“So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.” Colossians 1:9-10 NLT
I’ve been thinking and talking about how to be a neighbor, a good neighbor. I believe it’s all about listening and watching for opportunities, being led by the Holy Spirit. Times where we should see moments that appear to be odd or random as providential not accidental. Those moments could be happen at the grocery store, the gas pump, the quick-serve lunch or while walking through our own neighborhood.
I think it’s important to swap names, introducing ourselves like well-mannered people used to do. I think it’s important to write those names down to be able to do the exact thing that Paul is doing with the folks he met in Colossae. To be able to remember people’s name, because it’s very important for them to be seen and known. The other is to speak their name, before God, in prayer. Then using Paul’s prayer as a template, we can begin to pray for them and trust God for future moments of opportunity to love and serve our new friends.
Paul’s prayer is simple and can be easily memorized. We can ask God to give our neighbor and new friend a complete knowledge of his will, spiritual wisdom and understanding. Then we can pray that God will help them to live a life that honor and pleases God, producing every kind of good fruit (think of the 9 fruits of the Spirit). Then, wanting them to keep going and growing, that they would learn to know God better and better.
This prayer, that Paul prays over Colossae’s community of faith affirms something else I believe. Something simple, but should remind every one of us as believers that we are all responsible for. The word is DISCIPLE. And the thought is BE ONE, MAKE ONE. If we are a disciple, a follower of Jesus, we should be learning about God more and more, just like Paul stated. However, as believers, we should also be doing what Jesus commanded as he left for heaven. We should all be about making disciples. Who are you following, and who is following you? Who are you walking with to strengthen your faith, and, who is walking with you to do the same.
Being a good neighbor has the potential to being a good friend and hopefully that can turn into being a disciple by having someone follow you in your faith. Jesus had a group of 70 following him. Jesus chose to focus on 12 of them. But he specifically mentored 3 of them. This pattern is for all of us who say we are followers of Jesus! Who’s your 70, 12 and 3?
Prayer
Dad,
I am so thankful to not only follow you, but also have several men and women that have poured into my life. Some have discipled me, a few have mentored me. Thank you for Paul’s written pray for the folks in Colossae. It helps me know what to pray for with so many people on my own “neighbor” list as well as those who more closely follow me as I follow Christ. Most of all, thank you for continuing to help me grow and learn in wisdom and understanding, as well as grow in my faith.