Colossians 1-4
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There is a lot of great stuff in Colossians, especially on family
matters – such as teachings on love and respect between husbands and wives and
parents and children. Paul also
gives great teaching on living holy lives and putting to death our sinful
nature. But today, as it happens so
often after I read my Bible, I’m left with the conviction to pray … to ‘for
real’ pray. Not just “God bless so
and so” but to desperately seek His intervention, His provision, and His
wisdom, not only for myself and my family, but for others as well. Jesus came to earth to die for our sins
giving us free access to God as a father and son or daughter relationship. Why do we not utilize this connection
with God?
“For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and
asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual
wisdom and understanding.” (1:9)
“Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” (3:2)
“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” (4:2)
“And pray for us too, that God may open a door for our message, so
that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.” (4:3)
“Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends
greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that
you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured.” (4:12)
Devote – “give all or a large part of one’s time and resources
to”; “apply one’s self entirely to” - prayer. Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 to “pray without ceasing”
or in other translations, “pray continuously.” I think God wants us to sacrifice time to spend with Him in
prayer and to pray for big things, real things. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not the greatest at
this. I can block off time in my
day every day to read the Bible, but I’m not as good at setting aside time for
prayer.
And the conversation with God doesn’t end after this set-aside prayer
time. He also wants us to
continuously converse with Him, which means praying and listening, throughout
each day. It is kind of like when
you have a close relationship with someone in your life, you’ll talk to that
person and have long conversations, but more than likely in this day and age,
you’ll also text that person often as well. It is just one big never-ending conversation. This is the type of relationship that God
desires us to have with Him.
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