For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1:9-14
In yesterday’s passage we read this verse “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned” (Isaiah 9:2 NIV). And in today’s passage we see that same theme of God wanting to bring us out of darkness and into light. But before we look at that we have to understand the context of this passage.
The first three verses of today’s passage (vv 9-12) are one of Paul’s four great New Testament prayers, that he recorded under the inspiration of the Spirit. All four of these prayers provide excellent examples of how to pray for others, such as our friends, our parents, our children, other Christians, missionaries, pastors and others. In this particular pray Paul prays this: “For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.” In this prayer Paul shows us that we are to pray that those we are praying for come to (1) understand God’s will, (2) gain spiritual wisdom, (3) live in a way that is holy (that is morally pure, spiritually whole, separated from evil and dedicated to God) and pleasing to the Lord, (4) bear fruit for Christ (to serve him effectively with the desired results in ministry and character), (5) be strengthen spiritually by the Holy Spirit, (6) continue in faith and righteousness (a right relationship with God and the power of his Spirit to do what is right by his standard), (7) give thanks to the Father, (8) live with their hope focused on heaven, (9) experience Christ’s nearness, (10) know and experience Christ’s love, (11) be filled with God’s fullness (to receive and experience all that he wants for us through a deeper relationship with him), (12) show love and kindness to others, (13) discern between good and evil, right and wrong, truth and error, (14) be sincere and blameless, and (15) await with eagerness the Lord’s return.
The key to everything that Paul tells us to pray that others are to have revolves around a knowledge of God’s will. That is why Paul was continually praying that that the people of the Colossian church to be filled “with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives”. But what does it mean to have a knowledge of God’s will. It means this: knowing God’s will-his desires and plans based on his character and purposes-results from knowing God himself and developing a deep personal relationship with him. Such a relationship grows out of spending consistent time in prayer-listening to and speaking with God-and the study of his Word. Your ability to recognize and understand God’s will comes as you apply his Word to the decisions, attitudes and actions of daily life. Only this kind of knowledge results in true spiritual wisdom and understanding that guides and transforms hearts and lives as God desires.
Now that we know what having a knowledge of God’s will can and will do for us we are now going to skip to the very end of Paul’s great prayer and focus our attention on the last two verse of it (vv 11-12) which say: “being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.” Paul here is telling us that in order to live a manner worthy of being associated with and representing the Lord, we must be strengthened by his power. And this infusion of power is an ongoing experience of receiving from God his own life by the presence of the Holy Spirit within us. And nothing else can enable us to overcome sin (the natural tendency to go our own God-defying way), Satan and the world. But the only way to have this great strength and power is to have the knowledge of God’s will for your life and be willing to apply to our lives. Which is what we see in the last two verses of today’s passage.
In the last two verses of today’s passage, which say “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins”, we see the tie in to the passage from Isaiah that we mentioned at the very beginning. Because central to our spiritual salvation and renewed relationship with God is our rescue and liberation from the power and control of Satan and his forces of evil. When you said yes to Jesus you became a part of his kingdom and you came under his rule. Which means that you moved from darkness into light. It means that you were redeemed and that your sins were forgiven. The redemption and the word redeemed literally mean that you were bought back with a price. The word forgiveness or to be forgiven means you were pardoned or your debt was cancelled. And all this happened because “The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world” (John 1:9 NIV).
As we move further into this Christmas season let us remember Isaiah words “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.” And the words of Paul and John from today’s passages. That Jesus, the light of the world, came to move us from darkness into light.