Pastor Aaron Buer concludes our Powerful Prayers series by exploring Paul's prayer for the believers in Colossae found in Colossians 1:9–14. Through this message, we discover four characteristics of a worthy life that we can pray over the people we love. We're reminded that the strength and fruit we long for don't come from within ourselves but from remaining connected to Jesus and his Word. This message challenges us to consider how we pray for the people we care about and gives us a powerful biblical model to do so. Ultimately, we see that living a worthy life is only possible because God has already qualified us through the redemption and forgiveness found in Jesus.

Luke 18:9-14

9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

13  “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

14  “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”