The apostle then gives some special concluding exhortations: "Continue steadfastly in prayer, watching therein with thanksgiving."

I. THE DUTY OF PERSEVERANCE IN PRAYER.

1. This does not imply that we are to devote all our time to prayer; for it would be inconsistent

(1) with other duties;

(2) with man's mental and moral nature;

(3) with the design of prayer itself.

2. It implies that we are to be often engaged in prayer.

(1) There is nothing more sanctifying and refreshing and strengthening to the soul.

(2) Continuance in prayer brings larger blessings from on high.

(3) The Scripture contains many examples of continuance in prayer (David, Daniel, Paul, our Lord himself).

(4) The delay in the answers to prayer ought to lead us to persevere therein, because

(a) it may lead to a deeper sense of want;

(b) our faith and patience need to be tiled;

(c) the time for the answers may not have come.

II. THE DUTY OF WATCHFULNESS IS PRAYER.

1. We must be watchful as to the spirit of prayer, not indolent and remiss.

2. We must watch for arguments in prayer.

3. We must watch or suitable praying seasons.

4. We must watch against watchlessness.

5. We must watch for the answers to prayer.

6. Remember Christ's example as he watched in prayer. (Matthew 14:23, 25.)

III. THE DUTY OF JOINING THANKSGIVING WITH OUR SUPPLICATIONS AND OUR WATCHING,

1. We must always in prayer give thanks for mercies received. (Philippians 4:6; 1 Thessalonians 5:16, 17.)

2. We must thank him in praises.

3. God answers according to our gratitude for mercies received. - T.C.

I. CONTINUE. Let not your intercessions be as the morning cloud. How prevalent we are in adversity; but what about prosperity?

1. The duty on the part of(1) convinced sinners. Pray on till the blessing comes.(2) Saints — not only for temporal blessings, but for more faith, holiness, usefulness. The more we pray the riper will be our graces.(3) Churches. Pentecost, as every great revival, was preceded by persevering prayer.

2. This duty need not interfere with others — our business, e.g. Prayer to the neglect of business was sternly condemned by Paul in the case of the Thessalonians. You may not always be in the exercise, but you may always be in the spirit of prayer. If not always shooting your arrows up to heaven, keep your bow well stringed.

3. Reasons for this duty.(1) God will answer. "Ask, and ye shall receive" — not always at once, but in God's time; pray till that comes.(2) The world will be blessed. Continue, then, to pray till Christ become the universal King.(3) Souls shall be saved.(4) Satan's castle shall be destroyed — not with one blow of the battering-ram, however. But batter away till it falls.

II. WATCH.

1. For you will be drowsy if you watch not. How many men and Churches are asleep in prayer because they do not watch.

2. For as soon as you begin to pray enemies will commence to attack. No one was ever in earnest without finding that the devil was in earnest too.

3. Watch while you pray for propitious events which may help you in the answer to your prayer. We cannot make the wind blow, but we can spread the sails; and when the Spirit comes we may be ready.

4. Watch for fresh arguments for prayer. Heaven's gate is not to be stormed by one weapon, but by many.

5. Watch for the answers. When you post a letter to your friend you watch for the answer.

III. GIVE THANKS. We should not go to God as mournful beings who plead piteously with a hard master who loves not to give. When you give a penny to a beggar you like to see him smile, and you give at the next application because of previous gratitude. So go to God with a thankful mind.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

With the Scriptures as our guide we cannot question the obligation or value of prayer. The qualities here spoken of are —

I. STEADFASTNESS (RV.) (Acts 1:14; Acts 12:5). The word means earnest adherence and attention, whether to a person or a thing. How weary we grow of prayer! How glad some formal worshippers are when the benediction is pronounced. This is a word against —

1. Neglectors of God's worship.

2. Forgetters of private devotion.

II. WATCHFULNESS (Ephesians 6:18).

1. Against wandering thoughts.

2. Against unbelief.

3. Against dulness and heaviness.

III. THANKFULNESS. St. Paul's idea of this duty may be gathered from the fact that the word he here employs, although rare elsewhere, is found thirty-seven times in his writings, and is often joined to prayer. To be always asking and never thanking cannot be right. Whenever we pray we must utter thanks.

(Family Churchman.)

