Colossians 4:2: How Do You Pray?

Colossians 4:2 "Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving."

Do you ever accidentally wake up an hour early because you did the math wrong in your head of when to set your alarm? I did that this morning, and it felt great! I sat down to read my Bible and realized I had an entire extra hour to do so! Perhaps many of you often have the opposite problem, but nonetheless, it was a good morning. However, none of that has to do with the devotional.

How do you pray? is the question before us this morning. It's a good question, and one that we ought to ask ourselves regularly if we seek to truly honor the Lord in everything, including our prayer life. Let us examine scripture this morning and ask ourselves three questions about how we pray.

Question #1: Do you pray steadfastly? In Collosians 4:2, Paul encourages his audience to pray steadfastly, that is, to continue in prayer in every situation. Do you do this? So often we just pray when we feel a need for God, but the truth is that we ought to always be praying because we always need God, whether we feel like it or not. Futhermore, so often we just pray for what we want, and when we get what we want, we stop praying. Paul says that this ought not to be so. We ought to never stop praying, no matter the circumstance.

Question #2: Do you pray watchfully? Perhaps you think this is an odd question, and so do I. However, scripture commands us to pray watchfully in Colossians 4:2, so we must find out what it means so that we can do it. We ought to first notice that this word watchful carries with it rich biblical meaning from the story of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. In the Garden, Jesus commanded his disciples to watch and pray lest they enter into temptation (see Matthew 26:36-46). Thus, watching and praying are two principles that are tied together biblically. In literal terms, to pray watchfully is to pray without falling asleep physically, but spiritually we must understand that to pray watchfully is to not fall asleep spiritually. In other words, we must pray watchfully so that we do not fall into temptation as the disciples did in the Garden of Gethsemane. We must pray watchfully so that we are on guard against Satan's attacks.

Question #3: Do you pray thankfully? Paul encourages us elsewhere to pray with thanksgiving as well: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God" (Phil. 4:6). In scripture, one can clearly see that the two spiritual disciplines of being prayerful and being thankful cannot be seperated. To do one is to do the other, and to do one without the other is to be disobedient. Whenever we pray, we ought to thank God for what he has done for us. Whenever we are thanking God, we are praying. We must always pray with thanksgiving, no matter what circumstance we are in. Also, if you don't know what to thank God for, last time I checked, you were still breathing.*

So, how do you pray? Do you pray steadfastly? watchfully? thankfully? Christian, to not pray with each of these attributes is to not pray well. So, pray! Pray always. Pray to be on guard against Satan. Pray as you thank God for all that he's done for you. Never neglect prayer. Amen.

*Perhaps y'all don't understand what I mean here. What I mean is this: so often we complain that we don't know what to thank God for because our situation stinks, while simultaneously we are complaining with the very breath, lips, and life that he has graciously given to us that we do not deserve. I guarantee there is always something to thank God for.