YES, I AM ALERT and AWAKE!

 

The first thing I read today in Colossians 4 was this;

"Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart." (Colossians 4:2, NLT)

The thankful heart is the easy part. Stephanie and I are blessed in so many different ways. She has one more day of students and she gets to RE-retire. I can't wait until we are together again on a more permanent basis. YES, I AM THANKFUL!

The first part of that verse talks about an alert mind. TODAY, that might be a little more difficult. I woke up at about 3am this morning, for no apparent reason, and could not get back to sleep. I even ended getting up at 5am and started my day. 

Why just lay in bed, right? 

I really don't know why I woke up so early. Once I did, I just couldn't get me my mind to shut down. I am not particularly worried about anything. YES, I have a full schedule. YES, we are still in the process of moving, mostly small stuff, and YES, I am STILL working on my Sermon for this week. YES, I had a busy schedule yesterday and YES, I have another busy schedule today. But, none of those things are particularly worrisome, it is just the normal stuff of every day life.

So, the solution?

Pray. Why? Because Paul told us to, Jesus told us to, and I love just spending time with the Lord. Even though things are busy, I still pray the same way Paul as he finished this letter to the church at Colosse.

"Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart. Pray for us, too, that God will give us many opportunities to speak about the mysterious plan concerning Christ. That is why I am here in chains. Pray that I will proclaim this message as clearly as I should." (Colossians 4:2-4, NLT)

EVEN THOUGH I will be a little sleepy today, I am praying for more opportunities to share God's wonderful message. AND YES, even though I am sleepy, I will be fine. 

ALWAYS pray that each of us will have an alert mind and pray that we will have opportunities within our busy schedule to speak about GOD's WONDERFULLY MYSTERIOUS plan. Paul was in chains because of speaking about that plan. I praise God we have no fear of that type of repercussions. I praise God I am FREE to SPEAK and to SHARE His wonderful message. 

While you are praying for me, I will be praying for you, that YOU will also have an alert mind and that you will have opportunities to share God's word, wherever you are!