Paul's Prayer in Prison

Colossians 4: 2-6 “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”

The other week in Church, the pastor shared this verse during his sermon and discussed the importance of prayer in all circumstances, especially when it comes to witnessing. Prayer is powerful. However; the thing that really caught my attention was the fact that Paul wrote this while in prison, yet he doesn’t pray that his circumstances might change... although I’m sure he would have loved to get out...

Paul’s prayer is that he might be able to share the gospel message with those around him, that he would be able to do it clearly and successfully. Here he is in, in prison, and he prays that God will help him to be a witness there and change lives! He prays that God will use the circumstances he is already in to bring glory to God rather than praying that God will change his circumstances... I thought, if I was in prison as Paul was – my first prayer would be somewhat of a desperate cry for help in order to GET OUT of prison so that I could more easily do what God wanted me to do in the first place... give or take, it would probably be something like that.

I admire the fact that Paul is still focused on his task, no matter his circumstances. He prays that God will USE him IN the circumstances he’s in. He’s focused on God and what he can do for God no matter what, no matter where, no matter how... because God is not limited! God can do ANYTHING, ANYTIME, ANYWHERE... why do we feel at times that our circumstances can put a hold on God using us? For example, I’ve heard people say things like ‘as long as I’m living here, I can’t do great things for God’, ‘Once I have more money I will be able to do more for God’ and even ‘God can’t use me until I have it all together, I’m too big of a mess’. Why do we think that our circumstances can limit God? No matter what, God will use you if you’re willing... no matter when, no matter where and no matter how. Of course we have to work at it too, but I guess the point I’m trying to make is we can’t put limits on God... it’s almost as if we make excuses for being ‘lazy’ in acting out our faith.

It’s hard to think that no matter what circumstances we’re in, we’ll do our absolute best to be a witness for God, we desire for Him to use us all the time, no matter what! If things are terribly hard in our lives, if we feel completely broken/empty/hurt/confused/angry... or even if it’s just the opposite, God should be first! Should our desire to serve God change due to the situations we’re in? Is it okay to think ‘Okay! I’ll serve God now because it’s easy and I’m able!’, or should we be thinking more along the lines of ‘I’m going to serve God now, even when it is most difficult.’ I guess it all goes back to whether or not we’re making it ALL about God. It NEED’S to be ALL ABOUT HIM.