Col 1:9-14  For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 
	Today we begin our consideration of the Apostle Paul’s letter to the church at Colosse. As we have been looking that these epistles, it has been with the view toward what God has and is accomplishing by His grace. That grace has its fulfillment, its object of delight, its essence of pure love set in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is in Christ that we are now made to be His church, His eternal bride. This is all by the will of God. As we read in this first chapter, there is so very much that is packed into these 29 verses. Just like Ephesians and Philippians, we could spend the rest of our lives in these passages, and in actuality, we are doing exactly that as we live in Christ, in line with His Word, and in direct obedience to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
	As there is so much in these passages, I would like to spend this week and next in this first chapter. Today, let us consider the divine will of God as manifested by His Grace that is infused throughout these letters. Next week, Lord willing, we will, in thankfulness, begin a short study of the mystery of Christ as He indwells us, His church.
	Initially, as we look at the prayer of the Apostle Paul for the church in verses 9+10, let us do so with hearts that seek to be enlightened as to what the Apostle Paul has seen in line with God’s will for the church, all the members of the church. For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. These days, there are so many influences in place within our society to bring forth the lie of the will of man. It is something that is honored and reverenced as a pinnacle of human life, and yet it is nothing in terms of the eternal plan and purpose of God. 
	As I recently met with someone, we were discussing the fact that we are born with a corrupt sense of the purpose of our will. Consider the fact that it doesn’t take a young child very long to learn that, with some little tricks, he can be very persuasive to get his own way and to express his will over others. We have a deep, inward, corrupt, and manipulative desire to get that which we will have. Self is promoted into the driving seat of our very source of determination and desire, and takes us on the deceptive road of self-determination and goals of wealth, fame, fortune, recognition, and power. These are the things that our will seeks to gain, no matter what manner it takes to get them.
	Even within the church, this self-determined will is expressed. It is a very sad situation that develops as what we want from this earth is envisioned and justified through the distorted use of the Word of God, or what sounds like the Word of God. Mankind, in his self-will, has twisted and turned the Word of God into unrecognizable statements that are used to placate our very efforts to guard our self-lives from the perfect work of the Holy Spirit. We try to shelter ourselves as the Holy Spirit works to root out all the vestiges of that which is now to be considered dead, our self lives, and to establish what is really truth and life within us, the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
	As examples of those things that I repeatedly hear as twisted justification for seeking after the things of this earth, our self desires, our will, as opposed to the perfect will of God, is the statement: God helps those who help themselves. Because it sounds scriptural, it has been ingrained into the very thought processes of this realm. This is so far from the truth. You will not find this in any book of the Bible. It is an old saying of the ancients that was made famous by Benjamin Franklin. It has no basis in scripture, but is often quoted as scriptural evidence to the deeds that are done to get ahead in this world. 
	Another example that is often used to justify the actions after our own will is from the scriptures: God will give you the desires of your heart. This is from Psalms 37, verse 4. But, as is the case when one tries to twist scripture to make it say what we want, the context and the complete truth is left out. In Ps 37, we must include the whole of verse 4, actually the complete aspects of verses 3-7 Trust in the Lord, and do good; so you will dwell in the land, and enjoy security. Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your vindication as the light, and your right as the noonday. Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over him who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices! In its entirety we see that the desires of our hearts are to be completely focused upon Him. We are to trust Him. We are to wait on Him. We are to delight in Him. We are to be still before Him. This is a call to the will, but it is the will of God that we are taught to desire, not the will of man. His will needs to become our will. 
	As recorded in Dan 4:34+35, Nebuchadnez'zar, the king of Babylon came to realize this truth of the supremacy of God’s will over all, At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnez'zar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives for ever; for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing; and he does according to his will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, "What doest thou?" 
Jesus proclaimed that doing the will of the Father was paramount to life. His will alone is to be the focus and source of our beings. John 7:16+17, So Jesus answered them, "My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me; if any man's will is to do his will, he shall know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. As our lives are hid in Christ, so does the will of God become the substance of our hearts, thoughts, minds, and souls.
Knowing and doing the will of God is absolutely necessary for us to be able to know that God is listening as we call. As we obey His will, we know that He is hearing our prayers and that He is dealing effectively with all that we bring before Him. John 9:31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if any one is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. 
