Continuing in our study of prayer as part of the PPOG for the spiritual life of the believer we are now looking at Paul and Timothy's prayer for the believer's spiritual growth in Col 1:9-12;
In verse 9 we have "Since the day we heard of you, [we] have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you ” may be filled (pleroo) with the knowledge (epignosis) of His will (thelema) and all spiritual wisdom (sophia) and understanding (sunesis).
The purpose for being filled with the knowledge of his will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding is:
Col 1:10; That you might walk "peripateo" (manner of life) worthy of the Lord (on tracks of righteousness), pleasing God in all things, constantly producing (present tense active voice of "karpophoreo" which describes a habit) every good work (divine good" agathos"), constantly receiving spiritual growth [present tense passive voice of, "auxano" for describing another habit) by means of epignosis knowledge (doctrine taught by the Holy Spirit) from the ultimate source of God (revelation from Bible Doctrine);
Paul's prayer for their being filled with the knowledge of his will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding was for them be able to walk and persevere in the Christian way of life in their regenerate identity (the "new" man) as a members of the new spiritual species who are the Royal Family of God members of the church and the body of TLJC.
To "keep on plugging” in their spiritual advance by means of Bible Doctrine and the power of God the Holy Spirit for the purpose of pleasing him in all respects.
For this to occur the believer must be conducting their lives by means of faith (recall of resident Bible Doctrine) Heb 11:6;
The phrase “without faith” is the Greek prepositional phrase "choris pisteos" translated (without faith or doctrine), which is a reference to “not having what is to be believed,” or to be “without doctrine resident in the soul.” “Impossible” is the accusative singular adjective" adunaton", which means impossible, powerless or unable.
Therefore, we could translate Heb 11:6, “And without doctrine resident in the soul, powerless to please Him.”
The phrase “to please Him” is the Greek verb "euarestesai", which means to please or to be approved of by God. This is in the constantive aorist tense, which gathers up into one entirety the action of the verb, indicating that pleasing God takes consistent and persistent positive volition toward the PMA of Bible Doctrine.
This simply means taking advantage of every possible decision to take in doctrine, regardless of whatever distractions or difficulties occur in life.
Believers, who desire to please God, must use their volition to make daily decisions to receive doctrine.
We see in our passage, that the deliberate objective of the believer's life as a member of the Royal Family of God should be to please Him, Col 1:9-10, “For this reason also, since the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with metabolized doctrine [epignosis] of His will by means of all wisdom and spiritual understanding, in order that you might walk worthy of the Lord, pleasing God in all things, bearing fruit in every good work, constantly growing by means of metabolized [epignosis] doctrine from the source of God.”
Since every believer is a priest, every believer is responsible for their own life before God, and therefore believers have a direct responsibility and personal accountability to God. Rom 14:10-13;
Because of this, a question that should be asked is: “Who are we trying to please in this life?” If we lie to ourselves, regarding our answer there’s no way we will ever realize what is important in life.
Are we trying to please ourselves and other people, or are we trying to please God? Gal 1:10; Col 3:22,; 1Thes 2:4;
Pleasing God requires consistent positive volition toward the reception of Bible Doctrine and then the recall and application of that doctrine in the various challenges of life. Heb 10:38;
Pleasing God includes believers assembling together and their recognition of the authority of the pastor-teacher that they have been assigned to. 1Pet 5:1-3; The word translated "allotted to" is the Greek word "kleros” means having been assigned or given responsibility for. The purpose for the assignment is found in John 21:15-17; KJV
The words in this passage that are variously translated "feed” or "tend" or "shepherd" are the Greek words "bosko and "poimaino" both of which refer to caring for and providing nourishment for, referring to spiritual nourishment or Bible Doctrine which is to be learned and believed which is described as "the faith"
No believer can please God without "the faith" (doctrine in their soul), and no believers have ever received doctrine in the soul without submitting in some way to the academic discipline of listening to the teaching of their pastor teacher.
Heb 11:6 continues, “And without doctrine resident in the soul impossible to
please Him, for he who is occupied with the God must believe…”
The word translated “for” is the explanatory use of the Greek particle "gar", which indicates why there is only one way to please God in this life. “He who comes” is the translation of the Greek noun "proserchomenon", which means to approach to be face to face with or to be occupied with or focused on.
Many believers get distracted for one reason or another, but the key to pleasing God is consistency. No matter where the believer goes in life, they will face the issue of authority and discipline, therefore, this is a verb of responsibility or obligation.
We must be careful with the responsibilities and obligations that we take on.
We must refuse to be obligated to people if it takes us away from God as Abram who became Abraham and is described as "the father of the faithful" did in refusing to keep the goods he had recovered from Chedorlaomer that had belonged to the King of Sodom as spoils of war. Gen 14:22-24;
God's response to Abram for not compromising himself is found in Gen 15:2;
And we must recognize that we are responsible to God for what we do with all of the blessings He has provided and continues to provide for us, Deut 6:10-19;
In Psa 116:12-14, David said, “What shall I render to the Lord For all His benefits toward me? I shall lift up the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord. I shall pay my vows to the Lord, oh in the presence of all His people.”