Verse 4 “…always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy,”
As we think of verse three and now four, one thing stands out, Paul prays a lot. He was a believer in prayer and expresses it in his letters to the various churches. We are experienced enough in prayer ourselves to know that sometimes the prayer we present to God is not one of joy. Family and friends often put us on our prayer knees not out of joy but out of sorrow. Of course, we pray for them but we long to say along with Paul that our family and friends make our prayer in their behalf a thing of joy.
This might be a good time to reflect on how our lives are affecting those who are praying for us. Do they do so with joy? Is their remembrance of us a positive one? Is there joy in heaven when those prayers reach the throne of God? Hopefully, the prayers going up for us thank God for our way of life and interaction in the world.
Task for Today: We should order our lives in such a way that those praying for us do so with joy. Is that the case in your life? Those who know us well, can they pray with joy knowing we are walking in the light and sharing the good news of Jesus? Take an inventory with that in mind and make changes if necessary. Don’t put it off.
Pray for peace in the Middle East. Pray for God to intervene and save lives in Israel and Iran. Pray that other nations will stand down and refrain from spreading the conflict.
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