Prayer was vital to the life and ministry of the apostle Paul. His letters to the churches usually included an opening prayer. These were not perfunctory, but reflected his intimate, spiritual dependence on the Lord for everything he did. In this letter to the Colossians, he begins with a heart of gratitude, thanking God for the Colossians’ fruitful growth in faith, love and hope (vs. 3-8). Now he continues with his requests to God for them.

We cannot escape noticing the intensity and frequency of his prayer for them—“we have not ceased to pray for you.” When he thought of the Colossians, it was in the form of a continual discussion with the Lord about them. His thoughts were not just idle recollections or simply fond memories of them, but rather the apostle disciplined his mind to “take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor 10:5).

Now it would be impossible to pray this intensely and often about every person he met or concerning every report he received from every church. But this prayer of Paul’s has a reason, “for this reason.” That is, he prayed this way because the Colossians were being particularly fruitful in their spiritual walk—so Paul was particularly thankful for the work of God in their lives and he was particularly interceding for them. It was not like they were doing well so they didn’t need prayer. Rather, it was because they were doing well that they very specifically needed prayer, so that they would continue on and not lose ground. The mistake we often make is to assume that people who are doing well spiritually don’t need as much prayer. If things get really bad, then we will pray. This is clearly a mistake. Every step of the way, we are and need to be completely dependent upon the Lord’s grace and strength.

The things Paul prayed for are not mundane, although we are certainly encouraged to pray for our every need, including our “daily bread.” Paul had a heart for the larger, spiritual needs. And he asked for two broad areas: 1) that they “may be filled with the knowledge of His will” and 2) that they “will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord,” with the end result that they would continue bearing spiritual fruit.