Week 2: Christ-Centered Prayer
“And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you…” – Colossians 1:9
What is the greatest thing a person can do for you?
Man, that feels like a loaded question doesn’t it? The reality is that you could ask 100 people that question and potentially receive more than 100 different responses. Certainly, we can all think of things that we’d love to have people stand in and do for us. Wouldn’t it be great if someone said, “Hey I’m taking the trash out for you” or “I’m washing the car for you” or “I’m cleaning the house and doing the laundry for you.” Such gestures would be so encouraging for sure. People doing these things for us releases us from the responsibility of the particular task at hand.
But when someone says I’m praying for you, how is that different?
It’s different because it’s an action done in addition to your action. Someone praying for me doesn’t release me from praying. Instead, it actually motivates me to pray all the more. After all, how odd would it be for God to receive prayers from others about me but not actually hear from me? In addition, when someone says they are praying for me it truly humbles me. Another way to say you are praying for someone is to say, “I’m talking to God about you.” Wow! For some reason that just hits me differently. Think about it again. When I say I am praying for someone, I am saying that, when I talk to God about all that matters to me in this world, I talk to Him about YOU. Boom! If that doesn’t make you feel loved, I’m not sure what will. Nothing makes me feel more loved than to have someone pray for me.
Now consider the opening words of our passage this week. The Apostle Paul says, “And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you…” Paul is saying, “When I pray, I pray for you.” And as we learned last week, Paul’s prayer and desire for the church of Colossae was for them to be Christ-centered. This week, we are going to learn not only that Paul prays but also the very content of his prayer. Take a look at the passage and try to identify the core elements of his prayer. It’s the perfect model for us when praying for ourselves, our family, and our church. Let’s dig in together and learn what it means to pray a Christ-centered prayer that leaves us centered on Christ.
Click here to listen to the worship set for Sunday.
I am praying for you!
Here is the passage for Sunday:
Colossians 1:9–14 (ESV)
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.