Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful,Continue steadfastly in prayer, watching in it with thanksgiving,Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving;Continue stedfastly in prayer, watching therein with thanksgiving;
3 sermons cite this verse
… and gratitude in our hearts. That's the first command in Colossians 4, verse 2. pray, being watchful, meaning don't stick your head in the sand when it comes to what is going on in the world around you. We need to open our eyes. I mentioned earlier what is being taught in our schools, and it's not just here, it's across our country, where in some places, kindergartners are being taught that there are many ways to express gender. Elementary schools are participating in exercises where they explore gender options. And in so many settings, teachers are required to teach this and may be fired and have been fired if they don't. Counselors required to advocate this and may lose their licenses and have lost their licenses if they don't. In 18 states and the district now, there are bans on any counseling that would even question expression of a different gender and open your eyes because the tentacles of this teaching go far beyond the classroom or the counseling room they extend into the home where there are stories around our country of parents whose children have been taken from them because the parents would not support their children's desire to identify as a different gender one court case in Ohio where a child was taken from her parents because they would not support her desire for male hormone treatment. And the state accused the parents of resisting their child's wishes for religious reasons, and they ended up taking the child from her parents. They have totally lost …
Why do you need somebody's prayers? In Colossians chapter 4 and verse 2, Paul wrote this, "'Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving.' Then he said this, "'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.'" Is that amazing? Pray for my clarity. Pray for my boldness. Pray for my faithfulness. Pray for the preacher. Pray for the preacher. He knew his theology. He had his armor, but he feared his own humanity. Pray for the preacher. Good place to start. If I can suggest that, if I can borrow Paul's words, pray for this preacher. Pray for all the preachers around here, the elders, teachers. Pray for us all to be courageous and bold and fearless and compassionate and loving. Pray for every ministry that we have. …
… We'll deal with one primary part of it. Colossians chapter 4, verse 2, he says, Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving, praying at the same time for us as well, that God may open up to us a door for the words so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ for which I also have been imprisoned, in order that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak. Now, Paul in essence says, here's the attitude we should have in prayer, says, this is what our prayer should cover. And you'll notice he says that a door might be opened for greater ministry and that God would speak to him and show him how to speak the truth so that everyone could understand. Now, what I want to deal with primarily here in this passage is what he says when he says, devote yourselves to prayer. So let's talk about our personal prayer life for a moment. And when he says, devote yourself to prayer, he's talking about persevering in it. …