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The Walk of Prayer

The Walk of Prayer

Words of Faith 11-25-19

Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2019

Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com

Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL

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Colossians 4:2

    [2] Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.  

 

     The wonderful privilege of life in Christ is that we are blessed to walk with Jesus in prayer.  We often think of prayer as a disciplined requirement or a separated time to which we must attend.  Paul calls us to the daily life of prayer in which the believer is devoted, watchful, and thankful in every moment.

     When we pray steadfastly, or with devotion, it means we “persist obstinately” in prayer.  This may sound tedious, but it really describes a constant, unbroken, and unwearied conversation with God in unbroken fellowship and communion.  To pray with devotion does not describe a rigid habit of scheduled recitations. It means to walk and breathe prayer-- to live, move, and have our being in conversation with God. 

      Devotion to prayer does not mean that our days are spent sequestered in a prayer closet.  If we follow the pattern of Jesus, we arise early and spend time with God before our day begins.  We will also withdraw as Jesus did to pray before important decisions or large ministry efforts.  But mostly we will walk through life in a partnership with God that converses over every situation, whether in thanksgiving, inquiry, listening, petition, or intercession.  With Christ as our constant partner, we never face a moment when we are not in prayer.

      We are to pray and watch.  The word watch means "to stay awake, be alert, be sleepless, be active, and concentrate.” We are to keep our eyes open for God, and what He is doing around us, so that we may participate, if needed, in His plan.  We are to fight against distractions, busyness, and a hardened heart. 

       We must also resist the drowsiness or the mind, sluggishness, wandering thoughts, and useless daydreaming. We are called to discipline our minds and control our thoughts. To cast down imaginations, demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. And take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ (2 Cor. 10:5).

       Paul called the believers to be thankful in prayer.  Being thankful is different from giving thanks, although the two go hand in hand.  We are, in our core, to live thankful lives, not watching for the things that we do not have, but rather marvel at the blessings we do have. Not counting the provisions we think were missed, but observing those that have been given. We are to converse with God out of just such an attitude of thanksgiving.

        If we are watchful, we will immediately start noticing the many ways that God is watchful over us.  We will see small and large blessings and protections that He has afforded.  We will see protections and provisions in our moment-to-moment walk with Him, and the immediate response of the heart will be to offer thanks.  When someone does something for us, we thank that person. The One Person who has done more for us than anyone else is God. His hand is constantly upon our lives, looking after, and caring for us.

       So how is your prayer walk?  How is your conversation with God? 

 

     O Father God, deepen and enrich my daily conversation with You.  Open my eyes to see Your hand at work all around me.  Keep me watchful for Your plan.  Keep me grateful as I see Your blessing and provision in my life.  In Jesus’ Name.

 

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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, and our website, and our church app, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2010 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.  

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