	The will of the Lord is that we learn to know His will as active and powerful in our lives in order that we can be a living witness of Him on this earth. It is His will that Christ Jesus is proclaimed and glorified in the lives that we live. Acts 22:14+15 And he said, 'The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will, to see the Just One and to hear a voice from his mouth; for you will be a witness for him to all men of what you have seen and heard. 
	It is as we learn to live by His will alone that we will come into the deeper knowledge of Him. We will begin to see what God has established in Jesus Christ, including us into His very family. Eph 1:5+6 He destined us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 
	  To know the will of God is to know that Jesus Christ is the Lord over all things. That everything in our lives first comes through Him and must be in complete line with all that He has established in His death and resurrection. Eph 1:9+10 For he has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fulness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 
	One of the great changes that we find, as we seek to do the will of God and not our own, is that we become more and more enabled to live according to His will as we obey Him in our lives. We are equipped with everything necessary to do that which is pleasing to God and that becomes the eternal pleasure of our lives. Heb 13:20+21 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in you that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. So many people think that we must give up pleasure in order to obey God. That is not true. There is no greater pleasure in all of creation than to know that God has all things well in hand and that everything that He does in our lives is done perfectly in His Great Love. What greater pleasure is there to know than that God loves us, and loves us beyond all human comprehension? It is only in Christ, that we can learn that His love has no measure, no containment, and no earthly equivalent.
1 John 5:14+15 And this is the confidence which we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of him. How wonderful it is to know that we can confidently go before the very throne of God and ask anything in accordance with His will and it is done. When His will becomes our very will, we will never find disappointment in Him. We will always have the desire of our heart because we will always have Jesus Christ as Our Lord and Savior. Our lives will be brought into line with all that works to establish that divine presence in our beings. We will have the certain knowledge that we are fully and forever indwelled by the Holy Spirit who gives us the true desire of our new heart, a greater measure of Christ today and always.
	Many Christians seem to frustrate and to find it difficult to answer the question, what is the will of God in my life? It is, in a very blunt and concise answer, living to the glory of God and every aspect of what this entails. It is a life that is so focused on obedience to God, trust in God, and reliance upon God through a living relationship with Jesus Christ, that His glory becomes the natural outcome and expression seen in that life. (Bob and Peggy and hospital and fellowship response) There are several aspects that serve to develop a life that is lived utterly in line with the will of God. They are all a part of being …filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding… 
	A very key aspect is based on a desire after God. It is a desire that should be in evidence as a result of inward law. The Holy Spirit and the Word of God need to become the exceedingly rich source of the heart that we have after God. The reality of Ps 40 verse 8 needs to become the very basis for our desire to know, in fullness, the will of God. I delight to do thy will, O my God; thy law is within my heart." He should be our delight. We should find satisfaction and rest and contentment in Him. He should be our everything, with nothing else regarded as worthy of our time, concern, effort, and desire. Nothing else!
	 In line with this, prayer is an essential element of our coming into the will of God. We can’t possibly know His will if we do not seek after Him to guide and to direct our paths. It is as we pray that He has the opportunity to open His heart unto us and to draw us unto Himself. Prayer is not just mouthing words that we have memorized, or speaking as rote from habit. Prayer is taught to us as we rely on the Holy Spirit to teach us how to pray. As He takes us through the trials and the tribulations, we learn to pray and to pray effectively unto the Lord. Then, as we are brought to the point of seeing that the focus is to be on Him and not on us, we learn to pray for Him to have His way in every area of our lives. We learn what it means to pray as in Ps 143:10, Teach me to do thy will, for thou art my God! Let thy good spirit lead me on a level path! He teaches us effective prayer as He teaches us to rely solely on Him to be our everything. 
As we pray, we begin to yearn more and more for Him to have His way in our lives. We are taught to seek after His will, not only in our lives but in the lives of those whom we love. We soon realize that what we want is being brought into line with what He wants. We see this in Matt 6:9+10, in the Lord’s Prayer, Pray then like this: Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. We soon find that we desire nothing other than His will. Not my way Lord, nothing of me but all of thee. Let your will alone be accomplished in my life and in the lives of those that surround me and that you put upon my heart. It is your will alone that is of concern and of value in my heart. Have your way in my life. Have your way on this earth. Have your way throughout all creation unto your glory alone. That is our heart of prayer in Christ. 
