God so Loved the World that He Gave His Son: The greatest Spiritual battle ever fought – part fifty-three
Each morning my wife and I do our Bible reading using the “YouVersion Bible App.” If you are not familiar with this app, I would encourage you to check it out. Several Bible versions are available along with reading plans, verse of the day and many other features. It is free to use, however, we like it so much that we volunteered to give them a small donation each month. (The donation was our idea; it wasn’t solicited by YouVersion.)
The verse of the day for May 2nd was from Colossians 4:2.
Colossians 4:2 (NLT2)
2 Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart.
When I read that passage regarding prayer, I was immediately reminded and challenged concerning the immense importance of prayer in our lives. I realized immediately that the Lord wanted me to share my thoughts regarding prayer in this week’s blog post. As I reread the verse of the day, I discovered a few paragraphs that were right there in YouVersion that expressed what I was thinking. I intended to share a few excerpts, and then I heard, “Just share the entire article and give YouVersion the credit.”
A Life of Prayer
Take a moment to think about the habit of prayer in your life. Is prayer a regular part of your life, or is it something you don’t really pay attention to?
As Paul is closing out his letter to the church in Colossae, one of the things he reminds them of is the importance of prayer. For Paul, prayer is more than just asking God for what he needs. Prayer is the way Paul’s energy and ministry is sustained. Prayer is a source of God’s power for Paul.
He asks the Colossians not only to engage in prayer, but to be devoted to it. Paul understood that if the mission of God was to be effective through them, they needed to be devoted to talking to God about every aspect of life.
This means they not only needed to spend time in prayer for a few minutes in the morning, but they needed to make prayer a part of their entire day.
Paul tells the church to be devoted to prayer, being watchful and thankful. These are two aspects of prayer that we can engage in as well.
The first is being watchful or discerning of what’s happening in your life. We can ask the Holy Spirit to help us discern what God is doing in and around us, to make us aware of His work. Second, we can use our time in prayer to worship God through thanksgiving and gratitude.
Prayer is a vital aspect of the Christian life. Spend some time not only praying to God, but thinking through how you can make prayer a central part of your spiritual life.
There was also a short video of worship leader, singer, and song writer, Phil Wickham sharing some thoughts about Colossians 4:2. He said something that really touched my heart. He shared: “I had a pastor growing up that always said prayer is a fancy word for talking with God.”
Wow! Just think about the opportunity we have to actually talk with the God of all creation! Thank you YouVersion! You expressed it so well, and I extend to you all the credit!
I believe you get the idea that Shirley and I love YouVersion Bible App! I challenge you to check it out. I believe you will appreciate it as much as we do.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NLT2)
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.