Hello,

Well here is something to chew on my friends. Recently I have been feeling as though my family is being spiritually attacked. I have been crying out in my heart what to do and how to make our family time more. Things are difficult in the communication aspect with my husband, and I long to see him on fire for Jesus. He is saved, but works early hours and is so tired that he doesn't have time or energy to put into that area of his life. He is a wonderful husband and father. So I have been trying to learn how to not nag, how to pray for him, how to communicate with him and not fight/nit pick at him...all those awesome marital things that come and happen slowly over time. I want to savour the word of God, and I want my family to savour the word of God. That can't happen unless we are spending time with Jesus in His word...

..so last night at our new bible study, we started studying Colossians 1:1-14 and WOW, those verses were meant for me to savour and to pray through this portion of scripture for myself and on behalf of my husband and children. It just really struck me on the head, and went straight to my heart that this was an answer from God just for me. How touching, I had to struggle not to cry there in front of these people whom I don't really know very well. I didn't want to get into explaining myself on such a personal level, not yet anyway.

How do we pray through scripture? Here is an example of how I do that...

verse 9 "....and I pray God that I not stop praying and asking You to fill me with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding...", I keep inserting I's etc to make it personal to me, and I would put my husband's name or say my husband if I were praying this for my husband.....and so on. I love praying through scripture and one of my goals is to pray for my husband in this way each day. When I do this, I end up praying this for myself and eventually for my kids too. I also find myself feeling more in touch with my hubby and it really strengthens my relationship with him. I just need God to help me be faithful in praying for my family daily. I choose my family.

So read the scripture below and make it personal for yourself.
Night.

Colossians 1:1-14

^"1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

²To the holy and faithful brothers in Christ at Colosse:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father.

Thanksgiving and Prayer

³We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, ⁴because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints— ⁵the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel ⁶that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth. ⁷You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, ⁸and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

⁹For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. ¹⁰And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, ¹¹being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully ¹²giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. ¹³For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, ¹⁴in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."