A DISCIPLE S PRAYER PART 3 THE POWER TO PERFORM GOD S WILL COLOSSIANS 1:11

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1 A DISCIPLE S PRAYER PART 3 THE POWER TO PERFORM GOD S WILL COLOSSIANS 1:11 The maxim, Knowledge is power is true in spiritual life more than anywhere else. When a person grow s in the clear knowledge of God, his strength and courage increase. The divine indwelling presence enables him to say, I can do all things in him who infuses strength into me (Phil. 4:13). Last week I mentioned that we would be getting more into some of the grammar of is prayer that Paul prayed for the Colossians. Also, last week I asked you to make a note in your Bible marking a set of verses. v. 9 v. 20 In the original text, this is one sentence. Paul's 218-word sentence starts here at verse 9 and reaches through verse 20. Beginning at verse 15, however, and continuing through verse 20, Christ's Pre-eminence is set forth. That being so, 1:9-14 can be considered a unit of thought all by itself. Colossians 1:9-14 In the original this part of the sentence six verses in all has 106 words. It begins as follows: And for this reason that is, not only because of the love mentioned in verse 8, but on the basis of all the evidences of God's grace in the lives of the Colossians as described in verses 3-8, Colossians 1:9-11

2 THE POWER TO PERFORM GODS WILL Page 2 of 6 9 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; Barclay says that this passage teaches us more about the essence of prayer s request than almost any other passage in the New Testament. From this passage C. F. D. Moule says we learn that prayer at its best makes two great requests: (1) for the discernment of God s will, and (2) for the power to perform God s will. 1 Ogilvie, Lloyd J. (The Preacher's Commentary Series 31), S. 334 In this prayer we have already seen that Paul has prayed for 2 MAJOR REQUEST: 1. v. 9d...that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10a that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him... This second major request is expanded upon by Paul the writer using 4 participles. To have a walk worthy of the Lord and is fully pleasing to Him is accomplished by; 1. Being fruitful in every good work. 2. Increasing in the knowledge of God 3. Strengthened with all might

3 THE POWER TO PERFORM GODS WILL Page 3 of 6 4. Giving thanks to the Father We looked at the first 2 of these last week; 1. Being fruitful in every good work. 2. Increasing in the knowledge of God and growing in the clear knowledge of God. Note that the apostle makes the clear knowledge of God both the starting-point (verse 9) and then here in v. 10 a resulting characteristic of the life that pleases God. True, experiential knowledge of God brings about life altering behavior that pleases God. JOB Job 42:5-6 5 "I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You. 6 Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." Colossians 1:9-11 Wuest that you might be filled with the advanced and perfect experiential knowledge of His will in the sphere of every kind of wisdom and intelligence which is spiritual, so that you may order your behavior worthily of the Lord with a view to pleasing Him in everything, in every work which is good constantly bearing fruit and increasing by means of the advanced and perfect experiential knowledge of God, by every enabling power being constantly strengthened in proportion to the manifested power of His glory, resulting in every patience and forbearance, Today, we want to look at the next participle and introduce the 4 th one; v Strengthened with all might v Giving thanks to the Father v. 11

4 THE POWER TO PERFORM GODS WILL Page 4 of 6 strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; Colossians 1:11(from THE MESSAGE.) 11 We pray that you'll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul... Colossians 1:11 God will strengthen you with his own great power so that you will not give up when troubles come, but you will be patient. NCV J. Lloyd Ogilvie This request is for power to perform God s will. Discerning God s will is only one part of the hard stuff of prayer. We know far more than we do. Two things are essential: the will to do and the power to do. 2 (v. 11). strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power \Weymouth - strengthened with strength of every kind, being invigorated with all vigor. with joy constantly giving thanks to the Father with all might (power- NIV) first in sentence all - all, any, every, the whole: might dunamis miraculous power strengthened from dunamo dynamo power vigor 2 Dunnam, Maxie D. ; Ogilvie, Lloyd J.: The Preacher's Commentary Series, Volume 31 S. 335

5 THE POWER TO PERFORM GODS WILL Page 5 of 6 according to according to His glorious power Paul adds, according to or in accordance with his glorious might. according to is stronger than of or by. When the multimillionaire gives of his wealth to some good cause he may be giving very little; but when he donates according to his riches, the amount will be substantial. The Holy Spirit gives not only of but according to. (from New Testament Commentary by William Hendriksen Colossians 1:11 END for all patience and longsuffering with joy; NKJV Colossians 1:11 endurance and patience, and joyfully NIV THE FIRST PART OF THE VERSE; with all might (power- NIV) These three, patience, longsuffering, and joy, are the great gifts that are ours when we are empowered with all MIGHT/ POWER. Obviously, these are gifts the result of Christ s glorious might working within us. Patience and longsuffering are twin words with a slight but significant difference in their use here. G. B. Caird makes this distinction: Longsuffering (NIV - endurance ) is the refusal to be daunted by hard times ; patience is the refusal to be upset by perverse people.

6 THE POWER TO PERFORM GODS WILL Page 6 of 6 The promise is that in every situation adequate power to suffer through (longsuffering) and to remain whole and triumphant can be ours through the Holy Spirit. Perhaps at some time in your life you have had people with whom we to who try us, provoke us, spitefully use us, scorn us some deliberately, others unconsciously. Some people are just demanding needy people, but never giving. How did Jesus say that others would know that we are born again believers? LOVE. Ever find someone hard to love? We need patience, power to endure rejection and injury, and LONGSUFFERING to keep on loving, forgiving, and accepting when all human KINDNESSES are spent and all natural juices of good will are drained from souls. That bring us to the last word her JOY - The outward manifestation of the inner grace of the Lord Jesus is joy. Joy, chara, flows from grace, charis. It is a distinctively Christian quality (Gal. 5:22; Phil. 1:18; 2:17; 3:1; 4:4). Galatians 5: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. NKJV Colossians 1:11(from THE MESSAGE.) 11 We pray that you'll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul - not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy,