1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 2 To the holy and faithful brothers in Christ at Colosse: Grace and peace to you from God our Father.
3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints— 5 the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel 6 that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
9 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. 10 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, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
—The words of the Apostle Paul from Colossians 1:1-14
“We’re praying for you!”
When you face some crisis in your life, those words can offer genuine comfort. It’s always good to know that someone has determined to pray for you. In my mind, it means even more when two or more people agree to pray together in your behalf.
Such was the case in the Scripture passage at the beginning of this blog post. Notice that the writer, the Apostle Paul, tells the believers gathered at the church in Colosse that “...we have not stopped praying for you...” In case you’re wondering who else the “we” refers to, you only have to look back at the first verse where Paul identifies his partner, in this case, as his “son in the faith,” Timothy. So, Paul and Timothy have agreed together to spend time in prayer for the Christians at Colosse.
My question for you today: “Have you found a prayer partner with whom you can pray for others?” That partner could be your husband or wife. It could be your very good friend. It could be someone at your church with whom you have formed a prayer pact. It doesn’t matter who it is. But, it seems very important to find someone with whom you can agree in prayer.
In Matthew 18:19-20, Jesus told his disciples,
19 “Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.”
Yes! Let me emphasize—It seems quite important to find someone with whom you can agree in prayer. Oh! Of course you should continue to pray on your own, as well. But, something very powerful happens when you can join with someone and pray together about those things that God lays on your heart.
Please carefully consider my suggestion. Stop right now and think about someone you can partner with in prayer. Then, as soon as you can, ask that person to become your prayer partner and find a time you can regularly meet to pray. It’s really an easy suggestion to follow. I can assure you that once you begin praying with your prayer partner, you’ll want to share this suggestion with others, too.
Will you pray with me?
Thank You, God, for loving us. Thank You for sending Jesus to be our Savior. Thank You for sending us Your Holy Spirit to dwell within us. We know that You want us to pray and bring our requests to You. We also know that You have taught us through Your Word that great power arises when two or three agree in prayer. So, help us to find someone with whom we can pray and begin to harness this amazing power in our own lives.
Even in this moment, bring someone to our minds that we might ask to join with us in prayer on a regular basis. And, we ask You to affirm our choice, through the power of the Holy Spirit, by encouraging the one we ask to accept our invitation.
More than anything, Precious Father, we want to honor You by obediently following the pathway You lay out before us. So, we thank You for hearing our prayer in and through the redeeming Name of Jesus, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
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