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3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, 5 because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ, 7 It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because you hold me in your heart, for all of you share in God’s grace with me, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. 8 For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus. 9 And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight 10 to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, 11 having produced the harvest of righteous that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.

12 I want you to know, beloved, that what has happened to me has actually helped to spread the gospel, 13 so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to everyone else that my imprisonment is for Christ, 14 and most of the brothers and sisters, having been made confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, dare to speak the word with greater boldness and without fear.

 

Paul is writing this letter from prison, and he is giving the recipients much hope and love. He is telling the people that even though he is imprisoned, by the fact that he is detained this is all for the spreading of the gospel. Paul encourages the new Christians to continue spreading the word of Christ and produce “the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God”.

 

I know I am not ever going to be standing on the corner preaching or sharing the gospel with others. How do we spread the love of Christ in our lives? One simple, beautiful thing we can do is pray for others. It has filled me with such hope in very challenging times in my life to know that others were praying for me and my family. How often has someone shared a concern and you offered to pray for them or their family or friend? This brings so much relief that we are all in the family of Christ and cared for by each other as Christ is caring for his church. Prayer brings hope to the person doing the praying and also to the person being prayed for in so many ways.

 

During our Sunday prayers we pray for a variety of needs and often mention individuals specifically. When you pick up one of the prayer list flyers on Sunday, put it in a place somewhere in your home where you and your family can see it every day. Usually, the refrigerator works. Pray as a family or individually for each person on the list often. Discuss with family members why we are praying for someone, if they are sick, maybe attend college, job seeking, etc. What we do does matter as it encourages family ties in Christ. Our children and grandchildren see that we really mean what we say in prayer. Let these prayers for others deepen our faith.

 

Dear Lord, Be with us in our daily lives and strengthen us and others with our prayers. Amen.

 

Cindy Dougherty

beachspch@aol.com

 

Alternative verses-Judges 14:1-20, Psalm 28

 

Prayer Concern - Farmers are gathering in the last of their harvests. Pray for all the food providers that they may have an abundant harvest to share with others.