To Encourage You

Colossians 1:9-10 “And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.”

In Paul’s prayer for the Colossian church in Colossians 1 above, we see mention of the step-by-step process of living the Christian life in a manner that glorifies God. First is the knowledge of God’s will and the recognition that this and everything else in the Christian life comes from God as a gift.  God has given us His Word.  It’s the only way we can learn about Him, for it’s how He has chosen to reveal Himself to us.  In the Bible, and only in the Bible, we find the knowledge of God’s will for each and every one of us.  It is the vehicle through which He provides to us spiritual wisdom and spiritual understanding.  Filling our minds with these things is the prerequisite for the next aspect of following Christ, namely, “walking in a manner worthy of the Lord.”

God hasn’t left us to flounder in our daily walk. We aren’t meant to always be wondering if we are living in a way that honors the One who died to save us from our sins.  He has told us how to live to glorify Him.  He has demonstrated His love for us in many, many ways, and He has told us what pleases Him in His Word.  The person who really wants to glorify the Savior with his or her life will be a student of that Word, seeking to understand how to think, speak, and act in a manner that shows gratitude for the love of the Lord toward them.  Such a life will inevitably lead to the next thing, namely, a life that matters, i.e., a life that is truly fruitful from God’s perspective. 

What person, if he or she is a believer, doesn’t want this above all else.   A believer doesn’t want his or her life to, in the end, be “like chaff that the wind drives away” but rather, “like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers” (Psalm 1).  And it is just such a life that will inevitably lead to an “increasing knowledge of God.”  As one is faithful and obedient to the little bit he or she knows of God’s will and purpose for him or her, God will reveal more and more of His knowledge to that person.  One doesn’t have to wait to be a theologian to walk in a way that pleases God. They must just be obedient to what they do know.  It is to that person that God opens the understanding to know increasingly of His will, and with that increasing wisdom and understanding, the ability for an increasingly obedient walk, more fruitfulness, and even more knowledge. 

That’s how someone who is already “filled with the knowledge of his will” can “increase in the knowledge of God,” for how can one that is “filled” with something, “increase” in that very same thing.  Such is the miraculous work of God to increase the capacity of those who faithfully follow Him so that they can increasingly know Him.  Our infinite God has infinite blessings of wisdom, knowledge, and fruitfulness for those who desire such things. And the one that truly desires such things will desire them for others as well.  He or she will pray about such things for others, just like Paul did, and their lives will encourage such things in others, just like Paul’s life did. 

It was Paul that encouraged others to “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1).  The one who truly wants to be such a person will pray that God truly fulfills those desires for themselves, just as they pray for the same things for others.  And wonderfully, the Bible doesn’t just give us examples of God honoring prayers, it promises to answer such prayers when they are prayed sincerely from the heart.  Such is the message of the wisdom in these words from God through King David: “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). 

May God give us a godly prayer life, as well as a godly life, that results in a step-by-step growing influence of His glorious will for each one of us who truly desires to follow Him.