Bulletin Thought - February 2017

Feb. 5, 2017

Bulletin Thought

A Thought from Pastor Bryson,

Be persistent and devoted to prayer, being alert and focused in your prayer life with an attitude of thanksgiving. (Colossians 4:2 Amplified Version)

The verse above provides instructions that if followed will help us succeed in having a vibrant prayer life. We are to be persistent in prayer. Being persistent means that we will not pray for a short while and then give up, but rather we will keep on praying. We will keep on praying even when an answer to prayer is long in coming. We will keep on praying even when we may not feel like it. We will keep on praying allowing nothing or no one to lead us to give up in our praying.

Not only are we to be persistent in praying, we are to devote ourselves to praying. To devote ourselves to something is to commit to it, to give ourselves to it, to have a made up mind that this is what we are going to do regularly. Individuals who are strong in the faith not only give themselves to the study of Scripture, they also devote themselves to praying and praying often.

When it comes to praying we are instructed to be persistent, be devoted, and also to be focused. Keeping our focus helps us not to get distracted. We have an enemy (satan) who loves for our minds to wander aimlessly in our times of praying. Sometimes our minds are so cluttered with other things and thoughts that we lose our focus and get off course in the process of praying. We must remember we are engaged in spiritual warfare and any time we are engaged in conflict, we must be sure that we do not lose our focus, it could verily easily lead to our defeat.

The instructions are clear, be persistent in praying, be devoted to prayer, be focused in our praying, and also have an attitude of thanksgiving. We are so blessed that we have a heavenly Father who cares about us, who invites us to bring all our burdens to Him. Not only does He care about us but He is also able. Simply put He is powerful beyond what our minds are able to understand. We are so blessed to have a powerful Father who cares so much about us and for that we are to be thankful, be thankful that we can take anything to Him in prayer.

Prayer is vitally important to our spiritual well-being. So be persistent in praying, be devoted to prayer, be focused in praying, and always be thankful.

What a Friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to bear! What a privilege to carry Everything to God in prayer! O What peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, All because we do not carry Everything to God in prayer!