PAUL'S PRAYER FOR THE COLOSSIANS
Col. 1:7-11
Morning Meditation 3/16/17
Verses 7-11 say, "As ye also learned of Epaphras our dear fellow servant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ; Who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit. For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness."
One of the things that is outstanding about the life of Paul is his prayer life. Paul was used to getting his prayers answered. He prayed three times for the removal of the thorn as he tells us in 2 Cor. 12:8. I believe this suggests that he usually got what he asked for the first time. It is good to have someone praying for you that is used to getting his prayers answered. Paul tells the Colossians, "we . . . do not cease to pray for you." How did this Church get on Paul's prayer list? It was motivated by a report. This is brought out in verse 7: "As ye also learned of Epaphras our dear fellow servant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ; Who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit. For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you . . ." Paul was impressed by the report Epaphras made and motivated to enter into prayer in their behalf. I believe there are requests from which we can learn that stand out in this prayer. First, Paul prayed that,
THEY WOULD HAVE AN INCREASED KNOWLEDGE OF GOD'S WILL
Paul says, "For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will . . ." The words "ye might be filled" translate "pleroo" and mean "to render full, i.e. to complete, to fill to the top: so that nothing shall be wanting to full measure, fill to the brim." It is the translation of an aorist passive subjunctive verb. The aorist tense suggests a point of time. The passive voice means that they will be recipients of the Lord's work to do this. The subjunctive mood means that it is possible. Many times when we pray, there are other factors that figure into the answer, i.e., the one's willingness and desire for whom we pray. That is how it is in this case.
The word "knowledge" translates "epignosis" and means, "a precise and correct knowledge." The word "will" translates "thelema" and means, "what one wishes or has determined shall be done." Paul is saying that He is praying for and strongly desires that they might be filled completely with the knowledge of His will. God has a plan in every person's life. Success in our service to the Lord is finding what that will is and cooperate.
The word "wisdom" translates "sophia" and means, "skilled, expert: of artificers, wise, skilled in letters, cultivated, learned, of the Greek philosophers and orators." This word might be defined as the proper arrangement of the knowledge gained. It is the ability to use the knowledge gained. The word "spiritual" translates "pneumatikos" and is a reference to the ability to understand what the Holy Spirit intends to say when He speaks through the revelation of God's Word. It is one thing to know what the Holy Spirit says, it is another to know what He meant by what He said. Paul prayed that the Colossian Christians would have an increased knowledge of God's will. Then he prayed that,
THEY WOULD WALK WORTHY OF THE LORD
The worthy walk is the result of a proper understanding of the will of God (verse 9). The word "worthy" translates "axios" and means, "suitably, worthily, in a manner worthy of." This means that the Christian walk should represent the Lord we serve. Jesus is invisible to the world. What He teaches in His Word should be illustrated in the lives of His followers. Paul wanted that for the Colossians. He prayed for that.
The words "unto all pleasing" translate "areskeia" and mean, "a desire to please." The word "all" translates "pas" and means, "all." Jesus said, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven" (Matt. 5:16). It should be the desire of the Christian to please the Lord and manifest His teachings to all men by the way he lives and dies.
John Gill says, "The apostle prays that their knowledge might issue in practice; for knowledge, without practice, is of no avail: he first asks for knowledge, and then practice, for how should men act according to the will of God, or Christ, unless they know it? and when they know it, they should not rest in their knowledge, but put it in practice."
The words "being fruitful" translate "karpophoreo" and mean, "to bear fruit." I have a definition of fruit. It is the natural effortless product of a healthy plant. Fruit represents a product of the nature of a plant that is doing what you would expect. If a person has been regenerated by the Spirit of God, and if he knows the will of God, you would expect to see that will worked out in his life. This is what Paul is talking about.
The words "in every good work" speak of the consistency of the obedient Christian. There is no good work where we do not seek God's will, and when we find it, we work it out.. Someone watching the scene could say, "You know that man prays about everything he does, and he is a Christian in everything." Paul prays that they might have a worthy walk. Then he prays that,
THEY MIGHT HAVE A POWER FILLED LIFE
Powerless Christianity degenerates into a form of godliness and becomes just one of many others. The word "strengthened" translates "dunamoo" and means, "to make strong, to confirm." It is a present passive participle. The present tense means that Paul is praying that they will keep on having this strength right now. The passive voice means that this strength will not originate from their own self-effort but rather that they will receive this strength in answer to prayer and that the Lord will give it. The power of the Christian life finds its source in the Lord Himself. It is right to pray for the power of God in our lives.
Let's look at a last days prediction. It is found in 2 Timothy 3:5: "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away." This describes a Christianity that has the right form (doctrinal form) but does not have the breath of life in it. The word "deny" translates "arneomai" and means "to deny." It is a perfect participle and means they denied it in the past and remain in the state of denial. This seems to be those who embraced Christianity as they would any other religion. From the outside you would not know them from any other Christian. But they never experience the power of the Gospel to regenerate them and give them a new nature. I am afraid churches are filled with this kind of professing Christian. They deny the power of the Christian faith because they have never experienced it. They have no spiritual discernment (1Cor. 2:14) and no capacity to ever be any different. It is difficult for a person like this to admit that he has never been saved and repent and believe the gospel.
The are three results that come out of receiving this power:
1. There will be His power to exercise patience. Patience is not a human virtue. Someone prayed, "Lord, give me patience and hurry up." Jesus is an example of patience. He was born to die. We know of His birth and something about His childhood until He was twelve. But after that we know nothing until He enters His public ministry. I have an idea that those silent years, as most scholars call them, were filled with patient waiting. A phrase Jesus often used is "mine hour is not yet come." It is found used this way at least seven times in John's Gospel. He was one of us through the incarnation but different from us in His purpose and sinlessness. I believe it was very difficult to exercise the patience necessary to live through the processes of life for Him. This is something we will never do unless we have the power of God.
2. There will be the power to be longsuffering. These two words are similar in meaning. But longsuffering goes beyond endurance and emphasizes a lengthy suffering attached to the patience. The man who says, "I have taken this as long as I can," means that the pressure of patience with a given situation has caused him to suffer LONG ENOUGH. He is about to make a decision to end the suffering by whatever means he chooses. Of course the Christian is not supposed to end the suffering the way he chooses, he is supposed to stay with the situation until the Lord removes it.
3. There will be the power to do it joyfully. It is one thing to be patient and longsuffering, but to do it joyfully is quite another thing. That will certainly take the power of God. This power is available in answer to prayer as illustrated in Paul's prayer for the Colossians.
May the Lord bless these words to our hearts. In Christ, Bro. Earl White
