Read Colossians 4:5-6; Psalm 31:23-24, 119:1-2; Proverbs 3:5-6; Matthew 22:36-39

Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person. (Colossians 4:5-6)

Our desire, Father, is to be fully present—all there—wherever we are. We want to live to the hilt every situation we believe to be Your will. You have placed us in the twenty-first century, with our specific families, in our particular neighbourhoods. May we live here, now, fully, completely, passionately. In our occupations, may we fulfil wholeheartedly our calling there as well. You have given us the joy of the fellowship of the saints in a local church. May we make the most of every opportunity to welcome others into it.

Lord God, deliver the body of Christ from becoming a museum full of aging memories—dusty, dull, irrelevant, and out of touch. At the same time, keep us attached to our past—to the great truths of Your timeless Word and to the great music of the ages. In all of this, may we stay in touch with our world today. The needs are enormous and numerous. Help us know how to build bridges across the moat that separates us from a needy world, so that we become a point of comfort and authenticity, a place of hope, a harbour of relief, and rescue for those who have lost their way.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Excerpted from The Prayers of Charles R. Swindoll, Volume 2, Copyright 2010 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.