Prayer to Endure with Joy – Colossians 1:9-14

Does it matter whether people pray for us to be faithful Christians? If it doesn’t then there is no need to pray. Hasn’t God promised that believers will persevere in the faith? Yes, but He has also commanded us to pray for one another and that doesn’t make sense unless prayer makes a difference (see here, here, and here). It is part of God’s sovereign plan and means of accomplishing His will in our lives.

Paul exemplifies this prayer commitment for us as he prays that the Colossians will experience endurance with joy.

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, 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; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:9-14, ESV)

In his report of how he prays for the Colossians Paul moves from what he thanks God for concerning them to what he petitions God for on their behalf. He has thanked God that they have held firm to the true gospel but now he requests God’s help for them to remain steadfast in this gospel, rather than yield to false teaching.

So he asks God to fill them with “knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom” because other pretenders to spiritual wisdom will assail them and offer counterfeits. Just as importantly, he prays that God would enable them “to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord” Jesus. True doctrine, the true gospel, always leads to righteous living. The false teachers are offering a wrong way to be righteous which Paul will dismantle in chapter 2. It is a way that is earth-bound and ineffective. Paul will show them the gospel way of righteousness in chapter 3.

They will need divine power and strength to endure with joy the life of truth God intends for them. This will enable them to continue seeing their inheritance among all the saints as a product, not of their own devising like the false teachers, but of God’s initiative. He is the one who qualifies us to share in this inheritance by His mighty deliverance of us from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of light. Entrance into Jesus’ kingdom was made possible only by the redemptive, sacrificial death of Jesus that freed him to forgive all our sins.

Do we need such prayers for us to persevere in faithfulness to the gospel? I think so. That is part of what the church is all about. We lift each other up in prayer for perseverance and help hold each other accountable to the gospel. And if our whole congregation is going astray we need the prayers of other believers to restore us to the right path. Who is praying for you?