Filling the Bowls

“Can I take you out for coffee soon?” I asked a friend recently.

“Um, sure,” she responded, caught off guard that I came up to her as her Bible study group was leaving the room.  I knew the timing was bad, but truth be told, I was desperate.  Lola is known for praying and I urgently needed another person to help pray me through a series of trials and challenges.

Lola is one of many people I cherish in my life that pray.  I mean pray.  They don’t necessarily use nice, flowery clichés or words so big I need to be armed with a dictionary.  I’m talking about talking, to their Father.  Regularly.  They just can’t help but talk to Him.  He’s their Daddy after all and their hearts grow void and desolate if they go too long without chatting a bit with Him or just sitting to listen to what He has to say.

Colossians 4:2 says, “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” 

I’m grateful to be surrounded by such incredible people who devote themselves to prayer.  They inspire me to do the same, but mostly I’m challenged to do so because I’ve seen the tremendous, unspeakable effects of prayer.  Revelations 5:8 talks about the “golden bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of the saints.”  Let’s devote ourselves to filling those bowls.