Caller display

Mull over Colossians 1:9-14 – especially verse 9

So; the church in Colossae was a bunch of Christians who made Paul’s heart sing for joy whenever he thought about them. It’s precisely for this reason he prays for them so often. In fact he says “we have not stopped praying for you”

Of course, that’s a bit of hyperbole, as I’m sure Paul had to at least eat breakfast sometimes! But it is indicative of the joy he felt for his friends in Colossae and the yearning he had for them to grow as Christians. They were always on his mind.

So his praying for them wasn’t a nebulous or woolly desire, he was asking God to do some specific things in their lives. Things that would help them have Christ at the centre of what they did and who they were.

He asks that God will fill them “with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.”

I’m sure most of us would say “Oh yes, I’d like to find God’s will for my life” but we know the process of discovering it isn’t an exact science.

What Paul is asking God to do is to help ordinary Christians, like us, make wise choices. We can’t avoid making decisions in life – and then living by the consequences of what we decided.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said ‘Sow a thought and you reap an action; sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny.’

God’s big calling on our lives is often revealed through the hundreds of little calls and choices we make about what to say and do each day.

We know this instinctively and Paul prays that we will do it with ‘all spiritual wisdom and understanding’ – to bring God in on our choices, decisions and the calls we make from minute to minute.

So by asking a question as simple as ‘What would Jesus do?’ we inject spiritual understanding into our day.

Prayer

Praise God for the wisdom and understanding he give you when you ask for it.

Is there anything I need to confess to him today?

Bring your requests to him now – especially pray for

What particular things can you thank him for today?