PRAYER OF THANKS FOR BRAND NEW SAINTS
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all the saints—the faith and love proceeding from the hope stored up for you in heaven, of which you have already heard in the word of truth, the gospel that has come to you. For 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 in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord and may 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 full endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.
Colossians 1:3-6a, 9-12
Some day in the future we hope to write a book on all the prayers of the Apostle Paul, but not today. However, we will state that when Paul prayed for new believers and recently established congregations, he never failed to give thanks to God for their salvation and their growth. We would do well to model our prayers for new believers after the prayers of Paul. Paul not only had a ministry to share the gospel as a missionary/evangelist, but a major part of his work involved encouraging the believers led to the Lord by him or one of his co-laborers. We know this encouragement as the epistles (letters) from Paul to individuals or churches that make up a great portion of our New Testament. Letter writing is almost a lost art in the twenty-first century, being replaced by concise emails and terse texts. We hope our website and printed works serve the purpose of encouraging other believers and possibly leading some seekers to turn to Jesus. In a way, these are letters that reach a broad audience. However, we need to be better about sending a handwritten note or letter when a brother or sister needs a word of encouragement or appreciation.
How long has it been since you received a long letter from a loved one or friend? How long since you wrote one? Perhaps we should all slow down a bit and take the time for letters written on nice stationery. We also need to thank the Lord for new believers and new congregations and pray He will continue to help us invite others into His kingdom.
Lord, we thank You for the privilege of seeing new believers (young and old) grow in their faith. Help us to encourage them and maybe even write them a letter. We thank You for the growth in the knowledge of Jesus, strength, and perseverance we have seen in our own lives and the lives of friends. Show us Your ways and teach us Your paths (Psalm 25:4) then help us to teach others (2 Timothy 2:2).