Learning More About Prayer

In review of Colossians 1:9 it says, "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."

Bottom Line:

Pray for others by asking God to to show them everything he wants them to do and know.

What this means to me:

I can learn to pray for others by continually asking God to to show them everything he wants them to do and they have all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives.

Today’s verse comes from Colossian 1. A gnostic may value the accumulation of knowledge, but in this book Paul points out that knowledge in itself is empty. To be worth anything, it must lead to a changed life and right living. So he prayed that they, might have complete knowledge of God's will and have spiritual wisdom and understanding. That their lives would produce every kind of good fruit, even as they learned to know God better and better. Knowledge should not be merely accumulated; it should give direction for living.

Like Paul, I need to learn more how to pray. Prayer is not getting God ready to do my will; it is getting me ready to do God’s will. It is the vehicle that gets me where I need to go, exactly when I need to be there, the door to wisdom and understanding.

All believers have these same basic needs. When I don't know how to pray for someone, I can use Paul's pattern for the Colossians:

1) understand God's will

2) gains spiritual wisdom

3) honor and please God

4) produce every kind of good fruit

5) learn to know God better and better

6) be strengthened with God's glorious power

7) have great endurance and patience

8) be filled with joy

9) give thanks always

What I’m learning is that prayer invites God to intervene on my behalf, binding in the supernatural realm what I bind on earth. I should learn to Get Him involved. I can ask my friends to pray too, and start moving heaven and earth until His perfect will is complete in my life. Also, I should not be afraid to think big either. For I serve a big God!

He is so big that I don’t just hope God heals; I know He does. I don’t just hope for a better tomorrow; I know a better tomorrow is coming. I don’t just wish for wisdom; I know He supplies it amply. I can learn to place my trust in God, knowing that He walks with me every step of the way.

So, I should never leave things to chance, rather I should leave them to God!