9 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,10 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; 11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy;12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.
35 “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, 36 and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. 37 Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. 38 If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants!39 But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” Luke 12:35-40
Dear friends, once again it’s been a while. I have found myself in that place in life where I am attempting to locate my purpose. I’ve spent 25 years being ‘mom’. Our son is married and our daughter is graduating from college and has her own big plans moving forward in her life. While I am grateful for our children (or God’s children as I often refer to them as) and for their adulthood which is full of possibilities, there is a part of me that feels a bit lost. For the last several years I have been praying over what this day would look like and have sought God’s will to lead. While I believe many times he has led me to my next challenge in this earthly life, I have disappointed Him in that I have not followed through. Human disappointments have allowed my soul to be crushed and in knowing the character flaws of even some of the strongest Christians I know, I have walked away from God’s calling so as not to “rock any boats” and to keep the peace in my surrounding acquaintances. I have taken this challenge upon myself and not relied on God as much as I should. Choosing the next path to walk along has been my nemesis this past few months and I have been stopped without direction at the crossroads. My husband is not horribly concerned as our house is finally getting some long awaited projects completed while I have been pondering, praying and waiting.
Our community has gone through some pretty tough challenges lately, and my sitting down in the early morning hours reading the scriptures has led me to deeply study once more our next section of Colossians, which was nothing short of inspiring and heartwarming. Why I have allowed myself to take a step back to ponder this journey ALONE is absurd after my studying this week. I never gave up praying and taking time with the Lord, yet I haven’t taken everything to Him and trusted Him enough to lead me where He wants me. I have felt that I have repeatedly let the Lord down. He opens a door and I close it before I even give Him a chance to utilize me. I know better! I have been allowing my whole being to be controlled by what I call fear. Fear of not doing it right, of failure, and of letting others down. I have for longer than I can say been allowing others to dictate the how’s, when and why’s of my life rather than trusting with completeness in the Lord and His will. Can anyone else relate? For me, studying this lesson I came to the realization that although I think I submit, I do so only as much as I understand. That there is a great deal I am failing at in not doing what the Lord wants and needs of me. God doesn’t want me to fail, and yet by not trusting in Him and growing in knowledge through His word, I am not living up to my full potential as His servant. Let’s see what you think about this lesson and if it resonates with you as well….
Did you notice in the verses above that Paul shares with the Colossians that “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;“. Praying for them without ceasing. Can we acknowledge to ourselves that we pray for someone without ceasing? What does that look like? It looks like true commitment to a cause. When I use the word cause, I do not mean an actual event or activity on this earth. The cause is the completeness of knowing God and God’s Word. Meaning that through prayer Gods will is actively being sought. All too often, unceasing prayer is sought for guidance through life, sometimes instructing God as to our desires and our hopes in this life. We think that we have all of the answers to what He wants yet in reality it’s our wants that take center stage. Sometimes, we even think we are seeking God’s instruction by praying, opening the Bible and finding just the right verse that we can utilize to say “see? This is just what I thought. God wants me to do this or that”. Sitting by and making excuses for our decisions using God’s word out of context to fit our own narrative. Right or wrong, that’s the truth. The Colossians were no different. They were being fed by false teachers trying to lead them down the prim rose path and Paul is letting them know that he has not stopped praying for their guidance by God and God’s will and only His will.
Paul wants the Colossians, through those prayers, for them to truly know God. That they would be given spiritual wisdom and understanding. Paul had prayed that their life would be counted amongst the saints in their living, just as their own private prayer life was. He prayed that they would seek God’s will because they knew who He truly was. Wiersbe/Cook broke this passage down into three sections, saying Paul prayed for: a. spiritual intelligence, b. practical obedience and c. moral excellence. In this also it was stated that in the New Testament language, to be “filled” means to be “controlled by”. In other words, if we are filled with anger, we are controlled by anger. If we are filled with resentments we are controlled by resentments. If we are filled with the Spirit, we are controlled by the Spirit. This helps us to understand that Pauls prayer was meant for them to understand that through Godly wisdom (the Word) and understanding (given by the Holy Spirit) they would be controlled by the full knowledge of God. Wow! Isn’t that a lot to consider? How many of us can admit that we are controlled by the full knowledge of God? When people do horrific things, are we controlled by anger? When we are given disappointments are we controlled by disappointments? When we fear are we also controlled by it? Or do we seek the whole will of the Lord, understanding that success in living a life worthy of the Lord is knowing and understanding it’s about believing and trusting Gods will over our own. We may not always understand, yet His will is perfectly planned out for us. It doesn’t mean we don’t feel, we just don’t allow those feelings of hopelessness, anger, disappointments, and fear to control us.
