«　WEEK 1　DAY 3　»

　　Col. 1:9-10 ...That you may be filled with the full knowledge of His will...to walk worthily of the Lord to please Him in all things, bearing fruit in every good work and growing by the full knowledge of God.

　　Eph. 1:17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him.

　　According to Colossians 1:9-13, first we receive the knowledge of God’s plan and then, based on that knowledge, we “walk worthily of the Lord.” To know is first; to walk is second. Knowing the will of God and the eternal plan of God enable us to walk worthily of the Lord. Our revelation directs our walking. Our walk is under the control of the revelation that we have.

　　We all need to spend time to read the Scriptures, to meditate on the Lord’s Word, and to pray concerning these matters until we are filled with the truth and with the full knowledge of God’s eternal plan. When this happens, we will have wisdom in our spirit and heart and spiritual understanding in our spiritually enlightened and renewed mind. We will have knowledge, not in our natural mind with its natural concepts but in our renewed mind that has been given understanding by the Holy Spirit through our spirit. Then this knowledge, this revelation, will direct and control our daily walk. Thus, first we need to know the will of God—to know that Christ is everything. Then we will walk according to what we know. This walk will be worthy of the Lord. (CWWL, 1961-1962, vol. 4, “The Mystery of God and the Mystery of Christ,” pp. 130-131)

　　To walk worthily of the Lord and grow by the full knowledge of God is to live and walk according to spiritual wisdom and understanding. After we receive the revelation and vision concerning Christ, we have to walk according to it. Then we will walk worthily of the Lord and partake of the Lord more and more. In this way we grow by Christ being increased in us. The way for Christ to increase in us is by our receiving spiritual wisdom, understanding, and revelation concerning Christ and by walking according to the spiritual revelation of Christ that we have received. This is to gain the real, subjective, and experiential knowledge of God, by which we grow with the increase of Christ.

　　We need the inner empowering “according to the might of His glory” (Col. 1:11). This is not only to have revelation in our understanding; it is something more. It is that the Holy Spirit within us strengthens us, energizes us, and imparts the might of God’s glory into us.

　　First, we have revelation and vision in our spiritual understanding. Then, we make the decision to walk according to that vision. Third, we look to the Lord that He may strengthen us with His power. This is the proper way to walk in Christ. (CWWL, 1964, vol. 2, “A General Sketch of the New Testament in the Light of Christ and the Church, Part 2—Romans through Philemon,” p. 341)

　　Walking “worthily of the Lord” (Col. 1:10) results from the full knowledge of God’s will. If we know that God’s will is for us to be saturated with Christ, to take Christ as our life and our person, and to live Christ, spontaneously our walk will be worthy of the Lord. Some think that to walk worthily of the Lord is to be humble, nice, and generous. However, a worthy walk is a walk in which we live Christ. We can be humble, nice, and generous without living by Christ. Only by living out Christ can we walk worthily of the Lord. Christ is the will of God, and He should also be our walk. (Life-study of Colossians, p. 21)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1964, vol. 2, “A General Sketch of the New Testament in the Light of Christ and the Church, Part 2—Romans through Philemon,” ch. 20; Life-study of Colossians, msgs. 36, 42, 51, 53-55