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Benefits of Prayer and Living A Living Godly Lifestyle | Colossians 1:9-14| Colossians Bible Study – Pt2 | Mike Prah

    May 22, 2024 | by Mike Prah

    Benefits of Prayer and Living A Living Godly Lifestyle | Colossians 1:9-14| Colossians Bible Study – Pt2 | Mike Prah

     “So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 Then the way you live will always honor, and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better. 11 We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy, 12 always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light. 13 For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, 14 who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.” Colossians 1:9-14 (NLT)

     1. BELIEVERS MUST HAVE CONTINUOUS PRAYER LIFE (1:9a)

    “So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding” Colossians 1:9 (NLT)

    • Perpetual prayer must be a vital part of a believer’s life.

    • Paul prayed regularly and consistently, “not stopped praying for you.”

    • To be sure, life as a redeemed believer of Christ is unthinkable and unachievable without prayer.[1]

    “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (ESV)

    THE CHARACTER OF PAUL’S PRAYER (1:9a)

    A. The Occasion Prompting Paul’s Prayer

    “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people— 5 the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel 6 that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit. 9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you” Colossians 1:3-9a (NIV)

    • The believer’s faith towards the Lord (Col. 1:3-4a)

    • The believers love towards each other (Col. 1:4b)

    • The believers hope for the future. They are looking forward to the joys of heaven (Col.1:5-6)

    • The spiritual fruit of the gospel and the believer’s love in the spirit (1:6-8)

     B. The Nature of Paul’s Prayer (Col. 1:9)

    • “So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding” Colossians 1:9 (NLT)

    • The specific nature of the prayer occurs in two complementary verbs, “praying” and “asking.”

    • “Praying” covers the entirety of the prayer life (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Petition)

    • “Asking” is more specific. It expresses a particular request that God intervenes in the lives of people. He prayed that they would know the will of God in their lives.

    Paul prayed specifically for knowledge of the will of God, “We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding” (Col .1:9, NLT)

     2. BELIEVERS MUST PRAY, SEEKING GOD’S WILL, AND WE WILL RECEIVE DIRECTION FROM GOD (Col. 1:9-14)

    A. Believers Must Pray to Gain a Deeper Understanding of God (Col. 1:9)

    “We ask God to give you complete knowledge of God’s will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding” Colossians 1:9 (NLT)

    • More than factual knowledge about God, Paul has been praying that the Colossians will truly know God and receive God’s direction.

    “You are my God; teach me to do your will. Be good to me and guide me on a safe path.” Psalm 143:10 (GN)

    • Believers must pray to have a true knowledge of God and to receive guidance from God, above and beyond just knowing facts about God.

    • Knowledge of God’s mind comes from spiritual resources. Getting to know God is different from other goals. The human responsibility is to place oneself in an environment conducive to spiritual growth where God can reveal his mind. Specifically, this environment is identified as through “spiritual wisdom and understanding.”

    • Spiritual wisdom and understanding include wisdom: the acquisition of knowledge and the application of that knowledge to a specific concern or situation.[2]

    • Christians must place themselves in that spiritual environment with the hope and expectation that God will reveal His will regarding specific matters. Paul’s point was not the difficulty of knowing God but the attitude required by the seeker of knowledge. When believers fully submit to Christ, Christ God always makes Himself known.

    “I desire to do your will, my God;  your law is within my heart.” Psalm 40:8 (NIV)

    “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” Matthew 6:10 (NIV)

    “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” Matthew 7:21 (NIV)

    “Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother” Mark 3:35 (NIV)

    B. Believers Must Pray to Live A Life That Pleases God (Col. 1:10a)

    • Paul prays that God will enable the Colossians to lead lives worthy of and pleasing to the Lord Jesus.

    • Paul’s ambition was to please the Lord (2 Co 5:9), and he had similar spiritual goals for the Colossians.

    “We make it our goal to please God, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.” 2 Corinthians 5:9 (NIV)

     3. BENEFITS OF A LIFE LIVED UNTO THE LORD (1:10b-14)

    A. A Life That Pleases the Lord Will be Fruitful and Marked By All Kinds of Good Work

    “Then the way you live will always honor, and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit” Colossians 1:10 (NLT)

    • Those who embrace the good news will bear spiritual fruit

    “The Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT)

    •   Paul was a proponent of good works. Although the Bible teaches that humanity is not worthy of God’s mercy, it also encourages and provides an example of working and striving for the cause of Christ. (Col. 1:29; Php 2:12).

    “God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work” 2 Corinthians 9:8 (NIV)

    “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers” Galatians 6:10 (NIV)

    “We are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago” Ephesians 2:10 (NLT)

    “May our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who loved us and by His grace gave us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope, comfort you and strengthen you in every good thing you do and say” 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 (NLT)

     B. A Life That Pleases God is Strengthened by God (Col 1:11)

    “We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy” Colossians 1:11 (NLT)

    • Praying believers who know the will of God have God’s power to persevere

    • God’s glorious, mighty power makes it possible for believers to be steadfast, patient, and joyful.

    • “Endurance” is “the capacity to continue to bear up under difficult circumstances.”

    • “Patience” is “a state of emotional calm in the face of provocation or misfortune and without complaining or irritation.” This provocation usually comes from other persons.

    • Endurance and patience complement one another. Neither difficult circumstances nor difficult people should upset a person who walks in God’s will. Christ-followers have access to divine power.

    • Joy is the fruit of a right relationship with God; it is not something we can create by our own efforts. In Christ, we can experience joy that is abundant (2 Cor 8:2), exceeding (Ps 68:3), unspeakable (1 Pet 1:8), and secure (Jn 16:22).

    • As Christians, we have access to God’s joy even when we are experiencing sorrow (2 Cor 6:10), trials (1 Pet 1:6), persecution (Heb 10:34), or calamities (Hab 3:17-18).

    • Christian joy is God-given, gospel-driven, Spirit-empowered, and heaven-focused.

    • Paul experienced God as all-powerful and repeatedly experienced divine enablement in the midst of his difficulties

     “That’s why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me” Colossians 1:29 (NLT)

    “We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves” 2 Corinthians 4:7 (NLT)

    “I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud. Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (NLT)

    “I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:13 (NLT)

    C. A Knowledgeable, Spiritual, Believer is Thankful to God (Col. 1:12-14)

    “Always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light. 13 For He has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of His dear Son, 14 who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.” Colossians 1:12-14 (NLT)

    Because of:

    (1). What the Father Did: Redemption (Col 1:12-13)

    (2). What the Son Did: Freedom and Forgiveness (Col 1:14)

     SUMMARY

    • Believers require continuous prayer for vitality

    • Prayer promotes personal knowledge of God’s will, wisdom, and understanding  

    • Divine power is given to endure both difficult circumstances and people

    • Joyful living, endurance, patience, gratitude, and freedom are the significant benefits of a prayerful, surrendered believer.

    [1] W. B. Hunter, “Prayer,” in Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, ed. Gerald F. Hawthorne, Ralph P. Martin, and Daniel G. Reid (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity), 725

    [2] Richard R. Melick, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, vol. 32, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1991), 202.

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