Paul and his companions in Rome have heard that a Christian church has begun in Colossae and that the believers there are filled with love for others and are sharing the gospel with those around them. He is writing this letter to encourage them in their faith and to warn them about false doctrine.
Because he and his friends have heard of these believers, they constantly keep them in their prayers. "For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you." (Colossians 1:9a) We ought to be praying for the believers everywhere. It's natural that we would pray for our own local church, but like Paul we should also pray for churches around the world. We should pray for believers we have never even met and are not likely to meet, for they are facing the same struggles in life as we are, and believers in some areas of the world are risking their lives by proclaiming the name of Christ.
We don't have to wonder what we should ask God on behalf of other believers. We can use Paul's example and pray for them in the same way he prays for the believers at Colossae.
First he asks the Lord to increase their ability to know His will. "We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives." (Colossians 1:9b) The Lord Jesus promised that after He returned to the Father the Holy Spirit would come to indwell believers. The Spirit's role is to teach and guide us. "But when He, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify Me because it is from Me that He will receive what He will make known to you." (John 16:13-14) The Lord Jesus communicates to us through the Holy Spirit, so Paul prays that the believers will be sensitive to the guidance of the Holy Spirit and will continually grow in their knowledge of Christ.
He prays that the people of Colossae will live lives that honor the Lord. "So that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please Him in every way." (Colossians 1:10a) Paul wants to see them living in ways that lift up the name of Christ. We owe Him that for all He's done for us, plus living godly lives brings others into the light of Christ. If we don't look anything like Christ, we aren't going to be able to lead anyone to Him.
Paul wants the church members to do good works. Christ did good works on the earth and we should too. "Bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God." (Colossians 1:10b) The better we know the Lord, the more we want to treat our fellow man as He would. This is God's will for us, as Paul said to the church at Ephesus, "For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (Ephesians 2:10)
He asks the Lord to give them strength to have patience and endurance in a world that is opposed to the truth. "Being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience." (Colossians 1:11) I don't know about you, but I'm tired right now. I'm tired mentally, physically, and emotionally. But we don't have to be tired spiritually. There is no limit to the power available to us through our Lord. Like athletes who build endurance through physical training, we can build spiritual endurance through the training that comes by maintaining a close relationship with the Lord---by daily being in the Scriptures, by communicating with Him in prayer, and by being sensitive to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The way we maintain satisfying friendships with people around us is by staying in close contact with them, and this is the same way we can maintain a satisfying relationship with Christ.
Why should we do all these things: learn about the Lord, honor Him with our lives, perform good works, and build spiritual endurance? Because we owe Him our gratitude, and these are ways we can show Him our thankfulness for leading us out of darkness into the light. "And giving joyful thanks to God the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of His holy people in the kingdom of light. For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." (Colossians 1:12-14)
While we were still in our sins, we were living in the blackest darkness even if we didn't realize it. Christ reached in and pulled us out, and now we have a glorious future ahead of us, and we owe Him our thanks. We don't have to live in darkness any longer. We don't have to pay for our sins and mistakes. We don't have to face a fearsome judgment. Christ gave everything He had to rescue us. Honoring Him with the way we live our lives isn't too much to ask in return for all He's done for us.
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