Colossians 1:1-14--Thanksgiving and Prayer

Greeting
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

2 To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

Thanksgiving and Prayer

3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, 6 which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, 7 just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf 8 and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.

​9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

---

Let's continue studying the Pauline epistles with the epistle to the church in Colosse.  This letter is jointly written by Paul and Timothy (we've talked about him already in other blogs).

Paul opens with his traditional greeting of "Grace and peace...."  He then goes into a prayer of thanksgiving for the Colossian church and the certainty of their salvation through Jesus.  Paul sees the gospel taking root and bearing fruit in their lives.  We hear again of Epaphras, whom Paul also gives thanks for.

Paul then shifts to prayer for them--one of my favorite prayers to pray when I don't know what to pray in verses 9-14.  I encourage you to think of someone (someone who is saved) and pray this prayer for them today.