“Continue Earnestly”
By Fiona Harniess
Final instructions communicate priorities. As my eldest finishes school next week pre-exams, there will be ‘further instructions’ – nuggets of wisdom to act on in the weeks ahead. As Paul winds up his letter to the Colossian church, we hear his ‘further instructions’ - things he wants them to prioritise. He’s writing towards the end of his life from Rome, a city he’d longed to visit for years. He’s there at last, but he’s seeing it from inside a prison cell.
“Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving; meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains, that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.”
In Paul we see someone who worked diligently for the gospel, and yet kept his heart in a place of humble dependence on the Lord, knowing that mission is entirely His work. Perhaps it’s rare today to find people who hold these things together well: some of us are so task-focused that we start acting like the harvest depends on our efforts; others of us ‘let go and let God’ to the extent that we miss His call to labour in his harvest fields. As both wholehearted Jesus-lover and longsuffering gospel-labourer, who better than Paul to instruct us on how to pray, and what to pray for in mission?
How to pray?
Continue earnestly. Yes, prayer is delight; it is loving relationship; it is sweet communion. But there is also an aspect of prayer which is heavy lifting. There is a travail; a work of wordless groaning; a contending in the Spirit for souls. Prayer calls at times for grit, determination and resolve. Let’s ask the Lord to strengthen this steadiness in us; to help us ‘build muscle’ in prayer; that we might persevere (like persistent widows), staying faithful to the prayer assignments He has given us. Jesus taught us to ‘always pray and not give up.’
Being vigilant. To be vigilant is to be attentive and responsive. We stay watchful, awake and alert. What are we watching for in prayer? We watch for how the Father is at work. Vigilance means learning to recognise what He is doing, what He is revealing, what He desires in any situation. In tune with this, our prayers are enlivened, and our hearts aligned to His. Just as Jesus asked his close friends to ‘watch and pray’ with him in Gethsemane, so he invites us to ‘watch and pray’ today as we look to his return.
With thanksgiving. Gratitude practices are all the rage in secular psychology. But gratitude needs an object; there is always someone to thank! Knowing the Father, the Giver of all good gifts, let’s make deep, enduring thankfulness the flavour of all our prayers. Is my prayer life always full of thanksgiving? Or is it strained with complaining or discontent? Do we ever pray ‘advisory’ prayers, as if we should instruct the Lord?! Let’s train our hearts to give thanks in all circumstances, so that it keeps overflowing in our living.
What to pray?
For an open door for the gospel. Locked up in prison like Paul, I imagine I’d be asking for open doors – of a different kind! But hear Paul’s heart desire here – he longs for an open door for the gospel, far above his own personal freedom. When it comes to the gospel, God is the door-opener. It’s not human strategy or clever ideas that grow the kingdom; the Spirit moves - hard places open up, the Word runs swiftly and hearts respond. Look closely at any movement to Christ in history and you’ll find a prayer back-story. Mission is birthed and bathed in prayer; it is utterly dependent on the Spirit who opens the doors of nations, and knocks on the doors of hearts, shining the light of the knowledge of the glory of God.
To speak the mystery of Christ …and make it manifest. How often do we struggle to put our experiences of the Lord into words? Ever felt inadequate in explaining the gospel clearly? Found yourself tongue-tied when faced with hard questions? There’s good news here for us! We are proclaiming a mystery! Apologetics and reason have a place, but the magnificence of the Lord and his purposes cannot be captured in mere words! We speak the mystery of Christ, but we depend on the Spirit to give us His words and to make things plain in people’s hearts. Paul asks for prayer for this, and so we too lean into prayer in every endeavour to share Jesus. Prayer and mission are so tightly woven together.
Reflection:
As you reflect on these verses, how is the Lord stirring you to love more wholeheartedly and work more diligently for Him? Are there prayer assignments that the Lord is calling you to take up again and run with, over the long haul? What open doors are you asking for in prayer?