Devote to Prayer || Manna for the Mind #364

Colossians 4:2

NASB – Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert with an attitude of thanksgiving

NLT – Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart.

VOICE – Pray, and keep praying. Be alert and thankful when you pray. 

Prayer Practices

We need to maintain a daily and continuous prayer life. In the early church, this happened through learning and studying the apostles’ teaching, maintaining community with fellow believers, having communion, and prayer. To devote yourself means holding a tight commitment to a practice, so prayer should be a regular and integral part of our lives.. This stays true with Jesus’ teachings, where He encourages His followers to always pray and stay faithful. Prayer was a way to align themselves with God’s will, seeking His guidance, and interceding for others. To be alert is to be vigilant. We must be aware of the spiritual realities and challenges that we face. For the Colossian Church, they were dealing with false teachings, making this vigilance very important. Being watchful like this keeps a mindset of Christ’s return to earth, for believers are always called to be ready for when that day comes. Be vigilant and grateful. We need to keep an attitude of gratitude towards God His grace, provision, and faithfulness. Don’t just be thankful for what’s going on around you, but build your relationship with God on this. The Colossian church saw pagan practices happening around them, so gratitude was seen as counter-cultural. 

REFLECTION CHECKPOINT: When you pray, how vigilant are you of your thoughts? Do you get distracted during prayer, or are you able to stay focused on your conversation with God?

The original church’s prayer focused on three things: aligning themselves with God’s will, seeking His guidance, and interceding for others. 

God’s will centers on love and justice. God’s will centers on love for others and working towards justice. The goal is to ensure all of God’s creation is properly cared for in the way that He created us to live. We are all reflections of God, and when we mistreat another human in any way, we mistreat the nature and character of who God is. God’s will centers on continuing revelation. God reveals more truth over time as humanity matures in understanding. The more I write and the more I see myself talking about the same scripture passages throughout the year, the more I see myself viewing scripture from different perspectives and understandings and walking away with different applications of how it affects myself. God’s will centers on inclusion. God’s will is for all people. As Scripture teaches: “There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. ~Galatians 3:28 (NLT)” We are all children of God. We are all reflections of God. Therefore, we are able to have a relationship with our Heavenly Father. God’s will centers on original goodness. People are flawed, but they are not evil. Yet they are still capable of great harm, and God’s grace can meet them in both their brokenness and responsibility. It’s so easy to see someone and see their sins, their hurts, their hang ups, their pasts, and ignore any good qualities that they may have. We can look at the inherent goodness for people above anything. When we align ourselves with these core principles, we start to truly understand what it means to follow God’s will. 

To seek His guidance means to understand how we can take the teachings and principles of the Bible and apply it to our daily life. Sometimes, life is tricky and complicated. We can try and solve the situations ourselves, but often – we can make it worse or make ourselves more stressed out. When we slow down, and give our concerns and situations to God directly, we can start to process things more methodically. We can stop carrying the weight of the full situation, but we can focus on what we’re able to control and how we can respond to those situations. 

To intercede for others is a communal aspect. It’s as simple as praying for others, listening to the hurts and hardships of others, and working with others to help meet their needs. Prayer is a communal activity, one that allows us to build relationships with others. One that tears down the walls that society tends to build up and push to us, instead of the bridges to break down the stigmas of the world and to recognize that we are all humans that have fallen short of the standards of God. We need to not hide them, but work towards an intentional, relational prayer that seeks to see the best of each other. 

REFLECTION CHECKPOINT: With these in mind, what can you see yourself strengthening in your prayer life? Is it aligning yourself with God’s will, seeking God’s guidance, or interceding for others?

Next slice of manna: Rejecting Conformity || Manna for the Mind #365