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Be Still and Know Daily Bible Devotion
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A tartalmat a Premier biztosítja. Az összes podcast-tartalmat, beleértve az epizódokat, grafikákat és podcast-leírásokat, közvetlenül a Premier vagy a podcast platform partnere tölti fel és biztosítja. Ha úgy gondolja, hogy valaki az Ön engedélye nélkül használja fel a szerzői joggal védett művét, kövesse az itt leírt folyamatot https://hu.player.fm/legal.
Bring some Spirit-filled peace into your hectic schedule every weekday morning with this new Daily Devotional.
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A tartalmat a Premier biztosítja. Az összes podcast-tartalmat, beleértve az epizódokat, grafikákat és podcast-leírásokat, közvetlenül a Premier vagy a podcast platform partnere tölti fel és biztosítja. Ha úgy gondolja, hogy valaki az Ön engedélye nélkül használja fel a szerzői joggal védett művét, kövesse az itt leírt folyamatot https://hu.player.fm/legal.
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×Colossians 3:22-23 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything you do. Try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching you. Serve them sincerely because of your reverent fear of the Lord. Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. There was a jazz song that became very popular during the second world war which went: “Tain’t what you do. It’s the way that you do it.” Paul would have agreed with that. There were probably many slaves in the congregation at Colossae, and he knew that the way they did their work was a fundamental part of their Christian testimony. They obviously needed to do the right things, but it was important that they did them in the right way, whether or not their master was watching them. They needed to give their best because the service they were giving flowed from their relationship of reverent fear for the Lord. He would always be watching, even if their master wasn’t. They needed to work willingly at whatever they were doing, as if everything was being done directly for the Lord. These words might be 2,000 years old, but they are just as important today. It’s very easy for us to focus on the people around us. We want to give a good impression and please them. We want to be liked. Paul would encourage us to recognise that the audience that really matters is God himself. He sees the way in which we work for our employer or help in our local church or assist a neighbour, and he is looking to us to give our best. A key word in these verses is “willingly”. The way we work springs from a deep place. The Greek literally means ‘from the soul’ – it arises from our relationship with the Lord. There is all the difference in the world between the person who does a job grudgingly and the person who does it willingly. God wants us to be the kind of person who does their work gladly and joyfully because we know that, before anyone else, we are doing it for him. Question To what extent are your actions moulded by the fact that God is seeing everything you do? Prayer Lord God, help me to always give my best in everything I do. Amen…
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Be Still and Know Daily Bible Devotion

Colossians 3:15 Let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful. The world is full of conflict. Whether you look at international relations, national politics or even the life of your local community, conflict is never far away – but that isn’t what God wants for us. He has made it possible for us to live at peace through Christ. Paul speaks about Christ acting like an umpire who oversees our lives and continually works to ensure that peace occurs. However, the first word of that sentence is the crucial one – ‘Let’. Peace won’t just happen. We have to give our ‘yes’ to the peace of Christ. We need to welcome him into the centre of our lives and allow him to bring his peace to every situation that we face. Peace is our calling as part of the body of Christ, the Church. We cannot sit idly by when we see strained relationships within the Church. As in every other human community, people fall out with one another, and this should disappoint us but never surprise us. Our calling is to live so close to Christ that we will be continually looking for ways to resolve tensions and to promote warm and trusting relationships. This is often extremely hard work, but the outcome is well worth the effort. Paul often encourages his readers to be thankful, usually towards God. Here, he speaks more generally of the need for thankfulness. We certainly always need to be thankful to God, but an attitude of thankfulness towards others will create an atmosphere of peace. When we are grateful to those around us for who they are and what they have done, it will strengthen relationships and promote peace. Living at peace is the most desirable way to live. Everyone will agree with that. We need to not only worship Jesus, the umpire, but to [itals]let[end itals] him take control. Question In what specific situations do you need to work for peace at the moment? Prayer Lord God, thank you for sending Jesus to give us peace. Help me to welcome his peace today and to share it generously with others. Amen…
