Colossians 1:14-19 – a prayer of Paul

 

God, fill Your people

with the knowledge of Your will,

so we’ll have the spiritual wisdom

and understanding we need.

 

May we live lives worthy of You, Lord.

 

May we please You in every way:

bearing fruit in each good work,

growing in our knowledge of You,

being strengthened

through Your glorious might

with the power we need.

 

May we have the ability

to be patient and endure,

giving joyful thanks to You, Father,

for You have qualified us

to share in Your gifts

with all Your people

in Your kingdom of light,

for You have rescued us

from the clutches of darkness,

and You have brought us

into the kingdom of Your beloved Son

in Whom we have been redeemed –

in Whom we have been forgiven.

 

Mary Harwell Sayler

from the Book of Bible Prayers 

 

 

 

 

A prayer request gets a “no”

Mark 10:35-40

James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
asked Jesus if He would do for them
whatever they asked!

So Jesus said, “And what do you want Me
to do for you?

They told him that, when His kingdom
comes in glory,
they want to sit beside Him – one
on the right, the other on the left.

But Jesus said,
“You do not know what you’re asking,”

and He questioned if they would be able
to drink the cup of suffering He must drink
or be baptized with what He must bear,
and they said, “We can!”

Then Jesus said, “You may drink
the cup I must drink and you may be baptized
with which I Am to be baptized,
but to place you by My right side or My left
is not My place to give.
That is for those
for whom it has been prepared.”


© 2015, Mary Harwell Sayler prayer-a-phrased today’s reading in Mark with the help of translations provided online by Bible Gateway.

…