Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. – Colossians 4:2

Today's Scripture Reading (June 2, 2024):  Colossians 4

One of the comments I often get is that Christianity is more than just prayer; Christianity is about action. I know what you are trying to tell me, but I respectfully disagree. Christianity is all action; it is entirely about who we are and what we do, but the action begins with prayer. Prayer is an action.

Part of the problem is that we have a very childish idea of prayer. A story is about a child saying his nighttime prayers with his mom. The child gets down on his knees and then starts to pray his "God Blesses;" God bless mom, God bless dad, and God bless my sister and that guy down the street who always yells at me (the kid was brought up right and knew that he should even pray for his enemies.) And then, as he gets close to the end of his prayer, his voice gets louder. The young boy starts to shout at God, "And God, remember that red bicycle that I want for Christmas." His mother stops his prayer at this point. "Honey, you don't have to shout. God is not deaf." And the child's response is, "I know that, but Grandma's going deaf." At this point in the prayer, the boy has shifted from talking to God to sending a message to his Grandma.

Sometimes, I wonder if our prayers are not really prayers but have morphed into announcements we make to the flesh and blood listeners gathered around us. I am not talking to God but to everyone listening to me. For most of my life as a pastor, I have struggled with the idea of a prayer chain. It is not that I don't believe in prayer. I do. But too often, Prayer Chains become gossip chains. We must pray for Sandy; she is hitting the bottle again. We need to pray for Stuart. He needs a job, but he is so lazy. Pray that God gives him the kick in the behind he needs. Come on, I know you have heard those prayers.

The word that we have translated here as "devote," or that the King James translates as "continue," really carries the meaning of "persevering in prayer" or "praying continually." It is the same word that Paul uses in Romans 12:12, which we have translated as faithful. "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer" (Romans 12:12).

Matthew and Luke both write about Jesus teaching his disciples to pray. But Luke adds a bit of a different context. Here is the Lord's prayer, as recorded in Luke.

"'Father,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins,
    for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.
And lead us not into temptation'" (Luke 11:2-4).

But in Luke, Jesus then launches himself into a story. Suppose you have a friend and go to him at midnight and say to him. "A friend of mine just showed up. He is on a journey, and he is hungry and I have nothing to give him to eat. Could you give me three loaves of bread so that I can make him a meal?"

But your friend says, "Go away. My door is already locked, and the children are asleep. I can't give to you what it is that you want." Yet, because of your shameless audacity and not because of your friendship, he will get up and give you what you want. The lesson from Jesus seems to be that we are to be persistent in our prayers because God wants to respond if we will only ask.

Jesus finishes the parable with these words.

So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him (Luke 11:9-13)?

The mission is prayer. Not prayer as gossip or an announcement, but communicating with God and telling him what we need and how we feel. Prayer should be about sharing with the Creator of the Universe all the good and the bad about us. Prayer is standing in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve, naked before God yet feeling no shame. Prayer is the most action we will ever commit ourselves to because it is communication with the only one who can make the impossible happen. Few of us ever get there. We are too intent on seeing prayer as gossip or announcement. But here is the truth. If you want to use prayer as gossip, there is no problem, but God is not listening. God stands in all of his glory against gossip, so there is no way he will listen to communication that focuses on making ourselves more and someone else less. In fact, his son went the opposite way. He went from his throne in heaven and became nothing for our sake. We can use prayer as an announcement, but God isn't paying attention to that either.

But if you really intend to communicate with God, then he listens and hears and moves. The movement might not be exactly what you expected or wanted, but God is on the move because of our prayers. If your friend gives you bread because of your shameless audacity, can you imagine what the Creator of the Universe will do just because he hears you when you dare to talk to him?

Prayer does not support the mission. Prayer is the mission—something that Paul knew, and we need to remember.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Philemon 1