Three Things to Pray for Fellow Christians

6-19-16

One of the most important aspects of the Christian life is prayer. There are many things and people that we can and should pray for, one of which is brothers and sisters in Christ. After all, we're family. We should consider and help each other however we can. No matter if it's the person sitting next to you in the pew on Sundays or a preacher in New Zealand you may never meet, one thing we can do every single day for all Christians is pray. Today let's think about a few specific things we can pray for our Christian family.

Paul describes how he prays about the congregation in Colossae:

"For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy" (Colossians 1:9-11).

Now let's look at three things specifically Paul mentions.

1.  Filled with the knowledge of His will. The word Paul uses for knowledge is from the Greek word epiginosko, which meant knowledge through experience. Paul didn't just want the Christians to study and have facts in their heads. He wanted them to be living out their Christianity in such a way that they would seek out and experience God's will.
2. Walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. Paul prayed that the Christians would lead godly lives by doing good and learning about God. True, works don't save us, but that doesn't mean that they aren't important. Christians should let their lights shine by what they do both in public and in private. The knowledge Paul speaks of here is again through experience. The closer we walk with God, the more we will learn about Him.
3. Strengthened will all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy. Being a Christian is not for the faint at heart. It takes bravery and grit to interact with people caught up in what we might consider the blacker sins, although any sin is breaking God's laws. It also takes courage to resist temptation in all its appealing forms. We must have patience to not give in to the things that look so good around us and to continue to do the good things we know that we should. But all of this should be done with joy. This word, from the Greek chairo, means calm delight or gladness. We don't have to be exuberant and bubbly on all occasions, but faith in God's goodness gives us an underlying comfort.

Although our prayers don't have to be scripted, I believe that these things are universally applicable to Christians. If Paul felt they were important enough to pray, and to write down that he prayed them specifically, we can take them as an example.

This world desperately needs God, and the only way to change the way things are is to get to changing. It's got to start with us. Each of us. Individually, then collectively. Let's lift each other up so that we can walk worthy of our calling.

How about you? Is there something specific you'd like to add that we pray for each other? Chime in!

May the Lord bless and keep you,

Heather