Insights

Reverend Dr. William H. Curtis

We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need.

Colossians 1:11 NLT

Paul wrote this letter to the Colossians as an answer to their questions about Christ’s divinity. And his answer was that he was going to pray. Paul’s response was not a weak one. It was the best response to the threats and challenges that the church in Colossae was facing.

Often, when people around us say that they will pray for us, they mean that they will think about us for a few minutes and then go on with their lives. This well-wishing style of prayer has soured our attitudes towards prayer. Even in the case of the Colossian Church, we may think that Paul could have done a lot more.

But Paul understood the power of prayer. He believed that prayer was the only response to the circumstances before him, and prayer is still strong enough to respond to the circumstances that life brings our way.

One of the problems that we have, as modern Christians, is that we don’t understand prayer. For many of us, prayer is a wish-granting service run by God. When we don’t see our wish granted, we begin to look for a word from a prophet or we become angry with God. But are we also ignoring the basics of prayer? Prayer is not a weak response to a threat. Prayer is an active practice of being present with the Lord. It reveals that we believe that Jesus sits at the center of our universe. It affirms that He is an active participant in our daily journey. He walks with us, talks with us, and tells us what we ought to know.

Prayer is a faith building act. It isn’t about getting what we want from God or paying lip-service to the hurting people in our lives. Prayer puts us face to face with God and asks us to examine ourselves. In the humbling presence of God, we can find strength in His glorious power and gain all the endurance and patience that we need.