Colossians 1:9–14: “Effectual Fervent Prayers of a Righteous Man”
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Let’s take our Bibles together and turn to the book of Colossians. We are continuing our verse-by-verse study of this book in our series, “Preeminence.” And today we want to look at Colossians 1:9–14 and “The Effectual Fervent Prayer of a Righteous Man,” namely the Apostle Paul praying for the church in Colossae.1
There’s little debate that the greatest preacher in the nineteenth century was the well-known preacher from the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, Charles Spurgeon. Spurgeon was an amazing preacher. The church was constantly packed with parishioners hanging on his every word. And people got saved like crazy at his church. And it would be easy to attribute this success to Spurgeon’s brilliance and talent.
But once, when Spurgeon was away, a guest preacher named A.T. Pierson identified something else as the engine driving the ministry of the church. Pierson wrote, “This Metropolitan Tabernacle is a house of prayer most emphatically. Here are numerous rooms, under and around the great audience-room, where for almost forty years, this one servant of God has held forth the Word of Life; and in these rooms prayer is almost ceaselessly going up… This is a hive of bees, where there are comparatively few drones. There are prayer-meetings before preaching, and others after preaching… Before I go upon the platform to address these thousands, the officers of this great church meet me and each other for prayer as to the service; and one feels upborne on these strong arms of prayer while preaching. No marvel that Mr. Spurgeon’s ministry has been so blessed. He himself attributes it mainly to the prevailing prayers of his people. Why may not the whole Church of God learn something from the Metropolitan Tabernacle of London as to the power of simple gospel preaching backed by believing supplication?”2
I have one overarching goal for today’s message. My goal is to fire up our prayer lives as a church for the church. The text in front of us will help us to do that—Colossians 1:9–14.3 In this text of Scripture, the Apostle Paul says, “We’re praying for you, church at Colossae.”4 And then he gives us some specifics on what to pray for.5 Let’s walk through those.
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But first of all, notice Paul’s comment on the constancy of prayer.
1) The constancy of fervent prayer for a church (1:9a)
Paul writes in verse 9.
9 And so, from the day we heard,6 we have not ceased7 to pray for you,
Now, just a few questions here. Who’s the “we” in this statement in verse 9? And what precisely have the “we” heard? What have they heard?
The “we” is Paul, Timothy, Luke, and possible Epaphras, the man who helped plant the church in Colossae. And what they “heard” is verse 8: “your love in the Spirit.”
And that statement communicates two things:
(1) The church in Colossae loves one another. In fact, they love all the saints (1:4), as we saw last time.
(2) But secondly, and more precisely, they love “in the Spirit.” And that means that they are filled with the Spirit. They are saved followers of Jesus Christ, indwelt by the Holy Spirit. So the church in Epaphras’s hometown, Colossae, is full of saved, Spirit-filled, love-filled believers! Paul spent six verses in the previous paragraph thanking God for this church (see 1:3–8)!
But now, in verse 9, thanksgiving gives way to petition, and appreciation gives way to supplication.8 Paul’s been praying for this church.9 He hasn’t ceased praying for them.
In another place in Scripture, Paul says “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess 5:17). And Paul practices what he preaches. He hasn’t ceased praying for the Colossians since he heard about their faith in Christ from Epaphras.
Now what does that mean? Let’s stop and think about this for a moment. How is that practical? If “always praying” meant “always talking with God” how could you do anything else? How could I ever preach? How could I ever have a conversation with my wife or my son? How could I continue talking with God non-stop throughout the day? My voice would grow hoarse. If I prayed silently even without vocalizing, I would never be able to sleep or to write or even sing a song of worship.10 Obviously it can’t mean incessant, continuous prayer without ever doing anything else.
I heard a story once about Charles Spurgeon that he was so brilliant that as he was preaching, he would—in his head—pray for the people he was preaching to by name. And he would do it with one part of his brain, and just keep preaching without missing a step with another part of his brain.11
Let me let you in on a secret. Your pastor is not able to do that. He’s not that brilliant! Sometimes I’m afraid when I come to this pulpit, that I’m going to trip on something and half of what I’ve studied all week is going to spill out of my brain! And my tongue will tie up in knots and I won’t be able to say what I need to say!
So, what does this mean that Paul says, “we have not ceased to pray for you”? Does it mean he hasn’t done anything else but pray for them? No, I don’t think so. It means, at bare minimum, “I keep praying for you. I keep coming to God with requests for you. And I’m never going to stop praying for you.”
