Jesus, I thank you for freedom; freedom from judgment, freedom from lies, freedom from past hurts, freedom from addictions, freedom from a joyless existence. I thank you that everything that you did, you did so that we could experience full and energetic life. I pray that even when we are feeling low, you would remind us of these truths which will give us wings to fly. I pray that as your word washes our minds, we will begin to see the precious fruit of righteousness and your Spirit flowing out of us into the lives of others. I pray that we would be filled with an infectious vigor and zest for life that would get on all of those around us. ~Amen.
3:1-2 "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things."
I love this verse. The reason I love it really stems from the next verse, but I love this one because it lays the foundation for the next one. It is the great benefit of all that has gone before it. SINCE...since we know that Jesus is Lord. Since we know that He died to give us freedom from human traditions. Since we have let go of all the trappings of the world, we need these next verses to fill that void...without Him to fill the void of freedom, we will just be vulnerable to the next wave of enemy fire and find ourselves back in the enemy's camp. But Paul doesn't leave us like that...he tells us what to do instead...what we need to remember and focus on to remain alert.
I have been raised with Christ. The power that raised Him from the dead lives within me. I have full access to that power, and I am alive to God. Being alive to God means really LIVING! I was dead before, and the truth is that wherever I don't believe the truth of what Paul is saying, I am still asleep/dead. Anywhere that strongholds and lies are governing my thinking, I'm still dead. It is my desire (heart) to come fully alive. I want no stone unturned in my heart. I want all the places where the enemy has had a foothold in my life to be fully gone. This transition has been hard for me, but it has been worth every moment of struggle, temptation, temper tantrum (like I had this morning), and beating (not literal, but more like the feeling of learning to ride a bike and falling over and over again). I am so glad that I am more alive now than I have ever been. My mind is quieter than it has ever been, and it will only get better. I had breakthrough on a huge issue tonight, and I can see hope in sight. It is the issue of my weight and body image...God is healing me, and I will stand firm til the end, because my prize is waiting for me! I know that He is going to free me of the accusing voices inside my head, just as he has healed me from the voices of fear. Wahoo!!! I'm going to be free, and I can't wait!
And that is what it means to me to set my heart AND mind on things above. I used to get so distracted by my behavior, by the outward appearances of myself and others. My heart was set on things down here. Now, I know my behavior is just a symptom and that the only One who has the answer for my behavior is Him. So I turn my eyes away from my bad behavior. I don't get sucked so easily into the shame and guilt cycle. I step outside of that and look at Him, naked and unashamed. My bad behavior just hangs out there in the open between us, and I ask Him how He sees it. I'm always amazed at how differently He sees it than I see it when left to my own earthly thinking! And there is my Savior, seated next to my Daddy in heaven...above all the principalities and powers that would take me out. And He says, "You can do it. I believe in You. I paid the price for you because I believe in you. I'll show you how to keep walking."
3:3 "For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God."
I died, but in the verses prior he says I was also raised. And now he says my life is hidden with Christ in God. Where is Christ? In heaven with God (seated next to Him) and in God (Jesus and the Father are one). My life is hidden in Christ. My life is protected, preserved, held in security in heaven with Jesus. Jesus says that He came that we might have life to the full. When? Anytime we're ready to grasp the truth of these words. I am in Christ RIGHT NOW! I am seated in heaven RIGHT NOW! I have access to the full life anytime I'm ready to exchange the empty life I've been living, believing the lies of the enemy, for the real full life He has been holding for me in heaven. Like a safe deposit box. I'm starting to call on Him to help me access that full life, and I'm seeing it come in full force. As I trade in the lies and take on the truth, I'm seeing my life lived to the full each and every day. Today was a hard day until I talked with my friend and realized how many amazing things God showed me all day long. There was no shame and guilt. She washed me clean of that and showed me how well I did today at learning the lessons. Not only that, we had the most amazing, glorious time talking about it all. We laughed so hard, and it was amazing. I confessed my sins, the real reasons behind the bad behaviors and accusing voices in my head today. It was awesome. I called her feeling glum and gloomy, ready to just throw in the towel and go to bed. I hung up and played with my children and now I'm doing this Bible study. I'll be going to bed when I'm done, and I will sleep in peace. I will wake up knowing that tomorrow holds more of the same...revelation, communion, excitement, understanding, wisdom, work, kids, errands, and joy...great and wonderful joy waiting around every corner. Even if it's a struggle to find it, I will find it! And it's all because I'm hidden in Christ.
3:4 "When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory."
I have always read this as a later thing...as in when He returns to the earth. As if He is not here. I have really been seriously talking with Him about the end times and the rapture and all that stuff. I used to be a pre-trib out of sheer fear and terror. Who in their right minds would choose to live through the end times. Now, I'm just not sure. I read this and I think...Christ appears now...He appears when a newborn baby comes out of the womb and takes its first breath. He appears when a man or woman lays their life down in baptism and rises up out of the water a new creation. He appears when I apologize to my son and tell him that I am an imperfect representation of God, and my son hugs me tight and loves on me and lavishes me with deeds of forgiveness and love and affection. Whenever He appears, I am there with Him in His glory.
It's like the people who go on missions and say to the people who support them, "Supporting us is as important as being there with us. You are sharing in the harvest of our work." I know Jesus said He is coming back for His bride, and I know He will come back with us in the clouds. I just don't know about timing and order. I think there is something of a "both" issue that I'm still asking Him to help me understand.
3:5 "Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry."
PUT TO DEATH...This implies a few things to me that I haven't actually been taught from many pulpits.
1. He's talking to believers, which means that the one-time conversion event doesn't take care of the whole struggle.
2. He's telling me to put it to death. I have a part to play in my sanctification. He did the work. He paid the price, but I have to pick up the item. It's like someone saying, I paid for you to go to college. I still have to do the homework and pass the classes and get my diploma and then go and get a job. Jesus did more than pay for college. He's guiding us, counseling us, teaching us, leading us into all truth. But we still have a part to play.
3. My earthly nature and my spiritual nature are at war until I PUT ONE OF THEM TO DEATH. If I feed my earthly nature, I will be killing my spiritual nature. If I feed my spiritual nature, I will be killing my earthly nature. It reminds me of the verse where Jesus says we can't serve two masters.
4. He's telling me that I'm going to see these things at work in my life until I finish the process of sanctification and transformation. I am not transformed by my conversion, I'm just saying yes to Him to begin the process. Yes, He does the work of transformation and sanctification too, but I have to keep saying yes. I can slow the process down or even bring it to a complete halt. I have done that in my life, and He is always patient and waits for me to be ready to begin again.
4. Greed...that one is singled out as idolatry. I was looking it up earlier in different passages, but I still don't have a complete perspective on how greed is idolatry and the others are not.
Greed: The King James says "covetousness."
pleonexia (from pleonektes): avarice, i.e. (by implication) fraudulency, extortion:--covetous (-ness) practices, greediness.
pleonektes (from pleion and echo): holding (desiring) more, i.e. eager for gain (avaricious, hence a defrauder):--covetous
pleion: more in quantity, number, or quality; also (in plural) the major portion:--above, exceed, more excellent, further, (very) great (-er), long (-er), (very) many, greater (more) part, + yet but.
AND
echo: to hold (used in very various applications, literally or figuratively, direct or remote; such as possession, ability, contiguity, relation or condition):--be able, behold, be possessed with, accompany, begin to amend, can, reign, uncircumcised.
I always like to go back as far as I can to the roots with Greek and Hebrew words. It helps add depth and richness to the words for me. In this case, I can see what I was beginning to see when I read all the verses I looked up about greed this morning. To me, it means that I'm trying to one up. That I will do anything to look better than someone else, even lie or cheat or take advantage of them. It is the opposite of God's love...sometimes it can appear that people are acting out of love when they are really acting out of their own gain. I've done this in small ways and in big ways...I will take someone out to coffee or lunch because I want to eat out or have a cup of coffee, and I can justify it better if I am "magnanimously" treating someone else! This is a small example, but not any less or more insidious than other examples of fraudulently following God's commands to love when we're just living for ourselves...living for ourselves is idolatry.
That being said, I still don't allow myself to get caught up in the guilt and shame cycle even when I recognize these. Because I'm beginning to see that guilt and shame only perpetuate that self-focus that my ego likes so much. If I can bypass that cycle and turn my attention to God, I realize that we're all human! We all love humanly. We all struggle against the earthly nature. We are all in the same boat, baling out water until we reach up our chubby baby arms for our Daddy who loves us and will pick us right up and set us on dry ground, on a Rock in fact, and teach us how to walk again! I am so glad we picked this book. Awesome! Awesome! Awesome!
Thank you, Papa. Thank you that you have taken care of it all. Thank you that you redeem even our bad days and our bad moments. Thank you that our misbehavior amounts to nothing more than teachable moments in your book. Thank you that we are your children and you are our abba, our daddy. The One who loves us so perfectly that as we absorb it in and learn from it, we can begin to love just as you love...not for our own gain, not out of greed or selfish ambition, but out of true, unconditional, divine love. It is possible for us to be like you, and I'm so grateful that you're showing me that more and more.
Father, I pray for Ioni and Echo. I ask that you would continue to seal their purity and innocence. I pray that your truth will sink deeply into their hearts, that they will learn to trust you in all Your ways. I pray for Kiah and Ruby, that they will know deep in their hearts that they are loved exactly as they are; that you delight over them with singing and that you cherish each moment you get to spend with them. I pray for Mark, that you would affirm him and confirm him. I thank you that these dark days are not dark to you. I pray that you would reveal to him that he is not any more broken or damaged than the rest of us. I pray that you would surround him with people who love him for who he is and not for what he can or can't do for them. I pray that you would break the lies and bondage of conditional love. I pray that you would unravel and loose him from the chains of judgment and condemnation. I pray that you would loose him into a new level of freedom that he has not even allowed himself to imagine. And I pray for Tina, that you would loose her from the chains of burden and lack and physical restriction. I pray that you would loose her from all the judgments that have weighed on her and weighed her down. I pray that you would release in her supernatural joy and strength, as she marvels at the wonder of the power that lives inside of her; as she marvels at the freedom you bought for her on the cross; as she marvels that the maker of the universe is her husband, friend, lover, and companion. Thank you for all these truths. May they sink deeply into the roots of their souls and begin to oust out the branches that do not bear fruit in keeping with repentance and freedom. ~Amen.
Showing posts with label Colossians. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Colossians. Show all posts
Monday, February 7, 2011
Friday, February 4, 2011
Colossians 2:16-23 Angela
Father God, I am feeling tattered and worn. I want to feel joyful and excited. I am feeling overwhelmed and burdened. I want to feel confident and free. I feel sad and lonely. I want to feel happy and surrounded by your love and the love of those who love me. I feel disconnected today. I want to feel connected. Thank you for Tina's words of encouragement. My heart aches to feel the truth of her words spoken over me. I keep thinking this dark cloud is coming from somewhere outside of myself, but I don't think so anymore. I think this dark cloud is of my own issues. I release all these burdens and fears to you. Thank you that you are bigger than my circumstances, and thank you that somewhere in the depths of my cold and scared heart I know that you are planning something so big and so amazing for my little family. Please, please renew the strength of my song today. ~Amen.
2:16-17 "Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ."
"Don't let anyone judge you." Some of those voices are me letting other people judge me. I was feeling so defensive yesterday. I thought it was because several of my friends are struggling and I was in intercession for them, but now I realize it was mine...I am feeling so uneasy about all these things and so many of the people I talk to have been sowing into that uneasiness. Eric's family is concerned about the low pay we're going to Redding for. Apparently, I'm allowing their concerns to fortify my concerns, rather than leaning on Christ for the reality that He is going before us. We have done our very best to surrender this whole thing to Him at every turn. This is where the rubber meets the road for my faith. I know what I know, but deep inside I still believe He is setting us up to show us where our motives are wrong. All that talk I talk about how good He is, and on some deep level I still don't believe it!!! I am so desperate to feel the healing balm of His love wash all that yuck away, and yet He is asking me to trust, to wait, and to be patient. I cannot speed my healing process. Truly, I really don't want to. I don't want to do anything ahead of him. And here I am, partnering with that enemy voice in my head telling me I'm not as far along as I think I am.
Okay, I guess I'm a mess today. I am so glad we are doing this. I am so glad that this is the time that "we" chose to study this particular book of the Bible. What I like about these verses is that it says that religious rites and festivals are a shadow of the intimacy and celebration we're going to have with Jesus. After over 400 years of silence from God, Jesus comes into the world and brings with Him a revival of the religious festivals. I imagine that many of these festivals were done by rote and without much remembrance of what the point was. The people had given up hope and joy. Even after Jesus came, Paul was speaking to folks who were still under that black cloud of ritualism without life (sounds a little like myself right now). Paul was offering them freedom from that dark cloud of empty religion. He was giving them a taste of the freedom that belonged to them in Christ already!! I want this to become so real to me.
2:18-19 "Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow."
These verses have weight significance to me. I've been one of these people in the last year. I got so distracted by the signs and wonders that I lost focus on the love of God. It is a long story that I don't want to relate here, but I know exactly what Paul is talking about here. I am so grateful that He gently showed me the error of my ways and put me back in line with Him and my husband.
2:20-21 "Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: 'Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"
Again, I think of diets. Probably because this was a verse quoted often in The Weigh Down Workshop, which was my diet of choice for many years. The first thing is that I died to the basic principles of this world! I want to examine that for a minute. I died to the principle that there isn't enough for everyone on this planet. I came alive in Christ to the truth that God rains his goodness on the righteous and the unrighteous. I came alive in Christ to the truth that God owns the cattle on a thousand hills and that he is the most generous beings in the Universe, and He is IN the universe. Yeah! God with us! Immanuel. I died to the principle that God is angry with me, and I came alive in Christ to the truth that He sees me as His dear, sweet, delightful daughter. I died to the principle that the Universe is working against me (curse of Adam), and I came alive in Christ to the truth that there are riches untold and resources always coming my way to encourage me and draw me into the purposes and plans God has for me. I have all that I need to do what He has called me to do.