Anglers, though they have fished many hours and caught nothing, do not therefore break their rod and line, but draw out the hook and look at their bait, which, it may be, was fallen off or not well hung on, and mend it, and then throw it in again. So when thou hast been earnest in thy prayers, and yet received no answer, reflect upon them; consider whether something were not amiss either in thy preparation or thy manner or thy petition. It is possible thou mightest desire stones instead of bread, or forget to deliver thy petition to the only Master of requests, the Lord Jesus, that He might present them to the Father. No wonder, then, thou hast failed. Be diligent to find out the fault, amend it, and then fall to work again with confidence that thou wilt not labour in vain. The archer, if he shoot once, and again, and miss the mark, considereth whether he did not shoot too high or too low, or too much on the right or the left, and then taketh the same arrow again, only reformeth his former error, and winneth the wager.

(G. Swinnock, M. A.)

In the black country of England you who have travelled will have observed fires which never in your recollection have been quenched. I believe there are some which have been kept burning for more than fifty years, both night and day, every day in the year. They are never allowed to go out, because we are informed that the manufacturers would find it amazingly expensive again to get the furnace to its needed red heat. Indeed, the blast furnace, I suppose, would all but ruin the proprietor if it were allowed to go out once every week; he would probably never get it up to its right heat until the time came for letting the fire out again. Now, as with these tremendous furnaces which must burn every day, or else they will be useless, they must be kept burning, or else it will be hard to get them up to the proper heat, so ought it to be in all the Churches of God; they should be as flaming fires both night and day; chaldron after chaldron of the coal of earnestness should be put to the furnace; all the fuel of earnestness which can be gathered from the hearts of men should be east upon the burning pile. The heavens should be always red with the glorious illumination, and then, then might you expect to see the Church prospering in her Divine business, and hard hearts melted before the fire of the Spirit.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

There should run through all our lives the music of continual prayer, heard beneath all our varying occupations like some prolonged deep bass note, that bears up and gives dignity to the lighter melody that rises and falls and changes above it, like the spray on the crest of a great wave. Our lives will then be noble, and grave, and woven into a harmonious unity, when they are based upon continual communion with, continual desire after, and continual submission to, God. If they are not, they will be worth nothing, and will come to nothing.

(A. Maclaren, D. D.)

Some time ago, on the coast of the Isle of Wight, a woman thought she heard, in the midst of the howling tempest, the voice of a man. She listened; it was repeated; she strained her ear again, and she caught, amid the crack of the blast and the thundering of the winds, another cry for help. She ran at once to the beachmen, who launched their boat, and some three poor mariners who were clinging to the mast were saved. Had that cry been but once, and not again, either she might have doubted as to whether she had heard it at all, or else she would have drawn the melancholy conclusion that they had been swept into the watery waste, and that help would have come too late. So when a man prays but once, either we may think that he cries not at all, or else that his desires are swallowed up in the wild waste of his sins, and he himself is sucked down into the vortex of destruction.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

Watch thereunto; as a sentinel suspecting the approach of an enemy; as a watchman guarding the city during the darkness of the night; as a physician attending all the symptoms of a disease; as the keeper of a prison watching an insidious and treacherous criminal. Our hearts need all this care; spiritual enemies are near; the darkness of the soul exposes it to danger; the disease of sin requires a watchful treatment; and the unparalleled deceitfulness of the affections can never safely be trusted for a moment. No; we must watch before prayer in order to dismiss the world from our thoughts, to gather up our minds in God, and to implore the Holy Spirit's help. We must watch during prayer; to guard against distraction, against the incursions of evil thoughts, against wanderings of mind, and decay of fervour in our supplications. We must watch after prayer, in order that we may act consistently with what we have been imploring of Almighty God, wait His time for answering us, and not lose the visitations of grace; for with God are the moments of life, of mercy, of enlargement, and of gracious consolation.

(Bishop D. Wilson.)

In riding along the south coast of England you may have noticed the old Martello towers in constant succession very near to each other. They are the result of an old scheme of protecting our coast from our ancient enemies. It was supposed that as soon as ever a French ship was seen in the distance the beacon would be fired at the Martello tower, and then, across old England, wherever her sons dwelt, there would flash the fiery signal news that the enemy was at hand, and every man would seize the weapon that was next to him to dash the invader from the shore. Now, we need that the Church of Christ should be guarded with Martello towers of sacred watchers, who shall day and night look out for the attack of the enemy. For the enemy will come; if he come not when we are prayerless, he will surely come when we are prayerful. He will show the cloven hoof as soon as ever we show the bended knee. If our motto be "Prayer," his watchword will be "Fierce attack." Watch, then, while ye continue in prayer.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

Every prayer should be blended with gratitude, without the perfume of which, the incense of devotion lacks one element of fragrance. The sense of need, or the consciousness of sin, may evoke "strong crying and tears," but the completest prayer rises confident from a grateful heart, which weaves memory into hope, and asks much because it has received much. A true recognition of the lovingkindness of the past has much to do with making our communion sweet, our desires believing, our submission cheerful. Thankfulness is the feather that wings the arrow of prayer — the height from which our souls rise most easily to the sky.

