We pray for, “the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;”

"For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;” Colossians 1:9 - 10

The church at Colossi was not without issues, they had to battle a religion called “Gnosticism.” This religion was to them as Arminianism is to the churches of today, belief in error. There are a lot of association’s called churches and called Christian that are not. These people are like the Jews in bible times, Paul wrote, “Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.” Romans 10:1 To be a Christian you must “believe in and on Jesus Christ as your Saviour” all your faith must be in Jesus Christ and none in self. People who believe that Jesus as only a partial Saviour are not “trusting Jesus Christ as their Saviour”, therefore they cannot be true Christians. Christians do not believe in works as part of their salvation. We must understand that “zeal” is like works, neither can save a lost soul. In the New Testament days some people were thought of as “Christian Gnostic’s” however, there were no such thing as Christian Gnosticism, just as today there are no such thing as Arminian Christians. Real Christians are believers in Jesus Christ whom they trust as their Saviour without works of the flesh because Jesus did all the works for us. It can all be confusing, because unless you are a true Christian you cannot understand “Spiritual things”, therefore, you cannot understand the difference. There are a lot of unlearned Christians that do not understand the difference because they fail to “Study to shew thyself approved unto God…”  2 Tim. 2:15 Christians have total dependence on God, God to save them, teach them knowledge in His wisdom therefore giving us “spiritual understanding;”. It is only after a true believer is filled with “the knowledge of his will” That is knowing what God wants us to do to walk in His knowledge, it is called “walking in the light” 1 John 1:7. Paul also writes, “in all wisdom” Wisdom is knowing what to do with the “the knowledge of his will” If you do not have wisdom then the knowledge you have is worthless. Wisdom is knowing how to react or to use the knowledge. God said of wisdom, “To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;” Proverbs 1:2 You only know wisdom when you “perceive the words of understanding;” meaning you are able (to separate mentally, and spiritually) what God is saying and acting on what God is saying. If we can do that, then we can have “spiritual understanding;” that is putting the things of God in a “non-carnal” way of thinking and walking spiritually in life. The battle between Arminianism and Christianity will never end until we are with the Lord. But never think they are the same because there is so much difference between us and them. Arminianism is limited to carnal understanding meaning they are “spiritually discerned”. Meaning they have no knowledge of God’s word, no spiritual wisdom, and certainly no spiritual understanding. The question to true believers is how is your “knowledge of his will” are you learning “in all wisdom” and do you have “spiritual understanding;” and if so, are you truly walking in God’s word?     

The one single message the world must hear.

"Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”John 3:3

When Jesus left His final instructions to the church at Jerusalem He told the leadership, “…Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” Mark 16:15 Therefore, this single encounter with these men shows us the importance of the gospel being preached. Therefore, it must be concluded that of all the countless messages that a minister or Pastor can preach none are more important than the gospel. God said, “…it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” 1 Cor. 1:21b Not that preaching the gospel, or any subject preached from the bible is “foolish” but that the world considers it “foolishness”. God chose to save sinners by the preaching of the gospel, God said “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God…” 1 Cor. 1:21 the world does not know God nor do they believe in God, nor do they believe in Jesus Christ, look at 1Co 1:18a “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness…” That is, to them the crucifixion of Jesus Christ is foolishness along with the death, burial, and resurrection for our salvation is also foolishness to them. The whole gospel message is only a profitable message to them that are saved by it because, “…but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” 1Co 1:18b the reason the gospel message is “powered of God”. To us that are saved it was by the preaching of the gospel, powered by God in our hearts by Holy Spirit. The gospel message alone is totally useless, this is why the world thinks it is foolishness. But when the power of God quickens the lost sinner’s heart and delivers their ability to hear the gospel, then it becomes the single greatest sermon we have ever heard. This is why Paul wrote in Rom. 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” The lost and dying world who are blinded by Satan shames the gospel before the world as non-effective. The “Christian-Religionists” world believes like the Jews, Gnosticism, and others in the bible days that the gospel is powerless and therefore making the preaching of Jesus Christ powerless and worthless. Their thinking is, it is foolish to believe that Jesus Christ can save you because you must have many works. Even though God has profoundly said that works are not part of salvation. Because works makes both grace and the preaching of the cross ineffective. This is why the “Christian-Religionists” world believes that the message of the gospel must be altered, with Jesus Christ and the power of God being removed to make it a human choice because the true power is in people and the true power is on man’s persuasion of the lost. God described these people in Romans 1:25 “Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.” However, to us who still preach the gospel, even though the religious world thinks it is ineffective is the most important message we can preach from the bible. It is by this single message that God’s Holy Spirit will use to save a lost sinner when He is dealing with that sinner. Everything else is just lies of Satan, so beloved do not be fooled, get the gospel out anyway possible and God will use it as He chooses to save His people.   

Understanding God’s Word.

Mark 8:21 “And he said unto them, How is it that ye do not understand?”

Our understanding of God’s word is without question a “revelation” from the Holy Spirit. It is not that some people choose to ignore or are too stupid to understand what you and I might understand. We must understand that God did not give anyone total understanding, and we are not perfect in our understanding of His word. We sometimes look down on people because they do not understand Biblical Truth, therefore, we who do understand need to count our blessings that God has elected to reveal it to us. However, with that being said, there are some Christians elect to ignore the bible, they chose not to believe what God is saying. They use excuses to ignore the truth. We cannot use scripture to battle scripture because that would be using God against God. Therefore, we must change our thinking and accept God’s word for what it says no matter what our opinion is or how it might affect our belief.

Some people take God’s word out-of-context to prove a point that is wrong and at the same time refusing or failing to hear the truth. Christians are bound to the whole bible, not just parts we like or chose what we want it to say. We do not make exceptions for the flesh as to what God is saying. If a person doesn’t understand, it is because God’s Spirit has not revealed it to them, but if we choose to ignore the word because we do not want it to say what we think, that is the worst thing of all. Bible study is about reading, studying, understanding, and ignoring parts is not allowed. There are no exceptions, we must believe what we have been blessed with to understand. Paul wrote in, 1 Corinthians 15:34 “Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.” If we are blessed with the knowledge of God, the knowledge of His word of Truth, it is our shame not to believe that word and follow it. Do I suggest that some Christians know the Truth and elect not to believe or follow God’s Word, absolutely. Paul also wrote in verse 33 “Be not deceived…” because Satan’s challenge is to cause churches of Truth and true believers to ignore or error from the Truth by being deceived. The most important thing a Christians can do is to follow the word of God, as written and not unfollow it by deception. Paul wrote to the church of Rome these words of warning, “And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.” Romans 13:11 Christians do not have time to be deceived, not by Satan, not by friends, not by the world, because our completion of salvation is much closer today than it was yesterday. For us to fail God would be a much greater lose in eternity and a victory on this earth. If there are any believers sleeping on the Lord, it is time to awake, repent, realign, and look for the Lord. I will end with this scripture of reminding us all of God’s warning. “Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.” Proverbs 23:23