Perfecting one\u2019s prayer life (Colossians 4:2-4)<\/p>\n
Colossians 4:2. Paul not only practiced a mature prayer life (cf. Colossians 1:3-12) but he also prescribed it for all believers. They should devote themselves to (lit., \u201cpersist, continue in\u201d; cf. Rom. 12:12) prayer. Prayer is not a spiritual luxury; it is essential for growth. Prayer\u2013as vital to one\u2019s spiritual health as breathing is to one\u2019s physical health\u2013should be continual (1 Thes. 5:17), not casual. In his praying, a Christian should be watchful (\u201calert, aware\u201d) against spiritual drowsiness caused by attention to the world (Matt. 24:42; Acts 20:31; 1 Cor. 16:13; 1 Thes. 5:6) and\/or by the wiles of the devil (Eph. 6:16; 1 Peter 5:8). Being thankful should always accompany prayer (Phil. 4:6; Col. 1:12; Col. 3:16-17; 1 Thes. 5:18), for it places a believer in the proper attitude before God (cf. Rom. 1:21).
\nColossians 4:3-4. Pray for us was a request Paul often made of his readers (Rom. 15:30; Eph. 6:19; 1 Thes. 5:25; 2 Thes. 3:1). His request was not selfish; it was for an open \u2026 door (cf. 1 Cor. 16:9; 2 Cor. 2:12) through which he could clearly minister the gospel message \u2026 the mystery of Christ (cf. Eph. 3:4; Eph. 6:19; Col. 1:26-27; Col. 2:2), for which he was in chains (cf. Phil. 1:7, Phil 1:13-14,16; Col. 4:18; Phile. 1, 9-10,13). He desired not only an opportunity to preach but also clarity in preaching: that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should (i.e., \u201cas I am obligated to\u201d; cf. Rom. 1:14-15).<\/p>\n
Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary. (1983-). The Bible knowledge commentary : An exposition of the scriptures (Col 4:1\u20144). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Perfecting one\u2019s prayer life (Colossians 4:2-4) Colossians 4:2. Paul not only practiced a mature prayer life (cf. Colossians 1:3-12) but he also prescribed it for all believers. They should devote themselves to (lit., \u201cpersist, continue in\u201d; cf. Rom. 12:12) prayer. Prayer is not a spiritual luxury; it is essential for growth. Prayer\u2013as vital to one\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"twitterCardType":"","cardImageID":0,"cardImage":"","cardTitle":"","cardDesc":"","cardImageAlt":"","cardPlayer":"","cardPlayerWidth":0,"cardPlayerHeight":0,"cardPlayerStream":"","cardPlayerCodec":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10457\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}