Praying, Watchful and Thankful

 I keep staring at the verse,

"Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful" (Colossians 4:2 NIV)

What does it mean?  Watchful of what?  Thankful for what?

One needs to read with some context, of course, so reading Colossians 4:2-6 gives a better idea where to direct our attention, consideration and action.

The apostle Paul, the author of those words asked for prayer concerning his one great passion and pursuit since he'd had his dramatic Damascus Road conversion.  He wanted more open doors and opportunities to proclaim the message of Jesus and the mystery of Christ.

Sounds like he was free to come and go at the time but he was 'in chains' when he wrote the letter to the Colossians.  Those of us who are free should be in prayer, alert and watchful to grab those opportunities too.  They're likely more abundant than we think.  Paul's chances were limited but he still wanted to be alert to grabbing them when they came his way.  We can then be thankful for them as he was in his time.

Prayer was also requested for clear proclamation of the gospel and for wisdom in his actions toward outsiders.  These are very key elements for ourselves to pray for too.  We need to have good testimonies that show Jesus is precious to us and that we fear God.  In this we would give evidence that we mean what we say and our walk equals our talk.

This is part of being watchful.  We are to "devote" ourselves to it.  

In the end, we can give praise to the one who died for us and those with whom we have opportunity to share the invitation to salvation through Jesus Christ.  For this, we can also be devotely thankful.

Does this answer some of those questions?

                                                   ~ERC  March 2023~

Based on Colossians 4:2-6, especially verse 2) NIV Youversion [phone].

Verse image from YouVersion's verse-a-day.

Sing, Be Watchful and Ready, along with YES-LA, JRAY.