The apostle Paul wrote the book of Colossians, probably in the early 60s A.D. (and the book’s truth still endures today! God is so smart….).

Paul was writing to the people of Colossae. They were in need of Godly encouragement after false teachings had infiltrated their church. Paul sent this letter to remind the Colossians of the superiority of Jesus over everything else. And because God is superior over everything else, he deserves to hear from us in prayer.

Let's re-read verse 2: “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.”

So often I find myself going through my days without speaking to or listening to God. I just “forget”, and allow my mind to become so busy that I tell myself I do not have time to spend praying.

The scriptures tell us to continue – 1) steadfastly in prayer.

Steadfastly = pursuing diligently/with perseverance/not giving up!

Why be steadfast? Why not say one prayer that will "cover" you for the whole week? Or whole year?

Dr. Lon reminded us this Sunday that constant prayer moves the hand of God. God listens to us and loves us, and He wants to bless His children. Our prayers may not always be answered the way we want them to be, but God listens and MOVES when His children pray to Him.

Steadfast prayer is also what we need. In order to develop a relationship with our Heavenly Father, we need to talk to Him! Would you talk to your best friend in January, ignore them until August, and expect to be in the same place with your relationship? Of course not! In order to gain an understanding of who God is, we need to speak to Him as OFTEN as we can!

Colossians also tells us to be – 2) watchful in prayer.

Do you write down your prayers? Do you keep a journal? What about a list of what you are praying for?

I tell you, it is an amazing thing to look back on your prayer notes and see what God has done since they were first prayed. Being watchful means to be aware of God’s moving. It means to follow up on the prayer requests of friends and relatives and see what has happened in their lives. As you continue steadfastly in your prayer life, watch for God’s responses. All too often we forget to follow through and praise God for what he does!

Which brings me to the last point Paul makes here about prayer – 3) giving thanks.

I am so good at giving God a laundry list of my problems and needs. So good at it that I frequently forget to give Him praise for who He is. Just being our Creator means that he deserves our endless praise and thanksgiving! Our selfishness leads us to pray for our desires only – which God will listen to with joy – yet, he deserves so much more than our complaints and quibbles. He is the Almighty, and we need to remember to PRAISE HIM for BEING OUR SAVIOR!

So, I challenge you today to be steadfastly devoted to watchful prayers, and never forget to give thanks.
 
I love Christian music, and I leave you today with one of my favorite worship songs that lead me to break out into prayers of thanksgiving! Listen and be blessed today.

I watched A Beautiful Mind for the first time this past weekend. The screen went black, the credits rolled, and my jaw stayed dropped to the floor for a solid moment as I absorbed the complexity of the film. Most striking of all, though, was the spiritual metaphor that transpired out of the protagonist's struggle with schizophrenia. 

It parallels our struggle with sin.

(Spoiler alert!) The story follows John Nash, an incredible genius of a man who, during grad school, develops severe schizophrenia. We, the viewers, figure this out halfway through the film. And we mourn for John. We mourn for his wife. We mourn for their darling child--as John attempts to battle the mental disease. He spends time in the mental ward getting shock therapy, and he takes medication that saps away his life.

John and his wife eventually rethink the therapy and medication. She encourages him that he must look within the heart – the will – to get past his deep struggle.If he sets his mind – his strongest asset – to realizing who is real and who is imagined, then maybe – just maybe – John can begin living again in reality.

At the end of the film, we see John as a seventy-some year old man, teaching college  courses and accepting the Nobel Peace Prize.

We also see his imagined friends lingering ominously in the background. So does he,
even still.

When asked if he continually saw imaginary people, John replies: "I still see things that are not here. I just choose not to acknowledge them. Like a diet of the mind, I just choose not to indulge certain appetites; like my appetite for patterns; perhaps my appetite to imagine and to dream."

Just as John set his mind to ignoring his "friends", so we set our minds against the power of sin over our lives. 

Like John, we all struggle with our respective sins--the very habits, thought patterns, and words that we cannot seem to kick to the curb.

So frustrating, isn't it? What is with this ever-present tension? We are a new creation in Christ Jesus, and yet our sins linger and tempt us and threaten us.

The fact of the matter is that our sin is like John's imaginary friends: hanging out, waiting to be acknowledged and acted upon in a moment of weakness. This is the tension: That although we are a new creation, freed from the power of sin, we still live imperfect lives in a fallen world.

Paul writes of this ever-present struggle with our sin nature (Romans 7):

"21 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love God’s law with all my heart. 23 But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?"

This is why such tension exists between what we want to do, and what we know God wants us to do! Our sin lingers on the sidelines, hoping we will grant it attention and give it some semblance of reign in our lives.

If you feel this tension in your day to day, you are not alone!

Even Paul was with you in this battle against the flesh ("What a miserable person I am!"). And every one of your brothers and sisters experiences the battle, too.

Why does this tension exist?

If we are a new creation in Christ Jesus, then why do our sins still creep on us and tempt us to act? Think of our heavenly nature this way: It is now, but not yet. When we accept Jesus as the only One who can reconcile us with God through His selfless death, we are gifted all the joys of heavenly inheritance! But, the fact of the matter is that we still live in a fallen world, with imperfect bodies and minds. Our victory--our true identity--is now, but not yet.

Paul has more to say, however, in answer to his question "Who will free me?"

25 Thank God!

The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin."

In Jesus Christ and His power to overcome death, you have been gifted complete victory over your sin nature!

Although still present in this life, sin is not the end. It holds no triumph over you!

So then, what should we say to our sin, according to the Bible? How do we stand against the threat of sin, looming in the background of our days? Jump on over to The Identity Project  to read about what Paul says is the truth about our sin...