Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving, praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned. Col 4:2-3 NASB
I have been asking the Lord a lot lately to teach me more about prayer. As I read these two verses this morning, I noticed Paul’s request. He didn’t ask for prayer for relief from his situation. He asked for prayer that in his current situation he would be granted the opportunity to share the gospel.
The closest I’ve come to that is asking for prayer that God be glorified through whatever situation I’m in. But, usually that’s just my heart’s prayer. When I ask for prayer from others, I ask that they pray for my deliverance from whatever is burdening me.
This is not going to be an easy shift for me, but I suppose no true challenge is ever easy. It will take a retraining of the mind to go from requesting prayer for relief to requesting prayer for open doors to share the gospel in the middle of my situation. Even as I type that statement, I am ashamed that such retraining is necessary. Shouldn’t the goal of my life be to bring glory to God and share His truth no matter what the situation? Why, then, do my requests for prayer from others not reflect that goal?
The more I ponder those questions, the more I hunger for the change. May I be faithful to live up to the challenge.
No comments:
Post a Comment