Title: Unstoppable Prayer/Colossians 1:9-14
Contents Unstoppable Prayer/Colossians 1:9-14
The Bibles called the evangelist Paul's prison epistles are Ephesians, Philippians, Philemon, and Colossians. These inspired writings are called prison epistles because they were written in the stem (winter of A.D. 61 - spring of 63) when Paul was the first imprisoned in Rome.
Three churches in the valley of Lucas were built between this stem, the churches of Colossae, Laodicea, and Hielapolis. It is believed that the churches in this area were founded by the ministry of Epaphra, who was favored by Paul's evangelism (1:7, 8; 4:12-13). Epaphra is recorded as a Colossian (4:12) who spared no effort for the churches in this area (4:13). That is why Paul exalted Epaphras and called him 'a dear brother who is a servant with us'. And he exclaims as 'the faithful worker in Christ' (1:7). And he bestows upon him the honorary title of 'Servant of Christ Jesus' (4:12).
He said that from the day they heard this good news, Paul and his co-workers had not stopped praying for the Colossian Church. It speaks of unstoppable prayer, unstoppable prayer, unstoppable prayer, as it were, the prayers of evangelists toward the Colossae Church.
what kind of prayer
I. It was a prayer for the gift of the Spirit to understand God's will.
Colossians 1:9 says, "Therefore we also, from the day we heard it, have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may fill your spiritual wisdom and understanding with the knowledge of the will of God...".
Knowing the will of God is possible only with divine wisdom and understanding. It refers to empirical living knowledge. He said that it did not come from philosophical reason or ascetic training or legalistic knowledge.
The evangelists said that the essence and greatest purpose of prayer for the church in Colossae is that they know the will of God. What a meaningful word. We should be listening to God rather than having God listen to us through prayer. What we want in prayer is not to impose on God, but rather to seek and ask for what God wants from us. God already has a complete and full blessing plan for us. When we pray, we want God's will to be done. I need to pray, but there are times when I really want God's will to change for me. In this way, the evangelists prayed for the Colossae church to have the full gift of the Spirit to know the will of God. It is indeed a great prayer.
II. I prayed that I would do the will of God.
Colossians 1:10-11 “Walking worthy of the Lord, pleasing in all things, bearing fruit in every good work, increasing in the knowledge of God, empowered with all power by the power of his glory, with all patience and long-suffering with joy. to ...].
The phrase 'walking worthy of the Lord' in our text is often found in Paul's epistles. For example, to be worthy of the calling (Ephesians 4:1), to be worthy of the gospel (Philippians 1:27), and to be worthy of God (1 Thessalonians 2:12).
The word 'walk' worthy of the Lord ( ), together with the Hebrew word halak, refers to 'the general course of life'. It relates to where the destination of the journey is, who the companion is, where the accommodation is, and so on.
A person who realizes the will of God refers to the fact that God's will is expressed through actions in his life's journey. In other words, it is the actualization of prayer, the actualization of prayer. It is the realization of prayer, the realization of prayer. It means that the result of prayer should never be an escape from reality, but a result of participation in reality. It's a realistic response. Prayer is not meditation, imagination, or abstraction. The result of prayer is action, life, strength, production, creation, progress, and development. Prayer is reality itself. The reason is that he realized God's will for him. God's will is unchanging and unchanging, and it is perfect and holy. It is inevitable for us. It is planned and purposeful.
A life of faith is an action life in which we realize God's will and manifest God's will. Such people run in the middle of history as invincible heroes that the world cannot handle. Those were the steps of Moses, who was the brave man in the Exodus, and those of Joshua who followed him. That was the history of Samuel who created the theocracy in Israel. That was the living experience of King Hezekiah and his people defeating 185,000 soldiers of Sennacherib's army. Daniel burned the lions' den and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego burned the furnace because he knew what God's will was.
The Lord who lived knowing the will of God said that today, tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, I must go the way I should go. As a result, the atonement of the cross for sinners was accomplished.
Our text says that if we understand God's will and act appropriately, we can please God in all things. It is said that there is a blessing of bearing fruit in good works. It is said that there is growth in knowing God. It is said that you will receive the power of glory and become mighty with power. And in joy comes all patience and long-suffering. In other words, there is the blessing of sanctification, the growth of the holy spirit. Therefore, those who realize God's will become those who do God's work in this world. Those who do God's work are God's children and heirs of the inheritance. The world that exists is the stage of activity for those people.
