Colossians 4:2 – Prayer, and Life Outside of It

Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.

Colossians 4:2 (ESV)


Prayer should be constant, and keeping our eyes open to how the Lord answers them should be too.

Prayer is incredibly important, partly because it's a way for us to communicate with the Lord. But more than a letter that we mail to an address that may or may not get it, it's like one long conversation with God. When we pray, we're speaking to Him, and I think that it's easy to take for granted that He always responds. When we pray, it can lose a lot of its power if we choose to keep a tunnel vision and ignore how He answers us. We don't watch and listen to God's answers to our prayers.

Over time, I've personally gone through enough seasons in my life where I can recognize that no matter what I pray for, and no matter how much I pray for it, if I get it, I'll always want something else afterward. And that in itself is normal - our sin makes us hungry ALL the time. If we don't get anything, we become bitter, because we feel like we deserve it. But if we do get it, we get tired of it quickly, and we either want something more, or something different. We don't appreciate what we have and where we are.

What do I have, that I prayed so much for? What was I able to avoid, all because God told me no?

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