Colossians 4:2

Either as a wife, husband, child, slave, or master, whatever your life situation, the Christian is meant to be devoted to prayer.

The wife is called to submit to her husband, the husband is called to love his wife, the slave is called to do work with sincerity, and the children are called to obey their parents, but everyone is called to pray—not just as an item in the day but as a mark of personal devotion.

How do we define devotion? I believe devotion is indicative of regularity and time spent. It is objectively not devotion if it is one minute, once a week.

You should be known for praying and spending a lot of time on your knees before the Father. And can we say it is devotion if it is not daily? At least Jesus said we should ask the Father for our daily bread (Matthew 6:11), which I take as a hint for praying in the morning, though it is not presented as a commandment.

But in my personal experience, I don't feel right if I decide to postpone my daily prayer. Again, there is nothing legalistic about it, and life patterns may wax and wane, but to set out to pray in the morning before we are encumbered with any other activity makes the most practical sense in most cases.

We want to build a habit of mind that can be fostered by disciplining your body and mind regularly or praying to the Father. You pattern your habits, then your habits pattern you, is what I think. There is a sense in which if something is not habitual, then we can’t say we are devoted to it.

The commandment is to be devoted to prayer, and Paul tells us something that should not be missing from regular prayer: thanksgiving.

However you do it, give thanks to God. Being ungrateful, Paul said, would signify the perilous end times.

• Thanksgiving is like opening the windows of your soul to let the light of God's presence in.

• Thanksgiving can change your mood and refocus your mind toward faith in God.

When we acknowledge God for what he has done, the journey towards faith in him for what we want him to do becomes shortened. With Thanksgiving, we magnify the Lord; he becomes bigger and bigger, and whatever assails us becomes smaller. We leave the level of the children of Israel, who are always complaining, and because of that, they were judged, and we move to the example of Jesus, who, before the very grave of Lazarus, which men can call impossible, gave thanks to God.

From Thanksgiving, we move to praise, proclaiming who God is. But we don't become so super spiritual that we do not pray for ourselves, bringing our needs before God.

Tell him what's on your mind, treat him as your Father, which he is, call unto him. In Jeremiah 33:3, God said, "Call on me in prayer, and I will answer you. I will show you great and mysterious things that you still do not know about."

We are invited to call upon God. Prayer is our opportunity to initiate interaction with God. Let's go!

God said in Isaiah 45:19 that he has not said to Jacob's descendants, 'Seek me in vain.' That is our signal, our encouragement to draw near to God in prayer. We have the promise that it will be worth our time. Let’s go!

Devotion to prayer is part of how we abide in Christ. He said, “Remain in me, and my words remain (John 15:1-8).”

He said we would dry up if we did not remain in him. In the same passage where he told the disciples to remain in him, he said, “Ask whatever you want, and it will be done for you.”

Ask and don't stop asking. God has called all believers to a life of prayer, and that is all I am saying.

Refuse to be distracted from a life of seeking God in prayer. “Therefore let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace whenever we need help.”

We have been called to draw near the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace to help us in times of need (Hebrews 4:16). So, we have a promise of obtaining mercy and finding grace when we draw near in prayer. So what are you waiting for? Let’s go!

God is everywhere, but there is grace and mercy present as we draw near in the place of prayer.

This is in contrast with the children of Israel, who could not draw near to the very presence of God because of the veil and the law of priesthood, and the blood of the lamp.

However, this is not the case under the New Covenant, where the veil of the flesh of Christ has been torn for everyone who believes in having access to God directly without any intermediary.

Just open your mouth, without any ceremony, any feeling of shame, because of the sacrifice of Jesus, who bore your sin on the cross.