A Late Winter Afternoon

Good Afternoon. Welcome to the first absolutely free Saturday afternoon that Blessed Mama has experienced in a very long while. The seed catalogs and several articles I've been waiting to read are beckoning to me. Yet it's been so long since we visited that I had to drop by for at least a little bit. I would like to spend a few moments in prayer together. This afternoon finds me praying the Word of God for you. The verses we will be praying over each other come from the book of Colossians the first chapter.

"To the saints (the consecrated people of God) and believing and faithful brethren in Christ who are at Colossae: Grace (spiritual favor and blessing) to you and [heart] peace from God our Father. We continually give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah), as we are praying for you, For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus [the leaning of your entire human personality on Him in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness] and of the love which you [have and show] for all the saints (God's consecrated ones), Because of the hope [of experiencing what is] laid up (reserved and waiting) for you in heaven. Of this [hope] you heard in the past in the message of the truth of the Gospel, which has come to you. Indeed, in the whole world [that Gospel] is bearing fruit and still is growing [by its own inherent power], even as it has done among yourselves ever since the day you first heard and came to know and understand the grace of God in truth. [You came to know the grace of undeserved favor of God in reality, deeply and clearly and thoroughly, becoming accurately and intimately acquainted with it.] ...9For this reason we also, from the day we heard of it, have not ceased to pray and make [special] request for you, [asking] that you may be filled with the full (deep and clear) knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom [in comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God] and in understanding and discernment of spiritual things-- that you may walk (live and conduct yourselves) in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him and desiring to please Him in all things, bearing fruit in every good work and steadily growing and increasing in and by the knowledge of God [with fuller, deeper, and clearer insight, acquaintance, and recognition]. [We pray] that you may be invigorated and strengtheed with all power according to the might of His glory, [to exercise] every kind of endurance and patience (perserverance and forbearance) with joy, giving thanks to the Father, Who has qualified and made us fit to share the portion which is the inheritance of the saints (God's holy people) in the Light. [The Father] has delivered and drawn us to Himself out of the control and the dominion of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in Whom we have our redemption through His blood, [which means] the forgiveness of our sins."

Chapter 2:1-2 "For I want you to know how great is my solicitude for you [how severe an inward struggle I am engaged in for you] and for those [believers] at Laodicea, and for all who [like yourselves] have never seen my face and known me personally. [For my concern is] that their hearts may be braced (comforted, cheered, and encouraged) as they are knit together in love, that they may come to have all the abounding wealth and blessings of assured conviction of understanding, and that they may become progressively more intimately acquainted with and may know more definitely and accurately and thoroughly that mystic secret of God [which is] Christ (the Anointed One)."

In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord I pray this,
Amen

Have you ever prayed the Word of God before? This portion of the Holy Scripture is one that I often pray over loved ones. As I lift those I love and care for in prayer, I substitute their name in place of the word "you" throughout these sections of Scripture. I will use the last part of the ending verses as an example "Heavenly Father, my concern is that "so and so's" hearts may be braced (comforted, cheered, and encouraged) as they are knit together in love, that "so and so" may come to have all the abounding wealth and blessings of assured conviction of understanding, ..." Praying for someone draws us close to them in our hearts and unexplainably knits our lives together. When I use the Word of God as a base, I can rest assured that the prayers offered are not offered amiss. My own opinion and human viewpoint can't get in the way when I am praying God's perfect Word. It makes me think of a line from an old commercial "When you care enough to send the very best..." The very best is definitely God's Word. Jesus is the Word and He is who God sent to save all of mankind. We'll never go wrong when we're grounded in the Word. Until later, Blessed Mama

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