Preaching Through Colossians
“Abundant Christian Living”
TOPIC:“Helpful Advice for Holy Living”
by Rev. Dr. Reg Dunlap
TEXT:Colossians 4:2-6
“Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving. Praying also
for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery
of Christ, for which I am also in bonds” (4:2, 3).
Before closing this fascinating letter the Apostle Paul has a few more important matters to discuss with the believers at Colossae. Having already written about the preeminence of Christ in chapter 1, the problem of the Colossian heresy in chapter 2, and the portrait of normal Christian living in chapter 3, Paul now has some personal issues together with some last minute counsel he desires to give to these Colossian Christians.
The practical advice which this first century Apostle gives to these believers touches four areas of life. Let us now consider each one of them.
I.
For one thing, Paul declares that these believers are responsible to PRAY UNCEASINGLY. Listen to his words in verses 2 through 4: “Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving. Praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds; That I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.”
In these verses Paul makes an earnest request for the believers of the Lycus Valley to pray for him and Timothy, that God may present to them an uninterrupted opportunity to preach the word of Christ. It is interesting that Paul does not ask them to pray for his release from prison, but that the gospel might be preached with power There are five aspects to the kind of praying that Paul is urging from these Colossian believers.
The PERSEVERANCE of prayer: “Continue in prayer” (v. 2). The word “continue” means “to persevere,” “to keep up strongly,” or as Weymouth renders it: “Be earnest and unwearied in prayer.” Paul is not writing here of the DURATION of prayer, but of the DISCIPLINE in praying. It is a life of continuous praying. Or as one translator puts it: “Attend to praying diligently.”
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