Prayer Cards - Unceasingly For Spiritual Growth

 

Colossians 1:9

For this cause, we also, since the day we heard it,

do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that you

might be filled with the knowledge of His will

in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.

    In the beginning of this book Paul is writing to the young church in Colosse, which is being built by Epaphras, commending them for the good report he has received of them. The 'we' refers to Timothy, who traveled and ministered with Paul while he was in Roman custody. 

    Though Paul had never met the saints in Colosse, their reputation as faithful servants of Christ, reached his ears. Even as he writes to encourage them in their fruitfulness, he also tells them how he and Timothy are praying for them:

    *Unceasingly

    *Filled with the knowledge of His will

        >In all wisdom 

        >Spiritual understanding

    Are we praying for each other in this way?  Unceasingly. Always. Without end.  Watchful. Alert to danger.

    Are we encouraging saints we have never met, and may never meet, to grow in wisdom and spiritual understanding? 

    Paul praises them for their obvious belief in God and the evidence of said belief in God: faith, hope and love, which are the hallmarks of any born-again Christian. For their faith in Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior of their lives and souls. 

    For their abounding love to all saints, not just the ones they know. For the love they show to the people around them, who are not saints, yet are being shown the true love of Christ by the Colosse church. [John 13:34 {agape}]. It is a mark of the grace of God that we are able to love the people around us, even if they are not Christians. For God loved the world, even when the world did not love Him back. [John 3:16-18] 

    For the hope they profess to others regarding the gospel of salvation. [Titus 2:3]. It is our faith in Christ, and our love for saints everywhere, that keeps our focus on our hope of heaven.  

    And then, he lets them know that he and Timothy are praying for them. Such encouragement! Someone they knew of but did not know personally was praying for them unceasingly! That's empowering to the soul of the saint. 

    But then he writes that he is praying that they would become more fruitful. First, that they would be filled with the knowledge of God's will. Even now every saint must first be filled with the knowledge of God's will so that we can obey God's will. The Word of God never changes, but the transforming power of God's Spirit will change us if we let Him, if we know God's will for us. [2 Peter 3:18].

    Secondly, Paul and Timothy are praying that this church would be filled with spiritual wisdom and spiritual understanding. This is vital to a saint's spiritual growth. It is not enough to know The Word, for many false prophets can quote Scripture but they speak it to their advantage, not to the increase of the kingdom of God. There are Biblical scholars who claim to know 'secrets' hidden The Word that cannot be revealed to those who do not believe as they believe. 

    Spiritual wisdom and spiritual understanding are not spirituality; spirituality has nothing to do with God or Christ Jesus or The Holy Spirit. Spirituality is evil and against God and His Administration. Spiritual wisdom and understanding are sought after by God's saints to increase God's kingdom. 

    Spiritual wisdom is discernment: having a God-given knowledge about who is telling the Truth and who is not; who is a faithful servant of Christ and who is not; what is Truth and what is not. [Proverbs 4:5-7; 2:10-11; Ephesians 1:17] 

    Spiritual understanding is a working knowledge of The Word of God. [Colossians 2:2-3]. It is a basic building block of a Christian's faith. We can memorize Scripture but unless we put what we are learning into action, it is just a block of information we keep sequestered in our memory bank. 

    We should desire, as Paul did, for all Christians, all saints, everywhere to be filled with Spirit-filled knowledge, Spirit-filled wisdom and Spirit-filled understanding. Let us pray for that to be fulfilled in us and in each other, unceasingly. 

LET US PRAY - Steven Curtis Chapman 

Today's Word -- Inherent Nature

 Proverbs 2:6 

For the LORD gives wisdom: out of His mouth comes knowledge and understanding. 

We are all born with an inherent knowledge of good and evil thanks to Adam and Eve's decision to disobey God. "No" is one of the first words we learn to say after we learn our caregivers names, "Mama", "Dada", or in my son Brian's case, "Dani" (his sister). And we learn when to say 'No': when we want something we can't or shouldn't have and when we want to do something we should or shouldn't do. It's our nature. 

The same logic is applied when we become born-again Christians. We learn what is good and what is evil. We learn to walk in the Spirit. We learn to talk in the Spirit. We learn to read God's Word with wisdom, knowledge and understanding. Especially when we have good leaders to lead us and guide us through God's Word; leaders we look up to and find ourselves following after. 

As this verse in Proverbs 2:6 states, wisdom, knowledge and understanding come from God. And it is to God we must turn to in order to receive each one and apply them to our lives as His children. No longer are we under sin's command, now we are under God's command. And His command is love. Our new nature is very different from our old nature. Before, we always said 'No' and justified according to our desires. Now, we say 'Yes' and are justified by grace according to God's desires for us. We live in His love and can only grow and thrive in His love as long as we remain in His love, His Word. 

Wisdom is Applied. 

Knowledge is Gained.

Understanding is Growth.

Our new nature seeks after God in His Word and in prayer with Him; that's how we hear from Him. This new inherent nature is through Christ living in us: we are new creations in Him. 

2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." 

We are new creations in Christ when we believe that Jesus Christ is God's only begotten Son, that He died on the cross in our place, rose from the dead and walked out of the grave into newness of life and is seated at the right hand of the Father Hebrews 12:2 "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."

Today's Thought From The Word - Discernment

DISCERNMENT

Synonyms are words that better aid in knowing what a word means and how to use that word. Some synonyms for Discernment would be:

Insight

Perception

Comprehension

Understanding

Wisdom

The Bible tells us that 'to discern' is to understand; consider carefully, gain understanding; pay close attention to; investigate. So, let's investigate.

The dictionary tells us that 'to discern' is to be able to distinguish one object from another, whether that object is intellectual knowledge or physical knowledge. 

For example, intellectual knowledge is the ability to make decisions based on what we know. While physical knowledge is how we obtain what we know through the five senses: sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste. 

We can discern what is right from what is wrong through obtained wisdom, which an only be found in the Bible, the Holy Scriptures. Wisdom comes from God and we need only ask for it. As Solomon did when he became King of Israel and had this conversation with God, so to speak:

God: "What shall I give you? Ask."

Solomon: "Give me an understanding heart, that I may judge Your people, that I may discern between good and bad."

God, who was pleased with Solomon's request, replied: "Because you asked for this and not long life, nor riches for yourself, nor the lives of your enemies, I will give you wisdom and so much more."

We are living in uncertain times and we need this same wisdom that King Solomon asked for. We need to be able to discern the times in which we live and make wise choices, judgments, for ourselves. Knowing right from wrong, common sense from crazy  sense.

God also promised Solomon that if he would walk in God's ways, keep God's statutes and commandments, then God would also lengthen his days. This promise is for us, too. We need to walk in God's ways, keep God's commandments and live accordingly. However this cannot be done on our strength. We need Christ in our hearts to bring us to God and we need the Holy Spirit in our hearts to make us presentable, holy, that we might stay for ever in God's presence. All we have to do is ASK.

And God will give us what He promises  He will give us.