Why pray for God’s wisdom?
Prayer for Spiritual Growth (Part 2)
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For this reason we also, from the day we heard about you, have not ceased praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may live worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects—bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God,
Colossians 1:9-10 (NET)
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Why pray for God’s wisdom?
1. Live worthily of the Lord
I said yesterday that our actions follow from our thoughts. If we’re thinking about the things of God then we have a better chance of actually doing things that honor God.
I want to be clear here:
This isn’t about earning our salvation. This is an overflow of our love for the Father.
If we love someone, then we want to please them.
Living in a way that is worthy of God is a way to please Him.
2. Bearing fruit in every good deed
No surprise that the man who wrote a letter to the church talking about the fruit of the Spirit would mention bearing fruit in a different letter to a different church.
As we mature in our relationship with God, we’ll do more than just good deeds.
We’ll want to bear fruit throughout those good deeds. Because we won’t see it as enough just to obey, we want to enthusiastically obey out of an overflow of a loving heart.
I’ll admit, there are many days when all I can muster is mere obedience … I’m a work in progress.
But part of God’s ongoing work — in me and in you — is growing in knowledge of Him.
Thankfully, this is also a work that the Holy Spirit does with us.
In fact, He does most of the work.
And yet He loves when we pitch in to the best of our abilities.
And all of this begins with prayer.
— Ricky Ketchum
Copyright © 2026 by Ricky Ketchum. All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication prohibited.
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