Praying for Each Other

Colossians 1: 9 – 12 (NIV): 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 began this letter by telling the people at the church at Colosse that he thanked God for them. When we pray for one another, we should begin the same way, being thankful. God has given us people in our lives to support us, pray for us, minister to us, encourage us, to befriend us, and to help us. We wouldn't last a day without our friends and family, and we should feel thankful that God has given them to us. We also have people to which we minister, as Paul did here, and we are thankful for them as well.

Now, in these verses, Paul prays that God fill them with the knowledge of his will, and that they be given spiritual wisdom and understanding. Our main desire for each other should be that we know the truth about God, and what he desires from us. Think about it, what is more important – to have good health or to know the truth about eternal life? To be financially successful or to be in the center of God's will? Some men brought a bed-ridden, crippled friend to Jesus in Mark 2. Jesus looks down at him and says, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Being right with God is more important than anything else.

We tend to pray for each other's health and success, and that's understandable, but Paul prayed for wisdom and maturity. Paul prayed that they would learn the truth. Paul is showing what is most important. Do you pray that your loved-ones grow in their faith and understanding?

Next Paul prays that they use their knowledge to live for God every day. He wants them to please God with their lives and actions. When Christians are growing in their faith, they will produce fruit for the Kingdom.

Paul prays that their endurance will grow. Paul was not praying that they go through trials, but he prayed that those trials would lead to endurance. When we pray for others, we should pray that the storms that come into their lives drive them toward God and not away from him. We pray that they feel God's presence in good times and bad. Some of our best growth as Christians comes in our darkest days.

He reminds them that we have all of the power that created the universe and raised Jesus from the dead at our disposal. As we grow in our knowledge and faith, we find that we have all the strength we need for whatever we encounter.

Finally, Paul prayed that they be thankful people, full of joy and secure in their faith. When we pray for each other, this is a great example of how to do so.