February 20
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PRAYER TO BE FILLED WITH SPIRITUAL WISDOM
9 For this reason we also, since the day we heard about it, have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all perseverance and patience; joyously 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. – Colossians 1:9-12
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After the salutation and greetings earlier in this letter of Paul to the Colossians, he proceeds to give them a prayer of blessing that they would have an understanding of God’s will, that they will have the wisdom to truly know God and what he requires from them. He gives them a reason for the importance of being worthy of the Lord to please Him in everything. But the bigger reason is for them to be able to bear fruit in each good work they did for the Lord which leads them to increase their knowledge of God and be strengthened by God’s power.
Spurgeon comments “If you read this epistle through, you will observe that Paul frequently alludes to knowledge and wisdom. To the point in which be judged the church to be deficient he turned his prayerful attention. He would not have them ignorant. He knew that spiritual ignorance is the constant source of error, instability, and sorrow; and therefore, he desired that they might be soundly taught in the things of God.”
Paul also prayed that they would live according to the same knowledge they received, living to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. David Guzik comments that this is a familiar pattern, repeated over and over again in the New Testament. Our walk is based on our knowledge of God and our understanding of His will. To be fruitful and every good work and increasing knowledge of God is how we can be totally pleasing to God. In John 15:7-8 it says the “ If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.” which explains the only way we can bear fruit. As we walk in the Spirit, we learn to have wisdom and the strength to go through all kinds of trials and sufferings and bear perseverance and joy.
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REFLECTION
• Why is spiritual knowledge imperative for a Christian’s growth?
• What is the worst thing that one can happen to someone who is spiritual ignorant?