• Colossians 1:9b … do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 

 
The prayer of the apostle Paul for the “the saints and faithful brethren in Christ” who were in the city of Colosse is perfect for all of us who love God. Christians who are filled with the knowledge of God’s will no longer have room in their hearts and minds for their own will or the will of someone else. They no longer seek to do what the desires of the flesh dictate, what those around them demand of them, or what the devil likes. It is not just about fully knowing God’s will as an abstract notion, but “in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.” When we know what God wants in everything we think, in every reasoning or decision we make, we can live without regret, remorse, guilt, or condemnation. This is the recipe for victory over temptations and everything that can harm us, as well as for the happiness that comes from living an abundant life. And the next verse shows where this filling with the knowledge of the will of the heavenly Father leads to.

• Colossians 1:10-12 That you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;  strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy;  giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.

 
Only when the way we think is centered on the will of God, is our behavior worthy of the name of children of God and can we be pleasing to the Lord in everything we think, feel, say and do. Such behavior produces the most wonderful fruits, which are all good and help us to know the Lord of our lives more intimately.
 
Getting closer to God transforms us into becoming more like the One we follow. The strength that comes from knowing our Creator and spending time in His presence equips us with patience and in time, even with long-suffering. Our transformation can be so radical that we may even rejoice while waiting for the fulfillment of our requests, because we know the One we trust in and we believe that He will do everything we have asked according to His will. Because we know our heavenly Father, we truly know that He loves us unconditionally, and we are grateful that He has given us the same inheritance that He has given to all His children, as we are sanctified through the sacrifice of Christ Jesus, the Light of the world.

• Colossians 1:13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.

 
Let us not forget that through Jesus Christ we have been freed from the power of sin, because He died for the sins of all mankind once for all, and when we received the new birth, through faith in Jesus we also died to sin that we might live for righteousness (Romans 6:5-10,18). We no longer belong to the kingdom of darkness, sin no longer reigns over us, therefore we can choose not to sin. God has brought us into the Kingdom of His beloved Son. This perfect love that the Lord has for us is not based on our performances but on the eternal truth that God is love. Precisely because He has such a great love for people, Jesus paid the price for our sins. He redeemed us, so that we can be the children of God and sin no longer be a wall of separation between us and Him. The blood shed by Jesus on the cross forgave our sins and reconciled us with God, because He was the perfect sacrificial lamb for all the sins of mankind.
 
Let us never forget how great God’s love is and how much sin cost Him. The Lord has prepared everything we need so that we can overcome the evil of this world and rejoice that we are His. It is up to us to know and believe what belongs to us through Jesus so that we can benefit from the blessings of the Lord’s promises. Let us focus our attention on the truth of Scripture, on what pleases the heavenly Father, and as we know the truth, we become truly free. Christians who are free from the fears, condemnations, and lies that come from the evil one are strong in faith and the more they do the will of the heavenly Father, the happier they are.
 
The most common causes of sadness and anger are caused by what we think, feel, or say contrary to Biblical truth, by the lack of confidence that God loves us no matter what we go through, and by false feelings of guilt. Sometimes we suffer because of the decisions, words, or actions of those around us, and since we cannot change these situations, we must learn to change the way we relate to them. If we learn to take every thought a slave into obedience to Christ, we can more easily overcome the consequences of the wrong actions of others. When we think only about the negative aspects of the situation we are going through and especially how we think it affects our loved ones, we cannot have the firm faith that the Lord is working for us and will use all things together for our good. No matter what we are going through, in the Word of God we find the perfect guidance to know how to react to overcome evil with good, to find peace and balance in faith in our Lord and not give in to the pressures of the evil one. The Word of God has the power to calm our minds, take away our pain, and restore our peace. When we come before the Lord in prayer and honestly acknowledge before Him how we feel, what we struggle with and need, the Holy Spirit enlightens us and reminds us of the verses that give us the solution or puts in our mind what we have to do. By knowing the Word of God, which shows us what His will is, we can live to please our heavenly Father, doing deeds that make us worthy of the name of children of God. And this is the path to victory and true happiness!

• Romans 6:4-7,18 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. […] And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 
  

Carmen Pușcaș

Have you ever wondered how King Solomon could be such a wise man and yet finish so poorly? Most of us know the story. David passed the throne to his son through Bathsheba named Solomon. He really was not very old when he began his reign. And as most of us know, the Lord gave Solomon the gift of wisdom and knowledge. And further blessed him with riches, wealth and honor because of his humble request.

