A Prayer-Bomb Kind of Guy

06.15.12

Colossians 1.9-12 9 For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11  strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light. NASB

What a prayer! It seems that in Colossae was a church that was not planted by Paul, but by a fellow worker of Paul's. And Paul was thrilled that they got it and kept it. So Paul prayed and continued to pray for them. I think he prayed similar prayers for all the churches – after all, why not pray and ask the God of infinite providence to give us everything we need for life on this earth and the propagation of the faith - all the time?

When we pray, what do we ask for? Do we ask God for some more of this and more of that? Do we ask God for what He’s already given us? Do we ask Him for things that are against His will? In America it is culturally acceptable to say to someone going through tragic circumstances: our thoughts and prayers are with you. What are those thoughts and prayers? If they aren’t like Paul’s then they probably aren’t hitting the mark. God looks at the heart when one prays and God sees sincerity, but sincerity can be sincerely wrong. Do we pray according to our relationship with God or do we throw up a prayer bomb hoping it explodes in the right place at the right time – with the right results?

I contend that if we pray, then that action alone ought to obligate us to some kind of submission to the rulership of God. If not, why pray? If God is not my King, why ask Him for anything? If He is not my King, do I pray believing He will overlook my lack of loyalty to Him? Probably not. Somehow, I think we culturally think that when we pray we turn on some kind of obligation switch with God: Oh, he’s praying now, I guess I’m obligated now to do something on his behalf because he’s praying; who cares that he ignores Me the rest of the time? Prayer is serious business and prayer is not to be taken lightly or casually; prayer is to be taken causally; we’re to pray with a specific intent in mind. And prayer is to be a habit of the heart; a routine, customary part of who we are and how we live.

I confess it, I’m usually a prayer-bomb kind of guy. I’m not a conversational pray-er. That needs to change – there is too much at stake and too much going on around us that demands I pray. But I have to make that obedient choice – I cannot and must not be guilted into action. On the other hand, if I know the meaning and the value of prayer, is it all that bad that I feel badly for not using prayer for what it is and what it does? When I read a prayer like Paul’s do I not feel some guilt for not taking up the torch and running the race as he did, or as the Lord did? After all, didn’t Paul pray: “…so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord…”?

Prayer is, and always ought to be, an indicator of how I’m walking, and with (and for) whom. My lack of prayer (or my tact of prayer) ought to be an indicator of where my heart and my treasure really are… anything less is a masquerade.