Praying for the spiritual maturity of your family in Christ
This week, I did something wise, but something that tends to be a little out of character for me.
Throughout the course of my adult life, I have frequently said yes to opportunities to volunteer or serve with ministries that are important to me. And as I accept these responsibilities, I tend to hold onto them for a very long time, even as I'm saying yes to additional responsibilities and new opportunities. But this week, instead of taking on a new responsibility, I resigned from one.
I stepped down from serving as a faculty member of a school of theology that helps train new pastors. Did I do this because I don't want to invest in their training? Not at all, but since I first started serving in that role nearly a decade ago, my life has changed drastically. My ministry opportunities have expanded in other areas, and I'm serving more pastors than ever, just in new ways.
I mention this because this is a decision I think I should have made two years ago, but hesitated to do so, and my hesitation reveals an area of maturity that I believe the Lord wants me to develop. I like projects. I like working on things. I like taking on tasks and remaining loyal to those commitments for long periods of time. But the downside of what sounds like some very positive traits is that my reliance on my dedication can sometimes minimize my reliance on the Lord's intervention through prayer. It can be easy for a personality like mine to unintentionally trust more in the effort of their own hands than the powerful hand of God.
Paul was also a man of action, but I'm grateful for what he shares with the church and church leaders in this passage. He demonstrates the importance of prayer being lifted up on behalf of our brothers and sisters in Christ. At the time, Paul certainly wished he could be with them in person, but he was confined under house arrest as he awaited trial. So in the midst of that challenging season, he prayed for the young church in Colossae. Paul prayed for their spiritual maturity, and in so doing, he gave us a Spirit-led example of how we too can be praying for one another and the development of our spiritual lives.
I. Praying for your wise and fruitful life
Living in the midst of the season of history Paul was living in, and living in the context he was presently in, was certainly a challenge. I'm guessing there were plenty of discouraging moments and discouraging days for Paul during that season of life. He wanted to be mobile. He wanted to be active, but instead, he was confined and waiting for the government to finally get around to doing whatever it was they were going to do.
When you're in the midst of a season like that, it's certainly refreshing to get some good news from time to time. I'm sure Paul was thrilled when reports of the founding, growth, and development of the Colossian believers reached his ears. I suspect hearing that news helped Paul say, "You know what, this is all worth it." His discomfort and earthly difficulties were all worth it if the end result would be the founding, expansion, and growth of the church.
Paul said that from the day he heard of the Colossian believers, he and those who served with him had not ceased to pray for them. They prayed for these believers every day. I don't know if you have a prayer list, but if you do, are there certain things that you find yourself praying for every day? There are people, circumstances, and ideas that I'm praying about daily. In fact, just recently, I mentioned to my kids that they might be surprised to know just how much of my time during the course of a given week was spent in prayer on their behalf.
When Paul was praying for the Colossians, what requests did he make of the Lord? For starters, he prayed that they would have a wise and fruitful life. Wisdom begins by having a genuine reverence and respect for the Lord. And those who apply the wisdom He supplies through the counsel of His Spirit, the content of His word, and the fellowship of His family, will live a healthy and fruitful life. Those who reject that counsel will not. Eventually, their rejection of godly wisdom will catch up with them. They will pay for it in ways they didn't anticipate because their eyes and hearts weren't open to see the truth.
Paul knew that this young church was probably struggling in a variety of areas of spiritual maturity, so he prayed that they would be divinely filled with spiritual wisdom and understanding. He also prayed that they would live in a manner that pleases the Lord. Is that our desire for our own lives and the lives of our children? Do we embrace the Lord's wisdom? Do we wake up every day with the desire in our hearts to walk by faith in Jesus, and thereby bring a smile to the Lord's face?
Our days are numbered, and the number is most likely less than what we think it will be. We can spend our lives chasing the vanities of this world, or we can live to please Jesus. Pleasing Christ, living by faith in Him, is the wisest and most fruitful way to live your life.
II. Praying for your strong and joyful life
I grew up in a small city that was very hilly. Carbondale, Pennsylvania is where the first coal mine in America was dug. It's a city with some steep roads and sharp inclines, and in the years before I owned a car, I used to walk the streets and sidewalks of that city constantly. I would love to know how many miles I walked on an average day, because I'm convinced it was a lot. And walking that hilly city day after day for most of my growing up years made my legs strong and gave me cardiovascular endurance. I'd really love to recapture some of that strength during this season of my life.