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Be Still and Know Daily Bible Devotion

Colossians 3:14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. Robert Browning, the poet, wrote: “Take away love and our earth is a tomb.” It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of love. It isn’t merely one more excellent virtue which we need to acquire – it’s essential because without it no family, organisation or church can thrive. Paul encouraged his readers to put on the clothing of love, and just like any other clothing, we need to head into each day ensuring that it is in place. The Greek word for love in this verse is ‘agape’. This is the love you have for people regardless of how they feel about you. It’s the kind of love which just can’t stop loving. It’s so committed to loving that it doesn’t give up when the going gets tough and the opposition is fierce. It is, of course, the kind of love that God first showed to us. When John wrote his first letter, he pointed to Jesus as being the supreme expression of God’s love. Unfortunately, the word love easily gets confused with other words, such as [itals]like[end itals]. But the truth is that we are called to love people whether we like them or not. To love is our God-given duty. The Bible makes it plain that the way of love is always God’s way and is a path of incredible blessing. At times, it will be agonisingly difficult to love, but as we do so, we are displaying the nature of God. The only way to truly understand agape love is to look at the cross of Jesus. The only possible explanation of Jesus’ death is love. He didn’t have to go that way, but he chose to. If love was that costly for him, we shouldn’t be surprised that we will often have a price to pay as well. Love isn’t ever an easy path, but it is always the right one and the best one, so let’s clothe ourselves in God’s love today. Question What will it mean for you to show agape love to people today? Prayer Lord God, thank you that you have shown me what love really means. Fill me with your Spirit so that I may share your love with others today. Amen…
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Be Still and Know Daily Bible Devotion

Colossians 3:13 Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Any happy and harmonious community relies upon forgiveness. It isn’t an optional extra but an absolute necessity. However, it is also incredibly hard work, so we need to reflect very carefully upon it. We step on one another’s toes very easily. We often do it without meaning to, in complete innocence. We say or do things that we think are obviously right, but which cause hurt and unhappiness to others. And, by the same token, people step on our toes and hurt us unintentionally. The only way of coping with this inevitable part of community life is to forgive. God calls us to live with an attitude of forgiveness that graciously and lovingly moves on from the hurt without drawing attention to it. It is relatively easy to forgive those who unintentionally hurt you, but what do you do when someone has deliberately gone out of their way to cause you harm? Surely justice demands that you settle the score with them and get your own back. However, God calls us to forgive them, and that’s incredibly tough. Indeed, it’s so tough that the only way we will be able to do it is by recalling that this is exactly how God has treated us. Through our thoughts, words and actions, we have sinned against God. There is absolutely no reason why he should forgive us, but that is what he has chosen to do. Jesus made it plain that God loves to give his forgiveness to us, but it is conditional: we must be willing to pass it on to others. This sounds easy enough until we need to forgive someone who has wronged us. That can be a difficult journey, but it is God’s loving way for all of us. Question When did you last need to forgive someone, and what did you learn from the experience? Prayer Loving God, thank you for your gift of forgiveness to me. Help me to be more generous in sharing your forgiveness with those who offend me. Amen…
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Be Still and Know Daily Bible Devotion

Colossians 3:11 In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us. Every society is full of divisions, but Paul’s world was sharply and deeply divided far beyond anything we know today. The biggest divide of all was between Jew and Gentile. Jews were the chosen people and Gentiles were the outsiders. The Jews would pray a daily prayer thanking God that they were not Gentiles. There was deep suspicion, and even hatred, between Jews and Gentiles and it focused on male circumcision, which was the physical evidence of the distinction. Meanwhile, Greeks looked down on anyone who didn’t speak Greek, and there was a massive difference between those who were slaves and those who were free. In ancient law, slaves were not even classified as human beings. They were simply possessions or living tools with no rights of their own. A master could thrash, maim or even