Grace Readings

My church has been sharing around a group of readings all focused on the Grace of God and how the good news of that Grace can and often will transform lives. I'm going to be reading through this series and commenting here. (Yea, I know it's been a while since I've posted here, and I admit that I've gotten a little distracted, but that's no reason to chuck the whole project, right? I mean, God's grace can cover this, right?)

Today I'm thinking about Col 1:1-14. Paul is writing about his prayers for the Colossians and Timothy:

³We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, ⁴because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints— ⁵the 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 ⁶that 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. ⁷You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our^c]">[c] behalf, ⁸and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

⁹For 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. ¹⁰And 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, ¹¹being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully ¹²giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you^d]">[d] to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. ¹³For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, ¹⁴in whom we have redemption,^e]">[e] the forgiveness of sins.

We could all use prayers like this, and I've been trying to pray this way about people, too. It's so pointed and clear what he hopes will happen in their lives, isn't it? Have you ever prayed that you would be "filled with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding"? Have you ever prayed that for someone else?

Just pondering, today, what it would be like to have the knowledge of his will through spiritual wisdom and understanding . . . and look at what else he is praying for them:

• live a life worthy of the Lord, pleasing to him in every way
• bear fruit in good works
• grow in the knowledge of God
• Be strenthened with power according to God's might
• have endurance
  
• have patience
• be able to joyfully give thanks to the Father (whose heir you are)

And then, by implication, he is praying that they would know they are rescued from the dominion of darkness, brought into Jesus' kingdom (redemption, forgiveness).

This is not just "God bless my friends" or "Lord, please help them" or "I'm thinking good thoughts about you". This is powerful stuff!

Think about this: if God really is the creator of the universe (and I believe he is, obviously), and if he really did arrange for this amazing gift of Grace through his son, Jesus, well, then, all these things that Paul is praying for his associates in Colossi are possible, are they not?

Amazing.

I'm going to try to dwell on these things today, and yes, I am praying this kind of prayer for people (including you few readers). Feel free to email me if you want some specific prayers or anything like that, or just comment or encourage me or something. I have time on my hands for prayers . . . and honestly, shouldn't we all be making that time?

Maybe I should try writing some letters like this. What do you think?