Colossians 4:3

Paul has a task as someone who proclaims the mystery of Christ and wants God to open a door for the message.

Asking for prayer is a posture of dependence that says we need help. It shows that even though the church in Colossi is not being asked to go into various places to proclaim the mystery of Christ, just as Paul was, they can participate in Paul's ministry, which is vital for the expansion of the gospel of Christ with their prayer.

This is Paul asking for prayer contributions on his missionary journey. Something is assumed here: that the church should be a praying church, that prayer is a necessary component of its advancement, and that praying should be such a component of its life that it is like the breath that we take.

Paul said that he prays for the church and asks the church to pray for him. He prays for the church to be infused with the knowledge of Christ, and in turn, he asks for prayer for him to fulfill his assignment of spreading the gospel under God.

We can assume the church prayed as Paul asked. And what was the result? Clearly, “far beyond all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20).

For starters, through his letter, Paul has spoken to billions of people at a minimum. While the recipients of the letter could not have imagined what God would do down the millennial through Paul, they did something we can call very simple, which is pray. What a great ROI (return on investment) for the church that prayed.

We can go on and on about the importance of prayer.

• Should we mention the example that Jesus laid for the disciples in his personal life, or

• Should we mention the foundation of prayer at the beginning of the church (Acts 1:14)

• Or the example of the prophetess Anna, where prayer was called worship (Luke 2:36-38)?

Prayer is so emblematic of the church that it's almost like nothing gets done without prayer. However, the challenge comes when prayer is isolated from the revelation of who Christ is, as laid out in the first several chapters of this book.

When Paul said that they should pray for him, he wanted them to pray that he would have the opportunity to share the mystery of Christ with many more people. Prayer is regarded as a means for the revelation of Christ to go into all the world.

• John said it more plainly when he said that we know God hears us when we pray according to his will (1 John 5:14-15).

• So prayer cannot be extracted as a standalone devotion, removed from the knowledge of the truth.

• All religions also participate in prayer. So, we cannot see prayer as an end in itself. We should not extract it as an end in itself, or see it as an all-encompassing focus for the church, but rather put it in its context of the true revelation of Christ, as this letter does.

• Note that the prophets of Baal also prayed (1 Kings 18:26-29). Theirs was a show; it was long, arduous, programmatic, and had all the hallmarks of praying to a god, as Elijah mocked, who had travelled, who wanted to see how much suffering the devotees could inflict on themselves.

• Let us allow the scriptures' comparison between the prayer of the false prophet and Elijah to impact us.

Jesus describes prayer as being primarily what you should do behind closed doors, out of the view of people (Matthew 6:5-6). And promises an open reward.

So, Paul travels to various places, his name is known, and he serves God that way. But there is a slave, a master, a wife, a husband, or a child in the church of Colossi who harkened to Paul's call to pray for him.

They are also clearly doing service (spending their time doing something for others), but in a not-so-obvious way. They are serving behind closed doors, and the God who sees in secret will reward them openly, which seems a clear allusion to the reward that would come when Jesus returns.

It seems clear that the common point of spiritual service is prayer. The slave may be occupied with 'secular' work all day, all week, all month, but he or she can participate in spiritual service, praying for Paul, for the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ to be spread all across the world across oceans (2 Corinthians 2:14-15), and across national and ethnic boundaries.

There are different instructions for wives, husbands, etc., but one instruction binds them all together: prayer, which is the common leveler.