Colossians 4:2-5--Further Instructions

Further Instructions
2 Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. 3 At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison-- 4 that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.

​5 Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time.

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In this passage, Paul tells the Colossian church to continue in prayer, preach the gospel and to walk in wisdom by the power of the Spirit of God that is working in and through them so that they may make the most of the time that they have, since Paul and the Church believed that the return of Christ we imminent.

We'll see that this expectation of the return of Christ is going to be front and center in the next of the Pauline epistles, the books of First and Second Thessalonians.  We'll be getting to those soon as we only have one more section remaining in the book of Colossians.  For now, let's look a little more closely at some of the exact instructions that Paul gives these Christians.

How are we to pray?  Steadfastly, watchfully, and with thanksgiving!  We should be in the habit of praying in all places at all times, privately, publicly and corporately.  We should be watchful in our prayers so that we are on guard for enemy attack, but also for the answer to the prayer as sometimes God sends the answer in the midst of our prayer.  Last, but not least, we should always be thankful in our prayers because of who God has made us and what He has done for the sake of His great name!  There may be circumstances about which we want to pray for God's intervention, but there should be no circumstances that stop us from seeing the goodness and greatness of God.

Paul then asks for them to pray for him and those with him that even in this challenging time where Paul was in pinion and likely nearing the end of his life (Paul may or may not have been aware of this), that God would open doors for the gospel to be preached and that it would be clear to Paul what to say and who to speak to.  Paul would also need to be given the words as he would be standing before governors and other rulers as he is going to be put on trial and Paul would be the one that was sent not only to the Gentiles, but to their kings and emperors.

Last, but not least, as we have already discussed, Paul encourages them to be careful and diligent about their walk because time is something we can't get back, so we need to make the most of the time that we have and use the limited time we have to make sure we are about the work of living out our testimony of the new creation that God has made us in front of those who are not saved, the outsiders Paul mentions here.  They will understand the words you say better when they are accompanied by actions that make your words believable, but if your actions do not match your words and it looks like the gospel has had no power or impact in your own life, then why would anyone else want to hear about it or experience it?