The Prayer That Flows from Our Position in Christ
“For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven’t stopped praying for you. We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God.” – Colossians 1:9–10 (HCSB)
Paul’s prayer for the Colossians is remarkably ordered. He does not begin by praying that their circumstances will change. He prays that they will know God’s will, possess wisdom, understand spiritual realities, and then live accordingly. His prayer moves from knowledge, to wisdom, to understanding, to walking. What God produces inwardly becomes visible outwardly.
Goals of Prayer: Walk Worthy of the Lord
Fully pleasing to Him
Bearing fruit in every good work
Growing in the knowledge of God
The goal is a life that increasingly corresponds to the Lord who saved us. Paul is not describing a walk that earns our standing before God. He is describing the walk that grows out of that standing. We have already been accepted in Christ, and because we belong to Him, our desire is increasingly to live in a manner consistent with who He is.
Practice of Prayer: Don’t Stop Asking For
Being filled with the knowledge of God’s will
Wisdom
Spiritual understanding
The Goals and Practice of Prayer have distinct purpose. We pray for what must happen within us as believers so that what God desires can increasingly appear through the believer. We need Knowledge of His will and it's not merely knowing what God wants us to do. It's personal, directive. Wisdom is the ability to apply that truth, while spiritual understanding enables us to perceive life in light of what God has revealed. So we do not think and act like those who do not know God but those who do grasp his will, apply it, and interpret life with spiritual understanding He gives.
Paul then moves from what he is asking God to produce in them to what such a God-produced life looks like:
“May you be strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience, with joy giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light.” – Colossians 1:11–12 (HCSB)
Results of Prayer
Strengthened according to the power of God
The fruit of the Holy Spirit – endurance, patience, joy, and the rest of the Spirit-produced life
Thankfulness for our eternal victory and inheritance in Christ
Notice the source of the strength: “according to His glorious might.” The Christian life is not sustained by human determination. God supplies what He requires. His strength produces endurance when circumstances remain difficult, patience when people remain difficult, and joy that is not dependent upon either one changing.
And all of it culminates in thanksgiving. The Father “has enabled” us to share in the inheritance. Our inheritance is not something we are trying to qualify for through better Christian performance. God Himself has qualified us for it through Christ.
The Results of Prayer well up from the position of the believer.
That position is precisely where Paul goes next:
“He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves. We have redemption, the forgiveness of sins, in Him.” – Colossians 1:13–14 (HCSB)
Reasons for Prayer: We Are Saved by Christ
Rescued by Christ – We could not escape the domain of darkness ourselves. He rescued us.
Transferred by Christ – We did not find our own way into His kingdom. He transferred us.
Redeemed by Christ – We could not purchase our freedom. Our redemption is in Him.
Forgiven by Christ – We could not erase our guilt. In Him, our sins are forgiven.
This is what keeps Paul’s prayer from becoming a prayer for religious self-improvement. Everything he asks God to accomplish in the believer rests upon what God has already accomplished for the believer in Christ. We do not walk worthy so that we might be rescued, transferred, redeemed, and forgiven. We walk worthy because we have been rescued, transferred, redeemed, and forgiven.
Prayer, then, is not an attempt to persuade God to make us acceptable. It is the prayer of people who are already His, asking Him to make the reality of Christ increasingly evident in the way they live. We ask for knowledge because we belong to Him. We seek wisdom because we belong to Him. We desire to bear fruit because we belong to Him. We endure through His strength because we belong to Him. And we give thanks because the inheritance toward which we are walking has already been secured for us in Christ.
The whole prayer flows from position to practice: what Christ has done establishes who we are; who we are becomes the foundation for what we pray; and what we pray for increasingly becomes visible in how we walk.
Reflection Questions
When I pray for spiritual growth, am I praying from the security of what Christ has already done for me, or am I still trying to earn what He has already given?
Where do I most need God’s knowledge, wisdom, spiritual understanding, and strength to become visible in the way I walk today?
Jesus came to "set the captives free," by the Truth.
Do you know Jesus yet?
Pray and ask Him to deliver you! He will.
email: mike@trainandtell.org
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