We Have Not Stopped Praying

We have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better. Colossians 1:9-10

PAUL HAD RECEIVED a glowing report on the church in Colosse. He’d never even met the people personally, but he had faithfully prayed for them. The assessment was that they were faithful, they loved each other, and their confident hope was in heaven —not in the things of this earth. So what did this report compel Paul to do? It certainly didn’t cause him to curtail his prayers for them. Instead, it prompted him to pray for them even more earnestly.

Oftentimes, we are committed to ongoing prayer when things are not going well for our child. A sense of desperation drives us to our knees. And that’s a very good thing! There’s no better place to turn, no better way to help than to pray for our children when they are in need. But just as Paul’s prayers for the church in Colosse did not cease when there was no crisis, so we should not become complacent in our earnest prayers for our children when things are going well.

Paul’s logic drove him to pray even more when he saw that God was at work, asking the Lord to continue and to increase his work in the lives of these believers. Likewise, we should persevere in prayer when we can clearly see God at work in our children’s lives. We can ask him to increase their knowledge of what he really wants and to expand their wisdom and understanding of his ways. We can also ask him to help our children keep on living in a way that brings the Lord pleasure and generates all kinds of good fruit.

Lord, we pray now and will never stop praying for ________ because ________ will always need what only you can provide. We ask you to give ________ complete knowledge of your will and to give ________ spiritual wisdom and understanding. Give ________ everything needed to live in a way that will always honor and please you. Work in ________ so that ________ will produce every kind of good fruit. Nourish ________ with your Word so that he will grow as he learns to know you better and better.