Read the Bible

Therefore we also, from the day we heard [fn] , have not ceased to pray for you; and to ask that ye may be filled with a knowledge of the good pleasure of God, in all wisdom, and in all spiritual understanding; ¹⁰ that ye may walk as is right, and may please God with all good works, and may yield fruits, and grow in the knowledge of God;¹¹ and may be strengthened with all strength, according to the greatness of his glory, in all patience and long suffering;

¹² and may, with joy, give thanks to God the Father, who hath fitted us for a portion of the inheritance of the saints in light;¹³ and hath rescued us from the dominion of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son;¹⁴ by whom we have redemption and remission of sins:¹⁵ who is the likeness of the invisible God, and the first-born of all creatures:¹⁶ and by him was created every thing that is in heaven and on earth, all that is seen and all that is unseen, whether thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or sovereignties; every thing was through him, and was created by him:¹⁷ and he was prior to all, and by him every thing exists.¹⁸ And he is the head of the body the church; as he is the head and first-born from among the dead, that he might be the first in all things.¹⁹ For it pleased [fn] , that in him all fullness should dwell; ²⁰ and by him, to reconcile all things to himself; and through him, he hath pacified, with the blood of his cross, both [fn] on earth and those in heaven. ²¹ And also to you, who were before alienated and enemies in your minds, because of your evil deeds,²² to you, he hath now given peace, by the body of his flesh, and by his death; that he might establish you in his presence, holy, without blemish, and without offence;²³ provided ye continue in your faith, your foundation being firm, and ye be not removed from the hope of the gospel; of which ye have heard, that it is proclaimed in all the creation beneath heaven; of which [fn] I Paul am a minister. ²⁴ And I rejoice in the sufferings which are for your sakes; and, in my flesh, I fill up the deficiency in the afflictions of the Messiah, in behalf of his body, which is the church;²⁵ of which I am a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me among you, that I should fulfill the word of God,²⁶ [namely,] that mystery, which was hidden for ages and generations, but is now revealed to his saints [fn] {namely,} ²⁷ to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which [fn] is the Messiah; who in you is the hope of our glory; ²⁸ whom we proclaim, and teach and make known to every man, in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Jesus the Messiah.²⁹ And for this also, I toil and strive, with the aid of the strength that is imparted to me.