It’s been a hard couple of weeks. The domain of darkness is sharply apparent. A young woman was murdered on a train in North Carolina and nobody moved to intercede or help her as she died. The initial response was silence. In Utah, a well-known young man was assassinated in front of a crowd of thousands for daring to combat ideas with words. He was silenced with a single bullet. The initial response was shock and grief by many; celebration and mockery by others. And then there was the 24th anniversary of 9/11, almost overshadowed by these two other horrific events. The news cycle and our social media feeds have been filled with these events and the reactions to them. So much darkness.
Despite all this, the darkness is not winning.
Paul encourages us in our passage today to keep our eyes on the Lord. In Colossians 1:9–14 we find Paul’s prayer for the Colossian Christians. Last week we looked at his prayer about them, today we see specifically what he’s praying for them. This is a prayer we need to be praying for one another and for ourselves. I’d say, “Especially these days,” but has there been a day when we didn’t need this? Yes, some days we feel we need this more than others. But on those days, we are reminded that this world is not our home. As Believers in Christ, we are strangers and aliens on the way to our true home.
Our best defense against the darkness of this present age is to know our God, to walk in his ways, and to keep our eyes on him, knowing the truth of who he is, what he has done for us in Christ, and the future he has secured for us through the substitutionary death and resurrection of his Son.
And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. —Colossians 1:9–14
Knowing God’s Will
The first aspect of Paul’s prayer is that we would “be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,” not simply for the sake of filling our heads, but our whole hearts and minds, “so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (1:9–10). The only way to know God’s will is to go to the fountain from which it graciously flows—the Scriptures. Our God has revealed himself to us in His Word. Even though we cannot hope to know everything about him (Deut. 29:29), what we can know of God is enough to fill a lifetime of study and reflection. We need more than intellectual knowledge; we need the Holy Spirit to work in us his own “spiritual wisdom and understanding” that then shapes how we live “in a manner worthy of the Lord.”
A life worthy of the Lord is a life that begins with faith in Christ (Acts 16:31), continues by growing in holiness (1 Thess. 4:3), and participates in the good works that show forth God’s wisdom (Eph. 2:10 & 1Pet. 2:15) even though that may lead to suffering (1 Pet. 3:14-17), and yet in all circumstances rejoicing, praying, and giving thanks to God (1 Thess. 5:18). We can only live this way by the help of the indwelling Holy Spirit. As we live out this “lifestyle directed by prayer and God’s Word,”[1] we will grow deeper into our relationship with Christ, seeing God more clearly in his word, and as we see him more clearly, we will seek to know him even more dearly, and the cycle repeats, pulling us ever closer in our hearts and minds and in our walk with the Lord. “There’s no point in the Christian life where we stop learning about God. We are lifelong learners in the school of Christ.” [2] This is what Paul means by our walk (meaning, our lives) being “fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (1:10). Not that we become perfect in this life, but that the goal of pleasing God increasingly fills the horizon of our desires so that our very heart-attitudes bring him pleasure, even as we fumble and stumble towards that goal.
Strengthened for Endurance and Patience
We may not always be aware of our own weakness, but we are daily in need of a strength from outside of ourselves, so Paul prays that we would be “strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy” (1:11). The One to whom Paul prays is the Creator who at the beginning spoke all things into being and upholds the universe even now by the Word of his power (Gen. 1 & Isa. 40:26); whose voice caused Mount Sinai to smoke and tremble (Ex. 19:18), and whose immeasurably great might by which Jesus was raised from the dead and seated in glory is toward those who believe (Eph. 1:19–20). This is the glorious might we can call on for strength to endure all that God providentially sends our way, and to endure not with gritted teeth and stoicism, but with patience infused with joy while “giving thanks to the Father” (1:12a). Does this render our present trials and sufferings meaningless? Do we just deny the reality of the pain, fear, and heartbreak we now experience because we’re Christians?
Qualified for Inheritance
The resurrection of Jesus answers with a resounding “No!” As Paul writes elsewhere, by faith we know that
“he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us . . . into his presence. . . . So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” —2 Corinthians 4:14–18
We can suffer all things with patience, joy, and thanks to God because we who are in Christ have a hope that outlasts this present life. For God our Father “has qualified (us) to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (1:12–14). Notice that our qualification does not come from our own efforts but is the gracious gift of the Father (Eph. 2:8). This inheritance for which we are qualified is not divvied up into smaller and smaller parcels but is shared in its infinite and expansive glory. It is secure, “imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you” (1 Pet. 1:4). And it is the result of the gospel, granted exclusively to those who have been “delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of (God’s) beloved Son” even more surely than the Israelites were delivered from slavery in Egypt and taken (albeit by a 40-year journey of winnowing) into the promised land of Canaan by Moses and Joshua. The Israelites’ deliverance and inheritance were mere shadows of the infinitely greater salvation to come through Christ, “in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (1:14).
This is what we need to be praying for our brothers and sisters in Christ, as well as for ourselves. This prayer meets every circumstance we must endure. To be filled with an ever-increasing knowledge of God; to be strengthened with his power that we may endure all things with patience, joy, and thankfulness; to be ever aware of the heavenly inheritance that outshines all the glory and grit, the honor and horrors of this world; and to be in Christ, our Redeemer and Forgiver, the King of Heaven, forever and ever.
Amen.
[1] Richard Phillips, Colossians & Philemon, Reformed Expository Commentary (P&R: Phillipsburg, NJ, 2024), p. 25
[2] David Irving, Sermon, A Prayer for Knowledge and Strength, on Colossians 1:9–14, Woodland Presbyterian Church, Hattiesburg, MS, 1/26/2025
*Photo by Marlys Stahl
Grateful 