Tuesday, March 26, 2024

PT-4 "The Petition" (Col. 1:9)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/30/2016 10:31 PM

My Worship Time                                                                                Focus:  PT-4 “The Petition”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Colossians 1:9

            Message of the verses:  “9 For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,”

            It is my hope that I will finish my thoughts on this verse in this SD, and I want to pretty much concentrate on the highlighted portion of this verse.  Now we have been talking about “knowledge” and have found out that Biblically speaking that this has a lot to do with the different doctrines that are found in the Scriptures.  We also talked about how in Paul’s letters that he would spend the first part of his letters talking about doctrine and then in the later part of them he would talk about how we are to act on the basis of the doctrine that he has written about.  As a born again believer it is our responsibility to know doctrines as we are to “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).”  Once we learn about the different doctrines that are found in the Scripture we are to remember them so that when we go through life that we can apply them in our lives and that constitutes wisdom, putting our knowledge in to action.

            There is more of the quote from John MacArthur’s commentary that I wish to quote that will help us learn more on about what is packed into the verse.  “Paul prays that the knowledge we have would be of His will.  God’s will is not a secret; He has revealed it in His Word.  For example, it is God’s desire that a person be saved (1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Pet. 3:9).  Once a person is saved, it is God’s will that he be filled with the Spirit.  Ephesians 5:17-18 says, ‘Do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.  And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.’  Furthermore, sanctification is God’s will:  ‘For this is the will of God your sanctification’ (1 Thess. 4:3).  God also wills that the believer be submissive to the government.  Peter writes, ‘Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution…for such is the will of God’ (1 Pet. 2:13, 15). Suffering may also be God’s will for the believer.  ‘Let those also who suffer according to the will of God entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right’ (1 Pet. 4:19).  Finally, giving thanks is God’s will.  Paul writes, ‘In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus’ (1 Thess. 5:18).”

            Let’s move to look at wisdom as MacArthur writes:  “Though the terms ‘wisdom’ and ‘understanding’ may be synonymous, Sophia (‘wisdom’) may be broader of the two terms.  It refers to the ability to collect and concisely organize principles from Scripture.  Sunesis (‘understanding’) could be a more specialized term, referring to the application of those principles to everyday life.  Both Sophia and sunesis are spiritual; they deal in the nonphysical realm and have the Holy Spirit as their source.

            “Believing, submissive Bible study leads to the knowledge of God’s will.  A mind saturated with such knowledge will also be able to comprehend general principles of godly behavior.  With that wisdom will come understanding of how to apply those principles to the situations of life.  That progression will inevitably result in godly character and practice.”

3/26/2024 11:45 AM

 

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