Prayer is
perhaps one of God’s most potent weapons and gifts to His church. Being a
prayer answering God, He wants us to co-labor with Him, both for personal
progress as well as expansion of His Kingdom. God expects us to pray for
ourselves, but He also expects us to pray for His work, especially those whom
He has called to serve in the work of the Gospel. This explains why Paul exhorts
the believers to devote themselves in prayer.
The word
devotion suggests that we not only had to be earnest about prayer but we are also
to bring into it our mind, emotion and physique. This very important spiritual
exercise should be engaged with our whole being. It requires time, effort and
much work. Bear in mind that God is the power behind all our answered prayers.
In this spiritual exercise we are His instruments that will trigger the release
of the answers to meet our needs as well as the needs of the church. God has
the ability to answer, but He wants our participation to bring about the
release. The right way to approach prayer is with an attitude of gratitude and
thanksgiving.
Verse 3
tells us that we are not only to pray for ourselves but to also to pray for all
God’s workers who are tasked with delivering the message of Christ. We should
pray for doors to be opened for God’s servants to bring the message of Christ freely,
truly, boldly and clearly to the people.
God uses
prayer to transform both our lives and to shape events of the world. It is the
central channel He uses. In prayer we think God’s thoughts, see God’s plan, desire
God’s will and love what He loves. No wonder Paul in his letter to the Thessalonians
said, “Pray without ceasing.” We must make the time to do it and discover the
wonders of prayer for ourselves!
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