kill his slaves as he chose. However, in Christ, a revolution had taken place, and all of those human divisions had come crashing to the ground. Of course, deep human divisions still exist. Our education, wealth, age, ethnicity and many other factors make us very different from one another, and that will always be the case, but the walls of separation fall down the moment we commit ourselves to Christ. Our identity in him is far more important than any human distinction. I always enjoy worshipping God in church and looking around me at the diverse people who have gathered together. I often reflect that there is nothing that would ever bring these people together in one place, other than Christ. Humanly speaking, we are very different from one another, but in Christ, all of that has changed. He is alive in each of us, and that is the closest bond that you could ever have with another person. Question In what ways have you seen human divisions crumble between Christians? Prayer Loving God, I praise you for the unity that you have given us in Christ. Help me never to allow human distinctions to get in the way of Christian fellowship. Amen…
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Be Still and Know Daily Bible Devotion

Colossians 3:10 Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him. I wonder what your goals are for your life. Perhaps they focus on your family, your job or your sport. You may want to become better at what you do and more fulfilled in your life. In this verse we hear what God’s aim is for our lives, and isn’t it amazing? His aim is that we should become like him. Wow! He, the creator of the world, wants us to resemble him. In Genesis 1:27, we read that God made us in his image. From the very beginning, humankind had a resemblance to God, but sadly, through sin, that image became distorted. However, through our relationship with Christ, God wants to restore his image in us. I am sure we are all aware of our shortcomings, so the thought of resembling God sounds incredible, but that is precisely what God wants for our lives. Clearly, we are never going to resemble God through our own effort. The only way it can happen is through us letting the Holy Spirit take over. We are totally dependent on him renewing us day by day. It is as we allow his Spirit to renew us that we will be able to put on our new nature and look more and more like God. Renewal is the basis of our human lives. Our bodies are in a constant state of regeneration – our skin renews itself every 28 to 42 days. The older we get, the slower the process, but renewal is the basis of our physical health. Our red blood cells only last about four months, and every second our bodies produce two million new ones. Just as we trust God to renew our bodies, we can be confident that, when we let him, he will renew our spiritual lives as well. Question In what ways is God renewing your spiritual life at present? Prayer Loving God, thank you that today you are seeking to renew me in body, mind and spirit. Amen…
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Be Still and Know Daily Bible Devotion

Colossians 3:2-3 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. Paul’s message was a matter of life and death. In the previous chapter, he referred to baptism as being an act of burial (Colossians 2:12). Through baptism, one life comes to an end and another one, focused on Christ, begins. That’s why Paul encouraged his readers to make sure their primary focus was on heaven and not on the things of earth. Many of us know the description of someone being ‘so heavenly-minded that they are of no earthly use’. Paul would absolutely disagree with that, believing that the person who was focused on heaven would be of the greatest possible use on earth. Paul had a very clear idea of the dangers of allowing our earthly, sinful nature to be in the driving seat. He told his readers to put to death sexual immorality, impurity, lust and evil desires, and warned them against greed. He observed that a greedy person was an idolater, worshipping the things of this world. He knew that a life that was totally focused on earthly things was bound to end in disaster and told his readers to strip off their old sinful nature. They needed to put on new clothing, the things that flowed from a life that was renewed in Christ. Paul specified the new clothing that Christians need to put on. They are the qualities which flow from the heart of God: tender-hearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience (Colossians 3:12). When we live that kind of life, the world around us will be blessed. Indeed, people will be touched by heaven itself. Question Would you describe yourself as heavenly-minded or earthly-minded? Prayer Loving God, thank you that you have made it possible for me to live a new life in Christ. Amen…
