Colossians 1

Colossians 1 started with Paul commending the believers at Colosse Church for their faith, love, and hope, three of the most common categories used to describe our belief. Do you know of anyone who exhibits great faith, love, and hope?

Perhaps someone who has acted like a mentor to you in your life of faith or someone who has helped you in times of need before?

We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, (Colossians 1:3)

When you think about that person, do you give thanks to God? Would you praise God for having kept that person in his faith? Would you count it as a blessing to have known such a person?

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, (Philippians 1:3-4)

Paul indeed gave thanks to God for having known such brethren in Christ. In fact, he prayed for them since the day he heard of their faith, and always in every prayer of his.

What do we pray about in our prayers? Who do we pray for?

Even though these believers are already commendable for their faith in Christ Jesus, and for their love for the saints, Paul continued to emphasize that they never ceased praying for them. And the prayer request that follows pretty much also sums up for us what sort of spiritual nurture we should all aim towards:

“and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.” (Colossians 1:9-12)

Lately, I find my prayers being very self-focused, or only focused on the people who are closest to me. Many factors may have contributed to such “selfish” prayers but I remembered there was a time when it used to be easier making intercessory prayers, whether for a individual or for the church.

What happened? Have I grown weary of making intercessions? Or perhaps it got to do with the love we have for our brethren. When love starts to grow cold, we are rather contented just praying for our small group of loved ones.

However, let us not forget that intercessory prayers are powerful. The Bible encourages us to confess our sins to each other and to pray for each other.

Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. (James 5:16)

Perhaps it is the love component in intercessory prayers that move God to heal us. Whatever it is, God is pleased whenever we come together as one.

If every one of us can always remember someone else in prayer, isn’t that a beautiful thing to God, because in God’s eyes, we are connected by prayers!

Let this hymn reminds us that, while someone is praying for us, let us also be that someone to be praying for somebody else :)

Someone is praying for you

Someone is praying for you
Someone is praying for you
So when it seems you’re all alone
And your heart will break in two
Remember someone is praying for you.

Have the clouds round you gathered in the midst of the storm
Is your ship tossed and battered
Are you weary and worn
Don’t lose hope someone’s praying for you this very day
And peace be still, He’s already on the way

When it seems that you prayed till your strength is all gone
And your tears fall like raindrops all the day long
He is there and He knows just how much you can bear
He’ll speak your name to someone in prayer

Give thanks for someone in your prayer today <3>

2 Corinthians 6

When life as a Christian starts to be easy for you, when you find yourself quite comfortable and enjoying your life, taking in the pleasures and delights of what you recognized as God’s blessings, when all seemed too good to be true, … it is good to stop, be still, and ponder about your relationship with God.

Yes, God is good. And His blessings are abundant upon those who truly seek after Him. He does shower us with material blessings. He also blesses us with loving family and friends.

However, when we start to see these blessings as more important than God Himself, we have to be wary. In fact, when these blessings overflow our cups, do we only see these blessings or can we still see beyond and see God?

The ministry of Paul and the other apostles then cannot be compared with our ministry today. Especially in affluent Singapore, we generally lead quite comfortable lives. It is definitely hard to understand the extent that Paul and the other apostles went for the sake of the gospel, but we know that they went all out so that their ministry “may not be blamed” or “so that no fault may be found with their (our) ministry”.

To go all out however requires us to move out of our comfort zones, as Paul described – in afflictions, beatings, sleepless nights, hunger, meeting with slander, treated as impostors, as sorrowful, etc. While we may not meet with these exact uncomfortable situations today, we may meet with a need to change our schedule for a friend so that we can have bible study together, or we may have to bear with colleagues’ talk behind our backs about why we do not celebrate Christmas.

These are uncomfortable situations, none of us like them; but do we still do it… because of Jesus?

To be honest, I still find it hard to find that “balance” – to what extent do I have to go to be considered as suffering for the Lord? Do I have to be praying in tears every day? Do I have to find myself going here and there preaching, pastoring, and finding myself all stressed up and tired in order to be called a servant of Christ?

What Paul went through was no easy feat, and I honestly do not know if I could have done the same if I were there at that time, but then perhaps I could, if I truly know how to rely on the Holy Spirit to lead me.

And I guess the day when we learn how “to be sorrowful, yet always rejoicing”, how “to be poor, yet making many rich”, how “to have nothing, yet possessing everything” is probably the day when we find that “balance”.

In the meantime, when life starts to get quite comfy, thank God for all those blessings, but also stop, and do a little reflection of your relationship with Christ, remembering that, sometimes, we need to be a little uncomfortable, in order to bring comforts to those who need it.

…. we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. (2 Corinthians 6:1)