Ⅲ. I prayed to thank Heavenly Father.
Colossians 1:12 says, "May we give thanks to the Father, who has made us worthy to receive the portion of the inheritance of the saints in the light."
This is the ultimate purpose of the prayers that the evangelists pray endlessly toward the Colossae church. That's what it means to give thanks to our Heavenly Father.
What kind of Heavenly Father are you?
1. He was called the Father who gave the heavenly inheritance to the saints (1:12).
It was said that the company was obtained in the light. It refers to the grace of inheriting the eternal kingdom of heaven obtained through Jesus. The saints are the ones who live in the light in this world and will inherit the light in the kingdom of heaven (1 John 1:7, Ephesians 5:8, Matthew 25:34, Revelation 21:1, 25).
2. It is the Father who brought us (sinners) into the kingdom of His Beloved Son.
In 1:13 it says, “He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love…”. Here, [the power of darkness] refers to this world ruled by darkness (Satan). 'Rescue' ( ) refers to the atoning event of Jesus Christ's crucifixion, which has eternal effect with only one decisive salvation. [Transferred]( ) refers to the state in which prisoners of war from a defeated country in the ancient world are moved from their own country to another country, detained and completely locked up. Israel did it, and Judah did it. The meaning of the words, then, is to refer to the fact that Jesus Christ won the victory by paying the price of the cross (John 19:30) and moved us completely from the darkness of sin and death to the kingdom of God, where we can live there forever.
In other words, it refers to the passage from death to life. It refers to the transition from darkness to light. It refers to the transition from curses and punishment to eternal life. It refers to something that has moved from the world to heaven. The great movement refers to the essential movement, the eternal movement. It is a movement from finite to infinite. It is a movement from earth to heaven. It is a movement from the flesh to the spirit. The transition from children of the devil to children of God. It's a huge move indeed. It is the movement of life. This is called 'salvation'. It is called eternal life.
Our text points to this great shift in the history of salvation and says:
1. It is called the shift from darkness to light.
It is said that he was delivered from the power of darkness and moved (1:13). God has given us light that is the watershed between life and death in Jesus Christ. The martyr Billney said that when he read that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, it was like the dawn of a dark night. Martin Luther, the reformer of the Middle Ages, also had this experience through Romans 1:17 in his so-called tower experience.
2. It was also referred to as the shift from slavery to freedom and liberation.
That is redemption. It is a move that has been bought and paid for. 1:14 says [redemption in the Son]. The word 'redemption' (= redemption) comes from reparation, and refers to the deceitful act that Christ paid for our sins on the cross before the demands of God's justice (the Law). This word originally refers to returning slaves or prisoners of war and returning them to their original state.
We were all slaves to fear, slaves to sin, our own slaves, and Satan's slaves when we were all outside Christ. Through the slogan of Jesus Christ, we were moved (transferred) from the slavery of death to the world of freedom and liberation.
3. It is a shift from condemnation to forgiveness.
Colossians 1:14 explains that [...] redemption, that is, sins are forgiven.
Now, we are not those who are sentenced at the seat of God's judgment and are sent to the death penalty, but rather, those who have been released from acquittal through the merits of the cross of his son Jesus and have received the grace of forgiveness and returned to our Father's house. In Luke 23:34, [Jesus said, Father, forgive them], it is the fact that Jesus' prayer of apology continues even now (Romans 8:34, Hebrews 7:24-25). That is why we have passed from death to life (John 5:24).
4. It is a shift from the power of Satan to the power of God.
If we look again at our text 1:13, it says, [He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love...].
It is the fact that the Lord, the conqueror of life who conquered death, delivered us from the power of Satan and transferred us to His kingdom. It is indeed a holy move. Love's move. It is a movement of grace. It is an essential movement that has changed the genealogy, changed the status, changed the place of residence, address, direction, meaning, and purpose of life.
Dear saints,
Now we thought of the unstoppable prayers of the evangelists toward the Colossae church. It prayed that the Colossians would have the gift of the Spirit to know the will of God. It prayed that after realizing the will of God, there would be actionable works in accordance with the will of God. And I saw the fact that we were praying to thank God for giving the heavenly inheritance to the saints and for giving us great salvation, the transfer of life, through his Son Jesus.