Let’s continue to look at Paul’s introduction. After he commends the believers in Colossae for letting the Gospel (the good news of Jesus Christ) penetrate their hearts and work powerfully in them and through them, Paul prays a beautiful prayer over them beginning in verse 9 “For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all aspects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience, joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.”
I love the fact that Paul basically said we have not ceased to pray for you since we heard of your faith, hope and love! We don’t have time to look at the entire content of this prayer, but look at some of the words: knowledge, wisdom, understanding, fruit, power, might, steadfastness, patience, thankfulness, etc. Does anyone reading this, need knowledge, wisdom, power, steadfastness, patience, etc.??? I love when we see examples of prayer in Scripture. This makes me ask myself a question ‘do my prayers for my wife, my children, and my Christian friends sound like Paul’s prayer?’ If you don’t already, you may want to begin to pray Scripture like this over believers you know. I pray that “insert name” may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding…
Although Paul had commended the believers in Colossae just verses earlier, he understood that they (like all believers) needed to continue to grow in their faith. Paul even uses the metaphorical language of a tree growing ‘bearing fruit’. Paul understood, and I believe that the Book of Colossians teaches, that the Christian life needs to be lived moment by moment (cf. Colossians 3). The world wants us to take our eyes off of Christ. In chapter 2, we will see that false teachers had come into Colossae and were trying to take the believers captive through philosophy and deception. So, there is a constant battle going on in our lives on who we will allow to control us (Christ or someone or something else).
Paul asked God that the believers in Colossae “may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding…” Notice it says ‘His will’ (God’s will) – not the world’s. That verb ‘to be filled’ is in what is called the subjunctive mood. And the subjunctive mood in Greek has to do with potentiality. It can happen, or it may not. We can grow in knowledge or wisdom, or we may not. But the beautiful thing about the Book of Colossians is that it teaches us that as believers we have Christ in us the hope of glory (cf. 1:27). And Colossians also teaches us that in Christ is hidden all wisdom and knowledge (cf. Colossians 2:3). Do you see the connection? Since we have the Spirit of Christ (Holy Spirit) living inside of us (if you are a believer), you can have what He has – His knowledge, His wisdom, His understanding, His steadfastness, His power, etc. As we continue to read through Colossians, Paul will flesh this amazing truth out for us. I pray this week that ‘you’ will be filled with knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of our Lord!
This week, I have a homework assignment for you. If you want to know what the Book of Colossians is truly about, count the number of times ‘Christ’ is referred to in Colossians (you won’t believe the number you get in 4 short chapters!).