“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” Colossians 4:2-6
Lord Jesus, Teach me to pray. Compel me to pray. You have given me so many astounding promises about prayer. I confess that I don’t use it often enough. I too often depend on my effort, on my working, on my timing, on my wisdom. I confess that I often depend more on myself than I do on you. Forgive me for that and all the other sins I confess to you today. Help me, I pray, see what a great power and promise lay within prayer. Compel and constrain me by these promises to devote myself to prayer. Teach me to pray watchfully that I might stay in the faith and guard it for others. Teach me to pray evangelistically, to pray for the gospel’s working in my life and through missionaries around the world. Teach me to pray with a thankful heart and to pour out my praise to you. You have been so gracious to me in more ways than I can number. Teach me to pray with a thankful heart. Lord Jesus, compel and teach me to pray just like you taught your disciples. Amen.
“You cannot find a Christian who does not pray; just as you cannot find a living man without a pulse that never stands still, but beats and beats on continually of itself, although the man may sleep or do anything else, so being all unconscious of this pulse.” Martin Luther