The Pulpit Commentary — Colossians — Section 220

HOMILETICS. Vers. 2-6,:--Sect. 9. PMy~r and s~~i,a,l co!l'verse. I. PRAY~R. (Vers. 2-4.) 1. Prayer must be habitual and persistent. Contmue steadfast m prayer-keepincr a.wake therein" (ver. 2); "Ask, . . . seek, . . . knock" (Matt. vii. 7). It is not an o;casional exercise of the soul, called forth by special emergencies, but the necessity of its daily life. For that life is a fellowship with God in Christ (eh. iii. 1--3; 1 John i. 3; John xiv. 23) maintained on his part by the continual communication of his Spirit (Luke xi. 13 '. Eph. i. 13; ii. 22; Rom. viii. 14-17, 23, 26, 27; 1 Cor. xii. 4-11; 2 Cor. xiii. 14)° a.nd on ours by the constant responsive utterances of praise a.nd prayer. (1) Whereve; two persons are associated in a. mutual life, there must be converse-interchange of thought a.nd feeling and service; so (reverently be it said) it must needs be where the soul is "alive unto God." God a.nd the soul, the a.11-wise, almighty Father a.nd the human child, a.11 want and ignorance, having speech with each other-that is the life of religion. "The soul is a. stupendous want, having its supplies in God" (comp. Phil. iv. 19). Prayer is the expression and the index of the soul's vital appetite. 'rhe necessity of prayer, therefore, must be daily and regular in its recurrence. It will have its "set times" a.nd stated seasons, its chronic demands for satisfaction. "Eveninp:, a.nd morn- ing, a.nd a.t noon, will I pray, a.nd cry a.loud: and thou shalt hear my voice" (Ps. lv. 17 ; Dan. vi. 10; Acts x. 30); "Seven times a. day do I praise thee" (Ps. cxix. 164). It will have its appointeJ. place of privacy. "Enter into thy closet and shut thy door, and pray to thy Father which is in secret" (Matt. vi. 6; Mark i. 35). (2) Prayer being a. ~ocial as much as a. private necessity, concerned with the common as truly as with the individual wants and interests of men, the prayerful Christian will observe, as far as possible, all public occasions for its exercise, whether found in the family, the social circle, the co=unity, the church (the "house of prayer"), or in the events of national life (Isa. lvi. 7; Acts iii. 1; vi. 6; xii. 12; xvi. 13; xx. 36; xxi. 5; xxii. 17; 1 Tim. ii. 8; John xvii. 1). (3) But prayer, while it fills, should overflow these limits, and may not be confined within the framework of mechanical ha.bit a.nd fixed order. It should find its way into all the interstices of life, seizing upon its vacant moments and leisure thoughts. Under pressing need, a.nd in the hurry and tumult of business, the soul may send up a short, swift cry for help, as a winged arrow that finds its way to the heart of God. This is ~jaculatory prayer. And in the quiet ongoing of ordinary work the mind may the more easily maintain its secret converse with him in whom it "lives and moves a.nd is," making the common incidents of life a.nd the familiar sights and sounds of nature reminders of his presence, a.nd the experience of every hour occasion for some brief act of adoration, or confession, or supplication, or intercession. 'l'his is to "pray without ceasing" (1 'l'hess. v. 17); "to let our requests be made known unto God in all things" (Phil iv. 6). 'l.'he soul's hidden life in God is maintained by this activity, even as the life-blood of the body is vivified and cleansed from moment to moment by the ceaseless play of the breathing lungs. 2. Prayer must be attended with thanksgiving. 'l'he one must be habitual a.nd constant as the other. 'l.'hey are two elements of the same state, two parts of the same act (Eph. v. 29; 1 'l.'hess. v. 17, 18). (See homiletics, sect. 1, IlL 2 (3).) How unseemly it is to come to God with urgent peti- tions for new blessincrs, when we have made no due acknowledgment of those already bestowed! Vve dare {{ot a.et thus towards any earthly benefactor. And this thoughtless ingratitude deprives us of those strong arguments and cheering encouragements which are afforded by the remembrance of past mercies. "The Lord hath been mi?dful o.~ us;" then surely "he will bless us" (Ps. cxv. 12); he "began a good work ID you,· and you may be "confident," therefore, that it is his will to "perfect it" (Phil. i. 6). God requires and expects that by "offering praise" we should" glorify him" (Ps. _l. 23), "abundantly uttering the memory of his great goodness" (Ps. cxlv. 7). To t~1s end. every Christian is ordained a. •• priest unto God," that he may "offer up a. sacrifice of praise continually the fruit of lips which make confession to his name" (1 Pet. ii. 9; Heb. xiiL 15). ~d to do this is in itself" pleasant a.nu comely" (Ps. cxlvii. 1); "Yea, a joyful and pleasant thing it is to be thankful." 3. And intercession must be joined tu supplicatum. and thanksgiving. (1 'l'im. ii. 1.) "Withal praying for us also," says the apostle. A.nd in so saying he em bodies the appeal which our Christian brethren every- OII, IV, 1-18,] THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. 217