For the past few weeks, I have been so encouraged and challenged by my time reading in the Bible. I try every day (although, it doesn't happen every day, but I still try) to take some time while Karis is napping, to just sit, read, journal, and meditate on the Bible. There are a few verses that I keep coming back to that God has been using so much in my heart and life. First is Colossians 1:9-12 and also 2 Peter 1:3-8 (I will share more about the 2 Peter verses in a later post).
With Colossians, I have been really challenged in the area of my prayer life by these words...
9 "And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding"
10 "so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God."
There are so many examples in the Bible of great prayers to pray for others. I was humbled by the fact that not only do I not pray like this for others, but often times I go without praying much for others at all. Clearly Paul had a huge heart for prayer for the people that he ministered to and cared for, and it is my desire to cultivate a heart like this for the people in my life. These verses have been so challenging for me, but I have seen growth in my prayers! God's grace for sure! We are about to do a book study at church based on the prayers of Paul, so I am very excited to dig deeper into the example of prayer that Paul gives us in the Bible. I will have to share my learnings on here once we begin (not until October). I am really looking forward to it!
So that's one way I have been challenged lately, how about you? Are there verses or an area that you feel challenged to grow in? How is the fight for growth and faith going? I would love to hear!
