in our content. If you have a list to pray about, it might help to be devoted. Perhaps this list could be family members, officials, pastors or leaders in the church, members of your church/Clas/group, a list of those who need faith, missionaries. Perhaps even a set prayer to pray (like the prayer of Jabez). Some suggest praying for different groups on different days. God is less concerned with the how or pattern as much as that we do it. It takes effort to talk to God properly, and yet it is the easiest thing to do. It is easy to pray impromptu. It is work to be devoted in prayer.
Prayer: In my prayer , Lord, may I grow in devotion, but more importantly, grow closer to you.
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