Colossians 2:16-17 Don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality. Throughout history, religious people have been famous for their rules and regulations. We see it particularly clearly with the Pharisees of Jesus’ time. They lived meticulously according not only to the law of Moses but also to layers of other regulations which had been introduced by the rabbis. It isn’t surprising that in the early Church, one of the greatest challenges came from those who wanted to impose complicated regulations upon the new Christians. These came from many places, particularly from the Gnostics, whose religion was built upon complicated rules about eating and drinking and the observance of special days. Paul was not saying that all rules were bad. A well-ordered family, church or society will only work smoothly if there are rules. Paul’s concern was that people would never find forgiveness and salvation through them. The message of so many religions is that you will achieve liberty and harmony by following a certain number of regulations, but Paul decisively rejected this. Rules are not necessarily bad, but at their best they will only ever be shadows of reality. They will never set us free, because only Jesus can do that. We all live our lives according to certain rules. They may have come from other people, or we may have devised them because they work well for us. But we must never believe our rules and the way in which we live will earn favour with God. The rules may be helpful but they cannot save us. Only Christ can do that, so we need to keep our eyes fixed on him. Question In what ways have you found rules helpful in your Christian life, and in what ways have they been a problem? Prayer Lord Jesus, I thank you that life is found in you and in you alone. Amen…
Colossians 2:14-15 [Christ] cancelled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross. The cross stood right at the centre of Paul’s understanding of the good news. Put simply, if you want to understand Jesus, you have to see him through the lens of the cross. John Stott, in his book [itals]The Cross of Christ[end itals], summed this up when he wrote: “There is then, it is safe to say, no Christianity without the cross. If the cross is not central to our religion, ours is not the religion of Jesus.” For this reason, Paul focused his preaching on the cross even though he was fully aware that the message didn’t always go down well. Jews found it a stumbling block because the law of Moses declared that anyone who hung from a tree was cursed. Meanwhile, non-Jews just found the idea of someone dying on a cross completely foolish. How could anyone find anything commendable in the brutal death of a good man? However, Paul wasn’t fazed by these reactions because he had discovered that the word of the cross was both the power of God and the wisdom of God. It is always challenging and tough to think about the cross. None of us can fully imagine the intense pain that Jesus had to endure. Even if we have experienced severe pain, none of us has known the agony of being cut off from God. What we do know is that no one will suffer for another person unless they love them intensely. So, as often as we reflect on the awful pain of Jesus’ death, we need to realise that we are staring at love in its purest form. As John Stott wrote: “If we are looking for a definition of love, we should look not in a dictionary, but at the cross.” If you ever feel unloved or unlovely, the very best thing you can do is look at the cross. What more could anyone do for you? Question What’s your reaction to the fact that Jesus died on the cross for your sins? Prayer Lord Jesus Christ, thank you that you were willing to give your life so that I can be free. Amen…
Colossians 2:8-9 Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. Paul didn’t believe in beating around the bush! He was so convinced that Christ was the complete answer to the human predicament that he saw every other philosophy as a waste of time. That didn’t mean he was unwilling to spend time listening to people with other beliefs. He simply didn’t believe that they had anything to offer when compared with Christ. When Paul visited Athens, he spent a great deal of time speaking with the philosophers and gladly accepted an invitation to address the Areopagus, which was the forum where the Greeks held debates. He sensitively referred to their own poets and thinkers, but his focus was always to proclaim Christ. It is the fact that Jesus was both fully man and fully God which marks him apart from other great teachers. I love the words of Victor Hugo, the French novelist and poet, who stated: “Pythagoras, Epicurus, Socrates, Plato, these are the torches of the world; Christ is the light of day.” Great thinkers and philosophers have contributed insight and wisdom through the ages, but they pale into insignificance alongside the Light of the world. We live in a society which wants to suggest that every philosophy and religion is of equal significance, but Paul would robustly disagree. Only of Jesus can it be said that the fullness of God dwelt in him. He alone can be described as “the Way, the Truth and the Life” (John 14:6). Everyone should be able to believe what they want, and it is our Christian duty to protect their right to do so. At the same time, I believe we are called to be faithful to the truth that we have received. Jesus came to bring life to the world, and we need to seize every opportunity to share this good news with the people we meet. Question How do you respond when you are faced with false philosophies? Prayer Lord God, keep me strong when I face up to people who reject your truth. May I always be both clear and gracious when I disagree with others. Amen…
