Lately Elgielene and I have been praying for our Christian friends (and us) to stay focused on God and not the world. Because the world is jam-packed and overflowing with distractions and fear tactics. Tons of sights and sounds that try to get you to believe happiness is hopeless. Nothing is further from the Truth.
And speaking of praying for friends…
A long-time friend of Elgielene’s, let’s call her Gloria, prays for and with us on a regular basis. She texts wonderful prayers and includes Bible references. And it’s mighty encouraging to get those, especially these days.
Her regular prayers remind me of the multiple times Paul told his fellow Christians that he prayed for them. He told the Corinthians, “I thank my God always concerning you.” And he said this to the Ephesians: “Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers.”
Then, he told the Philippians, “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy…” Wow, he thanked God every time he thought about them.
And he said almost the same thing to the Colossians: “We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints”
Paul kept praying for friends, and shared more details, when he wrote to the Thessalonians. “We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father” Then, in a second letter to them, he said, “We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly.”
And he asked them to pray for him, too:
“Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified, just as it is with you, and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men; for not all have faith.”
And Paul wrote this to his spiritual son, Timothy, “I thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscience, as my forefathers did, as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day”
Even in his last letter, of the ones included in the Bible, Paul told Philemon: “I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers, hearing of your love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints”
So, he obviously followed his own advice to be “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit”
I have to admit I haven’t done that so well in my life. And I’m working on getting better at it for whatever time I have left on this little, blue planet. Yeah, if you have a prayer request, let me know, and we’ll include it in an upcoming prayer here in the FunderBungalow.
No one deserves your healing Lord.
But you deserve our praise.
Your great name and your Word
Will lift us up and fill our days,
If we will look to you for strength
And courage to declare
The love and Truth about You
Found in Jeremiah’s prayer. (from my song, Jeremiah’s Prayer © 2018)
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