Colossians 1:3-9 Whenever we pray, we never fail to thank God, the Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, about you,

Twentieth_Century⁽ⁱ⁾ ³ Whenever we pray, we never fail to thank God, the Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, about you, ⁴ Now that we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all his People, ⁵ On account of the hope which awaits its fulfillment in Heaven. Of this hope you heard long ago in the true Message of the Good News which reached you-- ⁶ Bearing fruit and growing, as it does, through all the world, just as it did among you, from the very day that you heard of God's loving-kindness, and understood what that loving-kindness really is. ⁷ It is just what you learned from Epaphras, our dear fellow- servant, who, as a minister of the Christ, faithfully represents us, ⁸ And who told us of the love with which the Spirit has inspired you. ⁹ And therefore we, from the very day that we heard this, have never ceased praying for you, or asking that you may possess that deeper knowledge of the will of God, which comes through all true spiritual wisdom and insight.