This week I started the above study on Colossians. I love the epistles and it’s free 🙂 Besides, the Hello Morning groups are just wonderful to join. Paul’s epistles have much to say about spiritual growth.
Paul prayed for the people of his time but the beauty of God’s Word is that it is just as much a prayer for us today …..
So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better. (Colossians 1:9-10, NLT)
Here we see that Paul prayed for others to gain a complete knowledge of God’s will, for God to give them spiritual wisdom and spiritual understanding. And Paul tells us exactly the outcome obtaining these three things will bear on our lives:
- Our lives will honor and please the Lord. As we grow in knowledge and wisdom and understanding, we will know the path our life is to take. We will have lives which are purposeful, bringing Him honor.
- Our lives would produce every kind of good fruit. I loved this! Our lives would not just bear fruit but every kind of good fruit. Good things would come from our lives.
- Our lives would continue to grow. It is a cycle – knowing God–> lives that honor Him–> good fruit –> our lives continue to grow.
When we remain stagnate in our relationship with Him, we cease bearing fruit. As our lives are changed we will bear fruit personally, having an affect on those around us.
It’s the start of a new year. No better time than now in which to set a cycle in motion in our lives. No better time than the present to begin to let God change us.
This morning as I read these verses in Colossians, I was reminded of Mr. Rogers who said this:
Who you are inside is what helps you make and do everything in life.
Today I am joining with … Soli Deo Gloria and Unite and Titus 2sday and Testimony Tues. and Women Helping Women and Teach Me Tues. and Tell Me A Story and Titus 2 Tues. and Mon. Praises .
I just wrote down those verses yesterday to memorize! Thanks for sharing them.
I love when we experience echoes in our lives!
Love these verses and love this reminder: “When we remain stagnate in our relationship with Him, we cease bearing fruit.” Thanks for linking up to Testimony Tuesday, my friend!
May our lives bear fruit in abundance this year!
I get so much out of Paul’s epistles, too. Right now in the book of Philippians and finding my JOY in Christ!
May we obtain wisdom for right living as we read the epistles. A good way to start our year 🙂
Awesome!
Paul was praying for others and not himself. Job did the same thing as he prayed for his friends. Thanks for a lovely post and reminder to honor and please the Lord and we will produce good fruit. Thank you for sharing with us here at ‘Tell Me a Story.’
Thank you, Hazel. And thanks for pointing out that Job also prayed for his friends. May we be faithful to pray for others each day.
I’m reminded that I wanted to do this study. Maybe I will rise a little earlier tomorrow to spend some time catching up. I’m also trying not to be careful to overdue it. I’m enjoying my time with God in the morning as I start from the beginning of the Bible with the goal of making it all the way through.
This study would be appropriate though as it is prayer week at our church. Is that common for many churches because I feel like I’m seeing a lot on praying this week. 🙂
Oh my…I owe you an email. Am I driving you crazy with curiosity?
Beth – It is a good study & I am enjoying it. I have found HM to be a good discipline. Even if I don’t get to it right away in the morning, I always get to it when I get my granddaughter down for a nap. Yes, be careful not to overdue. There is so much available to us which we can join into. But we are not meant to say “yes” to all of it. Or so, I am learning 🙂
Hmm, how shall I answer? Well, if I said “No I am not curious”, you would know I was lying, lol. So I am learning how to wait 🙂
Keep warm & sleep well!