Daily Bread_March 17, 2014

Title: Love in Action - - Pray for One Another

Text:

Colossians 1:9 (NLT)
So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding.

Observation:

There is nothing more hopeful or helpful you can do for others than to pray for them. When Paul wrote these words he had never seen these people in person. He had heard about them from one of his converts and mentees.

Colossians 1:3-4 (ESV)
³ We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, ⁴ since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints,

The reason why Paul could be so hopeful, helpful and prayerful for these people was because of what Jesus had done in them and for them. These were people who were on their way to heaven.

Colossians 1:12-14 (ESV)
¹² giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. ¹³ He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

These people had demonstrated for a watching world to see that they belonged to God, and God belonged to them. They demonstrated their belief by their love for God and God’s people.

Colossians 1:4 (ESV)
since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints,

O, that the world would know that we are Christians by the way we demonstrate love in action; expressing our love by praying for one another.

Prayer:

Father God, help us to show love in action by our love for You, and for Your people by our prayers for Your people. Father, I have seen how surely and swiftly You answer prayer. I pray in the mighty name of Jesus, Amen.

Colossians 4:2 (NLT)
Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart.

--

Matthew 4:4 (HCSB)
⁴ But He answered, “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

Psalm 2:8 (HCSB)
⁸ Ask of Me, and I will make the nations Your inheritance and the ends of the earth Your possession.

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http://herbcotton.blogspot.com/