“That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.”
(Colossians 1:10)
The Christian life cannot be sustained by knowledge, instruction, or resolution alone. Scripture teaches believers to pray that they may not enter into temptation and that they may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. Such commands would have little meaning if divine strength were unnecessary, or if that strength could not be obtained through prayer. The duty to pray therefore demonstrates the believer’s dependence on the gracious operation of God.
The same truth appears in Paul’s repeated prayers for other Christians. He did not just instruct them concerning holiness and then leave the matter there. He asked God to produce in them the very graces the gospel requires. He prayed that they would be counted worthy of their calling, that the good pleasure of God’s goodness would be fulfilled in them, and that the work of faith would be accompanied with power. “Blessed be God, who is both ready and willing, and hath promised over and over to give His enlightening, strengthening, sanctifying, comforting, and assisting grace to the hungry and thirsty soul that calls upon him in Truth.”[1]
Paul’s prayer in Colossians is especially comprehensive. He asks that believers be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding so that they may walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing and become fruitful in every good work. Knowledge is not sought as an end in itself; it is desired so that the life may be conformed to the will of God and become fruitful in holiness.
This fruitfulness depends on the Spirit’s operation in the inner man. Paul asks that believers be strengthened with might by His Spirit within. The study of God’s Word is essential, but the Spirit must also work through and with that truth, strengthening the heart to believe, obey, resist temptation, and persevere in every good work.
Prayer itself is one of the appointed means by which grace is accessed. If Christian virtues are to be requested from God, then they must be understood as gifts proceeding from Him. Wisdom, faith, holiness, obedience, perseverance, and every qualification necessary to the Christian walk are graces of the Holy Spirit and fruits of His operation in those whom God renews.
This does not make the believer passive. The command to walk worthy, to be fruitful, to increase in knowledge, and to resist temptation remains real. Yet the obedience commanded must be sought from the God who alone can enable it. Christian diligence and divine dependence are therefore two strands of the same cord. The more seriously the believer takes the command to obey, the more seriously he must take the duty of prayer.
We must not only ask for opportunities to do good, but for power to use them rightly; not simply for truth to be known, but for wisdom to apply it; not only for commands to be understood, but for the grace to obey them. Every good and perfect gift is from above, and therefore the whole life of holiness must continually look upward for strength.
Contemplations:
- Strengthen Me Where Instruction Alone Cannot Carry Me. You have given truth in Your Word, yet I still need Your Spirit to work that truth powerfully within me. I know that knowledge by itself cannot produce obedience. So I ask for Your strength to resist temptation, courage to stand against the devil, and inward power to practice what I know.
- Make My Faith Fruitful in Good Works. Do not let faith remain barren in my life. Fulfill in me the good pleasure of Your goodness and make Your work of faith evident in my obedience. Give me fruit in every good work that the name of Christ may be honored, and let what I profess become visible in the way I walk.
- Increase in Me the Knowledge That Produces Holiness. Fill me with the knowledge of Your will in wisdom and spiritual understanding. Make every truth further obedience, and let clearer knowledge produce a more worthy walk before You. Teach me so that I may live according to what You teach.
- Keep Me Asking for Every Good Gift. You are the Father of lights, and every good and perfect gift comes from You. Keep me from treating wisdom, holiness, strength, and perseverance as though they were my natural characteristics. Make prayer a continual confession of dependence and may Your every answer remind me that grace comes from above.
Prayer (Supplication):
Father of lights, strengthen me by Your Spirit so that I may walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing.
Your Word gives me truth, but I need Your grace to make that truth fruitful in my life.
Fill me with the knowledge of Your will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Teach me not to just know what is right, but to love it, choose it, and practice it.
Make me fruitful in every good work. Let faith produce obedience, love produce service, and knowledge produce holiness.
Strengthen me against temptation. Keep me from entering into it carelessly, and give me power to stand against the devil’s schemes.
Where I am weak, strengthen me. Where I am ignorant, teach me. Where I am hesitant in duty, make me willing.
Make me diligent, but always dependent on You; active, yet prayerful; obedient, but always conscious that the strength to obey comes from Your grace.
Increase my faith, deepen my holiness, enlarge my usefulness, and make my whole life more pleasing to You.
In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
Further Scripture References:
Eph. 1:4; 2 Cor. 5:9; Matt. 3:8; Phil. 1:27
[1] Anthony Horneck, Several Sermons upon the Fifth of St. Matthew, Vol. 2, (London: J.H. for B. Aylmer .., 1698), 326-327.
