7. You learned it from Epaphras—our dearly loved fellow slave, who is a faithful servant of Messiah on our behalf.
8. He also made clear to us your love in the Ruach.
9. For this reason also, ever since we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We keep asking God that you might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding—
10. to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God.
11. We pray that you may be strengthened with all the power that comes from His glorious might, for you to have all kinds of patience and steadfastness. With joy
12. we give thanks to the Father, who qualified you to share in the inheritance of the kedoshim in the light.
13. He rescued us from the domain of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son whom He loves.
14. In Him we have redemption—the release of sins.
15. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
16. For by Him all things were created— in heaven and on earth, the seen and the unseen, whether thrones or angelic powers or rulers or authorities. All was created through Him and for Him.
17. He exists before everything, and in Him all holds together.