Colossians 1:10-12

¹⁰And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, ¹¹being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully ¹²giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.

This four-step process, stemming from God’s work of filling us “with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding,” is how we can live a life worthy of the Lord and how we may please God in every way. As we look closer at these four steps that Paul provides, let’s consider that we simply don’t pray like this for the brethren:

1. Bearing fruit in every good work (John 3:21; Ephesians 2:10; Philippians 1:9-11, 2:12-13) is accomplished as a result of obedience to God’s word and constantly putting to death all that is carnal, or fleshy, within you. Galatians 5:16 says, “Live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” This daunting task is only possible – and certain to occur – as God works in us to accomplish it.
2. Growing in the knowledge of God (2 Peter 3:18) is mentioned again. Paul has prayed that his audience would be filled with all knowledge, and a fruit of that is growing in knowledge. It sounds strange, but the point is simple. We will not reach the fullness of knowledge in this life, and so it’s a prayerful pursuit that is indeed, as I’ve titled my Bible Commentary, A Work In Progress.
3. Being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might – Courage and consistency is Paul’s desire for the Colossians, and he knows that it comes from God. We can’t have it without God’s blessing. And Paul adds an effect of it. Why do we need this strengthening? It is so that we may have great endurance and patience (and joy). Calvin comments, “For they are constantly, while in this world, exercised with the cross, and a thousand temptations daily present themselves, so as to weigh them down, and they see nothing of what God has promised. They must, therefore, arm themselves with an admirable patience.” Calvin also points out that we ought to attach the joyfulness mentioned at the end of v11 with this step. So we might read it, “Joyfully endure with patience whatever comes your way through the strength of God’s infinite power.” Finally here, the world, both in our time and in Paul’s day, teaches that we have the power within ourselves (or from mystically worshipping angels in the Colossians case) to overcome and rise above our troubles; but Paul teaches the opposite. We have no power within ourselves. The power to endure hardship and bear with patience the troubles of this life and the power to do that with joy comes only from God. And it’s part of Paul’s prayer for the Colossians.
4. Joyfully giving thanks to God the Father (1 Thessalonians 5:16-24) – Whether we attach joy here or to the previous step, the lesson is the same. Thanksgiving is an essential characteristic of the Christian. Paul uses both God and the Father here to note first His majesty and second His benevolent disposition to those on whom His favor (grace) rests. Calvin says that it is good for “us to contemplate both as existing in God, that His majesty may inspire us with fear and reverence, and that His fatherly love may secure our full confidence.” And here we are told why we should give thanks to God the Father; it is because He has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. We thank God, because He has moved us from death to life. Calvin adds, “But for what kindness does he give thanks to God? For His having made him, and others, meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints. For we are born children of wrath, exiles from God’s kingdom. It is God’s adoption that alone makes us meet. Now, adoption depends on an unmerited election. The Spirit of regeneration is the seal of adoption. He adds, in light, that there might be a contrast – as opposed to the darkness of Satan’s kingdom.”