3 We thank God, the father of our master Yeshua (Jesus; Grk. Yesus) Messiah as we continually pray for you all, 4 after having heard about your faith in Messiah Yeshua and the love that you have for all godly people 5 which arose because of your hope in a heavenly reward. You all previously heard about that in the message of the truth—the good message 6 that’s in you and that’s bearing fruit in the world and growing, just like it did among all of you from the day that you heard it and knew about the grace of God in truth. 7 You all learnt that from Epafras (Epaphras),[ref] our dearly loved fellow slave who’s our faithful servant of the messiah, 8 and he’s the one who made your love in the spirit evident to us.

9 It’s because of that that we haven’t stopped praying from the time that we heard it, and requesting that you all would be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual insight, 10 to live worthily of the master—pleasing him in every kind of good and productive work. We pray that you all will grow in the knowledge of God 11 and be strengthened with all power, according to his great power, leading to endurance and patience with contentment. 12 Then you’ll all be thanking the father, the one who qualified you all for a part of the inheritance of godly people who live in the light. 13 The father rescued us from the power of darkness and redirected us into the kingdom of his dear son—14 the one who buys us out of slavery and forgives our sins.[ref]