I know I am still embroiled in this struggle to come out of the darkness of the world's principles into the glorious truth of God's principles. Father, I pray that you help the four of us really get this, really draw your principles deep into our beings so that we can walk out of your principles and no longer fall under the weight of the rules of this world and religion. I pray that as we four begin to really walk upright in your kingdom principles, our children will learn and follow after us. Thank you that we can see your goodness in the land of the living!
2:22-23 "These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence."
Harsh treatment of the body...His Body! The Church! Human commands and teachings. There is so much human wisdom and teaching going on in the church today, and it's killing the church. I know it is fear, and I do not judge harshly. I know God is at work, breathing His fresh life and the truth of freedom into the church. I'm seeing it in many bodies and in some subgroups of bodies around here in the Skagit Valley. When I hear the phrase "harsh treatment of the body," I think of all the people coming into the church and being turned away because they don't "tow the line" of mainstream Christian rules. In some ways, it seems that many of the Christian churches are beginning to look a lot like the Pharisees. And it's NOT working to curb sexual indulgence. Marriages are suffering, pastors are stumbling, and secrets are being kept all in an effort to maintain the false humility. I am so hungry to see things turn around for the church as a whole.
I am so glad that God has shown me how similar we all are in our woundedness and in our struggles against sin and strongholds in our lives. I am so grateful to begin seeing that one person can make a difference if they start walking against the grain with Jesus. And that His freedom is really free...free from the regulations that don't deliver the power and truth of the Spirit of Jesus. Father, I pray that where we are still under these regulations that don't have anything to do with your love and your power, we would begin to see the truth. I pray for a quieting of those rules and regulations floating around in our minds. I pray that you would show us how to walk free of the world's principles with finality. Help us make the full transition to your Kingdom principles. ~Amen.
2:16-17 "Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ."
"Don't let anyone judge you." Some of those voices are me letting other people judge me. I was feeling so defensive yesterday. I thought it was because several of my friends are struggling and I was in intercession for them, but now I realize it was mine...I am feeling so uneasy about all these things and so many of the people I talk to have been sowing into that uneasiness. Eric's family is concerned about the low pay we're going to Redding for. Apparently, I'm allowing their concerns to fortify my concerns, rather than leaning on Christ for the reality that He is going before us. We have done our very best to surrender this whole thing to Him at every turn. This is where the rubber meets the road for my faith. I know what I know, but deep inside I still believe He is setting us up to show us where our motives are wrong. All that talk I talk about how good He is, and on some deep level I still don't believe it!!! I am so desperate to feel the healing balm of His love wash all that yuck away, and yet He is asking me to trust, to wait, and to be patient. I cannot speed my healing process. Truly, I really don't want to. I don't want to do anything ahead of him. And here I am, partnering with that enemy voice in my head telling me I'm not as far along as I think I am.
Okay, I guess I'm a mess today. I am so glad we are doing this. I am so glad that this is the time that "we" chose to study this particular book of the Bible. What I like about these verses is that it says that religious rites and festivals are a shadow of the intimacy and celebration we're going to have with Jesus. After over 400 years of silence from God, Jesus comes into the world and brings with Him a revival of the religious festivals. I imagine that many of these festivals were done by rote and without much remembrance of what the point was. The people had given up hope and joy. Even after Jesus came, Paul was speaking to folks who were still under that black cloud of ritualism without life (sounds a little like myself right now). Paul was offering them freedom from that dark cloud of empty religion. He was giving them a taste of the freedom that belonged to them in Christ already!! I want this to become so real to me.
2:18-19 "Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow."
These verses have weight significance to me. I've been one of these people in the last year. I got so distracted by the signs and wonders that I lost focus on the love of God. It is a long story that I don't want to relate here, but I know exactly what Paul is talking about here. I am so grateful that He gently showed me the error of my ways and put me back in line with Him and my husband.
2:20-21 "Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: 'Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"
Again, I think of diets. Probably because this was a verse quoted often in The Weigh Down Workshop, which was my diet of choice for many years. The first thing is that I died to the basic principles of this world! I want to examine that for a minute. I died to the principle that there isn't enough for everyone on this planet. I came alive in Christ to the truth that God rains his goodness on the righteous and the unrighteous. I came alive in Christ to the truth that God owns the cattle on a thousand hills and that he is the most generous beings in the Universe, and He is IN the universe. Yeah! God with us! Immanuel. I died to the principle that God is angry with me, and I came alive in Christ to the truth that He sees me as His dear, sweet, delightful daughter. I died to the principle that the Universe is working against me (curse of Adam), and I came alive in Christ to the truth that there are riches untold and resources always coming my way to encourage me and draw me into the purposes and plans God has for me. I have all that I need to do what He has called me to do.
I know I am still embroiled in this struggle to come out of the darkness of the world's principles into the glorious truth of God's principles. Father, I pray that you help the four of us really get this, really draw your principles deep into our beings so that we can walk out of your principles and no longer fall under the weight of the rules of this world and religion. I pray that as we four begin to really walk upright in your kingdom principles, our children will learn and follow after us. Thank you that we can see your goodness in the land of the living!
2:22-23 "These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence."
Harsh treatment of the body...His Body! The Church! Human commands and teachings. There is so much human wisdom and teaching going on in the church today, and it's killing the church. I know it is fear, and I do not judge harshly. I know God is at work, breathing His fresh life and the truth of freedom into the church. I'm seeing it in many bodies and in some subgroups of bodies around here in the Skagit Valley. When I hear the phrase "harsh treatment of the body," I think of all the people coming into the church and being turned away because they don't "tow the line" of mainstream Christian rules. In some ways, it seems that many of the Christian churches are beginning to look a lot like the Pharisees. And it's NOT working to curb sexual indulgence. Marriages are suffering, pastors are stumbling, and secrets are being kept all in an effort to maintain the false humility. I am so hungry to see things turn around for the church as a whole.
I am so glad that God has shown me how similar we all are in our woundedness and in our struggles against sin and strongholds in our lives. I am so grateful to begin seeing that one person can make a difference if they start walking against the grain with Jesus. And that His freedom is really free...free from the regulations that don't deliver the power and truth of the Spirit of Jesus. Father, I pray that where we are still under these regulations that don't have anything to do with your love and your power, we would begin to see the truth. I pray for a quieting of those rules and regulations floating around in our minds. I pray that you would show us how to walk free of the world's principles with finality. Help us make the full transition to your Kingdom principles. ~Amen.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Colossians 2:11-15 Angela
aFather God, thank you for your joy and for your perspective and for your help in all things. This week I need help with the packing and finding work. I know you are with me, and I don't have to run in fear or give in to the overwhelming feelings that make me want to run and hide in my bed. Thank you that you are giving me strength for each moment and that I can take one task at a time. Right now, I am spending my time in Your word and in spirit with my dear friend, Tina. I pray that you will fill us both with joy, pressed down and running over. ~Amen.
2:11 "In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ..."
circumcision: peritome (from peritemno): circumcision
peritemno (from peri & the base of tomoteros): to cut around, i.e. to circumcise
peri: around, circuit, excess (beyond), or completeness (through). AND tomoteros: to cut as if by a single stroke; more keen; sharper.
He is saying that our sinful nature was completely cut off in one stroke...Jesus' death on the cross. I have been hearing this more and more over the past year. It is hard to reconcile this with the teaching that I will always sin and never be perfect like Jesus is perfect. I am still wrestling with this concept, asking the Holy Spirit to enlighten me. I am beginning to understand some things about it, but not enough to really write about it.
2:12 "...having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead."
Paul just keeps repeating the gospel over and over again in different ways for different ears. I love this book! I was buried with Christ...dead to my sinful nature, and I have been raised by my faith alone...my belief that Jesus is the Son of God and died for my sins and is now seated at beside Him on the throne interceding on my behalf. And I have been raised in power, God's power. God, who raised Jesus from the dead and seated Him in heavenly places, also raised me from the dead and has seated me with Christ in heavenly places. (Ephesians 1:20 & Ephesians 2:6)
The power of God, which is at work in Paul, is also at work in each of us, wooing us, calling us, cleansing us, healing us, and preparing us for the good works that He has prepared in advance for each of us to do!
2:13-14 "When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross."
While I was dead, God forgave me of all my sins. He did this by canceling the debt I owed to the written code of the Law. It doesn't mean that I won't break the law, but it means that He has canceled the opposition against me. He has taken the foothold away from the accuser. Satan accused Job, and God allowed Satan to take advantage of that situation because Job was still beholden to the law. It is different now. Satan still accuses us. I hear his voice every day in my head accusing me of stuff...bad motives, wicked intentions, bad moods, yelling at my kids. He is constantly telling me I'm a loser. The difference is that he doesn't have anything to stand on. He doesn't have anything to take to God against me anymore. I'm not even sure God entertains him in the courts of heaven any longer. It says he was confined to roam on the earth. He tries to pit us against ourselves and against each other, but he no longer has any basis to stand on to accuse us in heaven!
It says here that the law was opposed to us! NOT GOD!! For so long I believed God was out to punish me, just waiting to let the hammer fall. Makes sense, since that's what I was taught by my parents. Mistakes are intolerable and speaking my mind was punishable by the law in my house! Please Father, help me really get this. Help me really see that you are a loving Father, not waiting to punish us with words, deeds, or withholding of your love for us. You are a Daddy who gets excited when we step out and try new things. You are a Daddy who loves us and wants us to explore this world you created for us without fear. You are a Daddy who looks us in the eye and tells us we are wonderful, special, delightful, talented, and gifted! You are the greatest encourager of all! The Gift of Encouragement comes from you. You are the source of all encouragement. Show us your encouraging nature today!
2:15 "And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross."
This is so amazing! Again, I got ahead of myself in the last paragraph about the last verse. He has defeated every power and authority...it's like the wars where the treaties were signed, but the final battles were still being fought out to seal the deal. Our mission here on earth isn't to defeat Satan; it's to allow God to mop up the messes of the final battles and set us on our feet aright. He wants us fighting in the Promised Land and not in the wilderness. This last year has been the transfer of that for me. What I have realized for my own self is that the fights in the wilderness are fights against myself...my bad behaviors, my negative thinking patterns, the roots of my problems concealed and hidden so that it seems as though I am my enemy. I am beginning to take these words Paul has spoken to heart, thanks to good teaching and some good friends who have learned about authority and the lack of power the enemy has over us. Now, I can see more clearly the generational nature of my "sins." I can see that they are rooted in a faulty foundation of lies and wounds, and I'm beginning to see the lies and wounds unraveling. The enemy is falling quickly, and now I am not fighting myself any longer, but I'm standing against him. It's such an amazing and different feeling not to hate myself anymore.
Father, I thank you that I am beginning to learn to love myself and not feel betrayed by myself all the time. I pray that you would continue to strip away the lies and show me the truth of the victory that I have in You. I pray this for Eric, too. That you would open the eyes of his understanding, that he might see the truth and begin to shout triumphantly for joy. I pray this also for Mark and Tina, as well. I pray for a completion of the mop-up and the beginning of an organized fight against the enemy and his lies! ~Amen.
2:11 "In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ..."
circumcision: peritome (from peritemno): circumcision
peritemno (from peri & the base of tomoteros): to cut around, i.e. to circumcise
peri: around, circuit, excess (beyond), or completeness (through). AND tomoteros: to cut as if by a single stroke; more keen; sharper.
He is saying that our sinful nature was completely cut off in one stroke...Jesus' death on the cross. I have been hearing this more and more over the past year. It is hard to reconcile this with the teaching that I will always sin and never be perfect like Jesus is perfect. I am still wrestling with this concept, asking the Holy Spirit to enlighten me. I am beginning to understand some things about it, but not enough to really write about it.
2:12 "...having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead."
Paul just keeps repeating the gospel over and over again in different ways for different ears. I love this book! I was buried with Christ...dead to my sinful nature, and I have been raised by my faith alone...my belief that Jesus is the Son of God and died for my sins and is now seated at beside Him on the throne interceding on my behalf. And I have been raised in power, God's power. God, who raised Jesus from the dead and seated Him in heavenly places, also raised me from the dead and has seated me with Christ in heavenly places. (Ephesians 1:20 & Ephesians 2:6)
The power of God, which is at work in Paul, is also at work in each of us, wooing us, calling us, cleansing us, healing us, and preparing us for the good works that He has prepared in advance for each of us to do!
2:13-14 "When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross."
While I was dead, God forgave me of all my sins. He did this by canceling the debt I owed to the written code of the Law. It doesn't mean that I won't break the law, but it means that He has canceled the opposition against me. He has taken the foothold away from the accuser. Satan accused Job, and God allowed Satan to take advantage of that situation because Job was still beholden to the law. It is different now. Satan still accuses us. I hear his voice every day in my head accusing me of stuff...bad motives, wicked intentions, bad moods, yelling at my kids. He is constantly telling me I'm a loser. The difference is that he doesn't have anything to stand on. He doesn't have anything to take to God against me anymore. I'm not even sure God entertains him in the courts of heaven any longer. It says he was confined to roam on the earth. He tries to pit us against ourselves and against each other, but he no longer has any basis to stand on to accuse us in heaven!
It says here that the law was opposed to us! NOT GOD!! For so long I believed God was out to punish me, just waiting to let the hammer fall. Makes sense, since that's what I was taught by my parents. Mistakes are intolerable and speaking my mind was punishable by the law in my house! Please Father, help me really get this. Help me really see that you are a loving Father, not waiting to punish us with words, deeds, or withholding of your love for us. You are a Daddy who gets excited when we step out and try new things. You are a Daddy who loves us and wants us to explore this world you created for us without fear. You are a Daddy who looks us in the eye and tells us we are wonderful, special, delightful, talented, and gifted! You are the greatest encourager of all! The Gift of Encouragement comes from you. You are the source of all encouragement. Show us your encouraging nature today!
