A Study in Colossians
Colossians 1:9-10 “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; 10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;”
Prayer is the most demanding of all spiritual disciplines. Prayer is also the most rewarding of all spiritual disciplines. Unselfish prayer is the most difficult of all spiritual disciplines. The apostles mastered these three disciplines and never ceased to pray for others; and especially for their intimate spiritual development.
Paul wrote to the Ephesians and told them not to be ignorant of God’s will for their lives (Ephesians 5:17). He wanted them to have an intimate and rewarding walk with God. And, in his letter to the Colossians, he goes beyond just knowing God’s will for their lives: he prays that they understand the spiritual implication of God’s will for their lives.
Why? So they could walk worthy of the Lord and please Him in the tasks He planned for them before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 2:10). This involvement with God, according to His will and His planned works, would lead to an intimate and informative relationship with Him.
God wants all disciples to have an intimate and informative relationship with Him. He wants to lead us continually with His Spirit (Romans 8:1-17). But, it is we who fear such intimacy. So, we set about inventing all kinds of church programs, worship activities, events etc., which have the appearance of spirituality, but feed us little spiritually and keep us from prayer and studying God’s word. These indulgences often fail to produce something very basic; intimacy with the Father.
Our activities and programs seldom originate from intimacy with God, either on a personal or corporate level. They usually result from the consensual wisdom of men and woman in leadership who then bring their plans to God for His blessing rather than seeking His plans for the church. Church boards, committees etc., tend to want to control God rather then be God-controlled.
Paul calls individuals and assemblies to these three simple but costly endeavours: 1. Know God’s will for our lives and live in that knowledge wisely. 2. Seek after spiritual understanding not worldly religious understanding as we live in His will for our lives. 3. Exercising the first two will then result in walking as the Lord wants us to walk, individually and corporately. Then the world will see our good works and declare that we know Him and have an intimate relationship with Him.
Lasting intimacy with God will seldom, if ever, be found in the decisions of church boards, committees, activities, programs, worship services etc., but only while we hunger and thirst for righteousness, study God’s word and spend more time on our knees seeking His daily will for our lives.
Bob Chapman MA
