Shifting Prayer Toward God's Desires

Too often when I pray, I am asking for health, healing, blessings either for me or others. I was reminded this morning of what Paul prayed. Even in his trials, he "shifted his prayer toward what God desired" not what he desired. The devotional referred to Colossians 1:9-14. I am listing these thoughts from the devotional to remind me how to pray for what God desires: 

1. To be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.
2. To walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, pleasing Him in all ways. 
3. To bear fruit in every good work. 
4. To increase in the knowledge of God. 
5. To be strengthened with God's power so I can remain steadfast.
5. To joyously give thanks for all God has done for me. 

Lord, I pray for all of the above in my life today and in the future. I pray for Your Almighty will in my life. Amen!

JOY

Joy

I love to wake up in the mornings and quote Psalm 118:24, "This is the day the Lord has made; I will rejoice and be glad in it."  However, to rejoice, I need true joy in my heart.  So, what is joy?

J esus
O ver
Y ou

Jesus over you!
Showing a love that's true.
He's found everyday; everywhere!
In the heart, in breathe, and in the air. 
He is the Joy that fills the soul;
The One who makes you whole.
Directing and showing the way;
Controlling the day!
Jesus! Alive in Spirit;
A gift to embrace and inherit.
Before all and in all;
Picking you up when you fall. 
A joy!
Who can destroy?
A Joy that's true;
Jesus! Over you.

"He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together."  Colossians 1:17

The Model Prayer

     As I was reading my IN Touch devotional I came across good insight on how to pray.  Most all of us, at some time or the other, feel like we really do not know how to pray and what to pray for in our lives or the lives of others.   The author refers us to Luke 11:1 when even one of Jesus’ disciples said to Jesus, “…Lord, teach us to pray…”
     The writer of the devotional tells us that “when we use Scripture to speak to the heavenly  Father, our conversation contains His own divine authority.”  The author gives us some scripture references:
    
     (NIV) Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
     (NIV) Colossians 1:9-14   ⁹ For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,¹⁰ so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, ¹¹ being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, ¹² and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you  to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. ¹³ For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

The writer provides bullet points on what Paul prayed for the Colossian church:

     Understand God’s plan for their lives
     Conduct themselves in a manner worthy of Christ and pleasing to Him
     To bear fruit in every good work
     To grow in the knowledge of God
     To be strengthened according to His power
     To walk in gratitude

     *Above taken from In Touch – August 2014 publication- Devotional for August 22 and weekend version

      After reading this as I sat in “A Friendly Shade” I had to go back to what I consider the perfect model prayer given to us by Jesus himself in Matthew 6 and the advise He gave:

       ⁶ But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.⁷ But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.⁸ Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.⁹ After this manner therefore pray ye:
     Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.¹⁰ Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.¹¹ Give us this day our daily bread.¹² And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.¹³ And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.