Have You Prayed for Me Today?

 From "Devotions in Colossians", 1:3 Prayer for the Saints by Bro. Darrell Lingerfelt 

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

Though it is not known whether Paul had ever visited this congregation of Saints (at Colossae), still, he wrote to them telling them that he was praying for them. 

Paul was a praying man. Time and again throughout the book of Acts and his 14 letters, we read of Paul's prayers.  And rightly so!  Paul endured much in his mission work which culminated in his beheading. Though he sought the Lord three times to have a messenger of Satan removed from him that vexed his flesh, Paul's prayers were for the Saints in the fledgling congregations started in so many places.  Like a mother hen, Paul kept check on those chicks that had hatched out of the Gospel egg. Paul was like the gardener that planted seed and watched over his plantings with an expectant eye toward the clouds praying for rain that the plants might bear fruit. And much prayer brought much blessing as God would pour out on those humble beginnings of Christianity which would blossom and bear fruit throughout the world.

Have you prayed for someone or something today, or are your prayers always about you? Here is Paul under arrest and imprisoned in Rome far away from his home in Jerusaleum, yet, he is praying for folks he may have never met. While you hibernate in luxurious surroundings, missionaries are doing your work in distant lands. While you sit sleepily in the climate controled confines of your church, your home, your place of employment, some missionary is holding church in the jungle, preaching to a congregation of natives sitting on the ground. While you pray for selfish things, some evangelist or pastor will be trying to keep his car running so he can go preach to someone or do a funeral. Oh what a selfish lot we are! May we consider today the plight of others!

Paul had gotten news through Epaphras that a subversive group had infiltrated the Colossian church putting the true Sants in danger...thus he prayed on their behalf. What about you? Will you pray for those who are in harm's way today? Will you pray for those who labor in the Gospel? Will you lift up the wounded and broken hearted? Will you pray for the needs of a brother or sister in the Saints? Will you pray for the salvation of lost sinners? God help us to think about those who need our prayers and lift them up fervantly to the Lord. You have to! You must! God is expecting it! Right now say a prayer for me, as I say a prayer for you, that God be glorified by our lives and that Christ Jesus be exalted, for great things He hath done!  Think, Saints! We need to always pray!