Further Instructions

Colossians 4:2-6

2Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. 4Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. 5Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

I think that this sums up many aspects of prayer. I know that since I have devoted myself to prayer that I am more aware of what God is wanting me to do with my life. Pray for the ministries of God. He wants us to pray that we can proclaim the word of God. God is commanding us to proclaim the word of God!! Ok I will!!!

Verse 5 is what really caught me. Be wise in the way that you act towards outsiders. We need to be aware of all of our actions all of the time. People should be able to see Jesus in us without even speaking to us. We should be "dripping" with Jesus. We are to make the most of every opportunity that we have with everyone to make sure that we show Jesus. In our conversations with non-believers!! Verse 6 tells us to make sure that our conversations should always be clean and appropriate. I know many Christians who live a "double life." Cool and worldly with their worldly friends and prim and proper with their Jesus friends. God is watching always. He knows your heart and your actions. We should make ALL of our conversations and actions to his Glory.

Prayers of a Babe

I had the most wonderful experience on Sunday morning. I was on my way to Sunday School and church with my children when my 8 year old daughter asked me about "that thing." Now I worship my Savior in a Baptist church and we share communion once a month. I explained to her in that communion was for people who have Jesus in their hearts. She looks at me and says " I want Jesus in my heart." ( I think that the tears started here!) I asked her why she wanted Jesus in her heart. She told me because he died on the cross for her sins and she wants to be able to see him in Heaven. We took a few minutes and went over a little bit more. I asked her if she still wanted Jesus in her heart. She told me that she was certain that she did! I told her that the next step was to confess to Jesus that she is a sinner and ask him to forgive her sins and to come into her heart. She informed me that she didnt really know "how to pray." I told her that she can do what I do. I have an open dialect with God all day. I talk to him like I am talking to you know. I was hold her little hand with tears running down my face ( please know that I was driving at the time!) I asked her if she wanted me to help her pray. She thought that she did. I led her in a few moments of prayer.

I tell you, leading your own child to the Lord is a powerful experience. I have led other children to Him as a camp counselor in the summers of my teenage years. This was so much more amazing than I could ever have imagined. I will thank God every day that my daughter will join me in Heaven one day. The Angels are rejoicing!

New additions to My ePray

First of all, thank you for choosing My ePray as your place of prayers. This community has grown by 25% in the past 3 months and is continuing to flourish.

We've listened and new capabilities to the MyePray website to help you with your prayers and get more and more people to communicate and pray together. Here are some of the new things you can do in My ePray:

Prayer Wall: The payer wall is a place you can share rich content with other such as words of wisdom, devotions, videos and pictures.

Public profile: This is the page where others see with your prayers and the prayers you have joined. Your prayer wall is also available on this page where you or anyone can post videos, links, text, or pictures.


Private profile: Your private profile is your own page where you can control your own My ePray and get easy access to all of it's features.


Friends in Prayer: Now you can request a friendship in My ePray, connect with others and track their prayers and their friends.

Discussions: A discussion forum where you can post any topic and have the community respond back to you.


Chat: A chat room where you can connect and chat live with other people in the My ePray community.

Bottom Bar: Now you can navigate the My ePray website easier with all of the important links at the bottom of each screen.

Geographical Affiliation: Let's you find out who is nearby that you can connect to.

Daily Inspiration: A daily inspiration quote or devotion from My ePray.

Community Updates: Community updates lets you find out what's new with the people you are connected to, which prayers they have asked for and which prayers they have joined.

Prayer Warriors: You can now track your status on MyePray to see how you have contributed to the community. Are you a prayer warrior? This is the place for you.

Thanks again for using My ePray and we hope that you continue to trust your prayers to the Lord and share them with this community. As always, you can either contact us through the "contact us" link on the website or use the survey to send us your requests.

God Bless you,

James

My ePray

Temple

1 Corinthians 6:19-20
"Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. Therefore honor God with your body."

WOW my body is the temple of God. God chooses to live in my body with me. He consumes my heart and my mind and my soul. He would chose to take on a body such as this to spread his word.

I think of this and realize that I need to take better care of Gods temple. We live in a world of excess. I think that we really need to reconsider what we are doing to and for our bodies. Is it really for the Glory of God. Would you walk into a church and defile it? Throw trash all around it? I wouldnt think of it!! Why would we do those things to our bodies that are the temple of God?

I challenge each of you that read this to think about what you are putting in or on your bodies. Are you honoring the Temple of God?

When you are..

Matthew 5:3-10 is typically known as the "Beatitudes." I have learned them a little different recently. I am going to call them the "When you are's"

The beatitudes are found at Matthew 5: 3-12

Blessed (When you are) are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed (When you are) are they who mourn,
for they shall be comforted.

Blessed (When you are) are the meek,
for they shall possess the earth.

Blessed (When you are) are they who hunger and thirst for justice,
for they shall be satisfied.

Blessed (When you are) are the merciful,
for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed (When you are)are the pure of heart,
for they shall see God.

Blessed (When you are)are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called sons of God.

Blessed (When you are)are they who suffer persecution for justice sake,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

When you are these different things, you will be rewarded. God will reward you when you take on these characteristics. Imagine knowing that you will receive mercy from God on the Day of Judgment just for being merciful to others!! WOW! I think that I am going to give it my all to show mercy to others!