Colossians
Wednesday, June 16, 2004
My Prayer Today
Heavenly Father, Thank You for the gift of Your power through the Holy Spirit! I pray that You will fill me anew right now with Your Holy Spirit that I may think, say and do the things that will serve to advance Your kingdom. Give me that patience and endurance, which I will need to live boldly and confidently for You when life doesn’t seem to be progressing as quickly as I think it should. Fill me with Your joy and thanksgiving every moment. This I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
God's Word For Me Today
Colossians 1:7-14
7Epaphras, our much loved co-worker, was the one who brought you the Good News. He is Christ’s faithful servant, and he is helping us in your place. 8He is the one who told us about the great love for others that the Holy Spirit has given you.
9So we have continued praying for you ever since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you a complete understanding of what he wants to do in your lives, and we ask him to make you wise with spiritual wisdom. 10Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and you will continually do good, kind things for others. All the while, you will learn to know God better and better.
11We also pray that you will be strengthened with his glorious power so that you will have all the patience and endurance you need. May you be filled with joy, 12always thanking the Father, who has enabled you to share the inheritance that belongs to God’s holy people, who live in the light. 13For he has rescued us from the one who rules in the kingdom of darkness, and he has brought us into the Kingdom of his dear Son. 14God has purchased our freedom with his blood and has forgiven all our sins.
Reflecting on God’s Word
What does it mean to you to “live in the light?”
A Deeper Exploration of God’s Word
What is the source of strength for Christians according to Paul? (1:11)
What characteristics are demonstrated by those who have been strengthened by God’s glorious power? (1:11-12)
What image does Paul use to describe those who are living according to God’s will? (1:12)
Understanding God’s Word
What characteristics of God does Paul describe for us in today’s reading?
What evidence does Paul say will be seen in those who follow Jesus?
Applying God’s Word to Our Lives
What one thing does today’s Scripture call you to do?
Thoughts...Strengthened with His Glorious Power...
Paul makes it clear that if we are to live the kind of lives that God intends for us to live, we must be strengthened by God’s glorious power, that is filled with the Holy Spirit! Once we have received that glorious power all kinds of evidence will manifest itself in us: patience, endurance, joy and thanksgiving. Consider those four traits for a moment: patience, endurance joy and thanksgiving. Most folks probably wouldn’t put them in the same sentence. Do you think of patience and joy in the same breath? What about endurance and thanksgiving? Paul’s point is clear: living the life in Jesus Christ requires patience and endurance—it is a marathon not a sprint, and as we are running the race, God’s glorious strength gives us the ability to live with joy and thanksgiving even for the situations that cause us difficulty as we go through them. Paul reminds us that as God’s children we also receive the inheritance that belongs to His holy people. Once only Israelites were God’s people, but through the sacrifice of Jesus each and everyone of us can become heirs of God’s eternal blessing, and can live in the light!