As we’ve already learned in this Colossians study, the Apostle Paul writes to the Colossians from prison in Rome. He longs to hear word that they have remained faithful to Christ, for whom he pours out his life.

But Colossae is so very far away. News is rare, and it may never come at all. Hope grows dim in the lonely candlelight of captivity.

To give up – to stop thinking, hoping, longing, believing — would be so natural, so human, so easy.

But Paul writes that he has not forgotten, nor will he forget: “From the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you…”

He hears once; he prays for always.

Just one day of report brings weeks, months and years of faithfulness. Just one moment of news gives birth to a lifetime of hope.

And the only hope Paul has is to pray. It must be to pray, always and never ceasing, for it is only God who can sustain his faith that good news will come.

Paul knows it is the prayer of today that makes the prayer of tomorrow possible.

So, I, too, must start from my single moments. I also must say with Paul:

From the day God called me to my work, I have not ceased to pray.
From the day I was wounded, I have not ceased to pray.
From the day we said, “I do,” I have not ceased to pray.
From the day this child was born, I have not ceased to pray.
From day I began to mourn, I have not ceased to pray.

Sometimes good news is few and far between. Sometimes it has to travel over miles and mountains to get to us. Sometimes we sit, alone in our prisons, wondering if it will ever come at all.

But it will come, either now or in our forever, with all its beauty and hope and blessing.

It will come if we stay in the company of those who do not cease.