Colossians 4:2 — “Devote yourselves to prayer; stay alert in it with thanksgiving.”
Here are some word studies to reflect on. The greek word translated “devote" means "to give constant attention to a thing, to give unremitting care to a thing, to persevere, to wait continually upon, to be in constant readiness for."
I have to admit how convicting that exhortation is in my life. To give “constant attention” and “unremitting care” to prayer can only mean that our whole inner life must increasingly become nothing but a place of prayer. It sounds like everything that comes to our minds must become something we pray about. What a challenge.
Then the apostle writes, “stay alert in it”. The greek word translated “stay alert” means "to give strict attention to, to be active, to take heed lest …some destructive calamity suddenly overtake one." One biblical scholar writes: "Long continuance in prayer is apt to produce listlessness. Hence the additional charge that the heart must be awake, if the prayer is to have any value.” (Lightfoot in Wuest’s Commentary) Or in the words of Shakespeare, “words without thoughts never to heaven go”.
