Alexa, Amazon's version of Siri, is now able to help Christians deepen their relationship with God and grow in their faith through the Abide Flash Briefing skill. The process is simple: every morning, users simply need to ask Alexa, "What's my flash briefing?" to hear a daily, two-minute prayer provided by Abide, the Christian meditation and prayer app.
"We live very busy, hectic lives that make it difficult to find a moment to pray and be still with God," said Neil Ahlsten, CEO and co-founder of Abide. "The Abide Flash Briefing provides a quick prayer that can help believers re-focus their mind and find their place of peace when surrounded by all the noise they experience every day."
He added, "Millions of people use Alexa to help them in their daily lives from creating shopping lists, ordering a pizza and listening to music," said Ahlsten. "But through the Abide skill with Alexa, she can now also help individuals do the most important thing - speak about and meditate upon the Word of God."
The Abide Flash Briefing is available for use through any of the Amazon Echo family products enabled with Alexa.
Ahlsten said that while technology is often frowned upon for the way it has changed the world, Alexa and the Abide app are "providing a better opportunity for believers to use this technology to have a deeper relationship with God and grow in their faith."
"We now have more resources and opportunity which creates an endless amount of possibility," he said.
The Abide app, which is available for download on iTunes and Google Play, was created by Carpenters Code, a fellowship of technologists from Google, Tesla, Ebay, Microsoft, and other firms formed in 2014.
On their website, the creators say they are "seeking to use their gifts to bring people closer to God." They encourage users to meditate on a daily basis, as doing so "connects and empowers our minds and hearts in Jesus" and "helps us live with the peace and purpose of Christ."
Ahlsten previously shared how he left a high-powered job at Google to start Carpenters Code after feeling called by God to apply technology to Christian faith.
"God put on my heart that the church in general was missing where technology was going and how it was being used," he said, explaining his purpose in life "is to be in a posture of listening, to be obedient to what God is telling me to do, and to do what is right."
In a recent blog post, Abide shares seven other echo skills Alexa possesses to help individuals build up their Bible knowledge, including YouVersion, Saints Quotes, Faith Heroes, and more.