• 2 Chronicles 1:11-12  And God said to Solomon: "Because this was in your heart, and you have not asked riches or wealth or honor or the life of your enemies, nor have you asked long life--but have asked wisdom and knowledge for yourself, that you may judge My people over whom I have made you king-- wisdom and knowledge are granted to you; and I will give you riches and wealth and honor, such as none of the kings have had who were before you, nor shall any after you have the like."

• 1 Kings 4:29-34 And God gave Solomon wisdom and exceedingly great understanding, and largeness of heart like the sand on the seashore. Thus Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the men of the East and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men--than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol; and his fame was in all the surrounding nations. He spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were one thousand and five. Also he spoke of trees, from the cedar tree of Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall; he spoke also of animals, of birds, of creeping things, and of fish. And men of all nations, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom, came to hear the wisdom of Solomon.

 
Solomon was renowned in his lifetime for his great wisdom and is still highly regarded as such to this day. But Solomon's disobedience in regard to marrying wrong and choosing their gods, hence forsaking the Lord, has also been recorded on the pages of history.

• 1 Kings 11:1-2 But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites-- from the nations of whom the LORD had said to the children of Israel, "You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods." Solomon clung to these in love.

• 1 Kings 11:3-4 And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his father David. 

• 1 Kings 11:5-8 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.  Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and did not fully follow the LORD, as did his father David. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the hill that is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the people of Ammon. And he did likewise for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

 
King Solomon had such great wisdom and yet had at least 700 forbidden marriages with daughters of foreign kings and numerous illicit concubines. One might say, well that is how it was back then. But God expressly forbid such marriages and relationships.
 
How could someone be the wisest man in the whole world, and forsake God in such a way? It is written in verse 4, “his heart was not loyal to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his father David.” In Ecclesiastes chapter 2, Solomon wrote of what his heart went after.

• Ecclesiastes 2:4-9 I made my works great, I built myself houses, and planted myself vineyards. I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made myself water pools from which to water the growing trees of the grove. I acquired male and female servants, and had servants born in my house. Yes, I had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all who were in Jerusalem before me. I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the special treasures of kings and of the provinces. I acquired male and female singers, the delights of the sons of men, and musical instruments of all kinds. So I became great and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me.

• Ecclesiastes 2:11a Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on the labor in which I had toiled; and indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind.

 
Even with all of Solomon’s wisdom, wealth and achievements, it happened just as the Lord said in 1Kings 11:2, if you intermarry with them, surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods.

• 1 Kings 11:9-10 So the LORD became angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned from the LORD God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not keep what the LORD had commanded.

 
Solomon forsook the Lord to serve his fleshly nature and the gods of his wives. And toward the end, he said it was all vanity (Ecclesiastes 2:11). He could have led his people to serve God with a reverent fear of the Lord. Instead, even with all his wisdom, he led the people in evil ways.
 
And sin is expensive.

• 1 Kings 11:11-13 Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, "Because you have done this, and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant. Nevertheless I will not do it in your days, for the sake of your father David; I will tear it out of the hand of your son. However I will not tear away the whole kingdom; I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of my servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen."

 
In 1 Kings 11:7, it says that, “he built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab on the hill that is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the people of Ammon.” The worshipers of Molech would sacrifice their babies by burning them alive. We are to serve one God and one God alone. It is a dangerous thing to keep people in our inner circle who do not fear the Lord or worship other gods, for in time we may become like them.
 
Fame, international recognition, power, wealth and great possessions, professional success and the greatest wisdom and knowledge have no real value if the one who possesses them does not have a heart totally surrendered to the Lord. In chapter 2 of Ecclesiastes, Solomon confessed his discouragement after realizing he had had everything. There was nothing left for him to desire, because he had focused only on himself, everything was for him, and he was even bothered by the thought that his descendants would inherit the fruit of his efforts.
 
Jesus was the perfect model of selflessness, and lived a life in total obedience and love for the Father and for people. Jesus' life is the greatest example of success, because He fulfilled the Father’s plan for Him. And Solomon, even though he had great achievements, confirmed in his writings that everything a person does for selfish reasons does not bring lasting joy or real satisfaction. In Matthew 6 it says that if we seek the kingdom of God first and His righteousness, that all our needs will be taken care of. We must choose the Lord and remain in Him. Only then do we have true life now and a secure eternity with the Lord. There is nothing in this world worth forsaking the Lord for.