Colossians 1:9

Colossians 1:7 & 8
"You learned it from Epaphras..." "It" in this context refers to the gospel. These two verses speak about Epaphras, who is considered at length at this website: http://thebible.net/modules.php?name=Read&itemid=8&cat=5
I won't go any more into these verses since this covers it pretty well.

Colossians 1:9
"For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding."

This verse sheds a little more light onto what we saw in verse 3. Verse 3 showed us that Paul prayed for the Church. Verse 9 goes into more detail about how he prays:
- "Since the day we heard about you..." This implies an immediacy to Paul's prayers for the Colossian church. He didn't make a note of them on his prayer list and prayed for them when he got around to it. His prayers were immediate.
- "...we have not stopped praying for you..." Paul's prayers were persistent. Just as Paul said in I Thessalonians 5:17, "pray without ceasing", here we see evidence of that. Praying without ceasing is not simple repetition (Matthew 6:7); rather it is an open stream of communication between yourself and God. You bring EVERYTHING to Him, and He speaks back to you. Prayer is not just us talking TO God, it's talking WITH God. It is enormously difficult to constantly maintain a state of prayer where we can really stay in tune with God when we're at work, at home, running errands, etc. Paul would not ask us to do this if it were not possible. I think one of the keys is simply to draw near to Him.
- "...asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will..." Paul's prayers were specific; they spoke to a need. He knew what the Colossians would need to continue to grow. When we come to God with a request for a person or a situation, we must be able to speak to the specific need that we see. As we draw closer to Him and acquire His insight, we will be more able to speak directly to those needs.

"...to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding."
To know God's will we have to be actively participating with Him, drawing nearer to Him, to really understand what He has planned for us. I believe some people will live life as they want, not in submission or obedience, with the thought that "as soon as God tells me what to do, I'll go for Him." If we're not staying in tune with Him, we are going to mis out on what He has called us to. We have to be listening intently to hear.

I'm tired. Bed time.