2:15 "And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross."
This is so amazing! Again, I got ahead of myself in the last paragraph about the last verse. He has defeated every power and authority...it's like the wars where the treaties were signed, but the final battles were still being fought out to seal the deal. Our mission here on earth isn't to defeat Satan; it's to allow God to mop up the messes of the final battles and set us on our feet aright. He wants us fighting in the Promised Land and not in the wilderness. This last year has been the transfer of that for me. What I have realized for my own self is that the fights in the wilderness are fights against myself...my bad behaviors, my negative thinking patterns, the roots of my problems concealed and hidden so that it seems as though I am my enemy. I am beginning to take these words Paul has spoken to heart, thanks to good teaching and some good friends who have learned about authority and the lack of power the enemy has over us. Now, I can see more clearly the generational nature of my "sins." I can see that they are rooted in a faulty foundation of lies and wounds, and I'm beginning to see the lies and wounds unraveling. The enemy is falling quickly, and now I am not fighting myself any longer, but I'm standing against him. It's such an amazing and different feeling not to hate myself anymore.
Father, I thank you that I am beginning to learn to love myself and not feel betrayed by myself all the time. I pray that you would continue to strip away the lies and show me the truth of the victory that I have in You. I pray this for Eric, too. That you would open the eyes of his understanding, that he might see the truth and begin to shout triumphantly for joy. I pray this also for Mark and Tina, as well. I pray for a completion of the mop-up and the beginning of an organized fight against the enemy and his lies! ~Amen.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Colossians 2:6-10 Angela
Father, I ask for your special touch upon our bodies today. I pray for a relaxation within our cells and our muscles. I ask for strength that wells up from within us, strength we didn't know we possessed. I pray for a release of muscle tension, tissue swelling, tension headaches, and pain across the shoulder blades. I ask that you would awaken our minds and hearts to your word throughout the day, examples and signs that show us that you are near to us and confirm to us your word in our hearts. ~Amen
2:6 "So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him."
I can sense the build-up to something profound here. Living in Him. This is something I have been really focusing in on this past week as we struggle and contemplate where we are going to live. Several weeks ago, we opened up our hearts and minds to the possibility of moving somewhere other than Redding. This was very hard for me, since Redding is really the only place I want to go. However, I realized that I needed to be open to what my husband really needs (a positive job experience) and open to what God really wants for us. From this side of things, knowing for sure that Redding is where we're going to go, it is easier for me to talk about the process we've walked through now. We toyed with San Diego, Santa Rosa, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Albuquerque, and even a little bit of discussion about other places in New Mexico and Arizona. Most recently we also talked about just staying in Bellingham. That was the worst for me. I have a vision of something God is trying to do in our lives, and Bellingham just wouldn't work for me. Last Friday I was so distraught because I was convinced that my husband would seriously move to Bellingham just for money and no other reason, which he admitted was the case. I talked with a friend, who said, "You can't always have what you want." Although there is a part of me that believes that, there is also a part of me beginning to believe that this is another one of those false doctrines.
It's not that I believe God is Santa Claus, ready to grant us any wish or fancy that comes along in our minds. I don't believe that for one second. What I do believe is that He is at work, coaxing and gently working within us to bring up the deep layers of our hearts to the surface so we can live out of the dreams that He has planted within us. In fact, I believe that 90% of what we do and think comes from this deep layer. Unfortunately, for many of us our deep layers are filled with the weeds of the enemy's work in our early lives...wounds, experiences that disprove a loving God, anxieties, and fears that prove this world is hostile to us. God has been healing this deeper layer in my life, and I've begun to realize how much of my behavior stems from hidden thoughts and motivations. I have been asking Him to uproot these things and allow only His truth to dwell there, so that the fruit of my conscious life will be in keeping with His word. And what has been true for me throughout this entire process of considering other places is that Redding is the best choice of all of them for me, and I believe for my husband too. But I haven't wanted to manipulate him or circumvent his process, so I have patiently walked through it with him. Considering options, discussing it, being open to God changing my heart as much as I was praying for Him to show Eric what He has been showing me.
This is why what my friend said to me did not bring me peace that day, which is unusual since she almost always brings me peace in our conversations. The peace came when I called a second person for prayer, and he saw that my vision for Redding, my reasons for going, and the call he could feel coming through the phone lines was really from God. He encouraged me to keep telling my husband the truth in respect, honor, and love...to keep speaking to him about destiny, choosing things for reasons other than money, and truly putting faith in God's plan and direction despite what the financial situation looks like from the outside. I did just that, and my husband who was really only slightly leaning toward Bellingham, assured me that night that Bellingham was not a serious consideration. I realize now that what Eric was looking for was a confidence about Redding that he wasn't feeling. But isn't that the way of faith? We sometimes must act on what we know without the feelings. He was looking for what I had. So I am praying for that for him now...full understanding, vision to see what God has shown me about Redding, and trust in the meantime while it is still dark. And Sunday, I talked to him on the phone (since he is at home, and we are at my folks'), and he is now having more confidence.
The funny thing is that it totally reminds me of the three or four months just before our wedding. He had no assurance. He had no faith. He just knew that when he contemplated life without me (which he did for a week), he couldn't imagine it. He didn't have any more assurance after we got married. Our first year of marriage was awful, but we can both see from this vantage point that it was clearly God's plan and destiny. This comparison has helped Eric, too.
With all that being said, when I was in the midst of my turmoil, wondering if God would really show me all that He showed me just so we would have to move to Bellingham for another year to satisfy my husband's curiosity about whether moving for money would actually work for us, God did talk to me about abiding in Him. He told me that my home is in Him and not in a place, not even in Redding. If I'm looking for a home in Redding, I'm not going to find it. If I'm looking for Him in Redding, I am going to find Him. My friend has been right about one thing. She keeps telling me that I must get to the essence of what I'm looking for, because I will not find what I'm looking for if I'm holding too tightly to one way of getting it. I know now that God didn't want us moving to Redding looking for home, but that doesn't mean he doesn't want us moving to Redding! Our Home Is In HIM!!!!
2:7 "...rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness."
I knew it was building to a crescendo in these verses. I already talked about the roots in our subconscious governing our actions. I am seeing this transition in my life, a transferring of kingdoms, so to speak. A few years ago I realized that I was very negative. I always said everything with a smile on my face, and people liked to be with me, but the fruit of my life was pain, negativity, depression, and anger. NOT the fruit of the Spirit. I started crying out to Him, not really having a plan for change...in fact I realized that no amount of changing my behavior was going to change anything. Instead, I just told Him every day, over and over, I'm not exhibiting Your fruit. I'm not exhibiting Your fruit. It seems like it got worse, but really I just came out of my denial. I started seeing my negativity in spades, in the way I talked, in what I talked about, and in how I treated my kids and husband. It has taken nearly three years for me to begin to see different fruit growing out of my life, but it has definitely begun to take over. I can tell that the roots I'm nourishing in my life are rooted in Him. The ones that are not of Him are slowly dying and becoming more obvious. Their fruit is cut off before it has a chance to ripen most of the time. Not all the time, but most of the time. And what flows out of me more and more each day is thankfulness instead of complaining! What flows out of me more and more is joy, instead of sorrow and depression. I am so thankful to you father, that what you have been doing in me you are doing in Tina's life. She will see your goodness in the land of the living. She will experience this transfer of Kingdoms, and I believe it will happen much more swiftly for her than it has for me. Thank you, Jesus.
2:8 "See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ."
Hollow and deceptive philosophy. Hollow, that word brings to mind shallow, empty, vanity. Believing things that don't really make a difference. Being taught to do things that don't result in what is promised. Deceptive means not trustworthy, not delivering what is promised, not leading or steering us in the right direction. The foundation of hollow and deceptive philosophy (way of living) is dependent on human traditions. I am praying that God will give me discernment to know when I am depending on human wisdom and when I am depending on Christ. The first thing that comes to my mind in this area is dieting. Haha! Dieting is a hollow and deceptive philosophy. I've been on countless diets, even Bible-centered diets, but I have never found lasting success in controlling my tendency to binge on food, eat too much sugar, and gain weight. I am now turning this part of my life over to Jesus, asking Him for wisdom and solutions...looking for the roots instead of trying to change my behaviors. In the last several years I have seen success in some areas. I choose better foods. Over the past seven years, I have made subtle and lasting changes, one at a time without real results in the weight department, but I do have a ton more energy and I eat far better. I'm guessing that my inside is in far better shape than my outside at this point, but I still have a ways to go before I'm where I want to be physically. Human tradition works from the outside in, whereas Christ works from the inside out. That's how I would sum up my thoughts about this verse.
2:9-10 "For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority."
It just keeps getting weightier and weightier. This is one of the verses that proves Jesus' deity, but it has often been taught in a way that divides us from Him rather than helps us identify with Him. Even though no one has really come out and said it out loud to me, there is a subtle teaching that I've picked up over the years that has led me to believe that I'm not actually capable of reaching the standard which Jesus set for us. I've believed this for years; that I won't reach my full potential until I die and go to heaven. On one level, I really do believe that is true. But I realize the effect that teaching has had on my life is to make me want to give up on this side of heaven. If I can't attain it, why should I even try. The truth is that this verse is actually telling us that we are full of Deity just like Jesus is. This is the proof that we are capable of all that Jesus did and more on this earth, just like He says. I have been living subpar for so long in my life, settling for the crumbs of a life of service when Jesus has really wanted me to live unafraid of taking the risks required to eat the full banquet of seeing myself healed of pain and my scarred and troubled childhood, seeing myself set free from bondage to addictions, seeing myself free to be all that God has made me to be, exercising my gifts and giving away the very freedom He has given to me so I can see others get free.
We have the fullness of God living within us. He has authority over power and principality. EVERY ONE OF THEM!! And His authority dwells within us, too. We have authority over every principality. I can pray for myself and see myself walk free of the enemy's grasp. I can pray for you and see you walk free from the enemy's plans and schemes against you. You can pray for Mark & I can pray for Eric, and we WILL see the enemy's plans fall to the ground. He will be found out and defeated, and we will see God's purposes begin to grow and flourish in our lives and in the lives of those around us. I am so excited!!
Thank you Jesus that you have given us the authority over this earth that we lost to the enemy. Teach us to walk in our true calling. Show us the plans you have for us and show us how to walk in them. More importantly, teach us your ways. Show us how to fall deeper in love with you. Melt our hearts and help us to do everything with our eyes fixed on you, the lover of our souls, or Abba father, our dearest friend. Thank you that you have chosen to share your master plan with all of us through your servant Paul. Prepare our hearts to receive the instruction that is buried deep within the verses of Colossians. Paul is laying a firm foundation for what he is about to say next, and I want to be ready to receive the call that he is going to issue for us, those who are faithful in love. Make us faithful in love, Jesus. ~Amen
2:6 "So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him."
I can sense the build-up to something profound here. Living in Him. This is something I have been really focusing in on this past week as we struggle and contemplate where we are going to live. Several weeks ago, we opened up our hearts and minds to the possibility of moving somewhere other than Redding. This was very hard for me, since Redding is really the only place I want to go. However, I realized that I needed to be open to what my husband really needs (a positive job experience) and open to what God really wants for us. From this side of things, knowing for sure that Redding is where we're going to go, it is easier for me to talk about the process we've walked through now. We toyed with San Diego, Santa Rosa, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Albuquerque, and even a little bit of discussion about other places in New Mexico and Arizona. Most recently we also talked about just staying in Bellingham. That was the worst for me. I have a vision of something God is trying to do in our lives, and Bellingham just wouldn't work for me. Last Friday I was so distraught because I was convinced that my husband would seriously move to Bellingham just for money and no other reason, which he admitted was the case. I talked with a friend, who said, "You can't always have what you want." Although there is a part of me that believes that, there is also a part of me beginning to believe that this is another one of those false doctrines.
It's not that I believe God is Santa Claus, ready to grant us any wish or fancy that comes along in our minds. I don't believe that for one second. What I do believe is that He is at work, coaxing and gently working within us to bring up the deep layers of our hearts to the surface so we can live out of the dreams that He has planted within us. In fact, I believe that 90% of what we do and think comes from this deep layer. Unfortunately, for many of us our deep layers are filled with the weeds of the enemy's work in our early lives...wounds, experiences that disprove a loving God, anxieties, and fears that prove this world is hostile to us. God has been healing this deeper layer in my life, and I've begun to realize how much of my behavior stems from hidden thoughts and motivations. I have been asking Him to uproot these things and allow only His truth to dwell there, so that the fruit of my conscious life will be in keeping with His word. And what has been true for me throughout this entire process of considering other places is that Redding is the best choice of all of them for me, and I believe for my husband too. But I haven't wanted to manipulate him or circumvent his process, so I have patiently walked through it with him. Considering options, discussing it, being open to God changing my heart as much as I was praying for Him to show Eric what He has been showing me.
This is why what my friend said to me did not bring me peace that day, which is unusual since she almost always brings me peace in our conversations. The peace came when I called a second person for prayer, and he saw that my vision for Redding, my reasons for going, and the call he could feel coming through the phone lines was really from God. He encouraged me to keep telling my husband the truth in respect, honor, and love...to keep speaking to him about destiny, choosing things for reasons other than money, and truly putting faith in God's plan and direction despite what the financial situation looks like from the outside. I did just that, and my husband who was really only slightly leaning toward Bellingham, assured me that night that Bellingham was not a serious consideration. I realize now that what Eric was looking for was a confidence about Redding that he wasn't feeling. But isn't that the way of faith? We sometimes must act on what we know without the feelings. He was looking for what I had. So I am praying for that for him now...full understanding, vision to see what God has shown me about Redding, and trust in the meantime while it is still dark. And Sunday, I talked to him on the phone (since he is at home, and we are at my folks'), and he is now having more confidence.
