COLOSSIANS 1:9-14
9 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, 10 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,11 being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience,12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified youto share in the inheritance of His holy people in the kingdom of light.13 For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves,14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Colossians 1:9-14 “WHAT IS GOD’S WILL FOR ME”?
Springford Baptist Church: July 10, 2022.
We as Christians can be filled with the knowledge of God’s will and this must in turn affect the way that we live our lives.
Paul makes this his persistent prayer for the believers he is writing to here.
We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives (Colossians 1:9)
Recognize that Paul is praying for something that is possible. It is possible to be filled with the knowledge of God’s will.
Certainly there are things that all of us find hard to understand.
We find it hard to understand when difficult things happen to us and those we love.
We wonder what God is doing and what is His will in each circumstance.
If it wasn’t possible to be filled with the knowledge of God’s will, it would be a wasted effort to even pray for this.
Speaking of wasted effort, let me give you an example. I recall a time when it was very warm and we had our front drapes drawn to keep it cooler inside. Bazil our dog went to the window to look out and parted the drapes. I was sitting on the other side of the room and told him to pull the drapes back together. He turned and looked at me but had no idea what I was saying. It was a waste of time to expect our dog to understand what I had told him and to respond. Even though our dog did try to please us, he just could not comprehend or act accordingly.
Since this is not the case in our relationship with God, we do have a responsibility to seek actively the knowledge of God’s will. Hand in hand with this is the willingness to act accordingly.
This is a very good thing to pray for ourselves and for others, to pray to be filled with the knowledge of God’s will!
The Scripture here makes it clear that God is the source of this understanding. His Spirit is the One who is able to fill us with the knowledge of His will.
It is more than just knowing God’s will isn’t it? It is knowing God. When we know God in a deeper way, what should we expect to happen?
Well, having God fill us with the knowledge of His will should make a difference. We are wanting throughout our study of Colossians in these summer months to be carefully considering the question, HOW DOES KNOWING GOD CHANGE OUR LIVES”?
I was thinking about this in the context of love. We know that the Bible tells us in I Corinthians 13 that we can have all knowledge and understand all mysteries but if we don’t have love, it is nothing.
I can have a list of things to accomplish: watering flowers, yard work, cleaning, sorting of closets… Now it is satisfying to get things done and to be able to cross them off the list, but if we make our focus completing various tasks in the house and yard or getting bills paid and other paper work sorted out, but we don’t make love our priority, then we have missed what matters most.
How do we decide in a day what absolutely must get done?
Is God’s will for us at the top of that list?
If it is then we will like Paul need to be praying for the grace to understand. Being filled with the knowledge of God and God’s will comes as we earnestly seek this. We have to want this and to believe that it is worth having.
I like the image of being filled. When you are very thirsty you want a full glass of water, not just a few drops in the bottom.
Likewise, to be filled with the knowledge of God’s will speaks of abundant supply, giving us lots with which to work.
And working with it is the key. God is not going to entrust wisdom and understanding to us if we aren’t prepared to follow through with obedience to what He prompts us to consider and do.
vs. 10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way…
Do you feel that you have lived a life worthy of the Lord this past week? What was there in your life that you know without a doubt was pleasing to the Lord? That came about because of your knowledge of God’s will for you and good for you where you responded and did those things?
What was there in your life that you know without a doubt was not pleasing to the Lord?
It may be that you even had the knowledge of God’s will but what was missing was the adjustment to behaviour or the risk involved in actively doing what God was prompting you to do.
The good news is that we get another chance this week, in fact today.
As God makes us aware of what to do and what not to do in order to closely follow His will, we can respond and follow through and God will be pleased.
The regrets and negligence of yesterday do not write the story of today.
With our Lord, every day is a new opportunity and God is so wanting us to live to please Him!
He wants to equip us and to help us, but we need the power of prayer at work for this to take place!
vs. 10b”…bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God.”
See this? The more we grow in the knowledge of God, the more we will be motivated and compelled to be in unison with His will, to accept His will and to do whatever He leads us to do with Him in mind.
God provides the resources. He doesn’t just give us understanding of His will, but He gives us the strength to carry it out!
vs.11”being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience”
Carrying out God’s will after understanding it does require His power and certainly great endurance and patience.
One of the reasons this is so is because others do not have this same perspective on God’s will. Sometimes we will face opposition when we are trying to obediently do God’s will and live to please Him.
It is especially difficult if this resistance and opposition comes from those closest to us-family and friends.
This may come in the form of them not understanding our priorities or their lives having very different priorities.
Hear this: When we know God’s will, we must choose what we will do with that knowledge!
Sometimes it’s like a notice that has come in the mail that we have shoved in a drawer but have not acted on.
What we can do is to give thanks joyfully to God the Father (vs. 12) “Who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.”
This is a helpful approach. We can thank God for what He is already doing in filling us with the knowledge of His will and assisting us to live it faithfully each day.
Here we have the distinct contrast between the kingdom of darkness (living contrary to God) and the kingdom of light (the kingdom of the Son God loves-Jesus).
The lights are shining brightly in the kingdom of light and we can see clearly Who God is and what He requires of us. We can know that only through Jesus can we have redemption and the forgiveness of sins!
We are drawn by the light of this way of living!
Why would we choose the darkness and deception of living in the shadows when the illumination of God’s kingdom of light is available to us?
We can be and are filled with the knowledge of God’s will through all that He has revealed to us. The completion of this gift is to do God’s will, to live God’s will, to live to please God-not in our own strength, but His.
Will you decide to not stop praying for yourself and for other believers to have God fill you with the knowledge of His will? It will be life changing!!