Colossians 1:1-14
1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
2To the holy and faithful brothers in Christ at Colosse:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father.
Thanksgiving and Prayer
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 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 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, the forgiveness of sins.
In many of his letters, St. Paul gave thanksgiving and prayer to God, after his greeting...This is a good habit to get into...We should pray without ceasing...We should pray continually (1 Thessalonians 5:17)...That is, St. Paul thinks we should always be in touch with God...We should daily thank God, for things He blesses us with...We should also give Him praises, for He is the One who created us in His image...We should always remember He is the living God...
St. Paul is ever the minister teaching the Colossians the good news about Jesus and how thankful we should be for our Creator...The warm tone of his letter makes it feel as he is talking to friends...He cares for the ones he is writing...He is not just giving them information or a letter that is academic and written to an audience with no knowledge of who the readers are...St. Paul mentions Jesus and Christ in the start of this letter... This helps emphasize that Jesus is the Son of God and brought into the kingdom of God, by the Father, Himself...
In his letter to the Colossians, St. Paul is thanking God for the Colossians faith in Jesus...Epaphras is a faithful minister who works with St. Paul in the Colosse area...St. Paul is recognizing Epaphras and giving him support for his teachings...
St. Paul mentions that we can fall into temptation when the evil one is around, but that Jesus gives us the power and strength to overcome him... Jesus came and we now have redemption...He helps us overcome the evil one through His death on the cross and His forgiveness of our sins...
St. Paul tells them he has not stopped praying for them and is continuing to ask God to fill them with spiritual wisdom and understanding, and growing tn the knowledge of God...
So we must realize that our God is the living God...We must pray continually...Remember that faith and love come from heaven and that the Father and Son are a part of our daily lives...