The funny thing is that it totally reminds me of the three or four months just before our wedding. He had no assurance. He had no faith. He just knew that when he contemplated life without me (which he did for a week), he couldn't imagine it. He didn't have any more assurance after we got married. Our first year of marriage was awful, but we can both see from this vantage point that it was clearly God's plan and destiny. This comparison has helped Eric, too.
With all that being said, when I was in the midst of my turmoil, wondering if God would really show me all that He showed me just so we would have to move to Bellingham for another year to satisfy my husband's curiosity about whether moving for money would actually work for us, God did talk to me about abiding in Him. He told me that my home is in Him and not in a place, not even in Redding. If I'm looking for a home in Redding, I'm not going to find it. If I'm looking for Him in Redding, I am going to find Him. My friend has been right about one thing. She keeps telling me that I must get to the essence of what I'm looking for, because I will not find what I'm looking for if I'm holding too tightly to one way of getting it. I know now that God didn't want us moving to Redding looking for home, but that doesn't mean he doesn't want us moving to Redding! Our Home Is In HIM!!!!
2:7 "...rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness."
I knew it was building to a crescendo in these verses. I already talked about the roots in our subconscious governing our actions. I am seeing this transition in my life, a transferring of kingdoms, so to speak. A few years ago I realized that I was very negative. I always said everything with a smile on my face, and people liked to be with me, but the fruit of my life was pain, negativity, depression, and anger. NOT the fruit of the Spirit. I started crying out to Him, not really having a plan for change...in fact I realized that no amount of changing my behavior was going to change anything. Instead, I just told Him every day, over and over, I'm not exhibiting Your fruit. I'm not exhibiting Your fruit. It seems like it got worse, but really I just came out of my denial. I started seeing my negativity in spades, in the way I talked, in what I talked about, and in how I treated my kids and husband. It has taken nearly three years for me to begin to see different fruit growing out of my life, but it has definitely begun to take over. I can tell that the roots I'm nourishing in my life are rooted in Him. The ones that are not of Him are slowly dying and becoming more obvious. Their fruit is cut off before it has a chance to ripen most of the time. Not all the time, but most of the time. And what flows out of me more and more each day is thankfulness instead of complaining! What flows out of me more and more is joy, instead of sorrow and depression. I am so thankful to you father, that what you have been doing in me you are doing in Tina's life. She will see your goodness in the land of the living. She will experience this transfer of Kingdoms, and I believe it will happen much more swiftly for her than it has for me. Thank you, Jesus.
2:8 "See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ."
Hollow and deceptive philosophy. Hollow, that word brings to mind shallow, empty, vanity. Believing things that don't really make a difference. Being taught to do things that don't result in what is promised. Deceptive means not trustworthy, not delivering what is promised, not leading or steering us in the right direction. The foundation of hollow and deceptive philosophy (way of living) is dependent on human traditions. I am praying that God will give me discernment to know when I am depending on human wisdom and when I am depending on Christ. The first thing that comes to my mind in this area is dieting. Haha! Dieting is a hollow and deceptive philosophy. I've been on countless diets, even Bible-centered diets, but I have never found lasting success in controlling my tendency to binge on food, eat too much sugar, and gain weight. I am now turning this part of my life over to Jesus, asking Him for wisdom and solutions...looking for the roots instead of trying to change my behaviors. In the last several years I have seen success in some areas. I choose better foods. Over the past seven years, I have made subtle and lasting changes, one at a time without real results in the weight department, but I do have a ton more energy and I eat far better. I'm guessing that my inside is in far better shape than my outside at this point, but I still have a ways to go before I'm where I want to be physically. Human tradition works from the outside in, whereas Christ works from the inside out. That's how I would sum up my thoughts about this verse.
2:9-10 "For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority."
It just keeps getting weightier and weightier. This is one of the verses that proves Jesus' deity, but it has often been taught in a way that divides us from Him rather than helps us identify with Him. Even though no one has really come out and said it out loud to me, there is a subtle teaching that I've picked up over the years that has led me to believe that I'm not actually capable of reaching the standard which Jesus set for us. I've believed this for years; that I won't reach my full potential until I die and go to heaven. On one level, I really do believe that is true. But I realize the effect that teaching has had on my life is to make me want to give up on this side of heaven. If I can't attain it, why should I even try. The truth is that this verse is actually telling us that we are full of Deity just like Jesus is. This is the proof that we are capable of all that Jesus did and more on this earth, just like He says. I have been living subpar for so long in my life, settling for the crumbs of a life of service when Jesus has really wanted me to live unafraid of taking the risks required to eat the full banquet of seeing myself healed of pain and my scarred and troubled childhood, seeing myself set free from bondage to addictions, seeing myself free to be all that God has made me to be, exercising my gifts and giving away the very freedom He has given to me so I can see others get free.
We have the fullness of God living within us. He has authority over power and principality. EVERY ONE OF THEM!! And His authority dwells within us, too. We have authority over every principality. I can pray for myself and see myself walk free of the enemy's grasp. I can pray for you and see you walk free from the enemy's plans and schemes against you. You can pray for Mark & I can pray for Eric, and we WILL see the enemy's plans fall to the ground. He will be found out and defeated, and we will see God's purposes begin to grow and flourish in our lives and in the lives of those around us. I am so excited!!
Thank you Jesus that you have given us the authority over this earth that we lost to the enemy. Teach us to walk in our true calling. Show us the plans you have for us and show us how to walk in them. More importantly, teach us your ways. Show us how to fall deeper in love with you. Melt our hearts and help us to do everything with our eyes fixed on you, the lover of our souls, or Abba father, our dearest friend. Thank you that you have chosen to share your master plan with all of us through your servant Paul. Prepare our hearts to receive the instruction that is buried deep within the verses of Colossians. Paul is laying a firm foundation for what he is about to say next, and I want to be ready to receive the call that he is going to issue for us, those who are faithful in love. Make us faithful in love, Jesus. ~Amen
Monday, January 31, 2011
Colossians 2:1-5 Angela
Father God, I am so excited to hear what you have to say to us today. I thank you for your peace and your provision and your hope. I thank you that you are already answering our prayers. I thank you for the confirmation you bring and for the signs you send to point us toward your plans for us. I know that the truth you are going to share with us today and in the coming days will profoundly change our hearts and renew our minds. I thank you for this opportunity to grow together with you. ~Amen.
2:1 "I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally."
Once again, this word "struggling" gives me pause. I have read this many times in the last year, and I am never sure what it means to struggle. At different stages of my walk I've felt that this meant different things. I used to read this and think I had to contend...work hard in prayer and petition to God for what He was trying to do in others. Now, I'm so focused on learning to rest from my toil and my labor. I think the verses before where he talks about how he struggles in God's power must be the key for us. Verse 29 says he struggles with God's power. I'm pretty sure I've only just begun to understand the difference between suffering under my own power and struggling under God's power.
Aha!!! I didn't look this up before, but I just looked up verses 1:29 and 2:1 in the NAS Bible. It uses the word "labor." That must be it. Travailing...productive. Like I said when I talked about verse 29, I really believe that when I view all pain and all difficulty as the means to an end, then I have a different view of it. I know it will be as temporary as labor if God is in control. If the enemy is oppressing me, then I know God is working on behalf to free me and to the extent that I can allow Him to work in my heart, I know the suffering will come to an end. He is the God who heals. He is the God who provides. He is the God who does not hide His plans from His people. He will reveal to us His greater works and He will reveal to us the lies of the enemy that keep us shrouded in darkness. There is a big difference for me between a shroud of darkness and a shroud of mystery. God does hide things from us, but only for us to search and seek them out. He does not hide things to keep us from making progress in our lives. If we are stuck, it is by the hand of the enemy.
Jesus, I pray that you will reveal the truth about every place where we feel trapped, stuck, oppressed, or depressed. If there are changes we need to make, I pray that you would give us courage to fight against the lies and push into the truth. I pray that you would reveal the solutions and the keys to our struggle and that we would be eager to push against the lies and false fronts the enemy has placed in front of us to define who we are. Thank you for the power of your word and your Holy Spirit, who reveals to us all truth!
2:2 My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ..."
Looks like I got ahead of myself a bit in my last paragraph. The mystery of God...Christ. Encouraged in heart. We both need a lot of that right now. Unity in love, too. I used to think that unity meant we would all agree and get along perfectly with no struggles. Now I understand that it's a different unity Paul was after. He was after a unity in pursuing Jesus; a unity in loving the way Jesus loves. When we love the way Jesus loves, without judgment and without condition, we become unified in a far deeper way than when we agree. We create a space for everyone...those who are different, those who are on the outside, those who are believers and those who have yet to believe. When I love other people from the love of Christ, I see them...I see their potential instead of their lack. I see what they are capable instead of what they have yet to accomplish. This is a unity that defies the world; a counterculture that defines true Christianity and destroys the works of Satan.
And this type of love can only manifest itself through us when we have complete understanding of God's love for us, which He demonstrated in Jesus. Jesus was always saying that He was a perfect representation of the Father. He was always saying that He only did what He saw His Father doing. There seems to be a subtle, yet insidious doctrine out there that says Jesus loves us, but if it weren't for Him, God would burn our butts just like He did Sodom and Gomorrah. I don't see Him that way anymore. Our Father in heaven loves us with a passionate, undying love. He gave a part of Himself to us in a way that we may never truly understand, but if we can begin to understand even just a little bit of the Love that He has had for us from the moment He conceived of us, we will never see anyone else through our own stained lenses again. I have tasted a bit of this confidence, this understanding that Paul speaks of, and I can't get enough. He loves me. He loves me. He likes me. His affections are always for me. I can always approach Him, and He will act on my behalf the minute I ask. As I understand His affection, I realize that I can never make a mistake that He can't help me overcome. I can't go wrong. As I understand that I can't go wrong, the worst doesn't happen. I don't just go out and make more of a mess of my life because of my freedom. I begin to see other people through that same lens. I begin to see that other people are caught in their sins and their cycles just like I am. I begin to see that all they really need is a taste of Daddy's love. I begin to see that I can offer them that taste because I've tasted it too. I don't have to worry about whether they receive it or not. I don't have to worry about whether I know how to disciple them all the way. I know that all I need to do is love them the way He loves me, and He will take care of the rest!
2:3 "...in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."
In Jesus! In Jesus all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, which is prized higher than rubies, which I know are sometimes even more valuable than diamonds in our worldly system of value. In Jesus. We are in Jesus. He said this. That we are in Him. Our lives are hidden in Him. Our souls are hidden in Him. This means that our souls are hidden in the same place as the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Is it possible that we are the repositories of His wisdom and knowledge? That we are the vessels He has chosen to hide His wisdom and knowledge within? He has definitely chosen to reveal Himself through us, and He is wisdom! He is knowledge. He is everything that is ever worth experiencing, knowing, understanding. And He is in us. We have the wisdom and knowledge of the ages at our fingertips. I pray that we will begin to grasp just a little bit of the big things that He wants to reveal to us in our lifetime. I pray that the mystery of Christ will sink so deeply into our souls that we will see this wisdom and knowledge springing up in the most unlikely places...solutions to problems in our families, ideas for our cities and governments, creative ideas for bringing in provision for our families, solutions to world hunger and disease. These ideas could very well rest inside you and me. One of us may be harboring the key to the AIDS epidemic, or the child sex trafficking industry issues, or the perhaps the starving orphans in other countries. I'm so excited to see what He is waiting to unleash from within each of us.
2:4 "I tell you this so no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments."
Somehow I think I have been deceived in my life by fine-sounding arguments. They go something like this...you are wicked, you are depraved, the promises of God are for you but not until you die and go to heaven. They go something like this: God is upset with you because you never get it right. He can't use you because you're so broken and He doesn't even know how to fix you. There's no cure except for Him to wait for you to die so He can start over without your soul. These are harsh statements that I've culled down from fine-sounding arguments over the years. I have been truly looking at the things I have believed about God over the years...like that He's always mad at me, waiting to smack me upside the head whenever I do something wrong; like that He wishes I would just finally surrender my addiction to food and sugar and get on with my life...get skinny so I can be a better witness for Him. And there is the real deception...that God loves me only for what I can do for Him. I was taught this! I was taught that if I'm not ministering for Him, then I'm not living up to my full potential. That I'm only valuable to Him when I'm mature, fully serving Him and finally giving back. He's put so much into me and He's just waiting and waiting for me to finally get it so I can give it all back to Him with abandon.
I don't buy this deception any longer. God loves me just like I love my son. Am I eager for him to grow and be able to contribute to the family? Yes, but not because I want a slave. I'm eager for that because I know how proud he's going to feel when he can finally feel the position he has grown into in our home. I love Orion because he is Orion...nothing more and nothing less, and that will never change. Can Orion disappoint me? Yes. Can he let me down? Yes. Do we let God down? I don't know. I don't think he worries over us the way we worry over our children. He is not afraid for us. He knows what is inside of us, and especially those of us who have already chosen His Son. The burden is not on us to remain. Jesus says that it is God who kept the disciples in safety. God is responsible for our well being. I could go on and on, but I think I've made my point. This doctrine of God being angry with us makes me really angry, if you didn't notice. Hehe.
2:5 "For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how orderly you are and how firm your faith in Christ is."
I am comforted to know that even though we are separated in body, you and eye are together in spirit, Tina. I am delighted to hear your heart as you share your thoughts on God's word in these blog entries. I have so longed to have this connection with you again. I am amazed that we are united in our pursuit of Jesus once again in a way that will have tangible results for both of us; we will see Him move and work within us and we will also get to delight in each others' faith and actions as we walk this leg of our journeys together.