(A. Maclaren, D. D.)

I have heard that in New England, after the Puritans had settled there a long while, they used to have very often a day of humiliation, fasting, and prayer, till they had so many days of fasting, humiliation, and prayer, that at last a good senator proposed that they should change it for once, and have a day of thanksgiving. It is of little use to be always fasting; we ought sometimes to give thanks for mercies received.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

Archippus, Aristarchus, Barnabas, Christians, Colossians, Demas, Epaphras, Justus, Luke, Marcus, Mark, Onesimus, Paul, TychicusColossae, Hierapolis, LaodiceaAlert, Attitude, Continue, Devote, Earnest, Giving, Keeping, Persevere, Praise, Prayer, Steadfastly, Stedfastly, Thankful, Thanks, Thanksgiving, Therein, Unwearied, Watch, Watchful, Watching, Yourselves1. He exhorts them to be fervent in prayer;
5. to walk wisely toward those who are not yet come to the true knowledge of Christ.
10. He salutes them, and wishes them all prosperity.

Colossians 4:2

     5763   attitudes, positive to God
     5840   eagerness
     8349   spiritual growth, means of
     8352   thankfulness
     8609   prayer, as praise and thanksgiving
     8618   prayerfulness

Colossians 4:2-3

     8493   watchfulness, believers

Colossians 4:2-4

     7028   church, life of
     8252   faithfulness, relationships
     8619   prayer, in church

Without and Within
'Them that are without.'--COL. iv. 5. That is, of course, an expression for the non-Christian world; the outsiders who are beyond the pale of the Church. There was a very broad line of distinction between it and the surrounding world in the early Christian days, and the handful of Christians in a heathen country felt a great gulf between them and the society in which they lived. That distinction varies in form, and varies somewhat in apparent magnitude according as Christianity has been rooted in …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

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WHAT TO PRAY.--For the Holy Spirit with the Word of God "Our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance."--1 THESS. i. 5. "Those who preached unto you the gospel with the Holy Ghost sent forth from heaven."--1 PET. i. 12. What numbers of Bibles are being circulated. What numbers of sermons on the Bible are being preached. What numbers of Bibles are being read in home and school. How little blessing when it comes "in word" only; what …
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Marcus, My Son
'... So doth Marcus, my son.'--1 Peter v. 13. The outlines of Mark's life, so far as recorded in Scripture, are familiar. He was the son of Mary, a woman of some wealth and position, as is implied by the fact that her house was large enough to accommodate the 'many' who were gathered together to pray for Peter's release. He was a relative, probably a cousin (Col. iv. 10, Revised Version), of Barnabas, and possibly, like him, a native of Cyprus. The designation of him by Peter as 'my son' naturally …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture Ephesians, Peter,John

The Name Above Every Name
'Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.'--ACTS ii. 36. It is no part of my purpose at this time to consider the special circumstances under which these words were spoken, nor even to enter upon an exposition of their whole scope. I select them for one reason, the occurrence in them of the three names by which we designate our Saviour--Jesus, Lord, Christ. To us they are very little more than three proper …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: The Acts

Conflict and Comfort.
"For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh; that their hearts may be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ."--COL. ii. 1, 2. Although he was in prison the Apostle was constantly at work for his Master, and not least of all at the work of prayer. If ever the words …
W. H. Griffith Thomas—The Prayers of St. Paul

Prayer and Fervency
"St. Teresa rose off her deathbed to finish her work. She inspected, with all her quickness of eye and love of order the whole of the house in which she had been carried to die. She saw everything put into its proper place, and every one answering to their proper order, after which she attended the divine offices of the day. She then went back to her bed, summoned her daughters around her . . . and, with the most penitential of David's penitential prayers upon her tongue, Teresa of Jesus went forth …
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Andrew Murray—The Ministry of Intercession

