Sunday, 9 September 2007

Praying for each other

While we're studying Colossians I thought I'd share this I found the other day in The Bible Application Handbook (ed. J. I. Packer).

It centres on Paul's amazing prayer for the Colossians in 1:9-14 and suggests using this as a template for interceding for our brothers and sisters. Here are the prayer points:
  • Pray that they will know God's purpose in every part of their lives, including detailed responses and decisions that need an awareness of God's general purposes for the world (9).
  • Pray that they might have wisdom and insight into God's truth and purposes, a growing awareness of his all-embracing concerns (9).
  • Pray that they might live in ways which honour him (and which by implication 'speak' to others about him); pleasing him being more important than pleasing others (10).
  • Pray for spiritual growth and 'fruitfulness' in good works (10).
  • Pray for inner strength to endure difficulty and suffering (11).
  • Pray that the joy of knowing God may dominate their consciousness and enable them to remain thankful that they are members of God's family (12).

Amen to that...

1 comment:

Hazel said...

Thanks, Liz - very helpful - particularly for praying for someone specifically at the moment.