	In that heart after the will of God, we soon find ourselves subjecting our desires unto Him. Our hearts begin to be focused on what God will receive as we live on this earth, not what we can get out of it. So often, we cry and we lament and we frustrate and we get calloused because our earthly wants and desires are not fulfilled, and never will be fulfilled. Slowly, methodically, clearly, and lovingly, we are brought to the heart of Christ Jesus. We are shown that our desires are fully met in Him. He is our perfect example of how the will of man needs to be subjected and brought into line with the will of the Father. Matt 26:39-42 And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt." And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping; and he said to Peter, "So, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, "My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, thy will be done." 
	He knew exactly what the will of the Father was, and He subjected Himself to it with every fiber of His being. Christ taught and lived this as is recorded in John 5:30, "I can do nothing on my own authority; as I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me. So it should be that we can do nothing of our selves. Everything we do in this life must be in line with the will of the Father. Our lives should be lived unto His glory alone and none of our own. 
	This utter obedience establishes the divine relationship that we have in Jesus Christ. As He states in Matt 12:50, For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, and sister, and mother." As children whose love compels them to express their love for the Father, so must our lives be lived in the truth that, in Christ, we are members of the very family of God! Our concerns, our efforts, our desires need to be focused in line with that reality. Who we are on this earth is settled in the relationship that we have with God in Jesus Christ. This isn’t just for our benefit, but for the benefit of the glory of God to be seen in living reality. 
	As God’s will is made to be our will, we will soon find that our spiritual knowledge is broadened. We become more and more aware that the Holy Spirit is revealing God’s heart to us. We are developing a spiritual knowledge that can only be in place as the Word and the Spirit make it life in us. Jesus taught this correlation of learning God’s will, and having the spiritual knowledge to see and to understand the spiritual matters of God. As we have seen in John 7:16-18, So Jesus answered them, "My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me; if any man's will is to do his will, he shall know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. He who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but he who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood. 
	The Apostle Paul puts this spiritual knowledge to very practical application as he writes in Rom 12:2, Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. It is only as we live according to the will of God that we can prove what the perfect will of God is in living our lives completely unto Him. This brings up the next truth. 
	To know the will of God, to live the will of God, to understand the activity of the will of God in action requires our whole-hearted dedication and consecration to God. All that we do, all that we say, all that we think, all that we teach must be done as unto God. There is no other reason for our life than to bring glory to His name Alone. Eph 6:5-7 Slaves, be obedient to those who are your earthly masters, with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart, as to Christ; not in the way of eye-service, as men-pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to men…
	While many may proclaim this as an utterly impossible life, we already know that it is only by obeying God, by cherishing His Word, by living according to the guidance of the Holy Spirit that we can live in the complete and perfect will of God. Again, as we read in Heb 13:20+21, Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in you that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. He will give us everything that is needed to live in accordance with that which will bring forth the glory of God on this earth. He is our life. He is our source of strength. He is our wisdom. He is our endurance no matter what. 
	The last aspect that we will consider briefly this morning is the fact that God’s will is the rule of our everyday life. This is not something that is just reserved for those big decisions as we seek the Lord to help us make up our minds about this or that. His operating will in our life is not just for emergencies. The will of God is the source of all our decisions, of all our plans, of all our hopes and dreams. Everything, everyday, each moment of the day is to be in line with the will of God, meaning that it is unto His glory alone. 
	As we read in James 4:13-15, Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and get gain"; whereas you do not know about tomorrow. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and we shall do this or that."  We tend to make plans, lots of plans. We plan for the future. We plan for retirement. We plan for college. We plan for lunch after church. We plan for meetings at work. We plan how to spend our vacation or our weekends. We plan how to deal with one another. Let us always plan, rather, to seek the Lord’s will for each day. Awake in the morning with the prayer of Thy will be done. Go to sleep with the same prayer covering our night. During the day, let us become conscious that each step we take, we take by the will of God. 
We are here because that pleases the Lord for our lives at this moment. We have come to know the Lord because God chose us to know Him. We will leave this earth when God calls us unto Himself. Our plans mean nothing. We need to learn that our lives are only by the will of God. 1 John 2:16+17, For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world passes away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides for ever. 
The will of God is all that we can count on in this life that we live. Sure, we need to plan according to His will, but let us never place our trust in the plans and purposes that we have. Our trust must be firmly fixed in the expressed will of God, His glory in our lives, in our thoughts, in our worship and homage, in all of creation. Thy will be done, no matter what Lord, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen
For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. Amen

Today’s benediction is from Col 3:12-17   And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. And beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. Amen