In the Divine Conspiracy, Dallas Willard uses the phrase “community of prayerful love” to describe the Church, the people of God who live in the reality of God’s kingdom. This afternoon, I was meditating on Colossians 1:9-12, where Paul says:

“For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.”

Paul provides a great example of a community of prayerful love. Here is a group of Christ-followers in Colosse, a group that Paul has never met. Yet, when Paul and his comrades hear reports of this new community, they begin to pray unceasingly for them. And what great prayers:

To be filled with the knowledge of God’s will…
To live a life worthy of Jesus…
To please God in every way…
To bear fruit in every good work…
To grow in the knowledge of God…
To be strengthened with power to possess endurance and patience…
To joyfully give thanks to God…

Father, may I contribute to a community of prayerful love through my prayers for my brothers and sisters – for those I know and those I haven’t met yet. And together, may we become the fullness of Christ in and to the world. Amen.