Praying For You

Scripture: Colossians 1 9 So we have continued praying for you ever since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you a complete understanding of what he wants to do in your lives, and we ask him to make you wise with spiritual wisdom. 10 Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and you will continually do good, kind things for others. All the while, you will learn to know God better and better. 11 We also pray that you will be strengthened with his glorious power so that you will have all the patience and endurance you need. May you be filled with joy, 12 always thanking the Father, who has enabled you to share the inheritance that belongs to God’s holy people, who live in the light. 13 For he has rescued us from the one who rules in the kingdom of darkness, and he has brought us into the Kingdom of his dear Son. (Colossians 1:9-13 NLT)

Paul had not yet visited the church in Colosse. He knew them by their reputation and by reports from Epaphras, the man God had used to take the Good News to their city and help them become believers and Christ-followers. Paul cared for the Colossians, even though he hadn’t met them, and he prayed for them regularly.
• Wouldn’t it be encouraging to know that someone thinks of you often and actually prays for you every time they think of you? There’s a truth here that I believe God wants to develop more fully in each of us – that we pray for others each time we think of them.
• Would you join me in praying this prayer for each other? Think of me writing these words at my computer here in Oregon, USA, and I’ll think of you, somewhere in the world, reading these words on your computer, your phone, or printed on a piece of paper. You pray for me and I’ll pray for you! Here we go…! Let’s pray this prayer for each other;
• May our Good God give us a complete understanding of what he wants to do in our lives. May he reveal it in longings and desires, develop it in passion and purpose, and confirm it in faith-releasing ways.
• May God make us wise, not with the wisdom of the world, not with the wisdom of tradition or culture, but with the wisdom of the Spirit – the Spirit of Wisdom.
• May we live each day in ways that honor and please God. God has done so much for each of us! May we think, speak, act, and influence in ways that both honor him in our world and give him joy as he thinks of us.
• May we continually do good, kind things for others. May our understanding of God’s purpose, our growth in wisdom, and our determination to live God-honoring lives, make us kind, compassionate, and forgiving in all our interactions with others.
• And best of all, May we day by day learn to know our Father God better and better. In Jesus’ Name, Amen!