I CALLED IT PRAYER

"Since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way." Col. 1:9-10

Do you ever look at the Apostle Paul's prayers and think, "This guy is praying on a whole different level than I am"?

Can you imagine being in a prayer meeting with this guy?

Me, bowing my head: "Lord, please help me get the raise I am going to ask for." 

Paul: "Lord, enlighten the eyes of my co-workers in order that they may know the hope to which You have called them, the riches of Your glorious inheritance in the saints, and Your incomparably great power for us who believe."

Me, again: "That too, Lord."

In the Colossians passage above, Paul asks that God would fill the believers with knowledge of His will. And he says this will come only "through all spiritual wisdom and understanding". 

Seems like Paul is thinking it takes supernatural intervention for us to understand God's will!

See Romans 8:26-27, too - "We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will."

We don't know what to pray for? 

What if Paul is right?

I feel like I have spent most of my adult Christian life:

1) Assuming I know what God's will is (whatever makes life easier for me, usually!) 

and 

2) Suggesting to Him what He needs to do to make it happen. 

And I have called it "prayer".