Father, I thank you for Tina. I thank you that you have comforted her with the reminder of the dreams you gave to her for her girls. I thank you that deep down you can encourage her with trust in You to take care of Kiah and Echo. I thank you that that's what those dreams really meant to convey to her...that she is powerless, but you are not. Nothing is going to snatch Kiah out of Your hands. I thank you for the opportunity you gave me the other day to speak into Kiah's life on Facebook, and I thank you for the angels you are posting around her to help her and protect her. I thank you for the inspiration and the ideas that you are going to give Mark and Tina to navigate these next few months with her, and I thank you that Tina is reading the acting out correctly...that Kiah is just crying out for attention. I thank you that Tina will follow your leading on how to reach out to her and let her know that she is loved, accepted, and appreciated for who she is and not what she does or does not do right/wrong. I thank you for this family. I thank you that the obstacles they see right now in front of them are nothing compared to the love and plans you have for them. I see them standing strong, holding hands, united in their differences and their purposes because they love you. I see the differences creating an unbreakable circle from which will flow streams of living water. I see them jumping up for joy and celebrating together, holding hands and celebrating your goodness, which you are just about to unleash from heaven over them. I thank you for the joy that will begin to well up from within as you begin to unload them from all their burdens. I thank you for my friends and am so glad that you've given me such a hope for them that I can pray from. ~Amen.
2:1 "I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally."
Once again, this word "struggling" gives me pause. I have read this many times in the last year, and I am never sure what it means to struggle. At different stages of my walk I've felt that this meant different things. I used to read this and think I had to contend...work hard in prayer and petition to God for what He was trying to do in others. Now, I'm so focused on learning to rest from my toil and my labor. I think the verses before where he talks about how he struggles in God's power must be the key for us. Verse 29 says he struggles with God's power. I'm pretty sure I've only just begun to understand the difference between suffering under my own power and struggling under God's power.
Aha!!! I didn't look this up before, but I just looked up verses 1:29 and 2:1 in the NAS Bible. It uses the word "labor." That must be it. Travailing...productive. Like I said when I talked about verse 29, I really believe that when I view all pain and all difficulty as the means to an end, then I have a different view of it. I know it will be as temporary as labor if God is in control. If the enemy is oppressing me, then I know God is working on behalf to free me and to the extent that I can allow Him to work in my heart, I know the suffering will come to an end. He is the God who heals. He is the God who provides. He is the God who does not hide His plans from His people. He will reveal to us His greater works and He will reveal to us the lies of the enemy that keep us shrouded in darkness. There is a big difference for me between a shroud of darkness and a shroud of mystery. God does hide things from us, but only for us to search and seek them out. He does not hide things to keep us from making progress in our lives. If we are stuck, it is by the hand of the enemy.
Jesus, I pray that you will reveal the truth about every place where we feel trapped, stuck, oppressed, or depressed. If there are changes we need to make, I pray that you would give us courage to fight against the lies and push into the truth. I pray that you would reveal the solutions and the keys to our struggle and that we would be eager to push against the lies and false fronts the enemy has placed in front of us to define who we are. Thank you for the power of your word and your Holy Spirit, who reveals to us all truth!
2:2 My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ..."
Looks like I got ahead of myself a bit in my last paragraph. The mystery of God...Christ. Encouraged in heart. We both need a lot of that right now. Unity in love, too. I used to think that unity meant we would all agree and get along perfectly with no struggles. Now I understand that it's a different unity Paul was after. He was after a unity in pursuing Jesus; a unity in loving the way Jesus loves. When we love the way Jesus loves, without judgment and without condition, we become unified in a far deeper way than when we agree. We create a space for everyone...those who are different, those who are on the outside, those who are believers and those who have yet to believe. When I love other people from the love of Christ, I see them...I see their potential instead of their lack. I see what they are capable instead of what they have yet to accomplish. This is a unity that defies the world; a counterculture that defines true Christianity and destroys the works of Satan.
And this type of love can only manifest itself through us when we have complete understanding of God's love for us, which He demonstrated in Jesus. Jesus was always saying that He was a perfect representation of the Father. He was always saying that He only did what He saw His Father doing. There seems to be a subtle, yet insidious doctrine out there that says Jesus loves us, but if it weren't for Him, God would burn our butts just like He did Sodom and Gomorrah. I don't see Him that way anymore. Our Father in heaven loves us with a passionate, undying love. He gave a part of Himself to us in a way that we may never truly understand, but if we can begin to understand even just a little bit of the Love that He has had for us from the moment He conceived of us, we will never see anyone else through our own stained lenses again. I have tasted a bit of this confidence, this understanding that Paul speaks of, and I can't get enough. He loves me. He loves me. He likes me. His affections are always for me. I can always approach Him, and He will act on my behalf the minute I ask. As I understand His affection, I realize that I can never make a mistake that He can't help me overcome. I can't go wrong. As I understand that I can't go wrong, the worst doesn't happen. I don't just go out and make more of a mess of my life because of my freedom. I begin to see other people through that same lens. I begin to see that other people are caught in their sins and their cycles just like I am. I begin to see that all they really need is a taste of Daddy's love. I begin to see that I can offer them that taste because I've tasted it too. I don't have to worry about whether they receive it or not. I don't have to worry about whether I know how to disciple them all the way. I know that all I need to do is love them the way He loves me, and He will take care of the rest!
2:3 "...in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."
In Jesus! In Jesus all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, which is prized higher than rubies, which I know are sometimes even more valuable than diamonds in our worldly system of value. In Jesus. We are in Jesus. He said this. That we are in Him. Our lives are hidden in Him. Our souls are hidden in Him. This means that our souls are hidden in the same place as the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Is it possible that we are the repositories of His wisdom and knowledge? That we are the vessels He has chosen to hide His wisdom and knowledge within? He has definitely chosen to reveal Himself through us, and He is wisdom! He is knowledge. He is everything that is ever worth experiencing, knowing, understanding. And He is in us. We have the wisdom and knowledge of the ages at our fingertips. I pray that we will begin to grasp just a little bit of the big things that He wants to reveal to us in our lifetime. I pray that the mystery of Christ will sink so deeply into our souls that we will see this wisdom and knowledge springing up in the most unlikely places...solutions to problems in our families, ideas for our cities and governments, creative ideas for bringing in provision for our families, solutions to world hunger and disease. These ideas could very well rest inside you and me. One of us may be harboring the key to the AIDS epidemic, or the child sex trafficking industry issues, or the perhaps the starving orphans in other countries. I'm so excited to see what He is waiting to unleash from within each of us.
2:4 "I tell you this so no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments."
Somehow I think I have been deceived in my life by fine-sounding arguments. They go something like this...you are wicked, you are depraved, the promises of God are for you but not until you die and go to heaven. They go something like this: God is upset with you because you never get it right. He can't use you because you're so broken and He doesn't even know how to fix you. There's no cure except for Him to wait for you to die so He can start over without your soul. These are harsh statements that I've culled down from fine-sounding arguments over the years. I have been truly looking at the things I have believed about God over the years...like that He's always mad at me, waiting to smack me upside the head whenever I do something wrong; like that He wishes I would just finally surrender my addiction to food and sugar and get on with my life...get skinny so I can be a better witness for Him. And there is the real deception...that God loves me only for what I can do for Him. I was taught this! I was taught that if I'm not ministering for Him, then I'm not living up to my full potential. That I'm only valuable to Him when I'm mature, fully serving Him and finally giving back. He's put so much into me and He's just waiting and waiting for me to finally get it so I can give it all back to Him with abandon.
I don't buy this deception any longer. God loves me just like I love my son. Am I eager for him to grow and be able to contribute to the family? Yes, but not because I want a slave. I'm eager for that because I know how proud he's going to feel when he can finally feel the position he has grown into in our home. I love Orion because he is Orion...nothing more and nothing less, and that will never change. Can Orion disappoint me? Yes. Can he let me down? Yes. Do we let God down? I don't know. I don't think he worries over us the way we worry over our children. He is not afraid for us. He knows what is inside of us, and especially those of us who have already chosen His Son. The burden is not on us to remain. Jesus says that it is God who kept the disciples in safety. God is responsible for our well being. I could go on and on, but I think I've made my point. This doctrine of God being angry with us makes me really angry, if you didn't notice. Hehe.
2:5 "For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how orderly you are and how firm your faith in Christ is."
I am comforted to know that even though we are separated in body, you and eye are together in spirit, Tina. I am delighted to hear your heart as you share your thoughts on God's word in these blog entries. I have so longed to have this connection with you again. I am amazed that we are united in our pursuit of Jesus once again in a way that will have tangible results for both of us; we will see Him move and work within us and we will also get to delight in each others' faith and actions as we walk this leg of our journeys together.
Father, I thank you for Tina. I thank you that you have comforted her with the reminder of the dreams you gave to her for her girls. I thank you that deep down you can encourage her with trust in You to take care of Kiah and Echo. I thank you that that's what those dreams really meant to convey to her...that she is powerless, but you are not. Nothing is going to snatch Kiah out of Your hands. I thank you for the opportunity you gave me the other day to speak into Kiah's life on Facebook, and I thank you for the angels you are posting around her to help her and protect her. I thank you for the inspiration and the ideas that you are going to give Mark and Tina to navigate these next few months with her, and I thank you that Tina is reading the acting out correctly...that Kiah is just crying out for attention. I thank you that Tina will follow your leading on how to reach out to her and let her know that she is loved, accepted, and appreciated for who she is and not what she does or does not do right/wrong. I thank you for this family. I thank you that the obstacles they see right now in front of them are nothing compared to the love and plans you have for them. I see them standing strong, holding hands, united in their differences and their purposes because they love you. I see the differences creating an unbreakable circle from which will flow streams of living water. I see them jumping up for joy and celebrating together, holding hands and celebrating your goodness, which you are just about to unleash from heaven over them. I thank you for the joy that will begin to well up from within as you begin to unload them from all their burdens. I thank you for my friends and am so glad that you've given me such a hope for them that I can pray from. ~Amen.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Colossians 1:26-29 Angela
Jesus, thank you for this opportunity to read the written expression of your work and words to us. Thank you that you are so eager for us to know your plans and understand your ways. I thank you that each day we draw closer to you and that our faith and wisdom increase. ~Amen
1:26 "...the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints."
The word of God in its fullness--Jesus, the mystery kept hidden for ages and generations. The truth of Jesus has been revealed...the word of the God...the beginning of all things and the end of all things...we have the mystery of God living in us in fullness.
1:27 "To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."
I am so grateful that I am privy to this mystery...that the One who created me and the entire world has chosen to make His home in me. This indeed is hope. That everything I need...His power, His peace, and every other gift of His Spirit has taken up residence within me. I really don't know what more I can say. I am nearly speechless at this simple and outstanding truth!
1:28 "We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ."
I want to teach with all wisdom! Paul says EVERYONE! This is God's heart. God wants that no one will be separated from Him. And isn't it interesting that Paul says he will present them perfect in Christ. Does this mean he presents them to God? to Jesus? This is like what they say about Jesus interceding on our behalf...presenting us to God through the blood.
1:29 "To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me."
I love that Paul struggles with all of God's energy. I never want to struggle again outside of God's energy! I am eager to see how God works in me in the coming months, as I know He is honing and giving more clarity about the destiny I will walk in, the ministry I will do in days to come, and the ministry I'm already doing. I pray that I will never forget to lean into Him and gather my strength and courage only from Him. I've suffered enough by struggling in my own power, and I'm seriously so done with that!
Father God, I ask that you would reveal to us the true mystery of Christ dwelling within us. I pray that we would both receive revelation of what it means to have the hope of glory dwelling within us, empowering us and encouraging us in every moment of our lives. I pray that you would continue to increase our discernment in hearing the difference between our voice, your voice, and the voice of the accuser. I pray that you would cement within us a certainty of your favor and affection toward us, that we would begin to experience what it means to admonish and teach with all wisdom! I thank you for Paul's example and for the clear and true message of your sovereignty, your hope, and your great gift of salvation and all that it entails for each of us.
I continue to lift up Tina and Mark and their family. I pray that with each day would come greater clarity about priorities, work, and destiny. I pray for a breakthrough in Mark, that he would begin to hear your gentle voice of encouragement that would be calling him out of depression into certainty of your love for him and your call on his life. Break through the lies and the fears and the disappointments and discouragements. Bring your balm of comfort and peace to the wounds in his heart and give him your perspective on the events that took place at his last church. Wherever he is agreeing with someone or something other than you, I ask that you would bring moments of clarity and truth to diffuse the lies. Wherever he is hearing your truth, but is doubting it I ask that you would speak louder and bring more confirmation of your truth to his heart. Bring people who will encourage him in unlikely places. Give him the hope and trust and faith to begin to dream once again. And seal the promises you've given Tina in the dreams she had just before they moved to Florida.
In your Name, Amen.
1:26 "...the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints."
The word of God in its fullness--Jesus, the mystery kept hidden for ages and generations. The truth of Jesus has been revealed...the word of the God...the beginning of all things and the end of all things...we have the mystery of God living in us in fullness.
1:27 "To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."
I am so grateful that I am privy to this mystery...that the One who created me and the entire world has chosen to make His home in me. This indeed is hope. That everything I need...His power, His peace, and every other gift of His Spirit has taken up residence within me. I really don't know what more I can say. I am nearly speechless at this simple and outstanding truth!
1:28 "We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ."
I want to teach with all wisdom! Paul says EVERYONE! This is God's heart. God wants that no one will be separated from Him. And isn't it interesting that Paul says he will present them perfect in Christ. Does this mean he presents them to God? to Jesus? This is like what they say about Jesus interceding on our behalf...presenting us to God through the blood.
1:29 "To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me."