And praying without ceasing means for us as a church—don’t ever stop praying! Don’t ever stop taking your requests to God. Don’t ever stop praying for the church. Keep coming back to him. Keep taking your requests to him. Don’t ever grow weary of communicating with your God. Be quick to pray. Be eager to pray.12
I heard it described this way by one commentator. He said the need to pray should feel like a hacking cough.13 It’s that tickle in the back your throat that is constant and unceasing. And he said likewise there should be this tickle in the back of our soul that should always be drawing us to prayer, always longing for communion with God, always desirous of a conversation with the God of the Universe. And the more you pray and the more you grow in your relationship with God, the more you want to communicate with him. It’s a growing desire in your heart. I’ve experienced that.
Jesus taught his disciples, “The Parable of the Persistent Widow” to teach them that they ought always to pray and never lose heart (Luke 18:1–8). Paul says elsewhere that we should pray “at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication… [keeping] alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints” (Eph 5:18). Romans 12:12 tells us to be “constant in prayer.”14
Listen, it’s not really about continuousness, as much as it is about relentlessness.15 It’s about a relentless, persistent, commitment to prayer. “I will never stop praying to the Lord for these things! I choose to be prayerful in all the circumstances of life.”
“When life is good, I’m going to pray and thank God. When life is hard, I’m going to get down on my knees and cry out to him and plead with him. When life is so-so… six in one hand, half a dozen in the other… I still have plenty to pray for. I’m still going to pray and take my requests to God.”16 That’s the mentality that we bring to our prayer life. That’s our commitment to constancy.
William Temple said once, “When I pray, coincidences happen, and when I don’t, they don’t.”17 Go figure!
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The first statement about prayer is a statement about constancy, or relentlessness, or dedication to fervency in your prayer life. Secondly, notice also Paul specifies the requests of fervent prayer.
2) The requests of fervent prayer for a church (1:9b–11)
This answers the question—what exactly should we pray about? If our prayers should be relentless and fervent and constant for our church, then what should we pray about?
Well, Paul gives us a few things here. Write these down as a, b, c, d, and e. The first is…
a) Knowledge of God’s will18
Look at verse 9.
asking that you may be filled 19 with the knowledge of his will 20 in all spiritual wisdom 21 and understanding,
Paul says, “We haven’t stopped praying this for you, Colossians! We haven’t stopped asking God that…
you may be filled with the knowledge of his will22 in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
This statement is akin to what David prays in the OT. Psalm 40:8 reads, “I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.” Feel the parallelism, church. David’s “your will” is parallel to “your law” in that verse. Psalm 143:10 reads, “Teach me to do your will, for you are my God! Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground.”23
“Pastor Tony, I want to ramp up my prayer life for this church. I’m want to be relentless and fervent. What should I pray about?”
Well, pray this! Pray that we as church will be filled with the knowledge of God’s will.24
By the way, God’s will derives from God’s Word.25 This was true even in the Psalms of the OT: The law is parallel with God’s will (Ps 40:8; see also 119:105; 143:10). So this is, in essence, just a prayer for our knowledge of his Word to increase. Some people sit around all the time begging for God to reveal his will to them, and they leave their Bible untouched and unopened. That’s a mistake. You’re looking for special revelation, and it’s right at your fingertips, but you ignore it. God’s will is available to you.
And notice how Paul framed this in verse 9. There’s…
the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
Wisdom and understanding were two of the great virtues espoused by Aristotle.26 Along with prudence, the Greeks upheld wisdom and understanding as supreme pursuits. The Hebrews did too. Just look at the book of Proverbs.
But this is not just wisdom and understanding in the abstract.27 This is spiritual wisdom and understanding. This is wisdom and understanding from God’s Spirit!
Paul noted earlier how the Colossians have “love in the Spirit.” Now he’s praying that they will add to that love, wisdom and understanding “in the Spirit.”28 He wants them to have the knowledge of God’s will that includes also spiritual wisdom and understanding.
What that means is that there is spiritual wisdom and understanding that derives from God’s Word. And the more you have God’s Word in your heart, the better spiritual wisdom and understanding you will have for the day-to-day challenges of life. It’s not abstract, ethereal wisdom that doesn’t impact your life—like how many angels could dance on the head of a pin… that kind of stuff. That’s the Greek concept of wisdom. What Paul is talking about here is practical, God-fearing wisdom.
With that wisdom, you’ll know how to be a better husband or wife. You’ll know how to be a better parent. You’ll know how to be a better, more God-glorifying Christian. You’ll know how to make good decisions in your life. You’ll know how to give better counsel. You’ll know how to glorify God in your daily life.29
Pray for that, church! Pray for that every day. Pray for that, for this church, relentlessly and fervently.30 “God, please give us spiritual wisdom and understanding!”
