What do we thank God for when we pray? It is good to give thanks for food and clothes and safe shelter. Family and friends are treasures that are worthy of our gratitude to the Lord as well. I like what Paul wrote about his own giving of thanks for his friends in the church as he received reports of their steady life in God. Paul wrote:
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people—the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. Colossians 1:3-6
It is my prayer that we will be those whose faith in Christ is strong in every kind of season and that in our living and our sharing that we would contribute to the true message of the gospel going forward and bearing fruit in the whole world.
We give thanks today for teachers and preachers and those who are speaking in churches, on the internet, and in far flung remote villages around the world. We bless them for their efforts to be with others, to take the time needed to read and study and teach well Your Word. There are so many demands on church folk and missionaries and we pray today that You will give them strength and courage to continue in the work You have called them to do. Fill their hearts with joy and peace as they offer their time and efforts in serving You and others.
A couple of verses later in the same chapter Paul prays this for these folks in the church and we join him now in praying for our own church leaders and missionaries around the world:
We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. Colossians 1:10-12
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