Living Triumphantly

This morning I am meditating on a few verses from Paul's letter to the Colossians 1:9-14 NIV:

[9] "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, [10] 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, [11] being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, [12] 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. [13] For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, [14] in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."

First, let me say that I like Paul, because he writes these long, complex sentences, which is the way I write if I just start allowing my thoughts to flow. Its nice to know that we don't have to be perfect writers to convey the Gospel. Second, my apologies for the lack of logical flow to my flow of thought, as I often follow a train of thought and don't end up writing what I was thinking about in the first place. Oh well.

So as I start to deconstruct Paul's massive sentence, there are five main things he is praying for the Colossians to possess or experience through the Holy Spirit:

1. Knowledge of His will through the wisdom and knowledge the Holy Spirit brings
2. Bearing fruit in every good work (because they know His will)
3. Growing in Knowledge of Him
4. Being strengthened with power to help them endure and be patient
5. Giving joyful thanks

What a great list of things to pray for each other! He sure knows how to pack a bunch of good stuff into a single sentence. I was just thinking how this reads like a quick study on how to live triumphant lives, and what to pray for daily. As I look more closely at these things I am aware of how essential these are for all of us. We need to understand His will. Obedience is only possible if we understand His will. The good news is that He provides us the guide we need, in the person of the Holy Spirit. He is the very Spirit of God teaching us about His will. It is like your !math teacher is also your tutor. The very one who is asking us to follow His will is helping us to understand what that will is and giving us assistance in following it.

When we know His will we are able to bear much good fruit, and bring Him pleasure. That is an amazing statement Paul makes, that we can please Him (the Lord) in every way (verse 10). I mean, think about the fact that our obedience, knowing His will and doing it, bearing fruit or accomplishing the things He wants for us, pleases Him. Obedience doesn't deflect His wrath, it PLEASES Him. That is completely different than what is too often preached. God is not some sort of bi-polar individual who, if we do what He asks showers us with gifts, but if we don't beats the tar out of us. He is a loving, merciful, compassionate God. He is revealed by Jesus as a loving Father, not an angry punishing Father. Our lives should be lived to please God because He loves us, not lived trying to escape His wrath. Which type of Father would you prefer to be in relationship with?

Growing in knowledge of Him, means that we are better able to understand His heart and motives. Paul isn't speaking about head knowledge here, but rather intimate knowledge. The Greek word used is Epignosis and while it means precise knowledge, the roots for this word also are used to mean sexual intimacy. Paul is encouraging us to come to know God, as another person. We can get to know God. We can learn to understand His heart, His desires, the way He thinks, the way He acts, just as we can learn about anyone else. This is best accomplished through time in prayer, time alone with Him, just like anyone else.

We all need strength and power, and the Lord does provide exactly what we need. Paul is clearly speaking about strength and power in our inner man, not our physical bodies (although I certainly wouldn't mind that either). The simple reality is that as Christians we are supposed to have lives that are different than those who do not have God. The world is a foreign place for us, and we need strength and power to stand our ground, to hold onto His truth, and live our lives as a witness to our beliefs. God knows our human weakness, for He became fully man, and He has incredible patience and mercy for all of us. That being said, He would rather have us victorious rather than barely holding on, which is why He strengthens us with power. He wants us to be able to endure hardship, should we face it, and still bear His light.

Finally, having grateful hearts is so attractive and so healthy. We have so much to be thankful for, and when our perspective is gratitude, we are always looking st the positive realities, rather than the negative possibilities. We are called to revel in victory rather than worry about defeat. His salvation and redemption is available to us all, and for this alone we should never stop thanking Him. He blesses us abundantly, daily, and He is always pouring forth more. If we can grasp how good God is, we can live our lives from a fully different place, and with a completely different attitude. He writes about joyful thanksgiving, and that is truly the right heart and attitude the Lord invites us to demonstrate to the world.

In summary, I really need all these things in my life! Oh Lord, fill me up. We all need these things so let us pray for each other and ask the Lord to pour out His graces and blessings abundantly. Let us pursue this example of triumphant living.