How many of us can say we already know this? How many of us can actually say that we live this? Or say “most of the time” this is how I live. I remember a woman bible teacher once say that she knew she had to give up her sins and living as if she had control over her life. That she was wiling to give up all but one sin that she just couldn’t grasp as being that bad. She said she needed more time to ponder that sin before giving it up. She did not believe that God had a better plan for her and that she shouldn’t be so focused on the sin she wanted to keep. Not believing in God and the full strength of His Word holds us back. I for one can admit that while I spend a great deal of time praying and “trying” to focus on the Will of God, I all too often fail and am weak. I let fear of humanity control my thoughts and my actions. Two things that the commentary by Weirsbe/Cook wrote that hit me square in the middle of my core, giving me the knowledge of my own sin so that I can repent:
- “It’s not about sitting & waiting for guidance in life, it’s about getting deeper into God’s Word. ” Not seeking guidance for specific circumstances, but digging deeper into the word so that we would have wisdom necessary to make decisions in living to please God. ”
- “Great men of God like Charles Spurgeon, Campbell Morgan and H.A. Ironside never had the privilege of formal Bible training. But they were devoted students of the Word, learning deeper truths through hours of study, meditation and prayer. The first step toward fullness of life is spiritual intelligence – growing in the word of God by knowing the Word of God.”
William Hendrickson stated that clear knowledge is heart transforming and life renewing. Hence we move into the last part of the passage today, giving thanks for the strength and endurance according to HIS will and might. Through knowing God and understanding it’s His will we need to pray for, not just for today or today’s circumstances, yet in all things happening every day and those yet to happen.
Hendrickson utilizes the words long-suffering to characterize the person who has patience, and such virtues as kindness, mercy, love, goodness, compassion, meekness, lowliness, forbearance and a forgiving spirit. Long-suffering is described by Hendrickson as being a divine gift inspired by hope. Knowing that we give thanks, understanding that it’s through sovereign grace we share in His inheritance. We give thanks knowing that we deserve something other than that which we are given. Isn’t this amazing that the passage today ended with thanksgiving on a week in which we rejoice at the blessings before us? We celebrate thanksgiving knowing that we are saints chosen by God rather than recipients of something we worked to earn. We give thanks to God the blessings of seeing God work through horrific events in our community to striking down the wicked. We give thanks knowing that he has a plan and it’s much bigger than anything we could ourselves think up. We give thanks at the blessing knowing that for every disappointment there is renewal, for every fear there is strength and for every loss there is gain. Gain in an eternal promise to join the Lord, serving Him and singing praises to Him, glorifying an almighty creator who is all knowing and all seeing. Isn’t that something to be thankful for? Are you thankful friends? Can you admit that you are thankful even in the midst of tragedy? Are you thankful during times of soulful unrest? If not, perhaps it’s time to dig deeper into your studies and gain some traction in your prayer life.
Years ago, I prayed for a family member who is dear to my heart. I prayed for 12 years asking the Lord to bring them into the same place as I was. I prayed daily asking for their calling. One day a woman at my bible study whom I respected, gave a devotion about our prayer lives. She shared that sometimes we forget to stop begging God for “our will” to happen and pray instead for our own “hearts to be changed to accept God’s will and timing in all things”. I walked out of study that day thinking to myself, “I know that. What have I done for 12 years? I’ve prayed for them and for God to act upon my own desires rather than praying for God’s will to be done and for his changing of my heart to trust His timing and His will.” So that began a new chapter of sanctification for me. My prayer life stopped begging God, and rather, I prayed that He would give me the tools I needed to accept whatever God had planned. The road was not easy that we ventured down, yet God gave me strength to get through it and that person just two weeks later began submitting to God’s will. God also changed my heart to accept the circumstances in which we would journey through, and the strength to continue trusting in Him who knew best that which it would take to get them in complete compliance to a Holy God.
We cannot control others and their behaviors, we cannot control the media, the evil in this world, and that which tries to control us. All we can do is remain faithful in our studies of the Word of God so that we can grow in grace, knowing Him and His will. Do not be deceived into thinking that we are in control, God is and He will win against all evil.
I pray friends that the Lord will guide me through this study to completion and that I will not allow the quietness of my new journey to keep me at that crossroads. I pray that the wisdom and knowledge I gain through my studies will be transparent to you and will help you also be inspired to take your faith deeper into understanding who it is that truly matters. Do not let the world stall your growth. Just as Paul prayed, I pray for you also my friends.
For more considerations, read through the book of Job. Understand that Job knew from the beginning God had a plan for him. He only began to plead with god after others who were not as diligent in their studies and knowledge of Him, questioned his suffering as being something he deserved. God surely reminded him of His almighty grace that has provided all that Job needed. That Job’s self deprivation was only going to control him and that would be going against God instead of trusting and knowing God completely.
Should any of you need scripture verses to further understand all that I’ve said above, let’s chat. I would love to share more of the Word of God with you through the one source of material that matters and that’s the Bible.