Colossians 1:22-23 You are holy and blameless as you stand before [Christ] without a single fault. But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. What Christ has done for us is absolutely amazing. Failed and sinful as we are, he has totally forgiven us and made us right with God. He has made it possible for us to stand before him, holy and blameless and without fault. But that doesn’t mean we can now take it easy and do what we want. We need to stand firm in our faith and ensure we don’t slip away from the truth. In my experience, very few people who drift away from Christian faith do so because they suddenly disbelieve it. What normally happens is that they become distracted and busy with other things. Gradually, their work, family, sport or hobby claims their attention and they find it inconvenient to attend worship. Sometimes they move house and find it difficult to find another church in which they feel at home, or their children join a sports team on a Sunday morning and they find it impossible to get to church. They simply drift. At first, they are conscious that they are drifting, but after a while, their minds move on and they totally forget about their faith. This can happen surprisingly quickly, so we all need to be alert to the need to maintain strong and helpful rhythms in our Christian lives. God has given us the gift of a weekly Sabbath, which is an opportunity to refocus our lives on him. We all need the refreshment and renewal of that day, but we cannot wait the whole week for God’s blessing. Amid the busyness of our lives, we need to ensure that each day we find opportunities to praise God and listen to him. The way that you find this refreshment may differ from other people, but making time to meet with God and allowing him to bless and equip you for the challenges of life is essential. Drifting away is so serious that we need to ensure we do everything possible to avoid it happening. Question What are you doing to ensure that you don’t drift away from your faith in Christ? Prayer Loving God, help me to stay close to you throughout this and every day. Amen…
Colossians 1:15 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation. Most people have good things to say about Jesus. They like that he welcomed every kind of person; they admire that he was willing to stand up to the religious rulers of his time; they enjoy that he told compelling, down-to-earth stories and went out of his way to get alongside people; and they value how full of love he was. The apostle Paul, however, goes far beyond these kind comments. For Paul, Jesus showed the world exactly what God was like. Just as we can look at a coin and see what the sovereign looks like, so too by looking at Jesus we can see precisely what God is like. We don’t know exactly what Paul’s opponents were teaching, but it seems to have been a combination of Jewish and Greek thought. Paul’s answer was to give them the most magnificent and clear description of Jesus: he is not only the one who existed before anything was created, but is now the one who holds all creation together. Jesus is intimately involved in our world right now, and is the head of the Church, the community of people who love him. In every age there are people who will attack Christian teaching, and we shouldn’t be surprised that many people seek to challenge us today. It is always good to engage in conversation with our opponents. We need to do so graciously, clearly and thoughtfully, but our supreme task is not so much to win arguments as to point to Jesus. We are most likely to bless people by helping them to see how magnificent Jesus is, and to share with them how he has transformed and blessed our lives. Question In what way would you speak about Jesus to someone who felt that he was merely a really good man? Prayer Lord Jesus, I worship you because you are supreme over all creation. Thank you for loving me and for giving me new life. Amen…
Colossians 1:13-14 [God] has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins. Paul was absolutely clear that when someone becomes a Christian, their whole life changes completely. We move to a new country! The kingdom of darkness is now behind us and we have entered the kingdom of light with Jesus Christ standing at the centre of it. In that new country, we experience freedom for the first time in our life, having been set free from all those things that conspire to enslave us. Slavery was an everyday part of Roman society. Paul often spoke of life before becoming a Christian as being like a form of spiritual slavery. Without Christ, we are slaves to our own selfish and ultimately destructive will, but through Christ, we can be set free. Under Roman law, it was possible for a slave to be freed. It was a process called manumission, and one of the ways of achieving it was for the slave to pay his master compensation. This was obviously rarely possible for a