Being Strengthened

Paul writes these words from prison. He knows firsthand what it means to endure unwanted, difficult, and painful circumstances. He also understands the need for patience with difficult people who have wrongly accused him. So, when he prays for the believers in Colossae to be strengthened with all power, he’s not offering empty encouragement. He is praying from experience of having received the strength to endure and exercise patience. He prays for God-sized strength—power according to his glorious might. The kind of power that created the universe and raised Jesus from the dead. Paul knows the Colossians cannot manufacture it from within themselves. Living a worthy life includes being strengthened with power from God himself.