Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. Colossians 4:2
“Prayer and thanksgiving can never be dissociated from each other in the Christian life. The remembrance of former mercies not only produces spontaneous praise and worship; it is also a powerful incentive to renewed believing prayer. Our Lord’s words to His disciples, “Keep awake, and pray not to fail in the test” (Mark 14:38), had special relevance to the trial of faith which faced them in the immediate future, but they have a message for his people at all times. He taught his hearers that they “ought always to pray and not lose heart” (Luke 18:1). Men and women of persistent prayer are those who are constantly on the alert, alive to the will of God and the need of the world, and ready to give an account of themselves and their stewardship.”
F.F. Bruce in The Epistles to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians (NICNT; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1984) 172.
We cultivate gratitude through persistent prayer. We must be awake and alert to all that is going on around us, or as Bruce aptly sums it up: “alive to the will of God and the need of the world, and ready to give an account” of ourselves and our stewardship to God.
Bruce used another expression that enlivens the biblical idea of being watchful, thankful, and prayerful people: “The remembrance of former mercies not only produces spontaneous praise and worship; it is also a powerful incentive to renewed believing prayer.”
Often in our home, in good times like on a birthday or anniversary or in hard times when we are praying for God to supply daily bread or help meet a need, we will go through the alphabet together and give thanks to God for His faithfulness to us. A, B, C, and so on.
We state something we are thankful for that starts with each letter, and we take turns so everyone participates. Try this today. Take time to give thanks for God’s grace (unmerited favor) and mercy (not giving you what you deserve). Cultivate watchfulness and gratitude.