When we pray for other believers, we often pray something like, “Lord, please be with [so-and-so],” or, “Lord, please heal [so-and-so].” We make other requests as well, but we may improve our prayers for one another by learning how Paul prayed for the believers in his life. In fact, one of the first ways that Paul prayed for other believers was not even a request at all.

When was the last time you thanked God for the Christians in your life?

I have a hunch that we’re not nearly thankful enough for the believers in our life. When we are thankful for them, it’s usually only those believers who bless us in some particular or special way. Even then, we often go no further than feeling thankful for them or maybe – just maybe – saying thank you to them somehow. But are you thankful for every believer in your life, even those you know less than others or who cause difficulties in your life?

When was the last time you said, “Thank you God for …,” naming another Christian? You don’t do this and I don’t do this enough, but from his letter to the believers at Ephesus, we see that Paul did this a lot (Eph 1:15-16). In fact, Eph 1:15-23 tells us both that he prayed for other believers and how he prayed for them. Together, these verses form one long sentence, but the main verb of the sentence is, “I do not cease to give thanks for you” (Eph 1:16).

We should thank God for other Christians deliberately.

Give thanks means “to express appreciation.” It describes a grateful, warmhearted response to the good things in life. From this we see that Paul viewed other the other Christians in his life as a benefit and blessing from God. That’s why he was thankful for them.

Do we have the same mentality? Do we view one another as a blessing of life, or do we view each other as a trial to endure or take one another for granted? If we value one another as we should, then we should go beyond feeling thankful to expressing our thanks in prayer.

Thank God for the faith and love you see in one another’s lives.

Two things motivated Paul to thank God for the believers at Ephesus (Eph 1:15): their faith in Jesus and their love for other Christians.

To appreciate the faith of Christians, we should look back over the first half of this chapter (Eph 1:3-14). It describes all that goes into God’s salvation of any believer. Predestination, election, creation, adoption, redemption, forgiveness of sins, the seal of the Holy Spirit, and so much more! The entire triune God – the Father, the Son, and the Spirit – works together to make salvation possible and bring it to pass (Eph 1:3-12, 14).

The more complex and exquisite, detailed, or expensive something is, the more we appreciate it.

That’s why we handle porcelain dinnerware differently than paper plates and diamond rings more carefully than plastic party favors. So it is with the faith and salvation of a Christian.

When you understand all the divine effort and sacrifice, love and power that went into bringing a person from death to life, from slavery to sin to being a child in God’s eternal kingdom, then you will thank God deeply for anyone who believes in Christ, even the ones who turn out to be more challenging projects than others. Their salvation is not a mere human choice – it is the result of an eternal, costly plan worked out by an all-loving, all-powerful God, just as you are, too.

The creation of new spiritual life in Christ is far more amazing than the creation of the material universe. That anyone becomes a child of God is the most remarkable thing to ever occur – so we should be incredibly thankful for being a believer and for having other believers in our lives.

The second factor that motivated Paul to thank God for the believers at Ephesus was their love for all the saints. This, too, is a wonder of God’s grace.

For another believer to show the kindness of God is a miracle indeed.

We don’t deserve such love from God as when he rescues us from our sin and rebellion against him, nor do we naturally offer such kindness to others. We’re selfish by nature. So, when we see, hear, or experience the love of God from another Christian, we must not take that for granted. You should be thankful, even amazed, because you are witnessing a miracle of epic proportions.

Paul not only thanked God for other believers, but he did so without ceasing (Eph 1:16). This doesn’t mean he prayed 24 hrs. a day, 7 days a wk., 365 days a yr. It means he kept on praying for them – not just once, but a lot.

It’s normal to hear positive things about another believer and be thankful. Yet, such feelings easily fade. It takes a God-focused, gospel-focused, doctrine-focused mindset.

The more we know other believers, the more their faults may irritate us.

Though this is a natural response to people, we shouldn’t let this happen between one another, especially in our spiritual family, the church. We should be grateful for one another no matter how long we live or how many challenges we encounter. Our faith in God and love for other believers should always be a mind-blowing, God-glorifying reality to never take for granted.

Paul showed this gratitude for more believers in more places than Ephesus.

• Believers at Rome, even though he had never met them (Rom 1:8).
• Believers at Philippi, esp. since they supported his missionary work (Phil 1:3).
• Perhaps most remarkable of all is that he thanked God for the believers at Corinth, even though they exhibited carnality and caused him much stress (1 Cor 1:4).

So, we see that when Paul prayed for other believers, he thanked God for them – he didn’t just jump to some prayer requests or say something vague and meaningless like, “Be with [so-and-so] today.” Let’s do that for one another in the church. Will you?

In a subsequent study, we’ll take a closer look at what Paul requested for other believers in the church, but for now, let’s focus on simply being thankful for other believers in the first place. Let’s ask God to deepen our appreciation for one another and for the amazing work that God is accomplishing in our lives through Christ.