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!

Walking in the Light

1 John 1:5-10
5This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all[b] sin.

8If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

What does it mean to walk in God's Light? Walking in God's light means to follow the way that he has planned for us. Walking in His light also means to walk the way that is good and just. We know that there is a right and wrong. Right=light, wrong=darkness. This passage of the Bible tells us that if we walk in the light we can find fellowship with other Christians. Fellowship with other Christians is an intricate part of growing in God. He wants us to do what is right and what he commands us to do so that we can continue to grow in him.

Verse 8 tells us, truly, we can lie to ourselves and convince ourselves that we haven't done anything wrong. However, deep down inside, we know that we have sinned. There is no sense in hiding it. GOD SEE IT ALL!

Verse 9 also tells us that if we confess our sins he will forgive us. This means that we can come back to walking favorably in his light. I know that I have sinned, I also know that because I have confessed my sins, He has forgiven me and I am walking in his light.

I dont know about you, But to know that I can tell God that I have sinned and acknowledge that what I am doing is wrong, and I change it, I can be back in His favor. Thank GOD!! Walking in his light is far better than walking in the darkness of the world!

God commands me to.......

Three times in the book of John does God command us to love one another.

John 13:34 | A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; even as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
John 15:12 | This is my commandment, that ye love one another, even as I have loved you.
John 15:17 | These things I command you, that ye may love one another.

I am starting to think that this is a commandment that we should not take lightly. God is passing down a commandment just as he did with the 10 Commandments. I dont know about you but if my Heavenly Father commands me to hold loving one another as high as do not kill, I think that I might listen.

I say all of this because I have started to see changes in my life surrounding this command. I have been trying to make an effort to be kind and to love everyone that I come into contact with. I am human, therefor this is a little tricky! I am trying to find peace with everyone.

I will say that I think that its harder with those who surround me daily. However, God is commanding me to love everyone! With NO exception.