Scripture: Colossians 1:9-14 (NIV)

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

In the beginning, the Rebellion wasn’t really an organization. Throughout the galaxy, resistance to the grip of the Empire sprang up independently, each trying to do what they could to spread freedom and push back against Imperial tyranny. We’ve seen in Andor that someone like Luthen Rael had connections with various groups, such as Saw Gerrera’s partisans, and perhaps could direct a little help one way or another, but generally groups were on their own. Both because there wasn’t the infrastructure and resources to support a larger insurgency and also because if one cell didn’t know about another, they couldn’t intentionally or unintentionally betray those groups.

Throughout the course of Star Wars Rebels, though, we saw how the rebels of Lothal wound up joining with Phoenix Squadron at first, then were there as the more formal Rebel Alliance took shape. That meant they went from focusing on just the six of them to being about to help out many more and to carry out larger and larger missions. Hera Syndulla went from captain of the Ghost and leader of the Lothal cell to commander and Phoenix Squadron leader to General in the Alliance. She was responsible for more and more but she was also able to help out more and more people, both on her teams and people that received the benefit of their missions.

The Alliance would have never been successful had the cells not merged and worked together, helping each other and backing each other up on tough missions. If they had stayed a lot of small, unconnected cells, they could have been a nuisance to the Empire but not a true threat and never would have been able to take it down.

Paul had his own “cells” throughout the Mediterranean region as there were various churches that he or others had planted in various towns. These churches all were followers of Christ and eager to know more about their Lord and Savior. Paul, like Luthen and Hera, was a connector, joining those churches together into the larger body of Christ.

While travel and communication was much more difficult in those days than today, that didn’t mean that the churches couldn’t help each other. As Paul says in today’s Scripture, he was continually in prayer for the church in Colosse as well as the other churches under his charge. Lifting them up to the Lord on a regular basis was one of the best ways that he could help. We also know that a theme of his letters was the collection he was taking up from the various churches for the church in Jerusalem. Many of the believers, some who had never been there or never would be, gave of what they had to help another group of believers that needed them. That sort of support not only helped Jerusalem but also brough the other churches closer together in a common goal.

Getting through this life alone is really, really difficult. All of us need support and encouragement at times when things are hard or when we just don’t know what to do. Hopefully you have a community of believers that are there for you when you need them (and that you can be there for when they need you!) If not, seek one out as soon as you can. God has designed us to rely on Him but also on each other. “A cord of three strands is not quickly broken”, as it says in Ecclesiastes 4:12. Be that support for someone today and don’t be afraid to accept help when you need it!