The Gospel of Jesus Christ, as we’ve noted in the past, is the most sacred trust ever given to mankind.  It is often corrupted by a wrong or unclear presentation, and as with the Galatians, we should regard a false Gospel presentation as from the worst possible source (Gal 1:8-9).  The Gospel is not “Be good” but “Be-LIEVE.”  We must understand and communicate that God has done it all, that we receive His faithful works on our behalf by simple faith.  So many Christians try to preach a Gospel of man’s faithfulness, missing the point entirely that we are responsible to acknowledge God’s faithfulness in our response of believing His Word.

In a recent national conference for the Free Grace Alliance one of my favorite evangelists and seminary professors, Dr. R. Larry Moyer, gave a message on witnessing to the lost from Paul’s Epistle to the Colossians.  It was a great encouragement to me and everyone present, for Larry is a gifted man with a wonderful balance in his communication.  We learned, we were encouraged, we laughed, some cried.  You can visit his para-church evangelistic ministry at evantell.org.  I would like to examine Paul’s commands in Colossians 4:2-6 for the next three entries of “Attention to Orders.”

The Command

“Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; ” (Colossians 4:2, NAS)

This may well be a life-changing command, especially when you grasp what Paul is communicating by the word translated devote.  This verse begins a new topic (v1 is part of chapter 3’s discussion), which is the ministry of the Gospel that he shares with the believers in Colossae.  In v2, there is the right way to pray. Verses 3 and 4 supply appropriate content for this devoted prayer regarding Paul’s missionary endeavors.  The idea here is that they are partnering with him through prayer, though they cannot be present with him.  We cannot all be Paul, but we can all pray.  In v5 Paul moves to their conduct in general with regard to all who are candidates for the Gospel message, and v6 specifically addresses the instrument of communicating the Gospel, their speech.

“Devote yourselves” is translating the present imperative from PROSKARTEREO (προσκαρτερέω), which is a neat compound verb that means “persist in.”  The present tense is describing a general condition that should always be true of believers.  Historically, the idea behind this verb is KRATOS (κρατος), strength.  So you get this picture in your mind of a pitbull locking his jaws down on a rope toy.  This is not just perseverance but strong perseverance. The KJV translates it “continue in,” which is more like a Labrador retriever with the chew toy.  It is close, but it lacks the verve of Paul’s word.  The NKJV gets closest with “continue earnestly.”  The notion of “devoting” from the NAS does not exactly mean the same thing as “persist,” though  I will admit it comes close. Now for a devotion like this, it really is too bad that we have to say the command devote is not the best translation for this word!

Why Precision Is Important

You see if you devote yourself to pray but don’t persevere strongly in a continuous lifestyle of prayer, you are not really obeying this command.  It has been rightly said that prayer is not given to us to solve all our problems.  Why?  Think about it.  You may ask for something contrary to God’s wonderful purpose for your life.  He graciously does not answer such prayers the way we want him to.  Sometimes the problems persist–just ask Paul, the human author of this command who also wrote 2 Cor 12:8-9.  The thorn in Paul’s flesh was not a matter of lacking faith in Paul; God just wanted him to suffer through it for his blessing.

There is a tendency in some Christian circles today to suggest that all prayer “works” if only the person praying has the right amount of faith.  Try that philosophy out on praying for a Ferrari. Or a bigger house, or a sixth toe on your right foot.  I’ve tried it, well about the Ferarri, anyway.  It does not “work,”  and I have plenty of faith.  I know–not just think, know– God could give me one if He wanted to.  He owns it all; He could give me a little of it in the form of a red, handmade Italian sports car.  He just does not want to.  We should pray for what we want, and as we grow more into the likeness of our Savior through His Word, what we want will accord more perfectly with what God wants.  To see how to pray in accordance with God’s revealed will, look up Matthew 6:7-13.  There Jesus taught the disciples and the crowd how to pray, not necessarily the only content or what to pray.

Anyone who deals with real loss has to come to grips with God’s ways regarding prayer.  Sometimes the loved one dies anyway, the illness continues, the person makes the next self-destructive choice.  No, prayer is not a “problem solving device,” but it is the context in which we live our spiritual lives.  You could say it is the heartbeat of your spiritual life.

A Lifestyle

Paul is the Apostle of constant prayer.  He commands it in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, “Pray without ceasing.”  What a wonderful invitation to personal engagement with your Creator!  Actually, First Thessalonians is the Epistle of constant prayer, where Paul says he prays unceasingly in 1:3 and 2:13.  Though he does not use the same language as 1 Thes 5:17 here, Paul is commanding the same thing in Colossians 4:2.  Now how does this work?

I like to say that the lifestyle of constant prayer is partly a recognition that God is omnipresent.  God does not go away when you say “Amen.”  He is always everywhere present within His creation (but He is not part of His creation).  Therefore your constant, personal communication with Him becomes the context for all other interactions  and decisions.  A conversation with another human being would then be contextualized by the background interaction that’s always going on between you and your Heavenly Father.

In the context that Paul delivers this imperative, it is easy to see the benefit of a Christian’s constant prayer: the ministry of the Gospel requires a depth of personal interaction with God that is not possible otherwise.  Obviously your conduct and speech would be fitting regarding outsiders if your focus is already established on God, with Whom you are in fellowship.  Speaking of fellowship, this idea of the constant conversation, the life of prayer, is a corollary to that status of fellowship described in 1 John  1:5-2:2.  If you are in constant fellowship with God, Who is in you, should you not be constantly recognizing that fact? What better way than interaction with Him?  We should reckon it so and act accordingly.

Three Thoughts

1.  Sanctification:    The life to which believers have been called involves a proper context for every choice and every interaction: constant prayer.  This approach equips you for the monumental challenges through which God will lead you.

2.  Prayer:    There is a right way to pray, stated in Col 4:2: “alert” and “with thanksgiving.”  This is a good place to start on the matter of God’s protocol for our prayers: always with thanksgiving.  After dealing with personal sin (1 Jn 1:9) I always start with thanksgiving.  Eph 5:20.

3.  Personal Evangelism:  There is no more important conversation you can have with another human than the opportunity to share the Gospel of Jesus’ death and resurrection on their behalf.  That weighty responsibility should keep us close to our Father in prayer.  Prayer for opportunities, for wisdom in speaking, for success–as God measures success–in faithfully witnessing for Jesus Christ.

Passage to Pray

Psalm 23

Memory Verse: Col 4:2-4

“Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak. ” (Colossians 4:2–4, NAS)