Devoted to outward focused Prayer

Colossians 4:2-3  Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart. 

The apostle Paul prayed a great deal for Christians he had never met! He agonised over their welfare -do we care that much?

Since August my life has been heavily focused on my new job which started on the 1^st of September as minister of Open Door Baptist church, Harris Street, Peterborough. The church has about 30 members and has been without a minister for three years.  Like many new jobs during the first few months I have been very busy getting to grips with my new responsibilities. The primary focus initially was for my wife (associate pastor) and I to establish a rhythm of prayer at church. Tuesday to Friday for 30 minutes each morning we go to church to pray and have invited any church members who are free to join us. We have tried to make sure our prayers have an outward focus. Tuesday we pray for a country overseas –the part of Peterborough we live in is very multi cultural so we pray for different people groups who live in the local area. On Wednesday we normally prayer walk in the neighbourhood of the church, on Thursday we pray for other churches and Friday we pray for the needs of our own church. Many churches, no doubt spend more time in prayer but this is the start we feel is appropriate for us in addition to the regular weekly church prayer meeting.  Am I devoted to prayer? What does devotion look like? Devoted football fans give up a great deal of time and money to follow their team, little or nothing is more important than following their team.  Let us ask our Father to help us show our love for him by our prayer life.