Colossians 1:9-14 Because of this, since the day we heard about you, we haven’t stopped praying for you and asking for you to be filled with the knowledge of God’s will, with all wisdom and spiritual understanding. We’re praying this so that you can live lives that are worthy of the Lord and pleasing to him in every way: by producing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God; by being strengthened through his glorious might so that you endure everything and have patience; and by giving thanks with joy to the Father. He made it so you could take part in the inheritance, in light granted to God’s holy people. He rescued us from the control of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. He set us free through the Son and forgave our sins.
Yesterday, we looked at the prayers that Paul was praying for people while he was in prison. He was filled with joy how God was working in the lives of the congregations he formed. As we continue with Colossians 1, we get to see more of Paul’s prayers for the people. He prays for those reading this letter to be strengthened by God. Who do you think is praying for you to be strengthened in your faith? Who should you pray for to increase in strength in their faith in God?
Why should we pray this? If we trust that God is working in people, we will be more attentive to their faith life and can be more encouraging in their walk with Jesus Christ. As we do this, we get to be the ones to walk with God alongside them to help them grow the seeds of God’s grace that will produce a fruit. This fruit will allow the person to do even more good works for the Kingdom of God.
Paul also makes a statement that, if just read quickly, can be missed. He says “so that you endure everything and have patience.” In this statement, Paul is saying that life is not going to be easy, but we can be strengthened by God to endure anything we go through. It will hurt at the time, but in the end we will be able to develop patience through life. What a great promise to hold on to. Imagine how much different the world would be if we allowed patience to develop in each of us and this fruit of the spirit takes over our lives!
For us to be strengthened in Christ means that we look to the light to guide our path. We seem to be more comfortable walking in the dark (doing things and traveling paths that actually lead away from Christ) than we are walking in the light (moving with and toward Jesus Christ with our lives). Why are we this way? It can be painful for our weaknesses and sins to be exposed to the light, but this is how God takes care of our sins. God brings them into the light so we can see what we need to do and how we should live a life that is worthy of Him.
We are set free from the paths that try to keep us in the dark; the paths that lead us away from Christ. The darkness creeps in and can make us believe lies and dark things about us. Letting the light in and moving toward the light really gives us the freedom to believe the best things about us because that is what God believes about you and I.
#ToTheGloryOfChrist
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