Goodwill Messages
“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."(NIV) Colossians 1:10
Bible Reading: Colossians 1: 3-14
Our tongue has the power of life and death (Proverbs 18:21), therefore we are admonished to say goodwill messages. God inspired Paul in his letters to use goodwill greetings and prayers for us to emulate. Let’s review some of these in today’s devotion.
Goodwill Greetings: In all of Paul’s letters, it can be observed that he usually begins with a message like this: To the holy and faithful brethren in Christ living in all parts of the world, Grace and Peace to you from God our father. We usually take this form of greetings for granted therefore do not put that to practice. We do not employ words that are full of Grace (in our greetings) which will give people hope for the future. The book of Colossians is edifying us to this effect.
Goodwill Prayer: Paul usually continues with these words; we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you because of your faith in Christ. Here, He is sharing the most cherished secret of praying for others.
Goodwill greetings and prayer show signs of selflessness which are helpful for bearing fruits because they help us to make the souls in the Lord’s vineyard our priority. By this we can care for them like we would for our own souls. We can pray for them by thanking God all the time. We can request that God fill them so as to produce fruit in God like we are doing. These are the things the apostles and the disciples of Jesus Christ did and we should imitate them as they imitated Christ.
Goodwill prayer should always be part of our prayer list because our Lord Jesus set the example by praying for his disciples at all time during his life on earth. Our Lord Jesus and his disciples were men of God who excelled at whatever they did on earth. To be effective we must toe the ways of these productive Men who once lived on earth and pleased God at all times.
“Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the Kingdom of Light.” Verse12. It’s an act of Grace so let’s remember others in Christ.