August 8 Daily Devotional

28 Jul August 8 Daily Devotional

A SERIES OF DEVOTIONS BASED ON PAUL’S LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS

PRIMING THE PUMP

Colossians 1:9-12  “We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, 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, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 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.”

Perhaps you grew up on a farm of in a rural area where there was no electricity.  In order to pump water from a well or cistern you had to use a hand pump.  If you had not pumped for some time, you knew that before the pump would work you had to prime it.  You did that by pouring water into the pipe of the pump.  That water softened the rubber gasket so that it would seal around the pipe and create a vacuum.  Then the pump would pump water from the well or cistern.

Sometimes your prayer life needs “priming.”  Today’s devotional verses can serve that very purpose.  As Jesus taught His prayer to the Disciples, so the words of St. Paul here in verses 9 – 12 can serve as a model for your prayer life.  Looking at the prayer Paul and Timothy prayed for the Colossians, you can pray God to fill your heart and life with His will.  Afterall, this is quite similar to the words in the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy will be done. . .”  Note that St. Paul includes in this petition that the Holy Spirit will fill you with wisdom and understanding.  This wisdom and understanding, is not intellectual, but to enable you to live a “. . . life worthy of the Lord and please Him in every way.”

The next portion of the prayer is that God would enable you to “bear fruit in every good work, grow in the knowledge of God, (and) be strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience.”  This is asking the Holy Spirit to lead and guide you in your life of sanctification, that is, living a life that gives glory, honor, and praise to God.

Finally, capturing the thought of the last portion of Paul’s words, that you would pray “ . . . giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of His holy people in the kingdom of light.”

I pray this primes your prayer pump!

Prayer:  Lord, I know You are ready to hear my prayers and simply ask that You send Your Spirit to prime me with prayer thoughts.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Eternal Spirit of the living Christ,

I know not how to ask or what to say;

I only know my need, as deep as life,

And only You can teach me how to pray.

Come, pray in me the prayer I need this day;

Help me to see Your purpose and Your will—

Where I have failed, what I have done amiss;

Held in forgiving love, let me be still.

Come with the strength I lack, bring vision clear

Of human need; O give me eyes to see

Fulfillment of my life in love outpoured,

My life in You, O Christ; Your love in me.

(LSB 769)