As we begin 2025, I would like to share a passage that helps summarize how we can live a life that is pleasing to the Lord. The passage is Colossians 1:9-14, not only does it summarize how we can please the Lord, it’s also an example of Paul praying for his fellow disciples. This passage begins with Paul expressing his frequent prayers on behalf of the Colossian brothers and sisters. Paul was often prayerful in his epistles, many began with his prayers for those he was writing. I hope that we will follow Paul’s example and pray for one another often.
As we look at this prayer, I want to encourage you to pray it specifically for our teens. Read over Colossians 1:9-14 and use it to shape your own prayer on behalf of our youth. Using scripture to shape our prayer life is a powerful way to ensure we are praying God’s will, and it helps keep our prayers and Bible reading fresh. Certainly, we could all benefit from having someone pray this prayer on our behalf. The reason I mention the teens is because I see what our youth ministry is trying to accomplish in the words Paul articulates.
Our mission is to equip disciples of Christ as a family to change our world. We want to help our teens be world changing disciples, understanding that might simply mean changing one person’s world. To use Paul’s language, we want them to live a life fully pleasing to the Lord. If they are simply Christians while they are teenagers we haven’t accomplished anything. Thankfully Colossians 1:9-14 gives us a helpful and practical explanation of how we can all live a life fully pleasing to Him and a prayer we can use as a model to benefit ourselves and one another.
When we look at Colossians 1:9-14 we are able to identify five things needed to live a life that’s pleasing to God. They are (1) knowledge with spiritual wisdom and understanding of His will so we can (2) bear fruit, (3) increase in knowledge of God, (4) be strengthened by God for endurance, and (5) give thanks to God who has orchestrated our salvation. These are the objectives Paul lays out for us “to walk in a manor worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him.”
I hope we can see how praying this prayer for our teens would benefit them richly, and I hope you have been encouraged to study this passage farther, and will use it as a template to challenge yourself to grow this year. Maybe these questions can help get us started: How can I increase the fruit I bear? In what areas does my knowledge of God need to grow? How do I need to ask God to increase my endurance? How can I express more thanksgiving to God?