Because here’s what spiritual wisdom and understanding do for you.31 Look at verse 10.
10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord,32 fully pleasing33 to him:
Here’s a second thing to pray for as a church. There’s, “knowledge of God’s will.” There’s also…
b) A worthy walk34
Your walk talks and your talk talks, but your walk talks louder than your talk talks. Paul’s praying here for their walk to talk.35
By the way, this is a purpose statement in Greek in verse 10—“so as.” We pray for the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding—for the purpose of—walking in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him.36
Let me ask you church, “Do you want to please the Lord? Do you desire that? Do you desire to put a smile on God’s face?” I do. I want to please my Lord. How do we do that? We do that by “[walking] in a manner worthy of the Lord.”37
Now, we need to be careful with this. Because we can make two errors at this place. One error is to say, “I’m going to please God with my actions. I’m going to please God with prayer life. I’m going to please God with my knowledge of the Bible. I’m going to earn his favor with my hard work and my do-gooding and my can-do attitude.” Careful now. That can very easily slip into works-based righteousness. We have another word for that. We call it legalism. Yuck! We don’t want that.
Now here’s the other error. And I see this all the time. “I’m saved by grace. My prayer life is horrible. My walk with Christ is not great. But who cares? I’m saved by grace. More failure, more grace! I don’t need to please God with my actions. He’s already pleased with me in Christ.” It sounds very pious, doesn’t it? The problem with that is that it’s unbiblical.38 The technical term for that is antinomianism. Probably a better word is license. We feel like we have a license to do anything, and live anyway we want to, because we’ve got grace as license.
What we’ve got to do as Christians is turn away from legalism, and turn away from license. And find that sweet spot of a grace-based, “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him.” Pray for that, church. Paul’s praying for that for Colossae. We should pray for this for our church. Pray for us as a church and us a Christians to avoid the ditch of legalism on one side and the ditch of license on the other.
And Paul doubles down on this idea of grace-based righteousness.39 Because look at verse 10.
bearing fruit in every good work
“Good works! We’re not about that as Protestant Christians.” Yes, we are! “Paul doesn’t emphasize that in the NT.” Yes, he does. Not as a basis for salvation, but as an outworking of our salvation.
And Paul doubles down on this idea of grace-based righteousness.40 Because look at verse 10.
and increasing in the knowledge of God;41
Here’s a third thing to pray for as a church.
c) Fruit-bearing
Jesus said in John 15:8, “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”
If you remember from last time, fruit-bearing was a strength for this church in Colossae. Paul said in Colossians 1:6 that the gospel is bearing fruit “among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth.” Fruit-bearing is evidence of legitimate conversion. And the Colossians have that, have that, have that. They are a fruit-bearing church. They are commended for it in this letter.
But Paul says in verse 10, “I’m praying for more. Don’t rest on your laurels. I’m praying for more fruit. I’m praying for fruit-bearing in ‘every good work.’42 I’m praying for fruit-bearing in every good thing that you are involved in: your preaching, your evangelism, your study of God’s word, your gathering as a church, your families, your raising of children, your endurance through persecution. I’m praying for all of it. And I’m praying…”
Look at the end of verse 10. “I’m praying for your…
[increase] in the knowledge of God;43
Here’s a fourth thing to pray for as a church. Pray for an increase in our…
d) Knowledge of God44
Not just your knowledge of God’s will. Paul dealt with that already. Not just your knowledge of God’s Word. That’s important. But this goes beyond that. Paul says, “I want you to increase in your knowledge of God. I want you to know God.”
You know, I grew up as Christian kid in a Christian home. I grew up in a good church. I got baptized at a young age. And I was one of just a handful of Christians at my high school in Austin, Texas. Maybe there were more Christians there than that. But I felt oftentimes like I was the only one. And I knew God. And I loved God. And I prayed often to my Lord.
But then I got to college and started to read the Bible more thoroughly. And I started learning things about God that I had never known before. And it was addictive. And I read books like Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer.45 And I read other books that were breaking my brain with concepts that I had never considered before. And my knowledge of God grew exponentially.
And then I went to seminary. And I read systematic theology. And I took classes on OT and NT and Church History and biblical theology. And I felt like I didn’t know anything before I took those classes. Then I became a pastor. Then I learned how to pray.
And after a few years of pastoring—how many of y’all believe this?—I exhausted everything there was to know about God. No! I didn’t. Because God is—even when we get to eternity—inexhaustible. And we’ll spend the rest of eternity growing in our knowledge of God.