When our minds think of strength, we often think of physical strength first, but there's more than one kind of strength. Some people are emotionally strong because of the tests they've endured in life. Others are relationally strong because of the others-centeredness they've developed. Many are mentally strong because of their desire to learn and embrace knowledge. Each of these areas of strength have value, but there's a strength that outshines them all because it is everlasting in nature. Becoming spiritually strong as our faith in Christ is tested and grows, holds value for this age and the age to come.
Paul prayed for the strength of the Colossian believers, but he wanted them to understand the source of lasting strength. Paul asked the Lord to make the people of this church powerful with His glorious might. He wanted them to be genuinely strong. He knew there would be painful things they would be forced to endure as believers living in a hostile world. He knew they would need to exercise great patience because of the tests they would be forced to go through. He knew their willingness to express joy in the midst of pain would be challenging, so he prayed that the Lord would make them strong with His power.
I love reading verses like this and thinking about their present-day implications for you and me. Power is something we all desire. There are people in this world who are intoxicated with the thought of obtaining power. There are others who do everything they can to hold onto power once they obtain it. But the limited power of the present age goes away on its own with the passage of time, or it's eventually taken away by force. The power that God delights to supply you and me with, however, is a power that doesn't fade with time. It cannot be taken away by earthly kings. It's a power that can stand up to demonic strongholds, and be exercised in a meek manner for the benefit of others, just as Christ demonstrated during the course of His earthly ministry.
Do you believe you possess this power? If not, why? If so, what are you doing with it? What difference does it really make for you and me to live with the power of God in the midst of this fallen world? What is He making you able to do as you rely on Him for strength?
III. Praying with thanksgiving to the Father who gave us life
Please notice the progressive nature of the work the Lord has done on our behalf as it's explained in these verses. In this passage, we see that in Christ we are; qualified, delivered, transferred, redeemed and forgiven. Believers in Christ have been miraculously moved from death to life, and for this reason, we can give Him ongoing thanks.
Why should we thank God for qualifying us? Scripture tells us that we have been qualified to share in the inheritance of the saints. Typically, language related to an inheritance from God was reserved for the Jewish people, but now Gentile believers were being told that they too will share in an eternal inheritance in the kingdom of God, an inheritance that is theirs because they've been given the name of Christ (Acts 11:26) and the righteousness of Christ (2 Cor. 5:21).
Why should we thank God for delivering us? We were once subjects in the kingdom of darkness. We were dominated by sin, overpowered by Satan, and subject to death. But now we've been rescued by Jesus and transferred to His righteous kingdom.
Why should we thank God for redeeming us? To redeem is to purchase another's freedom. The blood of Christ was shed to pay for our freedom (Eph. 1:7). Our freedom was purchased with His blood, and through this act, we are offered the only opportunity we have to be free from slavery to sin.
Why should we thank God for forgiving us? How terrible would it be to one day stand in His presence with every ill thought, every damaging word we've spoken, and every act of rebellion we've committed still being held against us? At one time, we were living as enemies of God, and I would dread to stand in His presence with that as my status. But Christ bore our condemnation on the cross. He absorbed the penalty for our sin, and granted us the gift of His righteousness when we trusted in Him. In Christ we experience complete forgiveness because our sin is no longer held against us. For this, we can be thankful.
I recently read a story of an elementary school teacher who asked her class to draw something they were thankful for. Her students lived in a depressed and declining community. One of her students, a student that tended to be timid and would often stick close to her when they left the classroom for recess or other activities, drew something strange. He drew a picture of a hand. When the other students tried to guess what it meant, they guessed all kinds of things. Some wondered if it was a farmer's hand because farmers produce food. Others wondered if it was the hand of a police officer because they provided protection. But the student said, he drew a picture of the hand of his teacher because she would often reach out and take him by the hand when he felt scared or unsafe. (Source: https://www.rd.com/article/thanksgiving-story/)
God Himself has graciously reached His hand out to us. We were scared, distant, and unsafe, but He reached into our lives to intervene and assure us of His presence. He sent His Son to rescue us and remind us of His compassionate desire to intervene.
As we pray to Him with thanksgiving, on behalf of others and ourselves, we can thank Him for the spiritual maturity He is fostering within us and the thankful hearts we're developing as we're gradually growing in appreciation of every aspect of what He has done on our behalf.
© John Stange, 2022