I love that Paul struggles with all of God's energy. I never want to struggle again outside of God's energy! I am eager to see how God works in me in the coming months, as I know He is honing and giving more clarity about the destiny I will walk in, the ministry I will do in days to come, and the ministry I'm already doing. I pray that I will never forget to lean into Him and gather my strength and courage only from Him. I've suffered enough by struggling in my own power, and I'm seriously so done with that!
Father God, I ask that you would reveal to us the true mystery of Christ dwelling within us. I pray that we would both receive revelation of what it means to have the hope of glory dwelling within us, empowering us and encouraging us in every moment of our lives. I pray that you would continue to increase our discernment in hearing the difference between our voice, your voice, and the voice of the accuser. I pray that you would cement within us a certainty of your favor and affection toward us, that we would begin to experience what it means to admonish and teach with all wisdom! I thank you for Paul's example and for the clear and true message of your sovereignty, your hope, and your great gift of salvation and all that it entails for each of us.
I continue to lift up Tina and Mark and their family. I pray that with each day would come greater clarity about priorities, work, and destiny. I pray for a breakthrough in Mark, that he would begin to hear your gentle voice of encouragement that would be calling him out of depression into certainty of your love for him and your call on his life. Break through the lies and the fears and the disappointments and discouragements. Bring your balm of comfort and peace to the wounds in his heart and give him your perspective on the events that took place at his last church. Wherever he is agreeing with someone or something other than you, I ask that you would bring moments of clarity and truth to diffuse the lies. Wherever he is hearing your truth, but is doubting it I ask that you would speak louder and bring more confirmation of your truth to his heart. Bring people who will encourage him in unlikely places. Give him the hope and trust and faith to begin to dream once again. And seal the promises you've given Tina in the dreams she had just before they moved to Florida.
In your Name, Amen.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Colossians 1:21-25 Angela
Father, I thank you that I can run to you in times of discouragement and times of hope. I thank you that today was a day filled with hope and that even with discouraging news I am hopeful that it just means an open door awaits me elsewhere. (Tina, my brother was paying me $800 a month to do some work for him, but it takes me a lot less time than he anticipated, so he cut my pay to $400.) I thank you that I have been following your lead in preparing my resume and getting ready to launch my freelance writing/editing business. I thank you for your encouragement, your courage, and your strength to face each challenge as it comes. Today, I ask that you would boost us both up as we stretch for what is next. I ask specifically right now that Tina's pain would begin to ease, and that she would feel physical strength returning. I pray for a lightness and a joy to fill her in the next couple of days, incrementally as she begins to notice a change in her physical stamina. I thank you for this opportunity to be in your word regularly. Speak to our souls and our spirits. ~Amen.
1:21 "Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior."
Wow! This struck me hard today. The truth is that I still sometimes believe I'm alienated from God. There has been a pervasive thought pattern in my mind that keeps me afraid to get on His bad side. This has been changing, and I think this is the reason it is ringing so clearly to me right now. I am really coming out of the place where I believe that I can even get on God's bad side. There would have been a time that this particular verse would have made me tremble, really. I would have questioned my salvation because I still participate in "evil behavior," at least according to my own definition. My thought life and actions still seem to resemble the "bad" lists in the Bible more than the "good" ones. I know now, though, that I can't change my behavior on my own. I need Him to reveal it to me, and in confidence I need to boldly confess to Him and ask Him to help me get to the roots of it so I can pull them out with His help. I am so excited about the possibility that there is an end to my "evil" behavior in site. And the guilt and shame have truly been wiped out by His neverending, unfailing, eternal love for me, his daughter.
1:22-23a "But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation, if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel."
He--God. My Father God has reconciled me. This is profound to me, too. For so many years I identified fully with Christ, but I was afraid of Father God. Despite the fact that I had read the Bible many times through and been through countless studies, I still believed that if it hadn't been for Jesus, God wouldn't have even wanted to save me. Now, I understand what this verse so clearly illuminates...God chose me, and He gave His Son for me. His Son, in human form, agreed with God about this arrangement, and it was the co-laboring of Jesus with God that brought about my redemption, and now I have the privilege of also stepping into agreement with God to further that redemption upon the earth in my circle of friends and family.
The last part is awesome! This last week I have been wrestling with some accusations a leader made against me a couple of weeks ago. I have been asking God to reveal to me whether what she said had any truth, and He keeps telling me over and over again that He does not accuse me. He does not bring my sin to light in a threatening, shaming way. He does not compare me to another person, and He does not motivate me by fear, guilt, or shame. I am walking in firm faith that His love for me is complete. This last part about our faith hinges upon the first part...that HE reconciled us to HIMSELF. He is the author and perfecter of our faith. He is the beginning and end of each one of us. It is all on Him. I have a part to play, but my faith is in His character, which never changes. It is by His character that I can now way every word spoken to or against me. This means that I can dismiss what she said in accusation, because this is not how God works in my heart. Phew!
1:23b "This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
Once again, Paul just summed up the gospel in a few verses. I love this! Passage after passage is reaffirming in every way possible that we are God's chosen children. And I like the part about the gospel being proclaimed to every creature under heaven! Angels, demons, animals, plants, humans. Every Creature!! I have been reading and learning about St. Francis of Assissi, and I have been longing to have an effect in the natural realm...to pray for animals and plants and see them flourish and be at peace with men on the earth...to see the dominion that God promised to mankind restored in all its fullness.
1:24 "Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church."
This is a mystery to me. Ahhh...reading it in the NLT makes a little more sense to me: "I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am participating in the sufferings of Christ that continue for his body, the church."
This is part of Paul's gifting as an apostle and martyr for Christ. I understand now that he is saying the Jesus still suffers on behalf of his church, and that as we come into unity with His heart and mind we also will ache and suffer for the ones who are deceived and lost in the world still, even some who profess His name are still in fear of God rather than in awe and intimacy with Him. It is my prayer that all will come to understand His deep and abiding love and how it washes away shame and guilt. That we can come to Him in our filthy rags day after day, and He helps us in our humility and weakness to overcome and conquer the things that have always overcome and conquered us.
1:25 (Continuing in NLT) "God has given me the responsibility of serving his church by proclaiming his entire message to you."
This is Paul's mission statement. Many times I read that this is everyone's mission statement, but I know we are not all going to do it just like Paul. I think we can have his heart and operate out of our different gift mixes and see the same type of results...lives changed, souls saved, diseases healed, demons cast out, and the creation responding to the release of the glory of God in His sons upon the earth.
Thank you Jesus, for your sacrifice and for the call on our lives to live as you lived and do the works you did and even greater works. Prepare our hearts, reveal the lies and root out the foundations of "evil" behavior in our lives. Remove the footholds that the enemy stands upon to retain ground in our lives. Remove every veil and bring restoration of lost vision, lost ambition, lost dreams, and lost momentum. I pray for restoration of the love of our first encounters with you and the hope that was once a fire igniting our hearts. I pray for a revelation of all that has gone on since then and how some of our experiences and the teachings we have taken into our hearts has turned us aside from the pure love of God and clarion call of the gospel in its simplest and clearest message. Thank you for all you have done! ~Amen.
Tina, we are in need of prayer for our move. We are weighing many different options, and it is very hard for us to decide. Each city seems to have a different mix of positives and negatives, and each day we learn a little more but it is a slow and steady progress. We need direction, clarity, and clear objectives in what we're looking for and what we can afford to do. Thank you so much for these daily visits! I love you.
~Angela
1:21 "Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior."
Wow! This struck me hard today. The truth is that I still sometimes believe I'm alienated from God. There has been a pervasive thought pattern in my mind that keeps me afraid to get on His bad side. This has been changing, and I think this is the reason it is ringing so clearly to me right now. I am really coming out of the place where I believe that I can even get on God's bad side. There would have been a time that this particular verse would have made me tremble, really. I would have questioned my salvation because I still participate in "evil behavior," at least according to my own definition. My thought life and actions still seem to resemble the "bad" lists in the Bible more than the "good" ones. I know now, though, that I can't change my behavior on my own. I need Him to reveal it to me, and in confidence I need to boldly confess to Him and ask Him to help me get to the roots of it so I can pull them out with His help. I am so excited about the possibility that there is an end to my "evil" behavior in site. And the guilt and shame have truly been wiped out by His neverending, unfailing, eternal love for me, his daughter.
1:22-23a "But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation, if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel."
He--God. My Father God has reconciled me. This is profound to me, too. For so many years I identified fully with Christ, but I was afraid of Father God. Despite the fact that I had read the Bible many times through and been through countless studies, I still believed that if it hadn't been for Jesus, God wouldn't have even wanted to save me. Now, I understand what this verse so clearly illuminates...God chose me, and He gave His Son for me. His Son, in human form, agreed with God about this arrangement, and it was the co-laboring of Jesus with God that brought about my redemption, and now I have the privilege of also stepping into agreement with God to further that redemption upon the earth in my circle of friends and family.
The last part is awesome! This last week I have been wrestling with some accusations a leader made against me a couple of weeks ago. I have been asking God to reveal to me whether what she said had any truth, and He keeps telling me over and over again that He does not accuse me. He does not bring my sin to light in a threatening, shaming way. He does not compare me to another person, and He does not motivate me by fear, guilt, or shame. I am walking in firm faith that His love for me is complete. This last part about our faith hinges upon the first part...that HE reconciled us to HIMSELF. He is the author and perfecter of our faith. He is the beginning and end of each one of us. It is all on Him. I have a part to play, but my faith is in His character, which never changes. It is by His character that I can now way every word spoken to or against me. This means that I can dismiss what she said in accusation, because this is not how God works in my heart. Phew!
1:23b "This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
Once again, Paul just summed up the gospel in a few verses. I love this! Passage after passage is reaffirming in every way possible that we are God's chosen children. And I like the part about the gospel being proclaimed to every creature under heaven! Angels, demons, animals, plants, humans. Every Creature!! I have been reading and learning about St. Francis of Assissi, and I have been longing to have an effect in the natural realm...to pray for animals and plants and see them flourish and be at peace with men on the earth...to see the dominion that God promised to mankind restored in all its fullness.
1:24 "Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church."
This is a mystery to me. Ahhh...reading it in the NLT makes a little more sense to me: "I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am participating in the sufferings of Christ that continue for his body, the church."
This is part of Paul's gifting as an apostle and martyr for Christ. I understand now that he is saying the Jesus still suffers on behalf of his church, and that as we come into unity with His heart and mind we also will ache and suffer for the ones who are deceived and lost in the world still, even some who profess His name are still in fear of God rather than in awe and intimacy with Him. It is my prayer that all will come to understand His deep and abiding love and how it washes away shame and guilt. That we can come to Him in our filthy rags day after day, and He helps us in our humility and weakness to overcome and conquer the things that have always overcome and conquered us.
1:25 (Continuing in NLT) "God has given me the responsibility of serving his church by proclaiming his entire message to you."
This is Paul's mission statement. Many times I read that this is everyone's mission statement, but I know we are not all going to do it just like Paul. I think we can have his heart and operate out of our different gift mixes and see the same type of results...lives changed, souls saved, diseases healed, demons cast out, and the creation responding to the release of the glory of God in His sons upon the earth.
Thank you Jesus, for your sacrifice and for the call on our lives to live as you lived and do the works you did and even greater works. Prepare our hearts, reveal the lies and root out the foundations of "evil" behavior in our lives. Remove the footholds that the enemy stands upon to retain ground in our lives. Remove every veil and bring restoration of lost vision, lost ambition, lost dreams, and lost momentum. I pray for restoration of the love of our first encounters with you and the hope that was once a fire igniting our hearts. I pray for a revelation of all that has gone on since then and how some of our experiences and the teachings we have taken into our hearts has turned us aside from the pure love of God and clarion call of the gospel in its simplest and clearest message. Thank you for all you have done! ~Amen.
Tina, we are in need of prayer for our move. We are weighing many different options, and it is very hard for us to decide. Each city seems to have a different mix of positives and negatives, and each day we learn a little more but it is a slow and steady progress. We need direction, clarity, and clear objectives in what we're looking for and what we can afford to do. Thank you so much for these daily visits! I love you.
~Angela
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Colossians 1:16-20 Angela
Father, I'm in need of your strength and joy today. I thank you that you are faithful to show us your fingerprints on our lives, especially when we are struggling to see you. I thank you that you do not play games with us, that if you seem distant it is only an illusion. Thank you that each day is a new opportunity to find the gifts of peace, joy, and self-control. These are the things I need today, and I thank you that you are faithful to answer our heartfelt cries. Infuse us both with strength, perspective, hope, and joy today. ~Amen.
1:16 "For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him."
This hearkens back to John 1 for me, where John expounds on the nature of Jesus; that he was the Word made flesh. That the Word of God that was spoken and brought forth all things upon the earth also became a created being housed in flesh. This is amazing, mind boggling, and mysterious.
The other part that is amazing is that every throne...every monarchy, every place where men rule was created by Jesus and for Him. In other parts of Scripture it says that the nations are his inheritance. As I've studied the queens, it is clear that the English Royals believed a version of this, though I'm not sure they understood it as God intended. They believed that the monarch was chosen by God, was infallible (much like the Pope), and was sovereign over the State in the same way that God was. I'm sure they used this verse and others like it to secure that notion. Of course, many of them abused that power for selfish gain. I think the lesson of Saul versus David is the best to prove that it isn't men in leadership that God endorses so much as the position of leadership that is aching to be filled.
Then there is the part about visible and invisible. I have a hunger to see more of the invisible things that God created. I know invisible implies that they can't be seen, but at least I want to become more aware of that realm and understand its influence upon my life. It reminds me of myself...the conscious thoughts that I believe govern my day versus the unconscious thoughts that really do govern my day.
1:17 "He is before all things, and in him all things hold together."
