Scripture reading: Colossians 1:9–14
Key verse: Psalm 68:28
Your God has commanded your strength;
Strengthen, O God, what You have done for us.
The most powerful act anyone can perform is to pray for someone. Of course, the power is not in the praying, but in the release God gives in His perfect answer to our prayers. Paul provided an example of one of the most effective prayers we could utter. He prayed for the Colossian church:
• to be filled with the knowledge of God’s will. What a wonderful gesture to ask God to make clear for family members or friends the precise, exact decisions He wishes them to make in every circumstance.
• to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. This means asking that someone’s life will have weight—will count eternally and not temporally.
• to bear fruit in every good work. We should pray for loved ones to remain so Christ-centered that He through them determines their conversation, conduct, and character.
• to increase in the knowledge of God. Can there be a more precious request than that of wanting someone to grow ever closer to our heavenly Father?
• to be strengthened and sustained with the power of God. Within an evil world system, we need the supernatural power of God to help us bear up under the strain.
• to give thanks for having qualified as saints of God. There is nothing for which we should be more appreciative.
Father, today I pray for those I love—that they will be filled with the knowledge of Your will and walk in a manner worthy of You.
Father, today I pray for those I love—that they will be filled with the knowledge of Your will and walk in a manner worthy of You. Let them bear fruit in every good work and be strengthened and sustained by Your power.
Resources:
Devotional is from Into His Presence By Charles Stanley