Colossians I
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you. (Colossians 1:3 ESV)
Good Prayers
These days, a good prayer is a prayer that is a full list of requests. When the pastor leads in a congregational prayer, the prayer is deemed acceptable if he mentions my favorite prayer request. Prayer has even come to mean, basically, a request.
But Paul, when praying, did a lot of thanking.
In fact, when praying for the probably troubled church in Colossae, he did not claim to always list their needs and pray for their peace…. but Paul did say that he always gave thanks for them.
Of course I would not suggest that we stop praying for each other.
But Paul seems to suggest that when we pray for each other, we do more thanking.
Not even necessarily more thanking than asking…
But simply more thanking.