The apostle Paul probably never had the chance to visit Colosse. But one day he heard about a work of God there, about people who had come to faith in Jesus Christ. This immediately triggered something in him: from that day on, he began to pray for these young Christians and had not stopped since.

We can do the same, praying for everyone with whom we are united by faith in Christ: for those with whom we have personal contact, and for those whom we know only by hearsay; for those who are making good progress in the life of faith, and for others who have stumbled; for those whose needs are obvious, and for those whose situation we do not know so well.

Paul’s prayer for the Colossians is not global and imprecise, as our prayers sometimes are, but has a specific goal: that they should be filled with the knowledge of God’s will. There is a reason for this: a feeling of some spiritual lack has taken root among them. People with bad motives have noticed this, and they try to fill this felt “void.” Some of them offer certain aspects of pagan philosophies for this purpose, while others offer components of ancient Jewish worship. The former is completely wrong, the latter now obsolete according to God’s will.

Paul does not rebuke the Colossians at first. Rather, he asks God to fill His children with the knowledge of His good will so that they understand the beauty and practical relevance of that will. To be filled—that is what they needed—to be “filled with the knowledge of His will”! This would push back the negative influences and transform the feeling of shortcoming into joy about their spiritual richness. Would this “Pauline recipe,” this ministry of prayer, not also help us to overcome many real or supposed shortcomings?