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Do Not Stop Praying For...




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. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. (Colossians 1:9-12) 

        Years ago, some pastor said that if we wanted our prayers to be answered, the best prayers were ones found in Scripture. Today's passage is a summary of Paul's prayer for the Colossians. His prayer was that they would be filled with knowledge of God's will through all spiritual wisdom & understanding,
            be able to live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way
            be caused to grow in the knowledge of God,
            be strengthened with all power according to his glorious might
            have great endurance and patience and give thanks to the Father...
            What else do we really need?
           As I looked at this passage last night, I noticed that there's an easy way to summarize Paul's prayer for the Colossians, and a prayer we should be praying for ourselves. When you pray for yourself, pray for

wisdom

direction 

attitude

          When I have asked people to pray for my 'tude, I am usually thinking of the endurance and patience mentioned. I want to get through what I'm going through without being negative. What this passage is telling me is that  there is a challenge beyond that, to practice the "attitude of gratitude" that I conveniently forget unless I happen to feel grateful. If you haven't read The Hiding Place by Corrie TenBoom, read it, and discover what I'm talking about when I say that I guess it's time to learn to be thankful for fleas.

 

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