This morning I was reading Colossians 4, and saw this:
2Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3 And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. 4 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. (NIV)
First, I was convicted by the encouragement to be thankful in prayer. I’m (by both nature and nurture) a glass half-empty guy. Paul wanted them to be thankful as they prayed. They were to have eyes that saw the good around them, not just the sin & misery. They were to look for grace & mercy that were already there and thank God for it.
Second, they were to pray that God would open doors for the message of the Gospel. God is in control, and he must open doors for the Gospel. I was reminded to pray for the 3 mission teams I know of that are heading out in the next few weeks to Russia, LA and MS. I want God to open doors for the message. As I preach this Sunday, I want him to open hearts since he’s opened a door to preach the message.
Third, he asked them to pray that he would speak it clearly. God is sovereign, even in salvation, and he alone grants faith and repentance- even to unlikely people. But Paul was responsible to speak clearly. He recognized this- and we need to recognize this as well. God’s sovereignty in salvation does not mean we can be lax in either looking for open doors or in how we speak when we have one.
But Paul also recognized that he needed grace from God to speak clearly. He was dependent on God to fulfill his responsibility.
So, because of the gospel …….
- Are you watchful for evidence of grace & mercy, and expressing gratitude?
- Are you praying for open doors for the message?
- Are you praying that God would help you be clear when you have an opportunity to present the message of grace?
Sadly, all too often I’m not- but I want to be. I am responsible to be- may God help me to fulfill my responsibility.
Amen brother…
the Lord is faithful in bringing His word to bear…multiple times to train me in righteousness. Col 4 has been hitting my screen quite a bit. Note…I’m drawn to Epaphrus as Paul highlights his faithful struggling in prayer over the saints (no doubt in and through difficult circumstances; he did afterall -if I remember correctly- leave the saints/church at Collosae to go to Paul(in prison) for help in some matters impacting the Colossian church.
Aren’t most glasses half-empty? grin
oh…is nuture a cross between nurture and neutered? dbl-grin
oh, I’ll have to fix the spelling mistake. Firefox reveals incorrectly spelled words automatically. I did this one in IE, so it failed me … again!
When I’m done with my beer the glass is utterly empty