patience123

Paul uses the terms darkness and light to portray his reader's past and future, to be living in darkness is like being blind, light brings freedom. He uses complete contrasts to show what a difference salvation makes to the life of a believer. He reminds them where they came from so that they can fully appreciate what a huge difference there is in a life lived in hope and forgiveness of sins, to that of one lived in spiritual darkness. The inheritance of the Saints in light is the hope that believers share of a future (starting now )filled with the grace of God's forgiveness, his love and one day seeing our Lord face to face, when all the earth will recognise him as King of kings and Lord of lords. The two words used of governing bodies are Dominion and Kingdom. The Dominion of Darkness has power to control is governed by forces of evil and the end result is death. The Kingdom of God is filled with light governed with love forgiveness and holds the gift of life everlasting.

Paul prays that God will fill the Colossian believers with the knowledge of his will so that they can live lives worthy of the Lord, pleasing him in every way. Paul asks that they may be given wisdom, understanding, strength,endurance, patience, joy, a thankful heart,knowing His will. I think the most important of these is --- to know God's will. I couldn't say which of these is the least important, they all seem equally important. If any were to be missing then that would be a great handicap both in the life of the believer and those they seek to minister to.

The words that Paul uses to describe the action of the gospel are : "bearing fruit" and "growing". He reminds them of the world scope of the gospels influence so that they will not lack confidence and falter under the pressure of being a minority group. In our day, when a church or an individual becomes embarrassed or unimpressed with the gospel message---their light grows dim---like a hot coal being taken out of a fire--it loses its heat and goes out--- no one would be attracted to a church like that.

How can God receive more glory in my local church? : By more people taking an active part in the life of the church --- prayer and Bible groups, house groups, coffee mornings, greater outreach etc. I could help this happen by---- a) prayer, b)getting more involved in the various meetings, c) offering to host a study group in my home.

Ephesians 3:20 should energize our prayers by making us realise how enormous and beyond measure is God's power. The very thought of it working within us and around us should give us the confidence to ask for more, see the bigger picture, so that our lives will be enriched and the lives of those we come into contact with. When we limit God by our own inability to comprehend then we are not complete, we can become small minded, over critical of others, not filled with his love and compassion. To get past this failing I'm sure it would help to read these passages from Ephesians more often, to ask and expect to receive more energy from our prayer life and to put that energy to use by our actions of giving and loving. First and foremost we need to make a special time in our day for prayer, not leaving it until last when we are too tired.

No, I have never prayed for a fellow believer to be filled with all the fullness of God. I have often asked that their hearts may be open to his Spirit, but perhaps that is not so bold. "The fullness of God " seems to indicate completeness, wisdom, understanding,glory and is a far grander request than my small mind would ever have conceived. The result would be as stated in Eph 5:27 and Col 1:28 asking that the believers become " so filled as to attain to the full perfection of God." It is too much for my mind to take in. I find I can understand the word "perfect" if I think of "complete", I can see that that would be attainable through Christ, but to become "perfect without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, holy and blameless" is just too wonderful for me and sadly my prayers have never been so bold. This prayer would help the early Christians to grasp the Glory that is God. The overwhelming Shekina, the power to carry them through their many difficulties. Dear Lord help me to grasp that all things are possible with you.

Paul prays for the believers to grasp the fullest extent of Christ's love for them so that they will obtain the greatest benefit thus being able to pass that love on to those they meet. To comprehend this love evento a lesser degree can change someone's outlook on life completely, they feel that special" inner peace", they can be more loving, understanding and patient. It's like...... if you have a loving family life as a child then you can share that love with others. I think that there is no end for Christ's love for a person---but, I believe a person can put an end to that love by closing the door of their heart to Jesus, shutting out his love and all that he has done and would continue to do. We are born with a free will-- as for me-- I choose to follow Jesus, WHAT A SAVIOUR !!!

