A Prayer For Christians

The Holy Bible

¹⁶ I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, ¹⁷ asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. ¹⁸ I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.

(Bible Translation and Location: New Living Translation – Ephesians 1:16-18)

Thoughts:

Unfortunately you will not find a model prayer for Christians to recite in this devotional today, but what God got my attention on, is the importance of continuing to pray for fellow Christians. Let me give you a worldly comparison/preview of what I saw as I meditated on this. Can you imagine a citizen walking down a main street of a town under siege? They would look like any other citizen of that country and would probably be allowed to travel on. Now, imagine a visitor, or stranger, doing the same walk. Don't you think they would be questioned more thoroughly about their choice of places to be, or dangerous streets to travel? Now imagine a soldier trying that march in uniform. He may be shot on sight, or imprisoned just for poking around an area where he shouldn't be. This is much like Christians when we exit the safety and security of the church building, we become easy targets for Satan and his cohorts as we mingle in their areas of business. Therefore Paul is teaching us, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, to pray for spiritual wisdom and insight so that we may become strong in the knowledge of God, and that our faith might be strengthened to withstand the temptations of Satan that are ready to weaken our stand and distract our walk. In doing this Paul is reminding us that we will each become confident in the hope that is ours – our rich and glorious inheritance (our eternal home in heaven, where we will join with the angels and sing endlessly at the feet of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ)! Oh what singing! Oh what shouting! On that happy day when my Savior I will see! So friend, I share your sentiments in seeking the lost and praying earnestly for that one that needs the Lord, but please don't forget to pray just as earnestly for your Christian brothers and sisters for help, guidance and strength to stay strong in their faith and continue to be a light in their world of darkness where friends, family, coworkers and others are without Christ and desperately needs to see faith in action through a true representative of Christ's. We may be the only Bible that teaches them or that may reach them. In our sermon yesterday a particular clause spoke personally to me – the person that God has designed for us to speak with today may never be touched or spoken to, if we refuse to take our responsibility seriously. Wow! Let's do our part today friend, so that God may not be disappointed in us!


Prayer:

Heavenly Father, thank You for reminding me of the importance of praying for my Christian brothers and sisters in the Lord. We have such a long list of friends that we pray for salvation, and often neglect praying for those who already know You, and who are prime targets for Satan each day. Please may I ask that You protect Your children today, build a hedge of protection around us so that Satan's darts and arrows may be kept at bay, yet our witness and representation of You will be very evident and inviting to those that need You. I need Your strength today Lord, please help me, and those that join me in this prayer, to be great warriors for the kingdom, and awesome representation of You among the saved and unsaved so that Your kingdom might be fulfilled this Christmas season. All glory to the new born King! For it is in this holy name that I pray, Jesus, Emanuel, God with us, AMEN!

 
FOOTNOTE: If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please speak with a local Bible Teaching pastor, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com so that we can pray with you and give you help and or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Any words underlined above will indicate a link to a song that came to mind as I wrote the devotional. Feel free to click on the link and listen as you continue to read or pray. If this devotional was forwarded to you and you would like to see more, please go to blogger.nuggetsfromgodsword.org and read more, or you may freely subscribe for a daily email conveniently containing each day's devotional. If you are anywhere near the Highlands County, Florida area and do not have a church home, I would be thrilled to welcome you at Bible Fellowship Church, Sebring, FL! Click the link to check out service times and/or other special activities. God is at work among us! Please consider coming to worship with us!