Because he bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath. Psalm 116:2

"Open for Me the Gates"

    Have you ever felt helpless, like your hands were tied in a situation? Have you ever said, with a tone of resignation in your voice, "Well, I guess all I can do now is pray," as if prayer were a passive, last-resort thing to do?  I have!

    The old Shaker maxim, "Hands to work, hearts to God," has its place. Our hands should be busy helping others, but sometimes, when there's nothing for our hands to do in a situation, we feel frustrated because it seems as if there's nothing we can do. "Faith without works is dead," writes James, and we take that to mean only physical works, the works of our hands. But what about prayer?

    The Psalmist saw prayer as an active work. Just look the action verbs in the following verses:  open, enter, will go, thank.

Open for me the gates where the righteous enter, and I will go in and thank the Lord.  These gates lead to the presence of the Lord and the godly enter there.  I thank you for answering my prayer and giving me victory (Psalm 118: 19 - 21 NLT).

In these verses, the Psalmist gives us the following model for prayer:

1. Ask for the gates to be opened.

2. Go in!

3. Thank the Lord.

4. As you're praying, thank the Lord for answering your prayer and giving you victory.

Centuries after this psalm was penned, the Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Colosse, So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you (Colossians 1:9a).

What exactly were Paul and Timothy praying?

We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding.  Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit.   All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.  We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need.  May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father. . . (Colossians 1:9b - 12a).  

    Because they wanted the believers at Colosse to grow and "learn to know God better and better," Paul and Timothy prayed for God to give the people spiritual wisdom and understanding so they would 1) honor and please the Lord, and 2) produce good fruit. We want this for our loved ones and for ourselves, yes?

    Paul and Timothy also prayed for the people to be strengthened with God's glorious power because only through God's power would would they have the endurance and patience they needed. So, I'm going to ask a silly question. Do we and our loved ones still need patience and endurance in today's world? Um, yeah.

    Lastly, Paul and Timothy prayed that the Colossians would be filled with joy, and would always thank the Father. Yes! This. I want joy and a thankful heart, and I want them for my family and friends, too.  

    What if we took action by asking God to open the gates? What if we went in? What if, once we were in the Lord's presence in prayer, we began by thanking Him for hearing us? What if we, on a regular basis, prayed Colossians 1: 9-12 for each other?  What if, as we were praying, we thanked the Lord for answering our prayer and giving us victory? What would happen? Would things change? Would we change?

Daye Phillippo

June 2016