Wow! Before all things...to me this means that He came first, that He sits above all things. It denotes order for me. It also reminds me of the verses that talk about Jesus being the head of the body and also about His blood saving us. In our bodies, it's our muscles and ligaments that hold us together. It's our blood that keeps us alive, nourishing and cleansing every aspect of our inner and outer workings. He is like the ligaments and blood of the whole universe. It reminds me of the verse that says it is in Him that we live and move and have our being.
1:18 "And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy."
Head of the body...the head holds the brain which gives all the signals for the members and organs to move and work and do their work. And we are the body...I am the church, you are the church. Even if we're not in a church; even if we aren't serving in a church, we are the church. This makes me think of the verse that says we have the mind of Christ. As we surrender our wills to His will, He cleanses our mind from old thinking patterns and reactionary habits. He helps us to make new pathways and follow His leading.
He is the firstborn among the dead. He lived among us, in our sin and depravity. He felt the pull of sin, he was dead to God. And when He rose again, He stood as the benchmark for us. What he did we can do, how he lived we can live, how he loved we can love--to the extent that we surrender our wills, habits, and hurts to him.
He has the supremacy in everything. Even if it looks as though the world is going to hell, Jesus has supremacy. More and more I see God as a Father of the nations, meaning that the nations are immature just like children are immature. I see that he allows them to be in their immature state, just like we allow our children to be in theirs. He doesn't rush our progress. He patiently waits for us to mature and grow and become more and more like him. He doesn't bemoan the fact that we haven't learned how to share yet. He doesn't bemoan the fact that we are still filled with selfish ambition and vain conceit. He knows that one day we will be like him. He is not worried about our progress. He is always cheering us on.
1:19-20 "For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross."
God was pleased!!!! This is a verse that I think is often misinterpreted. The Scripture is clear elsewhere that Jesus left His divinity behind. If we don't believe this, then we have no hope that we can ever live as He lived. What I think this verse means is that God was pleased to fill Jesus with His Spirit and release His power into Him and through Him. He was pleased to have fellowship with Jesus even while he was in his fully human form. This means to me that God is pleased also to fill me when I cry out to Him; that He is pleased to commune with me in the same way. That the relationship Jesus and Father God had, the intimate friendship is open and available to me and that by coming into communion with the Father through the spilled blood of Jesus, I have full access to the throne room. I do not have to approach God with fear and trembling as though he will strike me dead. Rather, He is eager to hear from me and lend me His ear. I have the ear of my King, my God, my Daddy.
These five verses have to be the most concise version of the Gospel I can think of! I am filled with hope and wonder at His perfect plan for redeeming all things...visible and invisible; in heaven and on earth. Side note, it says that heaven had to be redeemed as well. Nothing in the created realm was left unaffected by the rebellion of satan and the rebellion of man.
Thank you, Daddy, that we can approach you with confidence even in our sinfulness. Thank you that by the blood of Jesus you have taken our guilt and shame and by giving us the mind of Christ, you have given us hope of a new start, a new life, a new hope for a better future. Thank you that once again your word has given me the faith to smile at my future without fear. ~Amen.
1:16 "For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him."
This hearkens back to John 1 for me, where John expounds on the nature of Jesus; that he was the Word made flesh. That the Word of God that was spoken and brought forth all things upon the earth also became a created being housed in flesh. This is amazing, mind boggling, and mysterious.
The other part that is amazing is that every throne...every monarchy, every place where men rule was created by Jesus and for Him. In other parts of Scripture it says that the nations are his inheritance. As I've studied the queens, it is clear that the English Royals believed a version of this, though I'm not sure they understood it as God intended. They believed that the monarch was chosen by God, was infallible (much like the Pope), and was sovereign over the State in the same way that God was. I'm sure they used this verse and others like it to secure that notion. Of course, many of them abused that power for selfish gain. I think the lesson of Saul versus David is the best to prove that it isn't men in leadership that God endorses so much as the position of leadership that is aching to be filled.
Then there is the part about visible and invisible. I have a hunger to see more of the invisible things that God created. I know invisible implies that they can't be seen, but at least I want to become more aware of that realm and understand its influence upon my life. It reminds me of myself...the conscious thoughts that I believe govern my day versus the unconscious thoughts that really do govern my day.
1:17 "He is before all things, and in him all things hold together."
Wow! Before all things...to me this means that He came first, that He sits above all things. It denotes order for me. It also reminds me of the verses that talk about Jesus being the head of the body and also about His blood saving us. In our bodies, it's our muscles and ligaments that hold us together. It's our blood that keeps us alive, nourishing and cleansing every aspect of our inner and outer workings. He is like the ligaments and blood of the whole universe. It reminds me of the verse that says it is in Him that we live and move and have our being.
1:18 "And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy."
Head of the body...the head holds the brain which gives all the signals for the members and organs to move and work and do their work. And we are the body...I am the church, you are the church. Even if we're not in a church; even if we aren't serving in a church, we are the church. This makes me think of the verse that says we have the mind of Christ. As we surrender our wills to His will, He cleanses our mind from old thinking patterns and reactionary habits. He helps us to make new pathways and follow His leading.
He is the firstborn among the dead. He lived among us, in our sin and depravity. He felt the pull of sin, he was dead to God. And when He rose again, He stood as the benchmark for us. What he did we can do, how he lived we can live, how he loved we can love--to the extent that we surrender our wills, habits, and hurts to him.
He has the supremacy in everything. Even if it looks as though the world is going to hell, Jesus has supremacy. More and more I see God as a Father of the nations, meaning that the nations are immature just like children are immature. I see that he allows them to be in their immature state, just like we allow our children to be in theirs. He doesn't rush our progress. He patiently waits for us to mature and grow and become more and more like him. He doesn't bemoan the fact that we haven't learned how to share yet. He doesn't bemoan the fact that we are still filled with selfish ambition and vain conceit. He knows that one day we will be like him. He is not worried about our progress. He is always cheering us on.
1:19-20 "For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross."
God was pleased!!!! This is a verse that I think is often misinterpreted. The Scripture is clear elsewhere that Jesus left His divinity behind. If we don't believe this, then we have no hope that we can ever live as He lived. What I think this verse means is that God was pleased to fill Jesus with His Spirit and release His power into Him and through Him. He was pleased to have fellowship with Jesus even while he was in his fully human form. This means to me that God is pleased also to fill me when I cry out to Him; that He is pleased to commune with me in the same way. That the relationship Jesus and Father God had, the intimate friendship is open and available to me and that by coming into communion with the Father through the spilled blood of Jesus, I have full access to the throne room. I do not have to approach God with fear and trembling as though he will strike me dead. Rather, He is eager to hear from me and lend me His ear. I have the ear of my King, my God, my Daddy.
These five verses have to be the most concise version of the Gospel I can think of! I am filled with hope and wonder at His perfect plan for redeeming all things...visible and invisible; in heaven and on earth. Side note, it says that heaven had to be redeemed as well. Nothing in the created realm was left unaffected by the rebellion of satan and the rebellion of man.
Thank you, Daddy, that we can approach you with confidence even in our sinfulness. Thank you that by the blood of Jesus you have taken our guilt and shame and by giving us the mind of Christ, you have given us hope of a new start, a new life, a new hope for a better future. Thank you that once again your word has given me the faith to smile at my future without fear. ~Amen.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Colossians 1:11-15--Angela
Thank you, Jesus, for a new day to praise you, seek you, and find you. May our minds and souls be filled with the wisdom and understanding that comes from experience with you, that we might live a life just like yours, pleasing you in every way. ~Amen.
1:11-12 "...being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light."
This is where I believe it's important again to remember that this prayer is specific to the Colossians, who were deemed holy and faithful in their love for other believers in accordance with the gospel of truth. This is a promise for us, too, but we have to examine our ways of loving and make sure they line up with Jesus' ways of loving. I have spent many hours in these last few months taking a good long look at the way I love other people, and I've found that a lot of times what I think is love really has at its roots control, fear, and even downright selfish ambition. I have been asking Him to gently uncover my hidden motives and truly transform my human love into selfless, others-centered love without sacrificing my soul in the process. I know it can be done.
It is in those moments of true love that we experience strength, power, endurance, patience, and joy! When I truly love someone unconditionally, with the gift of His love, I am empowered. I walk away supercharged, and later I get wrecked when they thank me, because I know that it wasn't really me. I know in those moments that God has gifted me with exaltation and glory (James 4:10).
1:13 "For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves."
This is a done deal. If we are oppressed, it's not because God is withholding a key from us. In the healing that I've experienced this past year, I've discovered at the root of much of my oppression, both physical and emotional, are lies that I've believed about God or about myself. It is my prayer for both of us that these lies will be uncovered, exposed, and the foundations of these lies will crumble under the weight of truth that God loves us passionately and has done everything to rescue us and deliver us from the oppression of darkness. I pray for light, revelation, understanding, and wisdom to flood us in the realms of our physical and emotional struggles, and that as we come to truly believe deep within our hearts that God is for us that the enemy will flee from us in defeat.
1:14 "...in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."
redemption in Greek = ransom in full, riddance, salvation; translated deliverance or redemption.
This reminds me of the story of the paraplegic who Jesus first told was forgiven for his sins. When the religious leaders scoffed and made remarks about this, Jesus commanded the man to get up and walk as evidence that Jesus has the power to forgive sins. It is the forgiveness of sins that heals us. Forgiveness is far more than just saying I'm sorry and receiving "I forgive you," in return. It is that Jesus wipes the stain away forever. It is that he unhinges the shame cycle that keeps us trapped in our sins. It is that when we begin to truly understand true forgiveness, we are able to get up and walk again. We are no longer paralyzed in the shame cycle, but free to begin to operate outside of our bad habits. We begin to find revelation and freedom from the things that have always plagued us.
1:15 "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation."
This speaks of two things to me. First, that God is exactly and has always been exactly like Jesus. If we wonder about God's motives in the Old Testament, then we must look at His actions in light of the character of Jesus and apply everything we know about Jesus to God even in those Old Testament moments.
Second, that Jesus is the firstborn means to me that we are all in this together. In other places in the Bible it says that Jesus is the firstborn among many brothers. We are all heirs. We are all in this together. If His mission becomes our mission, we will be like him!
Thank you, Father, that you have forgiven our sins, wiped them away from the record. Thank you that through the blood of your spotless son, we have also become spotless and now we labor with Christ in the effort to bring all of earth into unity with Your will and plans for it. ~Amen.
1:11-12 "...being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light."
This is where I believe it's important again to remember that this prayer is specific to the Colossians, who were deemed holy and faithful in their love for other believers in accordance with the gospel of truth. This is a promise for us, too, but we have to examine our ways of loving and make sure they line up with Jesus' ways of loving. I have spent many hours in these last few months taking a good long look at the way I love other people, and I've found that a lot of times what I think is love really has at its roots control, fear, and even downright selfish ambition. I have been asking Him to gently uncover my hidden motives and truly transform my human love into selfless, others-centered love without sacrificing my soul in the process. I know it can be done.
It is in those moments of true love that we experience strength, power, endurance, patience, and joy! When I truly love someone unconditionally, with the gift of His love, I am empowered. I walk away supercharged, and later I get wrecked when they thank me, because I know that it wasn't really me. I know in those moments that God has gifted me with exaltation and glory (James 4:10).
1:13 "For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves."
This is a done deal. If we are oppressed, it's not because God is withholding a key from us. In the healing that I've experienced this past year, I've discovered at the root of much of my oppression, both physical and emotional, are lies that I've believed about God or about myself. It is my prayer for both of us that these lies will be uncovered, exposed, and the foundations of these lies will crumble under the weight of truth that God loves us passionately and has done everything to rescue us and deliver us from the oppression of darkness. I pray for light, revelation, understanding, and wisdom to flood us in the realms of our physical and emotional struggles, and that as we come to truly believe deep within our hearts that God is for us that the enemy will flee from us in defeat.
1:14 "...in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."
redemption in Greek = ransom in full, riddance, salvation; translated deliverance or redemption.
This reminds me of the story of the paraplegic who Jesus first told was forgiven for his sins. When the religious leaders scoffed and made remarks about this, Jesus commanded the man to get up and walk as evidence that Jesus has the power to forgive sins. It is the forgiveness of sins that heals us. Forgiveness is far more than just saying I'm sorry and receiving "I forgive you," in return. It is that Jesus wipes the stain away forever. It is that he unhinges the shame cycle that keeps us trapped in our sins. It is that when we begin to truly understand true forgiveness, we are able to get up and walk again. We are no longer paralyzed in the shame cycle, but free to begin to operate outside of our bad habits. We begin to find revelation and freedom from the things that have always plagued us.
1:15 "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation."
This speaks of two things to me. First, that God is exactly and has always been exactly like Jesus. If we wonder about God's motives in the Old Testament, then we must look at His actions in light of the character of Jesus and apply everything we know about Jesus to God even in those Old Testament moments.
Second, that Jesus is the firstborn means to me that we are all in this together. In other places in the Bible it says that Jesus is the firstborn among many brothers. We are all heirs. We are all in this together. If His mission becomes our mission, we will be like him!
Thank you, Father, that you have forgiven our sins, wiped them away from the record. Thank you that through the blood of your spotless son, we have also become spotless and now we labor with Christ in the effort to bring all of earth into unity with Your will and plans for it. ~Amen.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Colossians 1:1-10--Angela
Thank you Jesus, for my dear friend Tina and the time we are going to spend with you in the coming days in prayer and study of your word. Thank you for the gift of love and friendship that has remained steady between us for all these years, despite the many times of physical separation. I thank you for the internet and for the tools you give us to stay connected and meet together in Your name. I pray that as we begin this study, we will find nourishment, hope, direction, clarity, and excitement about our future. May we be like the Proverbs 31 woman, who smiles without fear at her future.
~Amen
1:1 "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother.."
Paul and Timothy write this letter together. Paul calls Timothy "our brother." Paul declares his role as apostle, not just disciple. He declares that his assignment of apostle came by God's will/choice.
