Ladies Bible Study

I'm not sure if I've told you before, but I attend a ladies Bible study on Tuesdays.  We have a small group of women who come for prayer and study, and we've been in Revelation.  It's been pretty exciting!

Today the study was different, though.  My friend Judy leads it, but she was sick and couldn't make it.  I don't think that has ever happened before.  When I found out she wasn't going to be well enough to teach, she said I could go ahead and have the group pray as usual and then read some scripture and discuss.

Currently, our church is focusing on the book of Colossians as a daily reading.  So that's what we did in place of a study.  I had no idea what we would talk about, as I had not prepared anything.  All I knew is that we would read the book of Colossians and then discuss the things that grabbed our attention. 

It was a very special time, and we had a terrific discussion.  My favorite section of the book is the passage in Colossians 1:9-12 that says,

For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.

I like it because Paul says how he has prayed for the church, and this is how I ought to be praying not only for myself, but also for others.  I can be sure I'm praying according to God's will for others because this is what He wants for us:

1.  Be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.

2.  Walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him.

3.  Be fruitful in every good work

4.  Increase in the knowledge of God.

5.  Be strengthened with all might to be able to experience joy in suffering.

6.  Give thanks in all things because the Father has made us partakers of the inheritance.

We need these things prayed over our lives that we might become mature, and I encouraged the ladies to be praying this way for each other.  No matter what adversity we face, God can always answer this prayer with a resounding YES.