Author's Introduction,
In Which the Sources of This History Are Principally Treated A history of the "Origin of Christianity" ought to embrace all the obscure, and, if one might so speak, subterranean periods which extend from the first beginnings of this religion up to the moment when its existence became a public fact, notorious and evident to the eyes of all. Such a history would consist of four books. The first, which I now present to the public, treats of the particular fact which has served as the starting-point …
Ernest Renan—The Life of Jesus

We Shall not be Curious in the Ranking of the Duties in which Christian Love...
We shall not be curious in the ranking of the duties in which Christian love should exercise itself. All the commandments of the second table are but branches of it: they might be reduced all to the works of righteousness and of mercy. But truly these are interwoven through other. Though mercy uses to be restricted to the showing of compassion upon men in misery, yet there is a righteousness in that mercy, and there is mercy in the most part of the acts of righteousness, as in not judging rashly, …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

From John Yeardley's Conversion to the Commencement of his Public Ministry.
1803--1815. John Yeardley was born on the 3rd of the First Month, 1786, at a small farm-house beside Orgreave Hall, in the valley of the Rother, four miles south of Rotherham. His parents, Joel and Frances Yeardley, farmed some land, chiefly pasture, and his mother is said to have been famous for her cream-cheeses, which she carried herself to Sheffield market. She was a pious and industrious woman; but, through the misconduct of her husband, was sometimes reduced to such straits as scarcely to have …
John Yeardley—Memoir and Diary of John Yeardley, Minister of the Gospel

"And Watch unto Prayer. "
1 Pet. iv. 7.--"And watch unto prayer." "Watch." A Christian should watch. A Christian is a watchman by office. This duty of watchfulness is frequently commanded and commended in scripture, Matt. xxiv. 42, Mark xiii. 33, 1 Cor. xvi. 13, Eph. vi. 18, 1 Pet. v. 8, Col. iv. 2; Luke xii. 37. David did wait as they that did watch for the morning light. The ministers of the gospel are styled watchmen in scripture and every Christian should be to himself as a minister is to his flock, he should watch over …
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1 There is a bill of indictment against those who declare to the world they are not the children of God: all profane persons. These have damnation written upon their forehead. Scoffers at religion. It were blasphemy to call these the children of God. Will a true child jeer at his Father's picture? Drunkards, who drown reason and stupefy conscience. These declare their sin as Sodom. They are children indeed, but cursed children' (2 Peter 2:14). 2 Exhortation, which consists of two branches. (i) Let …
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12

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"Pray without ceasing."--1 Thess. v. 17. There are two modes of praying mentioned in Scripture; the one is prayer at set times and places, and in set forms; the other is what the text speaks of,--continual or habitual prayer. The former of these is what is commonly called prayer, whether it be public or private. The other kind of praying may also be called holding communion with God, or living in God's sight, and this may be done all through the day, wherever we are, and is commanded us as the …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VII

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Almighty God will have himself worshipped, not only in a private manner by private persons and families, but also in a more public sort, of all the godly joined together in a visible church; that by this means he may be known not only to be the God and Lord of every Singular person, but also of the creatures of the whole universal world. Question--But why do not we Christians under the New, keep the Sabbath on the same seventh day on which it was kept under the Old Testament? I answer--Because our …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

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[Illustration: (drop cap B) Early Christian Lamp] But how did the story of the Saviour's life on earth come to be written? We have seen that many years passed before any one thought of writing it down at all. The men and women who had really seen Him, who had listened to His voice, looked into His face, and who knew that He had conquered death and sin for evermore, could not sit down to write, for their hearts were all on fire to speak. But as the years passed, the number of those who had seen Christ …
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We come now to the words themselves, wherein Christ asserts that he is, 1, "the way;" 2, "the truth;" 3, "the life;" and, 4, "that no man cometh to the Father but by him." In them we learn these two things in general. First, The misery of wretched man by nature. This cannot be in a few words expressed. These words will point out those particulars thereof, which we will but mention. 1. That he is born an enemy to, and living at a distance from God, by virtue of the curse of the broken covenant of …
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Gen. xxxi. 11
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Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

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Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

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"To Him shall prayer unceasing And daily vows ascend; His Kingdom still increasing, A Kingdom without end." We have seen that our Lord described in His Parables the general character and nature of "The Kingdom of Heaven." Consequently, if the Church established by the Apostles under the guidance of the Holy Ghost is "The Kingdom of Heaven," it will necessarily be found to agree with the description thus given. Let us therefore now consider how far the history of the Church, in the Acts of the Apostles …
Edward Burbidge—The Kingdom of Heaven; What is it?

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