slave, but in our case, God himself has set us free by paying the price we could never afford when Jesus died on the cross. Everyone wants freedom. If you have ever had your freedom limited by illness, addiction or imprisonment, you will know what it means to have a deep longing to be free. I have visited people in prison on many occasions and I’ve always been amazed by the numbers of locked doors I had to pass through. Every prisoner I have ever met longs for freedom and is eager to talk about what they will do when they are released. We all want freedom, and that is what Jesus came to do. He came to set us free from our slavery to sin so we can enjoy the sweet taste of freedom. Question In what way has Jesus set you free? Prayer Lord Jesus, I thank you that you came into this world to give me freedom. I confess that I have often gone my own way and ask you to forgive me and set me free. Amen…
Colossians 1:11-12 We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father. Life can be incredibly tough. Paul often spoke of the challenges he had faced which involved rejection, betrayal, shipwrecks, imprisonment, beatings and much more. He also knew that the Colossian church was going through a difficult time and needed huge strength to keep going in a godly way. They needed to know how to endure and be patient when they were under extreme pressure. Most people who face attack will fight back, but Paul knew that this was not what God wanted. The word for patience used to be translated as ‘longsuffering’. Being patient is tough enough, but to be longsuffering is beyond all of us. The only way we can keep on being patient is with God’s help. He helps us to be kind towards people who are rude and obstructive. He shows us how to face rejection with love and understanding. He enables us to stand up to the foolishness of other people with grace. None of those responses come naturally to us. But as the Holy Spirit is allowed to take control of our lives, he enables us to endure with patience and to come through long periods of suffering with joy. It’s the word ‘joy’ that is particularly startling in this verse. Endurance and longsuffering patience don’t sound joyful at all. They sound like very hard work. But whenever the Holy Spirit is at work, there is joy. Even in the face of brutal opposition, which has been the experience of many Christians over the years, there is a bubbling of holy joy. I don’t know what challenges you are facing at the moment, but I’m sure there are situations in which you need the strength to endure and be patient. All of us face such challenges, so we need to open ourselves afresh to God’s Spirit and invite him to give us strength that is well beyond our own. This is how we can be the gracious, resilient and patient people that he wants us to be. If you do that, I promise that you will experience God’s joy. Question In what situations are you needing the power to endure and be patient at present? Prayer Lord God, I thank you for the gift of your Holy Spirit. Fill me afresh right now to enable me to face every situation with your strength and grace. Amen…
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Be Still and Know Daily Bible Devotion

Colossians 1:9 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. Recently, I heard someone say that the situation they were facing was so desperate that all they could do was pray about it. They made it sound as if their circumstances were so hopeless that they were willing to grasp at any option, however daft. We need to be clear that the apostle Paul saw prayer in a completely different way. For him, prayer was not the last resort but the first. He prayed for the people in Colossae because, even though he didn’t know them, he cared about them and longed that they would thrive as Christians in a tough environment. Paul’s prayer for the Colossian Christians was that they would know God’s will. That always needs to be at the heart of our prayers. Prayer is never our opportunity to tell God what we think is best, or to ask him to implement the decisions we have made. Because God is all loving and all knowing, our prayers should always focus on seeking his will, because his will is bound to be best. God’s will is for us to have both wisdom and understanding. You can know everything there is to know about God and the Bible, but if you don’t apply it to your life, it is useless. People often think of prayer as being remote from normal life. They see it as a way of escaping from reality. In this verse, Paul makes it clear that prayer is exactly the opposite. It is the most practical and down-to-earth way in which we can engage with other people. If we truly love them, we will be praying for them. Prayer is the language of love, and I urge you to turn all your thoughts about other people today into prayers that they will find and do God’s perfect will. Question How does this verse challenge the way in which you pray for other people? Prayer Loving Father, thank you for the privilege of prayer. Help me to love other people so much that prayer will become increasingly central to my life. Amen…
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