I hope this series has been edifying. May these brief summaries of Carson's book cause you to examine the way you pray, and, if needed, may it reshape your priorities. We are thus far halfway through the series. This upcoming post will be on Colossians 1:9-14. It reads:
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you[d] to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. 13For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14in whom we have redemption,[e] the forgiveness of sins. (NIV)
Colossians 1:9-14 – The Content of a Challenging Prayer
Lessons from the Setting of the Prayer
1.) Paul prays for Christians he has never met personally (v.9)
2.) Paul prays unceasingly (v.9)
3.) Paul links prayers of thanksgiving to prayers of petition (v.9)
Lessons from the Content of the Prayer
1.) Paul asks God to fill believers with the knowledge of his will (v.9)
2.) The purpose of Paul’s petition is that believers might be utterly pleasing to the Lord Jesus (v.10)
In Paul’s world, to be a Christian, to confess Jesus as Lord, meant to adopt a world view in which you are bound to please him in every way.
3.) Paul sketches, in terms of four characteristics, what a life pleasing to the Lord looks like (1:10b-14)
a.) Christians bear fruit in every good work.
b.) Christians grow in the knowledge of God.
c.) Christians are strengthened so as to display great endurance and patience.
d.) Christians joyfully give thanks to the Father.
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