I.　We need to continually exercise our spirit; this is the reason that in Colossians 4:2 Paul charges us to persevere in prayer—1 Tim. 4:7:

A.　To persevere is to continue persistently, steadfastly, and earnestly.

B.　Receiving Christ (Col. 2:6) requires the exercise of our spirit, and the unique way to exercise our spirit is to pray:

1.　Concerning prayer there is a law—prayer must be in spirit—Eph. 6:18.

2.　If we would learn to pray, we must exercise ourselves to let the spirit dominate in every situation and not allow our mind, emotion, or will to take the lead—2 Tim. 1:7.

3.　We need to allow the spirit to transcend everything, to be the strongest and highest part of our being—Rev. 4:2.

4.　The strongest part of a Christian should be his spirit—Eph. 3:16.

C.　Prayer is spiritual breathing; to pray is to breathe—John 20:22.

D.　To pray perseveringly means that we do not depart from the praying spirit— Eph. 6:18.

II.　We need to remain in a praying condition—1 Thes. 5:17; Col. 1:3, 9:

A.　Our problem is that we do not remain in a condition of prayer—Matt. 26:41.

B.　To be in a condition of prayer is to be out of our opinion and to be one spirit with the Lord, living Him and taking Him as our life and person—1 Cor. 6:17.

III.　The Christian life is a life of receiving grace, but this life needs to be sustained by prayer—John 1:16; Rom. 5:17; Heb. 4:16; Col. 1:2; 4:18:

A.　Only through prayer can the Lord's grace become prevailing and living in our experience.

B.　Prayer is the way to come forward to the throne of grace—Heb. 4:16.

C.　When we pray, coming forward to the throne of grace, grace will become a river flowing in us and supplying us.

D.　No matter how much grace we receive from the Lord, it will leak away if we fail to persevere in prayer—Col. 1:6; 3:16; 4:6, 2.

IV.　We need to persevere in prayer because prayer involves a battle, a fight— 4:2; Eph. 6:17-18:

A.　In order to fight on God's side against Satan, we need to persevere in prayer.

B.　As those who take sides with God, we find that the whole universe is against us and, in particular, against our prayer—Col. 2:1-3:

1.　Almost everything in our environment is contrary to prayer.

2.　Resistance to prayer lies not only outside us but even within us—Matt. 26:41.

3.　To pray is to go against the current, the trend, in the fallen universe:

a.　In order to pray, we must go against the current of our environment.

b.　If we fail to pray, we will be swept downstream.

c.　Only prayer can enable us to go against the current; therefore, we need to persevere in prayer, to pray persistently—Luke 18:1-8.

V.　Persevering in prayer for the one new man is related to the peace of Christ, to the word of Christ, and to living in union with Christ—Col. 3:15-17:

A.　The peace of Christ, which is Christ Himself, has made the Jews and the Gentiles one new man, and now we should let this peace arbitrate in our hearts for the Body life and for the practical existence of the one new man—v. 15.

B.　The way for Christ to exercise His headship and to minister His riches to us is through His word—2:19; 3:16:

1.　We should not be closed but open our being to the Lord and to His word and be willing to be filled with the word of Christ.

2.　We need to allow the word of Christ to move, act, and have its being within us, letting our whole being be permeated and saturated with the word of Christ.

3.　In order for the word of Christ to dwell in us richly for the one new man, we need to let the peace of Christ arbitrate in our hearts.

C.　To live in union with Christ means that in our living we are not apart from Christ; rather, we are one with Him and do everything in His name by acting in the Spirit—v. 17.

D.　We need to live in union with Christ, to be ruled by the peace of Christ, and to be inhabited by the word of Christ.

VI.　We need to pray that a door may be opened for the word—4:3:

A.　To open a door for the word is related to the divine speaking.

B.　To pray that a door will be opened for the word implies that we need to keep ourselves open to the word of God.