"And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy," (Col. 1:9-11).
Do you ever struggle with how or what to pray for? The prayers of Paul recorded in his epistles are vitally instructive in not only guiding our own prayers, but also revealing why we struggle to pray effectively. Notice that Paul prayed for believers to be "filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding" (Col. 1:9). This one prayer request by Paul not only gives us some direction about one of the things we should be praying for, namely wisdom, but also what is often lacking in our lives that keeps us from praying effectively, namely spiritual understanding. How do we get wisdom and spiritual understanding? Well we know that we should be seeking God in prayer for wisdom, but in addition we need to prayerfully spend time in God's word seeking wisdom and spiritual understanding. In Colossians Paul wrote, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom..." (Col. 3:16). If we're weak in the word we will be weak in prayer. If we're strong in the word we will be strong in prayer. Enrich your prayer life by allowing for God's word to dwell in you richly.
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