Do you know why we get distracted in this world by silly things like TV shows, sports, and politics? It’s not because those things are uninteresting. They are. But our view of God and our understanding of God are too small. And we are a distractable people.
How do we fight that distraction? Well, we do like Paul does here. We pray. We pray for increase in the knowledge of God. And that knowledge is linked to fruit-bearing.
Here’s a fifth thing to pray for as a church. Pray for …
e) Empowerment
Dangerous word, empowerment. So let’s be clear what we’re praying for here. Look at verse 11.
11 being strengthened with all power,
This statement (“being strengthened with all power”) is especially vivid in the Greek because both words come from the same root word, δύναμις (dynamis). One is the verbal form (“strengthened”) and the other is the noun form (“power”). In a more literal sense, Paul is saying something like, “being strengthened with all strength” or “being empowered with all power.” I love the ESV, but I wish they would have kept the symmetry of those two words.46
I’m going to use the word “empower” to keep the symmetry. Look again at verse 11.
11 being [empowered] with all power, according to his glorious might,47
By the way “being empowered” is what’s called a divine passive. We’re not empowering ourselves. We’re not hitting the weightroom, so that we can get more power for this. God has to do this. He does this by his Holy Spirit. Paul’s praying for this for Colossae. We should be praying for this power in our church.
11 being [empowered] with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience48 with joy;49
What is Paul praying for here? He’s praying that the Colossians will have cosmic power. He’s praying that they will have power according to “his” glorious might. Who’s the “his”? It’s God—“according to [God’s] glorious might.”
Why? Why do they need this power? They need it for endurance and patience in the midst of suffering (see 2 Thess 1:4; Rom 5:3–5; Heb 10:32–36). Chances are, the Colossians are getting pummeled and persecuted for their faith in Christ (see Col 1:24; 2:1; 4:3, 18). Why wouldn’t they be? We see that in Thessalonica with the Thessalonians (1 Thess 1:6; 2:14). We see that in Ephesus with the Ephesians (Acts 19:23–41; 1 Cor 15:32). We see that in Galatia. We see that in Corinth (2 Cor 1:8–10; 11:23–28). We see that in Jerusalem (Acts 8:1–3; 12:1–5). We see that in Rome where Paul is in prison for two years for no good legal reason (Acts 28:16, 30–31). Why wouldn’t there be persecution in Colossae?
And if there was, they need power for endurance. They need divine power for this (see Eph 3:16; 2 Tim 2:1; 1 Pet 4:12–14). They need power for endurance which has to do with holding up under difficult situations. And they need power for patience which has to do with holding up under difficult people.50 They needed that two-thousand years ago, and we need that now.
Divine power makes the hardships of life endurable. Divine power also makes it joyful. See that at the end of verse 11. Can we go through suffering and pain with joy? Is that possible? Not glib happiness or glee. I’m not saying you plaster a smile on your face, even though you’re hurting. But joy.51 Can we do that? According to the NT, we can.
In fact, Paul was in prison in Rome when he wrote Colossians. One of the other books he wrote during that two-year period was Philippians. And Philippians is the book about joy. Philippians is the counterintuitive book about suffering with rejoicing as Paul was practicing what he was preaching in prison, in chains, and yet rejoicing. And he says, “Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice.”
You might say, “I haven’t gotten to that place yet, Pastor Tony. I haven’t learned yet how to do that. When I go through hardships in this life I get mopey and frustrated and angry, not joyful.” Yeah, I struggle with that too. And that’s why we need to pray.
So pray for that, Messiah Bible Church. Pray for the empowerment to endure patiently (circumstances and people) with joy.
Listen, can I say something here. When you’re sick, or when you are hurting, don’t just pray for healing. Don’t just pray for relief. Pray at the same time, “God, give me empowerment to endure this with joy.”52 Paul’s praying that for the church in Colossae. We should pray that too.
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Write this down as a third point in your notes. Paul gives us here as well…
3) The mentality of fervent prayer for a church (1:12)
Look at verse 12 with me.
12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.
Now let me be clear about what Paul is doing here. In the previous section, Paul gives thanks to God for the Colossian church. And you might think he’s reverting back to that now.
But he’s not. This is a continuation of verse 9—“We have not ceased to pray for you…” So what Paul is doing here is he’s praying for the Colossians to continue giving thanks to the Father. He’s praying… technically it’s the “we” of him, Luke, Timothy, and whoever else… They are praying for the Colossians to stay thankful. That’s how important a thankful heart is. That’s the mentality of fervent prayer for a church.53
Look there’s a time for petition. There’s a time for lament. There’s a time for, “God, where are you? This pain is so bad, I feel like I’m going to break in half.” We see that in the Psalms.
