Tag Archives: writing life challenge

Challenge Day 6

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Review. The Writing Life Challenge, running through the month of August, is a devotional challenge I created with the hopes of building an online community of people dedicated to encouraging each other daily and challenging each other to grow in our faith in Jesus. Each day involves a bit of Bible reading, thinking, and praying. While it’s running through the month of August, though, please don’t feel bound by time! If you come across this in the middle of the challenge or days, weeks, months, or even years later, feel free to complete the challenge and participate in it.

The first five days of the challenge had us exploring different aspects of prayer, and the next five will continue to do so.

Today’s Inspiration. One little verse, eight words—but it says so much. The first five days of the challenge were inspired by Colossians 4:2, and the next five days will be as well:

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. (NIV)

This week, we will continue exploring how to pray by asking the “five W questions,” beginning with who.

Box of colorful pins for a bulletin board. Photo text: Challenge Day 6, who to pray for. #writinglifeaugustchallenge

Today’s Challenge. Who are we to pray for? There are so many answers—so many Biblical answers—to this question that it can become a bit overwhelming. As I was searching for a list and references to give you, I came across a good place to start: the website What The Bible Teaches, an adaptation of R. A. Torrey‘s work (an evangelist, pastor, and theologian in the 19th and 20th centuries). In it, the webmaster cites several Bible verses related to praying for ourselves, for other Christians, for our Christian leaders and pastors, for converts of our own ministry, for the sick, for our children, and for our rulers.

Your task today is to explore at least one “people group” the Bible tells us to pray for, perhaps starting by reading the scriptures cited in the website above (you could also Google verses yourself or use a tool like Bible Hub). Then spend a few moments in prayer for someone you know who falls into that category, or for the group of people as a whole.

Today’s Participation. Comment below or create your own post in Instagram telling us what you read, what you learned, and who you prayed for. If you use Instagram, using the hashtag #writinglifeaugustchallenge in a public account will allow others participating in the challenge to find it. I can’t wait to see what you post!

Challenge Day 5

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Oil-wick lantern hanging on a wall. Photo text: Challenge Day 5, #writinglifeaugustchallenge

Review. Last week I kicked off the Writing Life Challenge! The purpose of the challenge is to build an online community of people dedicated to encouraging each other daily and challenging each other to grow in our faith in Jesus. You can read more about my vision for the challenge here. Each day of the challenge has a bit of Bible-reading and prayer—and, ideally, communication with each other in the form of blog comments or Instagram posts using #writinglifeaugustchallenge.

On Day 1, the challenge topic was Thankfulness & Prayer.
On Day 2, the challenge topic was Praise & Prayer.
On Day 3, the challenge was Watchfulness & Prayer (my favorite so far!)
On Day 4, the challenge was Devotion & Prayer.

Today’s Inspiration. We’re continuing with the same verse for our inspiration, Colossians 4:2:

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. (NIV)

Now that we’ve intentionally practiced using prayer to be thankful, to praise God for who he is, and to be watchful, and now that we’ve explored what it means to devote ourselves to something, we’ll take a step backward. We’ll examine how to pray, and take instruction from the best person to teach us this: Jesus.

Today’s Challenge. First, prepare to read God’s word by praying: pray that God will quiet your mind, help you to concentrate, help you to understand, and teach you what he wants you to learn today. Then read one or both of the accounts of the Lord’s Prayer in the gospels: Matthew 6:5-15, Luke 11:1-13.

As you read, write down things you notice about how Jesus instructs us to pray. Then dedicate a few minutes trying to pray as he instructs us to.

Today’s Participation. What did you notice or learn about how to pray as you read through the Lord’s Prayer? Tell us! Write about it in the comments below, or visualize it and write about it in your own Instagram post using the hashtag #writinglifeaugustchallenge. (I’ll see all posts made on public accounts, but not private accounts.)

Challenge Day 4

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Welcome to Day 4 of the Writing Life Challenge! My dream for this challenge is to start an online community of people dedicated to encouraging each other daily and challenging each other to grow in our faith in Jesus. If you’re just coming across the challenge, feel free to jump right in, either here or back at the very beginning (a very good place to start… Sorry. Sidetracked by a soundtrack in my head.)

Inspiration. The book of Colossians has been one of my favorite books of the Bible since my teen years. It’s full of advice for Christian living, and keeps giving advice right up until—and through!—the personal messages for individuals at the end. One of the instructional verses in the last chapter is Colossians 4:2, which says

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. (NIV)

Today we will consider what it means to devote ourselves to prayer.

Close-up of a hummingbird feeder. Photo text: Challenge Day 4, devotion and prayer. #writinglifeaugustchallenge

Challenge. Today it’s your turn to do a little exploration of the Bible on your own. You probably already have an idea of what the word devote or devoted means (personally, I can’t get the song “Hopelessly Devoted To You” from the Grease soundtrack out of my head), but do you know how it’s used elsewhere in the Bible? Could knowing that give you a better understanding of the way it’s used in this verse?

Your task today is to search for other places the word devote or devoted is used in the Bible. (If you’re not sure how to do this, a good place to start is to look up Colossians 4:2 in Bible Hub and look at the list of related verses.) Then, pick a few of these to read and consider what it means to devote yourself to prayer. While you’re at it, don’t forget to pray! Pray that God will help you understand what is meant in this verse and in the others you read.

Participate. When you’re done, tell us what you read and learned in the comments below. Or, if you’d rather, visualize it in an Instagram post using the hashtag #writinglifeaugustchallenge!