Devoted to the One I Love

What a simple, yet great set of instructions we are given regarding our prayer life in Colossians 4:2 –

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.”

First we are told to be devoted to prayer.  That means we are displaying a strong affection or attachment to our prayer life.  We are dedicated, loyal and devout to our prayer life.  We are set apart for prayer.  That doesn’t mean we just pray when we can fit it in.  It doesn’t mean it is two sentences of, “Hi God! and “How are you?”.  Prayer is a time of communication, conversation and relationship growing.  We should want to be spending time in prayer with God who loves us.  Just like those conversations we long for with our new boyfriend or girlfriend.  We want to share everything with them.  We want to learn everything about them.  We can’t wait for those stolen moments to be together and talk.  Phone calls last for hours and are regular.  How come we don’t feel like that about our Lord who saved us and gave us eternal life?  How come we don’t feel that way about God who made the ultimate sacrifice for us?  Yet for someone we just met, we can’t wait to spend every moment with them.  We need to adjust our thinking and follow these instructions, because they will greatly benefit us.  Next it tells us to be watchful.  Watchful means that during our prayer time and after we are closely observant, alert; vigilant, aware, careful, not sleeping and awake.  Just like when the disciples fell asleep in the garden instead of spending just one hour in prayer with the Lord.  It meant a lot to Him and he was disappointed.  We are to be looking for something.  We are to be expectant.  It is after all a two way conversation.  Shouldn’t be expected God to converse with us?  Shouldn’t we be expected His thoughts on the subject we are praying about?  Shouldn’t we want to hear an answer?  After all He is the wisest source of knowledge and best provider there is.  Lastly we are instructed to be thankful.  We really truly should be thankful that the omnipotent and omniscient God is so loving, kind and merciful to us and wants to be a friend that converses with us regularly.  We should be truly thankful for whatever He allows in our lives.  It is all meant for good.

The Best Investment We Can Make

People good with their money will usually take some of their money and invest it in safe investments to earn some interest on their money.  They may buy land or stocks.  Of course as many of us have seen over the last few years some of the things we thought were safe and sound investments have turned in to major losses.  There is something else we can invest in that is even more important.  As good parents we should be investing in our children emotionally, physically and spiritually.  We should be spending time with them physically.  We should be encouraging them emotionally and teaching them spiritually.  The Bible takes this investing a step further.  Read Proverbs 13:22:

A good man leaves an inheritance to his grandchildren, but the sinner’s wealth is stored up for the righteous.

All of us love our kids, even when they drive us nuts.  So why not after we have spent years investing in them to help them have a good life as they grow up shouldn’t we be leaving them an inheritance to remember us by and help them out in the future when we are gone?  It just makes good common sense that when you love someone that you would want to help them in any way you can.  It’s interesting to note that this scripture makes the point leaving an inheritance helps to define us as a good parent or grandparent.  This inheritance can be in a variety of forms.  Maybe it is the obvious, money.  Maybe it is some land.  Maybe it is some prized possession or family heirlooms.  Maybe it is book that you have written full of the wisdom you learned living your life.  Maybe it is family history outline and photographs.  Even these sentimental things are a wonderful inheritance.  Not everyone has money that they can leave behind.  Things happen in life to destroy excess money.  However, we can leave something special to our children and grandchildren that will either help them in life physically, emotionally or spiritually.  The important thing is that they see through this inheritance gift your love and a reminder of what you were to them in their lives.  So start now thinking about how you can invest in your children and grandchildren after you are gone with an inheritance you have left for them.

In the Habit of Being Thirsty

When I am hot and thirsty, somehow over the years I have programmed myself to think that a nice glass of soda with ice will satisfy me.  My thirst will be quenched.  Unfortunately, the result isn’t always as good as I hoped.  The soda helps, but doesn’t really do the trick.  My habit of reaching for a soda is not really wise, when I am thirsty.  When I was young I should have trained myself to drink water, even if I didn’t prefer its taste in the beginning over soda.  Drinking water regularly may have been difficult, but it would have been better for me in the end.  My body would have been a whole lot healthier.

It is the same with our spiritual life.  Most humans have a tendency to reach for items that bring us pleasure.  We enjoy our hobbies and our friends, more than we enjoy spending time with God.  We enjoy a good adventure movie more than we enjoy reading our Bibles.  We enjoy our accomplishments in our careers more than our accomplishments in our work for the Lord.  In the end those choices will not be the best for us.  They are temporary pleasures that make us spiritually unhealthy.