But if that’s all you ever pray… if that’s all you ever express before the Lord, then your prayer-life is exhibiting a falsehood. Because no matter how bad it gets in this world you always have… if you know Christ Jesus as your Savior… and that’s a big if… but if you know him… no matter how hard this life gets… you always, always, always… have hope. You always have… how does Paul put it here? Look at verse 12…
[a] share in the inheritance of the saints in light.
Look at the end of verse 12. Look how Paul puts this together. “We pray that you are…
12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.
How can we be grateful and even joyful going through a painful breakup? How is it emotionally and spiritually possible to be grateful and even joyful when we go through an unwanted divorce? How is it possible to be both grateful and joyful when cancer is eating away at our bodies, and the doctor says, “There’s nothing left for us to do.” How is that possible?
I’ll just tell you, it’s not possible! It’s not possible without Christ! It is not! But if you have Christ, if you are a saint, if you are filled with the Spirit, if you have saving faith in Jesus and an inheritance to come after death, what’s the worst that can happen? What’s the worst thing? Death? You just go home to Christ in glory.
What’s the worst that can happen? Suffering? That’s worse than death, really! But you’re just gaining treasures in heaven. Everything that Satan and this world can throw at you, you can defeat with thanksgiving and joy because you have been qualified by God the Father to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.
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You might ask, “When did I get qualified for that? How did that happen? Who did that?”
I’m so glad you asked. Because I can’t wait to get to verse 13 and 14. I can’t wait to get to verse 15 either, but I have to wait till next week for that!
How’d we get qualified for our “share in the inheritance of the saints in light”? Look at verse 13.
13 He [that’s God the Father] has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred54 us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom [i.e., in the Son, in Christ]55 we have redemption,56 the forgiveness57 of sins.
Write this down. Last point. I’ll just call this…
4) The basis of fervent prayer for a church (1:13–14)
Why are we joyfully thankful in the midst of suffering? Why are we praying for that? Why are we even able to pray for that to a God who listens and responds? The answer, very simply, is Jesus.
It’s because of Jesus that we have been transferred from the domain of darkness to the kingdom of his beloved Son… what a phrase! What an amazing use of language. If you don’t have Christ, life is dark. There’s no joy in the midst of suffering. All you can do, really, is just postpone the inevitable. What a sad state of affairs, being stuck in the domain of darkness.
But if you have Jesus, you have been transferred… Here’s my transfer papers! “I don’t belong over here anymore. Domain of darkness… Sayonara. I’m in the kingdom of his beloved Son. I’ve got redemption in Christ. I’ve got forgiveness for my sins.”
Listen, I’ve got that. I’ve got that! Do you? If you don’t, then the only prayer you need to pray today after this message on prayer is a prayer of repentance and faith. Confess your sins. Express your belief in Christ. And join the kingdom of light. Join the kingdom of his beloved Son.
For those of you who know Christ, love Christ, and follow Christ, here’s the challenge for you—We need to pray. We need to do as Paul does here.
The Bible says that “the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man [or woman] availeth much” (James 5:16, KJV). We have an example here of a righteous man praying for a church. Let’s do like him. Let’s pray for this church. Let’s pray fervently and relentlessly for knowledge of God’s will, a worthy walk, fruit-bearing, knowledge of God, and empowerment. Let’s pray with a mentality of thankfulness. And let’s pray on the basis of what Christ has done for us on the cross, providing forgiveness of our sins.
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I’ll close with this. Years ago, the great woman of faith, Corrie ten Boom, asked this question about prayer. She asked, “Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?”58 In other words, is prayer your constant resolve in your spiritual life? Or is it, “If necessary, break glass”?
Prayer was never meant to be a last resort, people. It was meant to be a reflex. And I’m not here to make you feel guilty about your prayer life. That’s pretty easy to do. And guilt is a short-term motivator.
What I’m trying to do is—I told you this at the beginning—fire up our prayer lives as a church for the church. And if I could go a step further than that, I’m trying to engender a prayer-focused culture in our local church—Messiah Bible Church. Some of you are all over that! You are already on that program. And some of the rest of us need to catch up. We need to put into practice what we see Paul doing here. We need to pray.
We’ve got an example here in Colossians 1. There are other examples all throughout the Bible.59 Let’s get after this, church.60 Let’s be a church that prays.
Related Teachings
