Prayer

"Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving...."
Colossians 4:2

The encouragement here is to continue something that we are already doing. What is that you may ask? Praying. It is the power of our Christian life. The depth of your daily walk is directly related to the depth of your prayer life, I am convinced. There are pastors and teachers out there that say your power is in how much faith you have, or in the naming the thing you want and then claiming it in Jesus' name. Not so. The power for the Christian's daily walk comes from prayer. Perhaps we have a misconception of what prayer is, and that is the reason that we are so weak in our walk.

Prayer is not some "grocery list" of all the things we want God to do for us, and then trying to manipulate Him into giving them to us. "Lord, I really need that Mercedes, because I can put a 'Jesus' license plate on the front and use it as a witnessing tool." That kind of prayer, while making you feel good about yourself, is not aligning your will with God's will. Prayer is the aligning of our hearts and lives with the heart of God, and the offering of our day, our time, and our self to Him, and let Him tell us what we should do, and where we should go. Yes, there are prayers of intercession, where we intercede for someone else. Yes, there are prayers of supplication, where we bring our needs to our Father. I am not the last word on prayer. But I do know this: prayer is the key, not the last resort.

I have heard people say, and have caught myself at times saying, "All I can do is pray." Have you ever said that? Prayer should be the first course of action, not the last resort. So Paul is encouraging us to continue praying in earnest. And then he says something very interesting to me. He tells us to be vigilant about it. That means to be "sleeplessly watchful; alert and awake." Our prayers should be up to the minute, not yesterday's news. Pray for those you love. Pray for those who persecute you. Pray for His will to be manifest in your life. Pray for your needs. Pray to communicate with the God of the universe. And don't forget to let Him speak to you. The Word says to "Be still and know that I am God." Allow God to speak to your heart as you pray. Let your hearts be filled with thanksgiving unto God during this Thanksgiving Day celebration. Amen.