An Opportunity to Pray
I was reading my bible study this morning in the Upper Room
it is written by Jeff Matthews from Illinois.
First we are going to read in the bible, here is the verses incase you
dont have yours handy.
READ COLOSSIANS 1:1-14*
I use the New Living Translation.
Chp. 1:1-14
Greetings from Paul
This letter is from Paul, chosen by God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our
brother Timothy.
It is written to God's holy people in the city of Colosse, who are faithful brothers and
sisters in Christ.
May God our Father give grace and peace.
Paul's Thanksgiving and Prayer
3We always pray for you and we give hanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
4for we have heard that you trust in Christ Jesus and that you love all of God's people
5You do this because you are looking forward to the joys of heaven--as you have been
ever since you first heard the truth of the Good News. 6This is the same Good News
that came to you is going out all over the world. It is changing lives everywhere,just
as it changed yours that very first day you heard and understood the truth about
God's great kindness to sinners.7Epaphras, our much loved co-worker, was the one
who brought you the Good News. He is Christ's faithful servant, and he is heloing us
in your place.*8He is the one who told us about the get love for others that the Holy
Spirit has given you.9So we have continued praying for you ever since we first heard
about you. We ask God to give you a complete understanding of what he wants to do
in your lives, and we ask him to make you wise with spiritual wisdom.10Then the way
you live will always honor and please the Lord, and you will continually do good, kind
things for others. All the while, you will learn to know God better and better.
11We also pray that you will be strengthened with his glorious power so that you will
have all the patience and endurance you need. May you be filled with joy, 12always
thanking the Father, who has enabled you to share the inheritance that belongs to
God's holy people. who live in the light. 13For he has rescued us from the one who
rules in the kingdom of darkness, and he has brought us into the Kingdom of his
dear Son. 14God has purchased our freedom with his blood and has forgiven all our
sins.
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Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.
The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results.
--James 5:16
"All inmates get down on the ground!" he prerecorded message repeatedly blared
from the guard tower. A man with a rifle scanned the compound from the tower
window ready to shoot. "Officer needs assistance!" screamed the frantic voice
over the two-way radio. Like ants pouring out of the ground, prison staff came
running from every direction. In the midst of this chaos, I calmly lay face down
on the ground and prayed for the safety of the prison staff running by me, the
inmates fighting in the distance, and the medical personnel en route. We needed
divine intervention.
Opportunities to pray for the needs of others are all around us each day. We are
not powerless, our prayers can alter the outcomes of situations. Prayer is a priviledge
God bestows on each of us. When we pray for others, we seek to do good to one
another and to all" Someone, somewhere needs our prayers. This is why the Bible
tells us to pray for others. Who needs your prayers right now?
Here is another suggestion.. Keep a prayer list this month and look at it month's end
to see how situations changed.