Abiding in the PsalmsSample

Devoted

What comes to your mind when you think of someone who is devoted? I picture an athlete waking up before sunrise every morning to push themselves as hard as they can before repeating the exact same thing day after day. I picture a scientist running the same test thousands and thousands of times with the slightest of changes that they might find a breakthrough. I picture a student so determined to get good marks that day and night they say no to social time or to being online, and instead spending their time in books and practice tests for years. I picture the social-media obsessed taking thousands of photos and spending hours editing to get the perfect picture over and over again. 

We devote ourselves to so many things and it takes hours of effort and thought every day, yet when we ‘devote ourselves’ to prayer it seems to be a couple of minutes of prayer here and there. This passage is calling us to be devoted to prayer like an athlete is devoted to training or a student to studying, not as something we squeeze into our spare time, but as something we build our life around — consistent and intentional.

Questions

1. What does the author of the passage ask that the Colossians would pray for him?

 

2. Do you ever pray this for yourself or anyone else?

 

3. Do you think you are devoted to prayer?

 

4. What would it look like for you to be devoted to prayer? How can you make that happen?

 

Pray

Pray through verse 3 and 4 for yourself and others in your life. Ask that God would reveal to you what He wants your devotion to prayer to look like.