Colossians 4:2-4 NLT
[2] “Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart.”

Paul was a great one for praying and urging others to pray. After all, isn’t prayer the hallmark of the believer? Apparently, the Holy Spirit said it is.

When Saul, later called Paul, was brought to his knees before Jesus, the one he was trying to destroy, Ananias was skeptical about Saul’s so-called conversion. How could this vicious persecitor of the church suddenly become one of them? Jesus assured him that Saul was changed.

Acts 9:11 NIV
[11] “The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for HE IS PRAYING”.

He is praying! Now that was something Saul had never done before!

What was Saul doing in his pre-conversion days? Obviously, despite his religious fervor, he wasn’t praying. He was mouthing words of Scripture, psalms, and “mantras” relating to his religion. None of that was prayer!

So, what is prayer, this new activity that identified Saul/Paul as a new man?

Real prayer must have the correct foundation, which is only for those who are “in Christ”.

1 Corinthians 3:11 NIV
[11] “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.”

The foundation of all true prayer is the Father-child relationship, a two-way connection between God and His new-born son or daughter which Jesus restored through His death. We speak…God listens. He speaks…we listen.

This means that “prayer” outside of the Father-child relationship is not prayer. It’s an empty, meaningless exercise that achieves nothing. Unless prayer is the expression of the love-relationship between the Father and His beloved child, whatever it is, it isn’t prayer.

Matthew 6:9 NLT
[9] “Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.”

The next important part of prayer is constant communication between heaven and earth, like soldiers staying in touch with headquarters for detailed directions for life. You see, when we bowed the knee before Jesus as Lord, we gave up our independence for a union with Christ so intimate that He took up residence in us, called “Christ in you, the hope of glory”. In this new status, sons of God, we are going somewhere. “Glory” is the word that encapsulates our destination.

Hebrews 2:10 NIV
[10] “In bringing many sons and daughters to glory…”

“Glory” is everything that God…Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…is in His nature and attributes. After Israel’s dismal failure, Moses requested to see God’s glory to which God responded with a revelation of His nature.

Exodus 33:18-20 NIV
[18] “Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.” [19] And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. [20] But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”

Exodus 34:6-7 NIV
[6] “And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, [7] maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”

In our fallen human state, it is impossible for us to live up to God’s nature (glory)…

Romans 3:23 NIV
[23]…”for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

…but, through Jesus, the Father has made a new life possible. He has given us His nature, the potential to become like Him. So, on our journey through life, God is working in us, gradually transforming us into the likeness of His Son. Our part is to stay in touch, to receive and obey instructions as we are led by the Holy Spirit.

Romans 8:14 NIV
[14] “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.”

Another amazing facet of real prayer is partnership with God in His work of establishing His kingdom on earth. Just as the Father is going somewhere with each of us, so is He also going somewhere with all of creation, but not without us. He includes us in His way of spreading His message to the world.

Creation, the universe in all it’s magnificent detail, is intimately connected with God’s children. Our transformation and the restoration of creation to its original perfection will happen together.

Romans 8:19-22 NLT
[19] “For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. [20] Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, [21] the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. [22] For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.”

How about that!

Although true prayer has many facets, there are reasons for us to be DEVOTED to prayer Through His marvellous grace, God has brought us into partnership with Him to change us into the likeness of His Son and to fulfill His will on earth and for earth, as we play our part in it. Prayer is the way we participate with Him in this enterprise.

Now, Paul says, we must carry out this mandate with alert minds and thankful hearts.

Why alert minds?

First, we must be alert to the enemy’s schemes.

We have an implacable enemy who prowls around looking for opportunity to deceive and derail us in this specific partnership role. One of his favourite tricks is to distract us with irrelevancies. How easily we allow insignificant things to keep us from prayer! We must be alert at all times to keep us from falling into this trap.

Apart from distractions, many other unimportant things keep us from prayer…busyness, for example, people and situations, even sin, and…and… Our role is to identify and deal appropriately with anything that might interfere with our keeping in touch with heaven.

Second, the other equally important consideration is our state of mind, our attitude to human circumstances, specifically concerning worry and anxiety. We can easily derail prayer if we don’t guard our attitudes. These attitudes of fear, worry, and anxiety are weapons of the enemy and evidences of unbelief. Since faith keeps the line open between us and the Father, fear, doubt, and unbelief will effectively cut us off from contact with Him. Thanksgiving is the language of faith, therefore, thanksgiving will maintain our open line to the Father.

One more point to consider. In 1 Thessalonians 5:17, Paul says we must never stop praying. This can mean either that we must not give up on prayer or that we must pray all the time. How can this be possible?

I used to entertain the false notion that my daily “quiet time”, as I was taught as a young believer, took care of my “praying” for the day. As long as I had “spent time with the Lord”, I was safe and could go my merry way for that day! Woe betide if I missed my “quiet time”. Everything would go wrong on that day!

That’s certainly not what Paul meant. I think we have, in Jesus, the perfect example of “praying without ceasing.” Jesus lived a life of prayer, not on His knees but in His heart. He was never out of touch with the Father. “His Father’s business” was the centre of His life, and His perspective of everything that happened around and to Him.

What if we learned to see God in everything that unfolds around us? We don’t need to send WhatsApp messages to the Father. All we need to do is to cultivate such an awareness of “Christ in us” that we instinctively consult Him in our everyday activities. Then we won’t need to “pray” as we understand prayer. Our lives will become, like Jesus, prayer. In this way, we will remain in Him as the branch remains in the vine.