Watchful and Thankful

I have a question: How do we show people that we love them?

Well, there are a few ways. We can buy them a gift or give them a hug. We can also just tell them, “Hey, I love you.”

But one of the greatest ways that we can show someone we love them, is by spending time with them! If I loved you, but never called you or texted or came to visit you, would you feel very loved?

No! Probably not. Or what about my wife. If every day I came home from work and played video games or watched TV, do you think she’d feel loved? No! Of course not.

If you asked my wife, when do you feel most loved by Jarren. You know what she would probably say? - Whenever he spends time with me! Whenever we watch a movie together or when we play with Rosie or play a board game.

Spending time with our loved ones is the best way we can show our love!

Did you know that the same is true of God? It is!

The best best best way you can show your love for God is by spending time with him!

How do we do that?

This month, we are going to be going through a series called BLAST OFF. We’ll be talking about how you can Blast Off in your relationship with God, making it greater than ever before.

During today’s chapel, I want to talk about one way we can spend time with God. A way that you’ve probably never heard of before. It’s called prayer!

Did you know that praying is spending time with God? Absolutely! Making time to pray to God is a perfect way to show your love for him.

And guess what. God loves talking to you so much, that he doesn’t want us to pray only every once in a while. No. Look at what Paul tells us in the book of Colossians.

Paul was a man who wrote many different letters to churches. He wrote one to a church in a city called Collosae. This is what he said:

New International Reader’s Version Chapter 4

2Spend a lot of time in prayer. Always be watchful and thankful.

Let’s break it down.

Paul says that God wants you and I to pray. And pray often! Spend a lot of time in prayer! That means we shouldn’t just pray to God when we need something or when we are upset. But we should pray all the time.

Did you know that you can pray to God no matter where you are or what you’re doing!? It’s true! Also, did you know that you can pray to God even without closing your eyes.

It’s true. All you have to do is direct your thoughts to him. While you’re in class. On the bus. Playing on the playground. God hears us when we pray. And if we want to show him that we love him and follow his commands, we should pray often!

The second thing that Paul tell us is to be watchful.

We need to pray that God would help give us eyes to see danger. You may not realize it, but there’s a lot of different things that attempt to come between you and God. There’s things that attempt to steal your love and your time away from Him. We need to be watchful and diligent that we don’t allow that to happen. But instead, our priority is time with God.

Finally, God tells us to be thankful. Whenever we pray, we can ask God to help us and ask him for things that we need, but we also need to be thankful! So often God has provided for us, and we don’t even thank him! God gives us things and we don’t even realize it! We should pray and give him thanks for his goodness.