The 'Complete' Prayer for a Significant Life Part 2

I hope you found the last post on Colossians 1:9-12 as wonderful as I did! Did you think over the points and read the scriptures and mull over them? So often we take our spiritual food as fast as the food we buy at fast food chains - and it never benefits us as much as it should when we do that. 


Take time over God's Word to let it sink deep into your heart.

This time, we are continuing the rest of the passage in Colossians 1:9-12 from the end of verse 10:

...increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.

4.

increasing in the knowledge of God

• God has always desired to be known
  a) Jer 31:34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
  b) dealing with our sin in the light of God's countenance is key to knowing Him.
• This must then mean that God is waiting to connect with us when we set out to seek Him and know Him. He is not elusive nor difficult to relate to.
• 'knowledge': precise, correct knowledge of things divine
  God can cause us to know Him without misconceptions or misunderstandings. We might start out that way, but we don't stay like that!

5.

strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power

• 'strengthened' in the Greek is in the present, passive tense, indicating an ongoing process that is happening as we speak
• with ALL might. Chew over THAT!
• according to His glorious power:
  it's not according to the limits of our imagination, nor our understanding -- it is according to the extent of power that brought the Universe into existence, and that upholds all life in the Earth today

6. 

For all patience and longsuffering with joy

• The greatest strength required in life is that needed for perseverance and endurance.
• we can persevere and be longsuffering through something with JOY. Are you going through something long, tedious and frustrating? God promises that you can find JOY in the waiting period. Will you pause long enough in your frustration and disappointment to lay it down and REALLY listen for what God is saying about it? Listen, then obey. Joy is waiting for you.

7. 

Giving thanks to the Father

• An attitude of gratitude is the key to many things
• I've personally found that the real key to personally experiencing verse 7 of Phil 4:6-7 is not in the 'present your requests to God' but in the 'with thanksgiving'!
• Taking time to cultivate a heart that can offer sincere thanksgiving to God also keeps your focus on the things that truly matter, and the One who gives you strength
• Thanksgiving also re-aligns your perspective. A mountain of a problem becomes only a mole-hill when the greatness of God is put in real perspective alongside the problem. 
• Incidentally, 'thanksgiving' is also the English translation to two of the Hebrew words for 'praise', yadah, and towdah

8.

Who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints

• 'who has qualified us'. We are always trying to get ourselves qualified, or good enough - but none of our efforts can reach the required standard. It is God who qualifies US.
• We have a rich inheritance as saints of the Lord - so mind blowing that if you were to catch a glimpse of what is yours as a co-heir of Christ, you would not be the same again.
  Yet, so many Christians are oblivious to the privileges, glory, power and hope that is rightfully theirs.
  
  I plan to do a study soon into the inheritance that Paul talks about here. I hope that it will be inspire you, as it did me!

So now what?

What are you going to do about what you have read? Reading, listening or studying about the Word of God should not be like watching TV - mindlessly.

Chew over it, memorise it, pray about it. Put it into action: claim what is yours with faith. Continue to seek God faithfully and with all your heart - He wants to fill you with the knowledge of Him. He will not always keep silent.

Live a life that honours God, and where we fall short, trust that God is able to fulfill His own will in you - to cause you to walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him.

Pray over the work you do, make sure that it is work that God will be pleased to honour, remembering that God looks first at your heart attitudes.

Trust in the Lord for His strength; believe that He is able to bring you joy in the wildernesses and lonely paths of our lives - trust, listen, obey.

Cultivate an attitude of gratitude. Get to know what is rightfully yours, put it to work and rejoice!

Saying Good-Bye

My Second Uncle was in a car accident Sunday night. He didn't survive it. The car overturned several times and is a write-off. His passenger crawled out with only minor injuries but he died instantly (I hope), his spinal cord severed. Mum cried buckets as they were very close. She booked a ticket with my sister not long after the news and is now already back in the home town. The funeral is tomorrow.

I remember the shocking, sobering sight of my Grandpa's face - serene and tangible, yet otherworldly as he lay in his coffin... and thought with a kind of horror that my Uncle would be in that place this Thursday. It was sudden, tragic, too early. I remember him larger than life -- garrulous, generous, so much fun to be with, so flawed...

I hadn't known my Grandpa much when I attended his funeral but I was able to relate more to this Uncle. He was the one who came and brought some comfort to our family when we were new to Australia. He was the one who bought my Grandma a mobile phone (in Malaysia), set up our Australian number on speed dial, and looked after the phone bills (Grandma calls quite often). He lead the family on expeditions and holidays. He loved jokes, was one of those who laughed the loudest and parried the fastest in verbal matches.

It seems so wrong that someone so alive could be so...absent. 'Absent' because I now have a sense now of how all live to God, even if they are no longer on this Earth. I am confident that I'll see him again in that grand reunion I look forward to. He is free now, and arrived in the very place he was truly made for - I envy him that.

Amongst the possible ponderings about our mortality, I think most of the fact that we don't belong here on this Earth. Truly, Eternity has been set in our hearts (Ecc 3:11). We think that we'll be around forever. And we will - just not in this body. We are bound for a Home away from this home.

It's a timely reminder that we were set on this Earth with a mission to accomplish - and it's not to live for ourselves. We are called to be Christ's hands and feet on this Earth to the people looking for hope and a way. In our weakness, timidity and ignorance, God sees one who can carry His glory selflessly and without fear. It is He who empowers us, and it will be He who rewards us - not just in this age, but also in the age to come. We are sojourners all in a journey both ordinary and profound - may we remember that, and be faithful to our calling.