Vigilant in Prayer?

In Colossians 4 Paul has some closing comments and greetings for those in the church at Colosse. What struck me today was verse 2: Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving.  I have a confession to make. I am not always “vigilant” in my prayers. Sometimes I fall asleep. Sometimes I don’t spend a lot of time giving God the time to guide my prayer. I know that I don’t spend enough time in prayer. I have this thought that creeps into my mind every once in a while. With the emphasis that Paul puts on prayer, what if I spent 3-4 hours each day in prayer? What would that do for my life and the life of the church that I pastor? I immediately think about the fact that I wouldn’t have enough time to do all the other things that I do. But what if God would “do” most of those things? I wonder if I prayed that vigilantly, would I need to spend 8 hours a week preparing a sermon or could I put something together in about 15 minutes that would actually be powerful and impactful…qualities that I’m pretty sure are not attributed to the majority of what I’m preaching.

Ever wonder about things like this? For most of you 3-4 hours a day is not even practical but 15-30 minutes each day is easily practical. Words like “earnestly” and “vigilant” should, I suppose, describe all of our prayer lives, though exactly how much time it takes to produce that kind of prayer is something that I don’t really know. I don’t often make requests on this blog but I would ask you to pray for me that I would understand what “earnest” and “vigilant” look like in my prayer life and what changes God would lead me to make to make those words a reality for me.

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