Colossians 1:9-12 - For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.
Paul reminds us here that one way we can support and strengthen our Christian brothers and sisters is to lift them up in prayer…simple advice…to pray for our friends. We can gather in our churches for corporate prayer…or kneel at our bedside to petition God for our friends. Like Paul…we want our friends to have the very best God has to offer…we want them to have rich …full lives…that are blessed and healthy. He… was worried too…this church in Colossae...they were beginning to lose their joy...and the loss of joy will degrade the power with which we speak of Christ. I am once again amazed at this man...who chose to spend the time locked up in prison...writing letters of encouragement to churches...to tell them that the content of their prayers should be considered thoughtfully.
He says that our prayers for others should not just be petitions of health...or healing...they should be requests for the father to fill us up with his knowledge. Our prayers for our friends should ask God to fill us with an understanding of his will for our lives...that we may bear fruit for the kingdom of God. Our prayers should invite the father to strengthen us…with God’s great might….and receive HIS power to have great endurance and patience and JOY. God has so much more to share with us than just simple health…or blessings of success.
I needed this lesson…for my prayers of late have been just petitions for health…or healing…or the solving of some financial problem. Oh how I need to change the way I pray for my friends…to ask God to give them the rich knowledge of his love for them. I need to ask God to bless them with his knowledge…to reveal his will for their lives…to allow them to tap into his mighty power and strength to do all things….endure all things…praise him through all things.
Father…I thank you once again for allowing Paul to write these great letters of wisdom. I thank you for the desire you have given me to study and read these wise words recorded by your humble servant. I ask …as I do most mornings…to forgive me once again. This morning I ask you to forgive me for not realizing that my prayers for healing…or health…or financial remedies…should also include a petition for growth and wisdom. Thank you…thank you..thank you for these great words that will not just ask you to heal or fix my friends immediate problems…but give them the knowledge to know your will and purpose for their lives…to be strengthened by your love for hem…to be driven by the joy that you plant deep in their hearts. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment