It's Halloween on Friday (it will also be Reformation Day, but our local shops don’t seem to be stocking too many Martin Luther outfits). Whether you think the festival is horrendous, harmless, or somewhere in between, why not make sure you’re praying about it… here are five pointers from Colossians:
1. Thank God for a kingdom that is not dark. Satan is real, and he’s not a six-year-old wearing a red hairband with horns on and carrying a pointy fork. He’s the opposite of God; he’s dark, and there is no light, no good, no joy in him. And it’s his power from which God has liberated us: “he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves” (Colossians 1 v 13). Thank God that you have a King who loves you, having been rescued from one who hates you.
2. Pray for increasing Christ-centred perfection within your church. We might disagree over how exactly to respond to Halloween. But let’s pray that your words to others about Halloween, and your thoughts to yourself about it, would be helpful to Christ’s people in making them more Christ-like—that you would “proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ” (1 v 28). Whatever else happens on 31st October 2013, pray it will be a day when Christians grow towards perfection.
3. Thank God that evil is defeated.
The only weapon the devil has is to point at a sinner’s breaking of God’s law, and demand God’s just punishment of them. But when Christ died, “he took it [the punishment for law-breaking] away, nailing it to the cross … [and so he] disarmed the powers and authorities” of evil (2 v 14-15). Praise God that, in Christ’s death, the devil has lost his claim on you, and has nothing to accuse you of. Praise him that, powerful though the devil is, and successful as he has been at convincing westerners he doesn’t exist so he can work unmolested, he is a disarmed loser.
4. Pray against a religious “Don’t, don’t, don’t” attitude. It’s easy to see Halloween as a “thou shalt not” moment, where we simply shun what the world says is fun. And then it’s easy to look down on the world, because we’re superior, purer, better. That’s worldly religion, though — “’Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!’ … based on human commands and teachings” (2 v 21-22). This Halloween, ask God to help you to avoid being defined by what you don’t do and aren’t like, and find ways to show people what you do do because you are a follower of Christ.
5. Ask God to give you opportunities to share the gospel, and the wisdom to take them. “Be wise in the way you act towards outsiders; make the most of every opportunity” (4 v 5). Today is an opportunity; most of us will have a chance to show and to share the news that God rescues people from the dominion of darkness. The apostle Paul asked for prayer “that I may proclaim [Christ] clearly” (v 4)—if he needed prayer to do that, then we certainly do!
This blog post was originally posted on The Good Book Blog on October 31st 2013.
Carl is Editorial Director at The Good Book Company and is a member of Grace Church Worcester Park, London. He is the best-selling author of The Garden, the Curtain and the Cross and God's Big Promises Bible Storybook, and also serves as series editor of the God's Word for You series. Before joining TGBC, he worked as a journalist and then as a teacher, and pastored a congregation in Hull. Carl is married to Lizzie, and they have two children. He studied history at Oxford University.