DEVOTE
YOURSELF: Te proseuche proskartereite (2PPAM):
(Col
4:12;
1:9;
1 Sa 12:23;
Job 15:4;
27:8-10;
Ps 55:16,17;
109:4;
Lu 18:1;
Ro 12:12;
Eph 6:18;
Phil 4:6;
1 Th 5:17,18)
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." (Dan
6:10)
Psalm 119:164
says,
"Seven times a day I praise You, because of Your righteous
ordinances." Be devoted to prayer.
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." (see
note
Romans 12:12)
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)
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.
TO PRAYER:
Te proseuche:
Prayer
(4335)
(proseuche) (Click word study of
proseuche) is the most frequent NT word for prayer, stresses
fervency, always refers to prayer to God and to praying with a definite aim.
Solomon writes that
the prayer of the upright is His delight."
(Pr 15:8)
Beloved, do you desire to delight your heavenly Father? Then "devote
yourself to prayer".
Fill to the brim the
golden bowls full of incense (fragrant spices and gums for burning), which are the prayers (all the prayers
ever prayed) of the saints. (see note
Revelation 5:8)
APPLICATION: Courson
commenting on (Revelation
5:8)
has written "according to our text, our prayers are kept in vials
or bowls. How full is yours?" (Courson,
J: Jon Courson's Application Commentary: NT. Nelson. 2004
or
Logos)
John Piper writes of...
a story about D. L. Moody
making a visit to Scotland in the 1800's and opening one of his talks
at a local grade school with the rhetorical question, What is prayer?
To his amazement, hundreds of children's hands went up. So he decided
to call on a lad near the front, who promptly stood up and said,
"Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God, in the name of
Christ, by the help of his Spirit, with confession of our sins, and
thankful acknowledgment of his mercies." This is the answer to
question #78 in the Westminster Catechism. To this Moody responded by
saying, "Be thankful, son, that you were born in Scotland." (Devote
Yourselves to Prayer, a sermon by John Piper)
A similar exhortation is to pray without ceasing, (1Thes 5:17), which
enjoins, not uninterrupted, but constantly recurring prayer. Like
every other spiritual activity, such a devoted attitude toward prayer
calls for diligence, lest its power be forgotten and its occasions and
opportunities be allowed to slip away. The maintenance of
an effective spiritual life depends upon intercourse with the God of
our salvation.
Steadfastness in prayer is to be our continual mindset because of the many hindrances
to fervent prayer which are inherent in the nature (saved but still
weak in these bodies of flesh) and in the surroundings (busyness) of believers.
While the chief emphasis of this
last chapter of Colossians is upon the Christian’s life in the world,
Paul fittingly begins with prayer since it is the foundation and
source of power for such a life.
John MacArthur records the following story illustrating the
boldness believers should have when wrestling with God in prayer...
In 1540 Luther’s great
friend and assistant, Friedrich Myconius, became sick and was
expected to die within a short time. On his bed he wrote a
loving farewell note to Luther with a trembling hand. Luther
received the letter and sent back a reply: “I command thee in
the name of God to live because I still have need of thee in the
work of reforming the church.… The Lord will never let me hear
that thou art dead, but will-permit thee to survive me. For this
I am praying, this is my will, and may my will be done, because
I seek only to glorify the name of God.”Those words are
shocking to us, but they were certainly heartfelt. Although
Myconius had already lost the ability to speak when Luther’s
letter came, he recovered completely and lived six more years to
survive Luther himself by two months. (MacArthur,
J. Colossians. Chicago: Moody Press
or
Logos)
Piper writes that prayer
is...
A Wartime Walkie-Talkie, Not a
Domestic Intercom. Prayer is the walkie-talkie on the battlefield of
the world. It calls on God for courage (Ephesians 6:19). It calls in
for troop deployment and target location (Acts 13:1–3). It calls in
for protection and air cover (Matthew 6:13; Luke 21:36). It calls in
for firepower to blast open a way for the Word (Colossians 4:3). It
calls in for the miracle of healing for the wounded soldiers (James
5:16). It calls in for supplies for the forces (Matthew 6:11;
Philippians 4:6). And it calls in for needed reinforcements (Matthew
9:38). This is the place of prayer—on the battlefield of the world. It
is a wartime walkie-talkie for spiritual warfare, not a domestic
intercom to increase the comforts of the saints. And one of the
reasons it malfunctions in the hands of so many Christian soldiers is
that they have gone AWOL. (Piper, J. (2000). The pleasures of God :
Meditations on God's delight in being God. Includes study guide: p.
343-372. (Rev. and expanded) (225). Sisters, Or.: Multnomah
Publishers)
