I love how the Message Bible makes the Bible so conversational and relatable, especially when it comes to talking about prayer. In Eph 6:18, right after talking about the armor of God, prayer is mentioned as essential ingredient in victorious living. The Message Bible says “Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other’s spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out. I love that! Stay alert, and encourage one another so no one loses hope. We should be praying for our families, our spouses and our children, but also our extended family, our brothers and sisters, our parents, and other relatives, etc. When we pray for each other, we keep each other’s spirit’s up! Through our prayers we can encourage our own family, but also our brothers and sisters in Christ! We don’t want any one in our family to fall behind or drop out, and certainly we don’t want any other of our Christian brothers or sisters to be so discouraged that they give up. Do you realize that your prayers can be so effective? Let’s pray those kind of encouraging prayers. Be vigilant about praying for your family, and the family of God. We can pray without ceasing and bless those we love. Let’s do that today. Father, in the name of Jesus, we lift up our families. We pray for our parents, our siblings, and ask you to bless and guide them today. We lift up our spouses and our children and ask you to bless our home, and keep all those we love from losing hope. We also pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ. Help us to be a light in the darkness, and win our world to Jesus. In Jesus Name, AMEN.
A good idea today and every day!