“Devote yourself to prayer, being watchful and thankful…”
In Colossians 4:2, the apostle Paul was encouraging the church at Colossae to be a praying church. We would do well to heed this advice in our own churches. There is a desperate need today for praying churches. Years ago, W.W. Dyer wrote: “The quickest way to get a church on its feet is to get it on its knees.” How true! Colossians 4:2 reveals to us what makes a church a “praying church.” I found a study of the Greek words used in this text to be helpful in interpreting it. My source for the study of Greeks words was the Analytical Greek Lexicon.” Paul advised them to: “Devote yourselves to prayer.” The King James Version’s translation of this is, “continue in prayer.” The root Greek word can be translated as “to persist in adherence to a thing.” The Colossians are admonished to adhere to prayer. By the same token we are not to let anything keep us from praying. No one can really stop churches from praying but churches themselves. The same is true of individual Christians. If you want your church to be a praying church, promote prayer in every aspect of its life. Encourage individual church members to have daily devotions. Encourage families to pray together, and encourage prayer when the church is gathered together. Set aside times in worship services for prayer, and pray for missions, the ministry of the church in the community, a deep impression of the moving of the Holy Spirit and pray for the infirm. Most church prayer lists only list those who are on the “sick list.” I do not mean to diminish the importance of that, but we should pray for much more. Take Paul’s advice and “Devote yourselves to prayer” as individuals and the corporate body of your church. Paul advised that they be “watchful” in their praying. The Analytical Greek Lexicon gives two translations of the Greek word for “watchful.” The first is “to be awake.” Steadfast prayer will keep a church alive, awake and alert. Alert to what? Alert to many things, but one good example is to try being alert to ego matches in churches that make their witness null and void in the community. The second is to be “vigilant.” Constant prayer will keep a church “on its toes." It will keep a church from letting its guard down on moral matters, in visitation and witness or in a dull sameness that kills the spirit of church worship. The implication of Colossians 4:2 is that if a church is steadfast in prayer, it will be a watchful church. As physical exercise keeps our physical bodies alert, so prayer keeps churches alert. Paul advised the Colossians to be thankful. A little bit of thankfulness goes a long way in keeping our prayer lives alive and aware. A translation of the Greek word for "thankful" is to be “mindful of benefits.” A praying church will not forget the source of all of its benefits and blessings, such as, salvation, fellowship, or corporate witness. A church cannot be defined as a praying church if at the same time it forgets the source of all of its benefits – namely Jesus. A church cannot be defined as a praying church if all of its focus is on itself instead of on witness and ministry to the community and to the world. The church that is focused on Jesus, and people, is a thankful church. A thankful church is a praying church, and is probably a growing church. What makes a church a “praying church”? The obvious answer is that the members of a praying church are praying people. They pray when away from the corporate body of the church, and when they are gathered together. Prayer is not an afterthought in a praying church, but is an integral part of the life of the church. If you want your church to be a praying church, you should be a praying person. Bro. Joe
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
All
Archives
September 2021
|