Search This Blog

Translate

Sunday, October 03, 2021

Got A Prayer Request?

"Meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains."

– Colossians 4:3

Exposition:

        Apostle Paul is a man of prayer, by this I mean he believes in prayer. In private, he prays unceasingly for himself, other Christians, Jews, and Gentiles. In public, he prays along with the other saints in a formal and informal context. Furthermore, he would not only pray solely by himself, but he would ask other saints to pray for him. He exhorts everyone to live a life of prayerfulness. Here, in this verse, we see Apostle Paul requesting prayers from the church at Colossae for his preaching ministry.

        Now, if Apostle Paul seeks prayer for himself and his team members, would we not seek the prayers of others for us? Paul is arguably the godliest person, yet he seeks prayer from ordinary church members. It does not matter how immature we may be, if we are Christians, our prayer is before the throne of God. We mustn't hesitate to pray even for such godly people, they need our prayers like the rest of us, and our prayers are effective as well, if not Paul wouldn't have asked for their prayers.

Sure, prayers must be according to God's will. We can't expect God to help us do the wrong things or for our sinful selfish interest. Even here, Paul is seeking a release from his imprisonment, not for the comfort of free life, but to continue the preaching ministry, and he wouldn't mind another imprisonment for preaching the gospel. Colossians could at least pray for the release of Apostle Paul, even if they aren't able to proclaim the gospel effectively like Paul does, or not bold enough to endure suffering as Paul does on account of the gospel.

Personal Reflection:

  • Do I (as a minister of the gospel) have a list of prayer supporters who know my prayer points from time to time?
  • Do I (as an ordinary Christian) have the habit of saying, "May I pray for you" or "Is there anything I can pray for you" or "Shall we pray together”?

Personal Commitment:

  • To seek others’ prayers and also the prayer points from others from time to time.

Prayer:

Lord, humble my heart to fall before your throne of grace, Amen!