To Be Filled With the Knowledge of His Will
“For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may have a walk worthy of the LORD, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.” Colossians 1:9-10 NKJV
At first glance, the Bible can seem overwhelming. It’s not just one “book” but a collection of 66 books written by about 40 authors over a period of 1,500 years. Just the sheer size of even a simple Bible, without any commentary notes, can run over 1,000 pages. In some ways it isn’t surprising when people shy away from Bible reading and feel it’s best to leave Bible study into the hands of experts and only pull out a few well-known passages like Psalm 23 at appropriate times. That is however, quite unfortunate.
I think God wants you to be in His Word and He wants you to grow and become fruitful by gaining spiritual wisdom.
The Apostle Paul opens his epistle or “letter” to those who lived in Colosse (a small city in Asia Minor) with this great prayer from verse 9 through 12. The thing to remember about Paul and this city; we have no record of Paul ever visiting the Colosse. The Book of Acts does not record any activity of Paul in the city. Yet he feels compelled to write this letter to a group of people he never met and in doing so, offers a wonderful prayer for them.
There are many things one can discover in these few verses of Colossians, but I want to dwell on one point. God wants you to be spiritually wise.
Notice how he prays in verse 9 for them to be “filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual understanding.” He further states this knowledge will result in having a “walk worthy of the LORD, fully pleasing Him.” God wanted these people to know His will and thereby gain spiritual understanding, resulting in a life change that would be pleasing to the LORD. He wanted that for the people of 1st century Colosse and He wants that for you too!
This prayer in Colossians applies to you. You can pray this for yourself and know that God will answer this. You will grow in Him and grow in spiritual wisdom when you seek Him through His Word.
Blessings my Friends!
Jeff Millslagle