David was running from King Saul and had ended up in the wilderness.  A place that was very dry and desolate.  While he was there he took the opportunity to pen Psalm 63.  His life was difficult and he had no clue how it would all end.  Yet, in this Psalm we see David’s wise heart.  He declared to us his habit of being thirsty for the Lord:

“1 God, You are my God; I eagerly seek You. I thirst for You; my body faints for You in a land that is dry, desolate, and without water. 2 So I gaze on You in the sanctuary to see Your strength and Your glory.”

What do you thirst for in this life?  Are you in the habit of wisely thirsting for the Lord?  Are you pleased by just seeing His strength and glory as you spend time looking at Him through His Word or His Spirit’s eyes?  You are in a dry, spiritually desolate place in this world.  This alone should cause you to thirst after the Lord.

Wisdom Not To Speak

On Newsweek’s website (http://www.newsweek.com/photo/2010/11/29/from-tony-hayward-to-mark-zuckerberg-ceos-who-say-too-much.html ) they have an article about public figures not knowing when they have said too much.  Here is one example:

“Oil was spewing into the ocean and floating toward fragile wetlands and out-of-work fishermen sat idle on the Gulf Coast while BP was trying, but failing, to stop the spill. Then Tony Hayward, the company’s CEO, tried to downplay the significance of the disaster, saying, “The Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean. The amount of volume of oil and dispersant we are putting into it is tiny in relation to the total water volume.” It turns out calling the largest accidental oil spill in history “tiny” was not the best choice of words. Nor was his later comment that he would “like his life back.” Hayward no longer has the CEO job, but he does have a $930,000 annual pension.”

Sometimes as humans we think we are smarter and wiser than we are.  We think we know it all or that we are indestructible.  We tend to speak before we really think through things.  We think we can predict the future.  So we end up saying a lot of unwise or stupid things.  In Job 18 a lot of talking took place between Job and his “close” friends.  At one point in their discussion one of the friends says to Job in chapter 18 verses 1 -3

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite replied: 2 How long until you stop talking? Show some sense, and then we can talk. 3 Why are we regarded as cattle, as stupid in your sight?”

Sometimes we just need to use some common sense and know when to stop speaking or not to even open our mouths.  We need to have wisdom to know when not to speak.  Only that come from spending time with God.  James 1:19 states,

“My dearly loved brothers, understand this: everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger,”

Proverbs 29: 20 says,

“Do you see a man who speaks too soon? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

Spend more time in God’s Word, spend more time praying and listening to God, spend more time with wise fellows Christians and you will gain common sense or wisdom to know when to not speak.

Devoted to the One I Love

What a simple, yet great set of instructions we are given regarding our prayer life in Colossians 4:2 –

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.”

First we are told to be devoted to prayer.  That means we are displaying a strong affection or attachment to our prayer life.  We are dedicated, loyal and devout to our prayer life.  We are set apart for prayer.  That doesn’t mean we just pray when we can fit it in.  It doesn’t mean it is two sentences of, “Hi God! and “How are you?”.  Prayer is a time of communication, conversation and relationship growing.  We should want to be spending time in prayer with God who loves us.  Just like those conversations we long for with our new boyfriend or girlfriend.  We want to share everything with them.  We want to learn everything about them.  We can’t wait for those stolen moments to be together and talk.  Phone calls last for hours and are regular.  How come we don’t feel like that about our Lord who saved us and gave us eternal life?  How come we don’t feel that way about God who made the ultimate sacrifice for us?  Yet for someone we just met, we can’t wait to spend every moment with them.  We need to adjust our thinking and follow these instructions, because they will greatly benefit us.  Next it tells us to be watchful.  Watchful means that during our prayer time and after we are closely observant, alert; vigilant, aware, careful, not sleeping and awake.  Just like when the disciples fell asleep in the garden instead of spending just one hour in prayer with the Lord.  It meant a lot to Him and he was disappointed.  We are to be looking for something.  We are to be expectant.  It is after all a two way conversation.  Shouldn’t be expected God to converse with us?  Shouldn’t we be expected His thoughts on the subject we are praying about?  Shouldn’t we want to hear an answer?  After all He is the wisest source of knowledge and best provider there is.  Lastly we are instructed to be thankful.  We really truly should be thankful that the omnipotent and omniscient God is so loving, kind and merciful to us and wants to be a friend that converses with us regularly.  We should be truly thankful for whatever He allows in our lives.  It is all meant for good.