Wrapping it up...

Isn't this picture cute? This is my NIcholas about 7 years ago!

I finished reading Colossians today. (I have been reading the Bible, backwards, a little at a time. I started in 2001, and have just made it to Colossians...so you see how s l o w I am going.)

As Paul was wrapping up his letter to the church, in the last 12 verses, three phrases stood out to me.

(v8) "that you may know about our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts"

(v12) "He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God"

(v18) "Remember my chains"

I thought about, how often, if circumstances are less than ideal, we often want to hide our circumstances. I know, between my mom and I , we often find ourselves "sparing" each other, so we will not cause the other person concern or fret. But knowing the circumstance lends itself be to open to encouragement. On the other hand, there are many around us, that if we truly knew their circumstance, we would jump to encourage their hearts. So perhaps...we should just focus on encouraging, whether we know or not.

I thought about wrestling in prayer. What does that look like? Sound like? Do I wrestle in prayer for others? Do I feel so strongly about something that I would want spend the time wrestling in prayer about it? Why is wrestling necessary? Jacob did it. Epaphras does it for brothers and sisters in the church of Colosse.

And remember my chains..... bondage. Something from which someone needs deliverance.... look at them, with some compassion, rather than frustration, that they are in chains, and perhaps need some encouragement and some wrestling prayer.

So then I asked myself:

Who do I need to encourage in heart?
Who do I need to wrestle for in prayer?
And who do I need to remember is in chains?

Thoughts to fuel my prayer time...