Day 275: The importance of prayer – Colossians 1 vs 3 – 9

3 We always pray for you, and we give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 4-5 For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people, which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven. You have had this expectation ever since you first heard the truth of the Good News. 6 This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace.

7-8 You learned about the Good News from Epaphras, our beloved co-worker. He is Christ’s faithful servant, and he is helping us on your behalf. He has told us about the love for others that the Holy Spirit has given you. 9 So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. Colossians 1:3-9 from New Living Translation paraphrase (English Standard Version link)

After hearing the news that many people in Colossae had believed on Jesus Christ for salvation what did the apostle Paul say that he and Timothy had been doing? (Vs 3 & 9)

They had prayed continually for the new disciples. For Christians, prayer isn't a mysterious or mystical experience, it's simply talking to our heavenly Father. In vs3 they were saying 'thank you' to God for how these people's live had been changed, and in vs9 they asked God to give the new disciples wisdom and understanding so they would know more and more of how God wanted them to live. Prayer is practical. It's the way we express gratitude to God as well as our dependency on Him. Notice too how straight forward Paul's prayers were. We don't have to use long theological words when we pray. So what was it that Paul had heard about these people that made him so joyful - and prayerful? (vs 4-5)

It was the combination of their faith in Jesus Christ AND the love they were showing to one another. Those two things should always go together and are good evidence of true conversion. The verses also show that their faith and love was brought about through hearing the 'Good News' – which is what the word gospel really means. The gospel tells what God has in store for those who believe in Jesus, namely, eternal life that has been reserved for them in heaven. The implication is that this eternal life is being safely and securely kept for them. The Colossians now knew that, because Jesus had died for sinners, they were a forgiven people and need no longer fear facing God. Death was no longer a doorway to destruction. And what is it in vs 6 that makes this good news for us as well?

It’s a message for the whole world! It had started to spread all over the world even in the days Paul wrote this letter. Colossae was in Asia minor, the area we know today as Turkey. So what had begun in Jerusalem was going to other lands. In their case one of Paul's helpers, a man named Epaphras, had brought the message to their city. What an encouragement this should be for us to pray for Christians today who are going to places where there are people who have still not heard the good news. It's a message that changes lives as no other message on earth can do.

So how do we measure up to the Christians at Colossae. Paul says they had ‘a confident hope’ because of their faith in Christ. They were living in a state of expectation. The good news excited them. They were also showing love to all of God's people. Sometimes when we've been a Christian for many years we may lose a sense of the thrill of this message that first gave us the hope of eternal life. But we can pray too and ask God to stir up our love for Jesus and for His people. And we can also pray for new converts we hear of through report backs from missionaries. Prayer is not a meaningless ritual – it's conversation with the living God who is our Father in heaven.