Continuing in our study of prayer as part of the PPOG for the spiritual life of the believer we are now looking at Paul and Timothy's prayer for the believer's spiritual growth in Col 1:9-12;

In verse 9 we have "Since the day we heard of you, [we] have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you ” may be filled (pleroo) with the knowledge (epignosis) of His will (thelema) and all spiritual wisdom (sophia) and understanding (sunesis).

Last time we discussed the Greek word "Sunesis" which means a bringing of ideas together for comprehension or understanding and we saw that Paul's prayer was for every believer to be completely filled to their own unique capacity which God has established with this spiritual understanding which comes from Epignosis (knowledge) and Sophia (wisdom).

By God's grace and the grace and generosity of God's Son, TLJC, we’ve been given the capacity to understand and to bring together the related facts that are disclosed by God the Holy Spirit which grant us insight into God, TLJC, and the understanding of our position in union with His Son and the resources available from that position for the execution of the PPOG. 1John 5:20;

The Son of God has come to grant us a capacity to understand and to know the Father and the Son and that we are in union with the Son in the Father and that the Son is the true God and He is our life. Col 3:3-4; Phil 3:20-21;

Just as love is a product of God the Holy Spirit Gal 5:22; Col 1:8; so are wisdom and understanding or insight.

In Colossians, Spiritual wisdom and knowledge are contrasted with the knowledge which is psychic or mystical witch are simply a show of "spirituality” that may look good to the untaught, but, in reality, it is a fraudulent and deceitful lie because it is dissociated from Christ and from the Spirit of truth who has been sent to glorify him John 16:13-14;

All true wisdom and true insight from God comes via the spiritual perception of
Biblical truth under the mentorship of the Spirit of truth. All cognitive assets in the spiritual life whereby believers fulfill the will and Plan of God come by being taught by God the Holy Spirit via the God Given Grace Apparatus for Spiritual Perception. 1Cor 2:9-15;

Spirit taught cognitive assets flank and advance together with Spiritually produced character and empathetic assets. as believers advance in the PPOG and re-present TLJC in this age as they function in the local assembly as components of his corporate body.

Sunesis (understanding) puts all the parts of God's decreed, desired, and directive will together so the believer can understand the PPOG and Sophia (wisdom) executes the PPOG with accurate and timely application of epignosis doctrine.

Col 1:9b; that you 'd he filled to the maximum of your capacity with the full and accurate knowledge of God's intent with pure spiritual wisdom and insight (understanding)

This understanding or insight is imparted by God the Holy Spirit.

Paul instructs Timothy in 2Tim 2:7; Put your mind on what I'm saying and the Lord will give you complete understanding.. by bringing these concepts together in your mind in order to give you a complete and coherent comprehension of His will for you.

Timothy, and by extension all believers are instructed to think about what Paul says and The Lord will provide complete understanding because it is God the Holy Spirit who is the believer's teacher.

The word Paul uses in instructing Timothy regarding understanding in this passage is the Greek word "sunesin" which is the same as the word in our Col 1:9; passage where it is "sunesei pnuematike" or understanding that is imparted spiritually from the Holy Spirit breathing to the Human Spirit in the regenerate believer.

1Cor 2:11; Tells us that the spirit of the believer is the divinely imparted faculty for grasping and holding the things taught by God, otherwise known as the eyes of the heart (volitional consciousness) of the believer whose spiritual eyes perceive the things presented to them by the Spirit. In this way all believers are able to "get the picture" that the Spirit is painting.

Under the endument of the Spirit, David received understanding from God. At the end of his life, David wrote, **The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me and His doctrine was upon my tongue." 2Sam 23:1-2;

David wrote, regarding the insight he had received in the preamble to Psalms 32; LXX

"David, a "coming together" or "understanding"..."

In this passage in the LXX, the word translated understanding is "sunesis", the same Greek word that is in our passage Col 1:9; for understanding imparted by the Spirit 2Sam. 23:2- the Spirit, Breath (Holy Spirit) to breath (human spirit).

He goes on to describe that God given understanding that he received.

Psa 32:1-2; How very privileged is the person whose lawless deeds have been forgiven and whose sinfulness has been covered concealed or veiled to God's "eyes" forever.

Oh how happy is the man in whose breath there is no deceit or no allegation that he has sinfulness for whom the Lord does not devise punishment or to whom the Lord does not account sinfulness.

In this passage we have the same concept that is presented in the New Testament scripture: "there is no "condemnation" or "punishment devised by God" for those who are in Christ Jesus. Rom 8:1;John 5:24; And "you died and your life is hidden in Christ who is in God." Col 3:3; who, is said to "reside in a thick cloud," in 2Chron 6:1;

David goes on in Psalm 32:3; During the time that I kept silent [refusing to acknowledge my sinfulness my bones became old and I cried out all day long this corresponds to Paul's writing in Rom 7:24; "Who will deliver me from this body of death.

He reflects that all of the striving to do the good that God requires Micah 6:8; in the energy of the OSN (or his '"flesh") results in a growing despair that accrues to all of those who strive to do the good while unaware of God's provision for them and ignorant of the divine solution for their desperate inadequacy.

David's despair ended, as does ours, when he recognized God's provision for his impossible situation and because of his understanding of God's provision for it, in the Person and work of the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world, and as a result he simply acknowledged his known sin which would ulltimately be judged and punished in the Lamb of God.

He recognized that his sinfulness was such that it made him completely unable to fulfill the good that God required, and that even though he wanted to do the good he could not.

Paul expressed this same understanding in Rom 7:14-24;