DEVOTE YOURSELF TO PRAYER: Te proseuche proskartereite (2PPAM): (Col 4:12; 1:9; 1Sa 12:23; Job 15:4; 27:8, 9, 10; Ps 55:16,17; 109:4; Lk 18:1; Ro 12:12; Eph 6:18; Phil 4:6; 1Th 5:17,18) Note the emphasis in the Greek - "to prayer" is the first phrase! Devote yourselves to prayer - This does not mean that all you do is pray all day long, but it does mean that one's devotion to prayer affects everything in one's life. Think of a husband devoted to his wife or vice versa. The idea is that one dedicates himself or herself to the other. Devotion implies a strong attachment, allegiance, ardour or affection for some one or some thing, in this case prayer and the act of praying. To devote one's self involves allocation of ones' time and resources. There is a giving of one's self. One who is devoted is ardent, caring, committed, concerned, constant, dedicated, loyal, staunch, steadfast and true. One who is devoted is not disloyal, inconstant, indifferent or uncommitted. These are some of the ideas involved in the picture of one who is devoted to prayer. How does your prayer life compare with these descriptions? Would you say you are devoted to prayer? If not, then to what are you devoting your life...to things temporal or things eternal? What needs to change, so that you might joyfully fulfill the command to continually devote yourself to the high and holy privilege of prayer to the Almighty? How should we pray? Observe Paul's simple instructions in this passage on how to pray... (1) Persistently - devote yourselves (2) Watchfully - keeping alert (3) Thankfully One thing is abundantly clear from this passage - God's will is that we pray to Him. We all struggle to know the will of God in this area or that area of our life. This passage makes it clear that there are some things that you don't have to struggle to know. And one of those things is that God’s will is for you to make it a persistent practice to pray to Him. One wonders how our fulfilling of this aspect of the will of God, would make His will more easily discernible in other (all) areas of our life?! In Paul's letter to the Thessalonians he writes a parallel pithy passage in which believers are commanded to... Pray (present imperative = command to continue in prayer) without ceasing (See discussion in notes on 1Thessalonians 5:17) Devote (4342) (proskartereo from prós = in compound Greek words prós implies motion, direction = toward, to + karteréo = be strong, steadfast, firm, endure, hold out, bear the burden) means to be earnest towards, to persevere. It describes a steadfast single-minded fidelity to a certain course of action. It means to persist obstinately in a task, to keep on with devotion, to continue to do something with intense effort, to be steadfastly attentive unto, to give unremitting care to a thing, to continue all the time in a place, to persevere and not to faint, to be constantly diligent, to attend assiduously all the exercises, to adhere closely to, to attend continually or wait on continually, to tarry or remain somewhere. Proskartereo is used 10 times in the NT in the NASB (Mk; Acts 6x; Ro 2x; Col) and is translated: continually devoting themselves, 2; continued, 1; continuing, 1; devote ourselves, 1; devote yourselves, 1; devoted, 1; devoting themselves, 1; personal attendants, 1; stand ready, 1. Devote in the present verse is a command (imperative mood) in the present tense, calling for continual devotion to prayer. One thing is crystal clear from this passage and that is that it is God's will that we pray to Him. We all struggle to know the will of God for our lives, but there are some things that you do not have to struggle to know. One of them is that God's will is that you pray to him. Paul is exhorting the Colossian saints (and us) to pray often and regularly. He is saying that prayer is not to be infrequent, "hit or miss" activity (for if we do not "hit", it is us who will "miss" out beloved). Devoted means we are not to be haphazard and forgetful of our grand privilege of prayer as high priests of the Living God. Devoted means that (under grace not law) we must take steps to ensure that prayer with thanksgiving is a central part of our spiritual life, even as are eating and sleeping. Seek times of quiet communion with God. Early in the morning is one Biblical motif. Then you are prepared to walk with God in continual conversation throughout the day, moment by moment, hour by hour. Do not neglect Scripture memorization and meditation, for these friends will serve you well, as they goad and guide your prayers throughout the day. Daniel was a man "highly esteemed" by God and thus it should come as no surprise that he was "devoted to prayer", Scripture recording that even in the face of certain punishment "when Daniel knew that the document (prohibiting prayer to God) was signed, he entered his house (now in his roof chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem); and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously." (Da 6:10-note) Psalm 119:164 says, "Seven times a day I praise You, because of Your righteous ordinances." Jesus speaking to His disciples told them "that a boat should stand ready (proskartereo) for Him because of the multitude, in order that they might not crowd Him." (Mk 3:9) Note that 6 of the 10 uses of proskartereo are associated with prayer! Luke for example records prior to the selection of a replacement for Judas "all with one mind were continually devoting (proskartereo) themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers." (Acts 1:14) He later uses this same verb to describe the early church in Jerusalem as "continually devoting (proskartereo) themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." (Acts 2:42) Again we find the verb describing the early church "Day by day continuing (proskartereo) with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house... taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart." (Acts 2:46) The 12 apostles of the early church declared that "we will devote (proskartereo) ourselves to prayer, and to the ministry of the word." (Acts 6:4) Paul uses this verb in the practical section of Romans exhorting the saints to be "rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted (proskartereo) to prayer." (Ro 12:12-note) In Romans 13 Paul writes that for because of this (i.e., God ordained human government and demands submission to it) you also pay taxes (Greek word refers specifically to taxes paid by individuals, especially those in a conquered nation as tribute to foreign rulers which makes the tax even more onerous), for rulers are servants of God, devoting (proskartereo) themselves to this very thing." (Ro 13:6-note) Here proskartereo is taken by some as referring to the unceasing activity of the tax collector, a picture illustrating the continuous energy implied by the verb proskartereo. If the church demonstrated in its prayer life the dedication and persistence of the government in its collection of revenue, then the church would indeed have little to fear from the gates of hell! There would be no question of the truthfulness of the stanza, “Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees.” (quote from William Cowper) Proskartereo then means to attend constantly upon a person or thing. Proskartereo implies intensification of strength and persistent devotion. We are to be strong in our devotion to prayer, making it a priority nothing can dislodge. Only after you talk to God about needy people are you ready to talk to needy people about God. Even for the best of us, there come times when prayer seems to be unavailing and to penetrate no farther than the walls of the room in which we pray. At such a time the remedy is not to stop but to go on praying. Spiritual dryness cannot last the man who prays. Don't give up! John Piper says... I have often said that one of the reasons we feel so weak in our prayer lives is that we have tried to make a domestic intercom out of a wartime walkie talkie. Prayer is not designed as an intercom between us and God to serve the domestic comforts of the saints. It's designed as a walkie talkie for spiritual battlefields. It's the link between active soldiers and their command headquarters, with its unlimited fire-power and air cover and strategic wisdom.