"3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, 6 which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, 7 just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf 8 and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.
9 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, 10 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; 11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light."
Colossians 1:3-12
There is a double thrust running through Paul's petitions: that of knowledge and that of power. Paul's prayer has both a theological and an ethical emphasis. Again, it is against the background of this new teaching circulating in Colossae, that Paul's petition comes sharply into focus. While he wishes to guard them from offers of 'fullness' and 'knowledge' and spiritual 'power' which are deceitful and illusory, he wants nothing less for them than that they should be 'filled' with all the blessing of God in Christ. It is important to notice that the 'knowledge', the 'spiritual wisdom and understanding' for which Paul prays is not speculative or theoretical (as was the 'knowledge' offered by the false teachers), it is theological and moral, it is knowledge of God's will worked out in a life which is worthy of and pleasing to God. The desire of the apostle for the Colossians and for every believer, is that this knowledge of Christ will so develop and so grip our minds and hearts that our chief concern and delight will be in giving God pleasure by the way we live: Oh the blossom and fruit which will adorn such a life: A believer whose heart is set on knowing and doing God's will and who is brought by that determination to a worthy walk and an intimate communion with Christ, will bear fruit in every good work (v 10), will grow ever deeper in the knowledge of God (v 10) and will (v 11) be strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might and so be given great endurance and patience. The fruit of such intimate and devoted communion is a rock-like character, a character steeled and tempered and able to bear every attack of the evil one: This word 'endurance' (v 11), the commentators tell us, signifies that kind of perseverance which enables one to hold the position already taken in battle against enemy attacks from without. This, then, is Paul's intercession: What a prayer! What a reality! The business of living for Christ in the real world demands this kind of praying and this kind of living. As the Colossians, so we, need all of God's almighty power steadily to continue and to persevere despite the suffering, in spite of the opposition and false teaching and despite the disappointments that must at times be our lot. It is only thus (v 12) that we are enabled to joyfully give thanks to the Father in every situation.