“Never stop praying” (1 Thessalonians 5:17 NLT)
”So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” (Hebrews 4:16 NLT)
“Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.” (Mark 11:24 NKJV)
Read again…
…“Every time we pray for you our hearts overflow with thanksgiving to Father God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. For we have heard of your devoted lives of faith in Christ Jesus and your tender love toward all his holy believers. Your faith and love rise within you as you access all the treasures of your inheritance stored up in the heavenly realm. For the revelation of the true gospel is as real today as the day you first heard of our glorious hope, now that you have believed in the truth of the gospel.
This is the wonderful message that is being spread everywhere, powerfully changing hearts throughout the earth, just like it has changed you! Every believer of this good news bears the fruit of eternal life as they experience the reality of God’s grace.
Our beloved coworker, Epaphras, was there from the beginning to thoroughly teach you the astonishing revelation of the gospel, and he serves you faithfully as Christ’s representative. He’s informed us of the many wonderful ways love is being demonstrated through your lives by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.
Since we first heard about you, we’ve kept you always in our prayers that you would receive the perfect knowledge of God’s pleasure over your lives, making you reservoirs of every kind of wisdom and spiritual understanding. We pray that you would walk in the ways of true righteousness, pleasing God in every good thing you do. Then you’ll become fruit-bearing branches, yielding to his life, and maturing in the rich experience of knowing God in his fullness! And we pray that you would be energized with all his explosive power from the realm of his magnificent glory, filling you with great hope.
Your hearts can soar with joyful gratitude when you think of how God made you worthy to receive the glorious inheritance freely given to us by living in the light. He has rescued us completely from the tyrannical rule of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom realm of his beloved Son. For in the Son all our sins are canceled and we have the release of redemption through his very blood.” (Colossians 1:3-14 TPT)
Today we will finish Step 1…
…Step 1: Probe the prayer under the light of the Holy Spirit.
Let’s probe verses 11 – 14 to see what the Holy Spirit has for us in the third area in which Paul prays for the Colossians…
…“And we pray that you would be energized with all his explosive power from the realm of his magnificent glory, filling you with great hope.
Your hearts can soar with joyful gratitude when you think of how God made you worthy to receive the glorious inheritance freely given to us by living in the light. He has rescued us completely from the tyrannical rule of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom realm of his beloved Son. For in the Son all our sins are canceled and we have the release of redemption through his very blood.”
As we have moved through this prayer, we have already seen that Paul prayed for the Colossians to “receive the perfect knowledge.” Then he prayed that they would “walk in the ways of true righteousness.” Now he is going to move toward the conclusion of his prayer by praying that they would “be energized with all his explosive power.”
Knowledge, righteousness, and power. With these three heavenly commodities I am able to take on anything that life throws at me. I am also able to break through anything that I am currently thinking, saying, or doing that produces less than heavenly results in my life or opens the door to the enemy.
This “explosive power” that “energizes” me comes from the “realm of his (God’s) magnificent glory.” Knowing that God’s glory is tangibly demonstrated through his goodness tells me that I am energized as God demonstrates his goodness to me. His acts of kindness in my life release his power in my life. This then fills me with “great hope.” As I live my life in alignment with the Kingdom knowledge that the Holy Spirit has taught me, and power that he has deposited within me, I begin to overflow with fervent expectation of the ongoing manifestation of God’s goodness in my life (hope).
The closing paragraph of this prayer speaks for itself…
…“Your hearts can soar with joyful gratitude when you think of how God made you worthy to receive the glorious inheritance freely given to us by living in the light. He has rescued us completely from the tyrannical rule of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom realm of his beloved Son. For in the Son all our sins are canceled and we have the release of redemption through his very blood.”
All I can do is ask the Holy Spirit to deposit, illuminate, and enlighten this Word within our spirits. Let it come alive and transform the way that we think. Let it raise the bar on our level of expectation.
Let your heart soar as the Holy spirit empowers…
…Eric’s Life Lesson # 488: Praying With Paul – Colossians 1:3-14: Part 5