Paul prays for strengthening of the inner man so that believers can be fully empowered, better able to cope with the trials and temptations that would surely come their way as they did the Lord's work in spreading the Gospel. Today we would ask the Lord for a measure of his strength, and the wisdom to recognise his hand in our lives. Paul needed to pray constantly for Christ to dwell in the Believers' hearts, because he knew how frail the human heart can be. It is all too easy to ignore the "inner voice" when trials beset us. Look at poor Peter when he betrayed Jesus, earlier that very same day he had said that he would die for Jesus and would never betray him! We sadly have the same weakness in our make up.

A revelation of God's incomparably great power for us who believe is essential to a vital faith because we need to be constantly "powered up" by his Spirit. I personally have found that some of the most helpful things in developing this faith are centred around the Church and the Bible;----- Bible reading groups, prayer circle and worship in Church, certain TV programmes and last but not least internet studies with Dr Ralph. I pray that other unbelieving souls will one day have the great blessing given to them,when their hearts will be opened to God's word, particularly those in my own family, please God if it is your will, let it be so.Amen

If believers think that God is poverty stricken-- the result in prayer+faith would be a depressing lack of vision and a falling off of faith. Knowledge of a glorious inheritance gives us a goal, enriches our fellowship on earth,gives us greater patience with others,gladdens the heart. The vision is very powerful, we can pray that others will glimpse this inheritance in the love shown at meetings and in the day to day discourse with those we meet. That their hearts and minds may be fully opened to God's word.

My Christian hope has changed my way of living in that I feel more alive to everything around me, more focused in what the Lord wants from me as his follower, and deep down a real sense of peace that ultimately all will be well. The result of a minute/meagre hope would be that the world's suffering, apathy, wars and disasters would drown that small spark. To pray for hope to be borne in others, I would ask God to help me to be a bright light shining for Him, and pray that Christians everywhere may be given a measure of his strength and filled with His Spirit so that they will not give up.

Paul prays for the Ephesian believers continually and mentions them by name, thanking God for them. We should be more consistant in our prayers for others. If Christians stopped praying for people to receive a revelation from God-- it would show a selfish uncaring spirit and would not be following the teaching of Jesus who said we should Hallow God's name, and pray that His will be done and for His Kingdom to come on Earth. How can that be unless all people come to know God? IF we did not pray about it---I feel sure that God would continue to work his will out to fulfill the promises made to Abraham, that all nations of the earth will be blessed through his descendants ie Jesus. Only God knows who will enter His Kingdom, from a remnant upwards, our hope surely would be---as many as possible.

I feel sure that Jesus did receive special treatment, in that he was about to perform a life changing sacrifice on behalf of people all over the world. Past present and future sins were to be paid for, once , for all. I think that we are all surrounded by angels, seen and unseen. Jesus was so in tune with his father that he would derive maximum benefit from the help that was offered from God's angels. Dear Lord, I thank you that I dont have to stand in Jesus' shoes and face what he was facing, in order to benefit from the presence of angels. Thankyou for your great mercy to me, a sinner.

I think that God must have always been pleased with Jesus in all that he did. He would be pleased that Jesus was willing to "trust and obey ". Just as Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son Isaac--- because he trusted that all would be well according to God's promises-- so Jesus trusted his Father to bring him through victorious over sin and death. If we are passive and dispassionate in our prayers that His will be done---we are not aware enough of what we are surrendering To be authentic in our prayer of submission, we have to seriously contemplate what it is we are going to give up in order to submit our will, or as we progress we will learn the hard way later on, we may even give up and fail because we did not give enough thought to the degree of difficulty involved. We need to stick close to the Father so that we can realise that through him all things are possible, if it is his will.

Jesus prayed that the cup be taken from him because he knew what a dreadful death he was soon to suffer, he also knew that only his Father God could change what was to be. He prayed this prayer 3 times because he needed to be sure of his Father's will and so derive great strength from knowing the joy that would be waiting for him at his ressurection; the joy of being at his Father's side. I don't think Jesus was resisting- so much as hoping that there could be another way-however, he knew by now that he was to be The Lamb of God---- a sacrifice without blemish---- for our sins. Thankyou dear Lord.