“Never stop praying” (1 Thessalonians 5:17 NLT)
”So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” (Hebrews 4:16 NLT)
“Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.” (Mark 11:24 NKJV)
Read it again…
…“Every time we pray for you our hearts overflow with thanksgiving to Father God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. For we have heard of your devoted lives of faith in Christ Jesus and your tender love toward all his holy believers. Your faith and love rise within you as you access all the treasures of your inheritance stored up in the heavenly realm. For the revelation of the true gospel is as real today as the day you first heard of our glorious hope, now that you have believed in the truth of the gospel.
This is the wonderful message that is being spread everywhere, powerfully changing hearts throughout the earth, just like it has changed you! Every believer of this good news bears the fruit of eternal life as they experience the reality of God’s grace.
Our beloved coworker, Epaphras, was there from the beginning to thoroughly teach you the astonishing revelation of the gospel, and he serves you faithfully as Christ’s representative. He’s informed us of the many wonderful ways love is being demonstrated through your lives by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.
Since we first heard about you, we’ve kept you always in our prayers that you would receive the perfect knowledge of God’s pleasure over your lives, making you reservoirs of every kind of wisdom and spiritual understanding. We pray that you would walk in the ways of true righteousness, pleasing God in every good thing you do. Then you’ll become fruit-bearing branches, yielding to his life, and maturing in the rich experience of knowing God in his fullness! And we pray that you would be energized with all his explosive power from the realm of his magnificent glory, filling you with great hope.
Your hearts can soar with joyful gratitude when you think of how God made you worthy to receive the glorious inheritance freely given to us by living in the light. He has rescued us completely from the tyrannical rule of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom realm of his beloved Son. For in the Son all our sins are canceled and we have the release of redemption through his very blood.” (Colossians 1:3-14 TPT)
Let’s get started on Step 1…
…Step 1: Probe the prayer under the light of the Holy Spirit.
Verses 3 through 8 are actually the prelude to Paul’s prayer which begins in verse 9. Look at the verses…
…“Every time we pray for you our hearts overflow with thanksgiving to Father God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. For we have heard of your and your tender love toward all his holy believers. Your faith and love rise within you as you access all the treasures of your inheritance stored up in the heavenly realm. For the revelation of the true gospel is as real today as the day you first heard of our glorious hope, now that you have believed in the truth of the gospel.
This is the wonderful message that is being spread everywhere, powerfully changing hearts throughout the earth, just like it has changed you! Every believer of this good news bears the fruit of eternal life as they experience the reality of God’s grace.
Our beloved coworker, Epaphras, was there from the beginning to thoroughly teach you the astonishing revelation of the gospel, and he serves you faithfully as Christ’s representative. He’s informed us of the many wonderful ways love is being demonstrated through your lives by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.
This prayer flows out of Paul’s love for the Colossian believers and his recognition of their devotion to the Gospel. Once again his thoughts of those for whom he is praying trigger “thanksgiving to Father God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Even with all of Paul’s many struggles (shipwrecked, snake bitten, possible issues with eyesight, etc.) and persecutions (beatings, imprisonments, rejection, etc.) his focus remained on his heavenly Father and other believers.
Paul took time to commend these believers on their “devoted lives of faith in Christ Jesus and your tender love toward all his holy believers.” He went on to elaborate on how he recognized their love for Jesus and how well they were representing him. He was pointing out that it was the power of the Gospel that changes people’s lives.
As you probe these verses take time to allow the Holy Spirit probe you. As I probed them I found myself asking…
…If Paul was hearing reports of my life would he hear that I was living a “devoted life of faith in Christ Jesus?”
…Would he hear of my “tender love toward all his holy believers?”
…Could he say that he was “informed of the many wonderful ways love is being demonstrated through my life by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit?”
Paul gave a reminder that the Gospel is timeless. It is just as powerful today as it was back in Paul’s day. It is this power that transforms lives. Its power is eternal and never changes or fades away. It will change your life if you will let it.
Next time we will dive into his prayer. Until then, let the Gospel have its way in your life. Allow the Holy Spirit to help you look closer at not only what has been said, but what still needs to be said pertaining to what Paul wrote as presented in…
…Eric’s Life Lesson # 485: Praying With Paul – Colossians 1:3-14: Part 2