“A Prayer for Fruitfulness” – FBC Morning Light (9/7/2023)

Well a good Thursday morning to you. Hope your week's going well thus far. Well today in our Bible reading we're reading in Isaiah 21 and 22, we're beginning the letter to the Church of Colossae, so we're reading Colossians chapter 1 and then Proverbs chapter 8.

Praying for Holiness, Wisdom, and Fruitfulness in Colossians 1

I want to zero in on a couple of verses in Colossians 1. I use these verses just about every day as part of a prayer that I pray. I think it is beneficial for us to pray that we grow in holiness and sanctification, and this verse, these couple of verses, Colossians 1, 9, and 10, help us to put that prayer into some specific application or understanding.

So notice what the verses say. Paul is praying for the Colossians, and he says this, he says, for this reason, since we heard of it, the day we heard of it, we do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing him, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.

And we could continue, there's more to the prayer, but I just want to focus on those couple of verses. And notice what he's praying for, and I think it's very beneficial to us if we own this prayer for ourselves.

He's praying that we would be filled with the knowledge of God's will. I want to know what God would have me to do. I want to know what God would have me to be like. I want to know God's will. I realize that a lot of times in our contemporary American Christianity we think of finding out, knowing God's will in terms of big-picture items, like the career that God would have me to choose, or go into, the person whom God would have me to marry, and so on.

But this isn't what Paul is talking about. I mean, surely there's some application to those things, but he's really talking about the big picture of God's will, as he has revealed his will in the Word.

And it is critical and vital for us to grow in our knowledge of God's will, what God is like, what God likes. So pray, Lord, grow me in the knowledge of your will, and then he continues, in all wisdom.

It is not enough just to have your head full of information and knowing what God's will is. You also need wisdom to act upon it. So wisdom is the skill to use knowledge correctly. So wisdom would be the acting upon what you know to be God's will.

So he says, pray that you would know, you'd be filled with a knowledge of God's will, in all wisdom, so you might act on that knowledge, and spiritual understanding. And so what that means is that as we continue in this progression, I not only know God's will and act upon God's will, but I know how to apply that knowledge in given situations.

I have the discernment to see, this is what God would have me to do in this particular situation, that spiritual understanding, and then act accordingly. I might be filled with a knowledge of his will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.

Why? Why? Well, so that you might walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing him. I want to be able to please him fully in my walk through the course of everyday life. So, I don't know, when you're listening to this, you may be listening to this before you go off to work today, I trust that it would be your desire, as you enter into this day, to walk through the course of the day in such a way that is pleasing to the Lord, in every area.

And to what end? What's the objective? What's the goal in mind? It says, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God. Being fruitful, not simply productive, but fruitful.

And when you think about fruitfulness, let your mind go to things like the fruit of the Spirit is, love, joy, peace, and so forth. When you think about fruitfulness, let your mind go to John chapter 15, where the Lord says, I am the vine, you are the branches, and you will bring forth much fruit if you abide in me.

So, I want to grow in the knowledge of the will of God, have the wisdom to act upon that knowledge, the spiritual understanding to discern the circumstances of life, and how the will of God applies to those circumstances, and act accordingly so that, in the course of my day, I might walk in a way that's pleasing to the Lord.

Because if I do, in so doing, walking in a way that's pleasing to the Lord, I will then be fruitful in every good work of my hands, of my day, of my life. I'll be fruitful in every good work. And then it concludes the prayer, increasing in the knowledge of God.

I will grow in my knowledge of what God is like, and who God is. I will grow in my personal, relational knowledge of him, my relationship with him, as I know his will, build with his will, act upon it with wisdom and spiritual understanding, walk in a way that's fully pleasing to him, so that I might be fruitful in every good work.

And then, I'll know my God better. I'll know him better. What a tremendous prayer. Let me encourage you to commit Colossians 1, 9, and 10 to memory, and make it a regular part of your day-to-day praying.

I think it'd be very helpful to us to do so. Well, our Father in Heaven, we do thank you for this very challenging couple of verses, but also very encouraging, very helpful, because by knowing best how to pray for our growth in holiness, our growth in sanctification, we can indeed grow.

So, Father, grow us, I pray, in the knowledge of your will. May we be filled with it, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that we might walk in a way that is pleasing to the Lord Jesus, fully pleasing to him, worthy of the Lord Jesus.

And we might then be fruitful in all the works of our hands, and we might grow in our knowledge of you. And this we pray in Jesus' name, amen. All right, listen, have a great Thursday. I trust the Lord will bless you in it.

Good day.