Praying for others

I've started a journey through Colossians in my own study time recently. What an incredible book! I'd encourage everyone to read through this book.

Some verses that have struck me from the very start are in chapter 1, verses 3-14. These verses are a great model prayer for us in how we lift up our fellow Christ-followers.

Paul and Timothy begin by telling the Colossians that they have been thanking God for this pocket of believers. It occured to me that when I pray for someone, I should really stop and be thankful for that person. Here, Paul and Timothy are thankful for three things: their faith in Christ, their love for all the saints, and for the hope that is laid up in heaven for them.

They go on then to tell the church that they haven't ceased praying for them, and they begin a list of things they have prayed:

-to be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding;
-to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully and pleasing to God
-to bear fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God
-to be strengthened with all power, according to God's glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy

And then they give thanks for the their salvation, that God the Father has qualified the Colossians to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.

I long to incorporate this in my own prayer life every day, to stop and give thanks, thoughtful thanks, for those I'm praying for. When I say thoughtful thanks, I mean to offer more than "God, thank you for George", but to stop and really think why I'm thankful for George. I can only imagine what this would do in my relationships if I would stop and really give thoughtful thanks for those around me! And then to pray all of these things above for my family, friends and acquaintances. They are powerful things. Imagine if each of those requests came to be in our lives what would happen!

So that's my two cents for today...