1:2 "To the holy and faithful brothers in Christ at Colosse: Grace and peace to you from God our Father."
Holy and faithful. I want to remember this flavor for the whole book. I see this as the lens through which Paul and Timothy see these beloved brothers, and I've learned the importance of reading Scripture through the author's lens, not the reader's lens.
I have always loved the greeting, "Grace and peace to you from God our Father." Wouldn't it be great if we always assured people of our love and affection in the first paragraph of every note. I have received many notes without this preamble of love and affection, and sometimes I am nervous to read what someone has to say because I don't know how they feel about me before I read it.
1:3 "We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you..."
I'm convicted that all of my prayers do not start with thanksgiving for the one I'm praying for. There are a few people that I struggle to pray for with thanksgiving and faith. I get so bogged down in my own expectations and agendas in prayer, that I forget that God has a plan for their lives that might be different from the "setting them straight" that I want Him to give them. Do you know what I mean?
Of course, there are those other friends (wink, wink) who I can't help but start my prayers with a great affection and gratitude. It seems that these are the prayers that are answered far more quickly by God.
Aside from the struggles I'm having with praying for a few particular people, this passage in Colossians has always been one of my favorite prayers to pray for my friends and loved ones. I would like to pray wholeheartedly this way for those in my life who are more difficult for me to pray for, as well.
1:4 "...because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints..."
Hmmm...perhaps my expectations of myself are too high in wishing I could always pray with this fervor of gratitude. This verse clarifies that his gratitude stems from pleasure and delight at the faithful love these believers show for him and all the saints everywhere. Perhaps there are other times that Paul has prayed out of heaviness of heart and sorrow, as well.
1:5 "...the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth..."
More and more I'm getting a sense of this "springing" up from within and that things are stored up for me in heaven, but that doesn't mean I don't have access to them. It just means that they are reserved for me, untainted and safe from the corruption of the world. Faith and love in their truest forms come directly from heaven, and the Colossian believers are being commended here for understanding the source and how to tap in.
1:6 "...the gospel that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth."
This church is one that I must learn from. They got it right. They understood. If my fruit is not growing in the measurable ways that the church at Colosse's fruit has grown, then I want to make the adjustments I need to make. This past year I have understood that there are things about God's grace and truth that I have not understood. There are some teachings that I've believed that are not true. I've had to let go of some strongholds, teachings that do not line up with God's character, that I have been taught my whole life...things like that God expects me to be perfect in my actions and motivations toward others, that God is waiting to discipline me for my wrongdoings. It's not that it's okay for me to sin or do things with wrong motives. It's that I understand now that He is filled with grace toward me. That when I make a mistake, He is not quick to criticize or jump on me for it. He's not quick to punish me by withholding His love and affection. He is quick to embrace me and tell me that He loves me and remind me that I have new chances every moment with Him. He reminds me that I can just get up and try again. Now, the fruit I have so desperately been longing for that has seemed to elude me (self-control, to name one) is starting to bud in my life. I am eager to see how Paul's view of the Colossians will help me continue to trade false doctrine for truth and grace that comes from the gospel.
1:7-8 "You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit."
Sometimes I long for the writings of some of these other faithful disciples. I love Paul's writings, but I wonder how many other writings are out there that would help us fill in some of the gaps. Thankfully, we have the Holy Spirit to do just that. Still, I think it would be amazing to read something Epaphras wrote.
1:9 "For this reason, 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."
This is the part that I love to pray for others and for myself. My prayer life has changed so much in the past years with small children. I used to believe that unless I sat down and wrote a prayer out, it didn't reach the ears of God. Now, I realize that many times I don't even formally pray. When I pray for you, for instance, I usually just think of you. I picture your face, and I recall to mind the struggles that you are having and I silently tell Father God that I know He has the solutions and the grace you need. That's usually it. There are times when I get an e-mail or something from you or someone else, and I am inspired to pray a more in-depth prayer in an e-mail or in my journal, but that is a rarer form of prayer for me these days. This is what I believe Paul means by having never stopped praying for them and asking God to fill them with knowledge of His will through wisdom and understanding.
Wisdom and understanding...these are words I have studied long and hard. Orion's middle name is Joseph, which means "God will add" & "wisdom and understanding." When I was pregnant with him, I believed that God would give wisdom and understanding as supernatural gifts to us for raising him in accordance with the truths of Jesus rather than with our parents' faulty models of parenting. I am grateful that God has given us these gifts in spades, but I have been struggling these past few weeks with the depth to which my upbringing is ingrained within my habits. It is hard to do things differently from the way I was raised. I am glad to have you praying for me in this area. I know you understand completely what I'm talking about here.
1:10 "And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God..."
This is one of those passages I have had a completely new revelation about in the past year. I used to read this and feel so much pressure to be better than I was, to do more, to relate to God better, as though I could actually transform myself into a better person all by myself. I now understand that living worthy doesn't mean doing everything right or perfectly and that growing in the knowledge of God is far more than just knowing more facts about God.
I recently looked up a few of these words in the Greek. Here are the highlights:
walk = to tread all around, walk at large (as proof of ability), to live, to follow (as a companion or votary), to be occupied with [I put a link to the thesaurus query for votary that I did]
worthy = appropriately, as becometh
I think this is really important. To me, these definitions reveal that this is just another way of saying that they are praying for the believers to have the gifts they need to follow Jesus, to walk as He walked. We can pray this for each other...that wisdom and understanding, gifts from God, would penetrate through the crust and layers of our strongholds, fears, and deceptions so that we can live as Jesus lived, so that we can see others as Jesus saw them, so that we can love like Jesus loved, so that we can bring healing, hope, and love to those we come into contact with.
knowledge = recognition, full discernment, acknowledgement; the Greek word here is epignosis, which is made up of two root words: epi and ginosko.
epi = a preposition meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etc.), as a relation of distribution; because of, on behalf of.
ginosko = to know absolutely, to allow, be aware of, feel, have knowledge of, know, perceive, be resolved, can speak, be sure, understand
This kind of knowing is the experiential kind of knowing...knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt the true nature and character of God. Being able to see the difference between the hand of God and the hand of the enemy in a situation that others might not be able to determine. Knowing how He would respond at every level for each person. This is a knowledge based on His knowing and loving us first. This understanding and knowledge must be born out of an intimate friendship, like Moses and David had, not out of a clinical knowledge, like the Pharisees and Sadducees had.
So, this is my prayer:
Father, infuse us with your wisdom and understanding. Shower us with your affection and your love. Let your acceptance and affection for us saturate the marrow of our bones and the pathways in our brains, giving us Your lens with which to perceive the outside world. Give us your perspective on our situations, our children, our husbands, our friends, and our adversaries. Give us your perspective on the work we do each day, seen and unseen, rewarded and unrewarded. Draw us near to you. Give us a clear sense of your hand at work even in the darkness of the unknown and the mystery of unanswered questions about our situations and about the future. I pray that we would be so deeply rooted in Your presence and affection that we would be able to smile at the future. ~Amen
~Amen
1:1 "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother.."
Paul and Timothy write this letter together. Paul calls Timothy "our brother." Paul declares his role as apostle, not just disciple. He declares that his assignment of apostle came by God's will/choice.
1:2 "To the holy and faithful brothers in Christ at Colosse: Grace and peace to you from God our Father."
Holy and faithful. I want to remember this flavor for the whole book. I see this as the lens through which Paul and Timothy see these beloved brothers, and I've learned the importance of reading Scripture through the author's lens, not the reader's lens.
I have always loved the greeting, "Grace and peace to you from God our Father." Wouldn't it be great if we always assured people of our love and affection in the first paragraph of every note. I have received many notes without this preamble of love and affection, and sometimes I am nervous to read what someone has to say because I don't know how they feel about me before I read it.
1:3 "We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you..."
I'm convicted that all of my prayers do not start with thanksgiving for the one I'm praying for. There are a few people that I struggle to pray for with thanksgiving and faith. I get so bogged down in my own expectations and agendas in prayer, that I forget that God has a plan for their lives that might be different from the "setting them straight" that I want Him to give them. Do you know what I mean?
Of course, there are those other friends (wink, wink) who I can't help but start my prayers with a great affection and gratitude. It seems that these are the prayers that are answered far more quickly by God.
Aside from the struggles I'm having with praying for a few particular people, this passage in Colossians has always been one of my favorite prayers to pray for my friends and loved ones. I would like to pray wholeheartedly this way for those in my life who are more difficult for me to pray for, as well.
1:4 "...because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints..."
Hmmm...perhaps my expectations of myself are too high in wishing I could always pray with this fervor of gratitude. This verse clarifies that his gratitude stems from pleasure and delight at the faithful love these believers show for him and all the saints everywhere. Perhaps there are other times that Paul has prayed out of heaviness of heart and sorrow, as well.
1:5 "...the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth..."
More and more I'm getting a sense of this "springing" up from within and that things are stored up for me in heaven, but that doesn't mean I don't have access to them. It just means that they are reserved for me, untainted and safe from the corruption of the world. Faith and love in their truest forms come directly from heaven, and the Colossian believers are being commended here for understanding the source and how to tap in.
1:6 "...the gospel that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth."
This church is one that I must learn from. They got it right. They understood. If my fruit is not growing in the measurable ways that the church at Colosse's fruit has grown, then I want to make the adjustments I need to make. This past year I have understood that there are things about God's grace and truth that I have not understood. There are some teachings that I've believed that are not true. I've had to let go of some strongholds, teachings that do not line up with God's character, that I have been taught my whole life...things like that God expects me to be perfect in my actions and motivations toward others, that God is waiting to discipline me for my wrongdoings. It's not that it's okay for me to sin or do things with wrong motives. It's that I understand now that He is filled with grace toward me. That when I make a mistake, He is not quick to criticize or jump on me for it. He's not quick to punish me by withholding His love and affection. He is quick to embrace me and tell me that He loves me and remind me that I have new chances every moment with Him. He reminds me that I can just get up and try again. Now, the fruit I have so desperately been longing for that has seemed to elude me (self-control, to name one) is starting to bud in my life. I am eager to see how Paul's view of the Colossians will help me continue to trade false doctrine for truth and grace that comes from the gospel.
1:7-8 "You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit."
Sometimes I long for the writings of some of these other faithful disciples. I love Paul's writings, but I wonder how many other writings are out there that would help us fill in some of the gaps. Thankfully, we have the Holy Spirit to do just that. Still, I think it would be amazing to read something Epaphras wrote.
1:9 "For this reason, 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."
This is the part that I love to pray for others and for myself. My prayer life has changed so much in the past years with small children. I used to believe that unless I sat down and wrote a prayer out, it didn't reach the ears of God. Now, I realize that many times I don't even formally pray. When I pray for you, for instance, I usually just think of you. I picture your face, and I recall to mind the struggles that you are having and I silently tell Father God that I know He has the solutions and the grace you need. That's usually it. There are times when I get an e-mail or something from you or someone else, and I am inspired to pray a more in-depth prayer in an e-mail or in my journal, but that is a rarer form of prayer for me these days. This is what I believe Paul means by having never stopped praying for them and asking God to fill them with knowledge of His will through wisdom and understanding.
Wisdom and understanding...these are words I have studied long and hard. Orion's middle name is Joseph, which means "God will add" & "wisdom and understanding." When I was pregnant with him, I believed that God would give wisdom and understanding as supernatural gifts to us for raising him in accordance with the truths of Jesus rather than with our parents' faulty models of parenting. I am grateful that God has given us these gifts in spades, but I have been struggling these past few weeks with the depth to which my upbringing is ingrained within my habits. It is hard to do things differently from the way I was raised. I am glad to have you praying for me in this area. I know you understand completely what I'm talking about here.
1:10 "And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God..."
This is one of those passages I have had a completely new revelation about in the past year. I used to read this and feel so much pressure to be better than I was, to do more, to relate to God better, as though I could actually transform myself into a better person all by myself. I now understand that living worthy doesn't mean doing everything right or perfectly and that growing in the knowledge of God is far more than just knowing more facts about God.
I recently looked up a few of these words in the Greek. Here are the highlights:
walk = to tread all around, walk at large (as proof of ability), to live, to follow (as a companion or votary), to be occupied with [I put a link to the thesaurus query for votary that I did]
worthy = appropriately, as becometh
I think this is really important. To me, these definitions reveal that this is just another way of saying that they are praying for the believers to have the gifts they need to follow Jesus, to walk as He walked. We can pray this for each other...that wisdom and understanding, gifts from God, would penetrate through the crust and layers of our strongholds, fears, and deceptions so that we can live as Jesus lived, so that we can see others as Jesus saw them, so that we can love like Jesus loved, so that we can bring healing, hope, and love to those we come into contact with.
knowledge = recognition, full discernment, acknowledgement; the Greek word here is epignosis, which is made up of two root words: epi and ginosko.
epi = a preposition meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etc.), as a relation of distribution; because of, on behalf of.
ginosko = to know absolutely, to allow, be aware of, feel, have knowledge of, know, perceive, be resolved, can speak, be sure, understand
This kind of knowing is the experiential kind of knowing...knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt the true nature and character of God. Being able to see the difference between the hand of God and the hand of the enemy in a situation that others might not be able to determine. Knowing how He would respond at every level for each person. This is a knowledge based on His knowing and loving us first. This understanding and knowledge must be born out of an intimate friendship, like Moses and David had, not out of a clinical knowledge, like the Pharisees and Sadducees had.
So, this is my prayer:
Father, infuse us with your wisdom and understanding. Shower us with your affection and your love. Let your acceptance and affection for us saturate the marrow of our bones and the pathways in our brains, giving us Your lens with which to perceive the outside world. Give us your perspective on our situations, our children, our husbands, our friends, and our adversaries. Give us your perspective on the work we do each day, seen and unseen, rewarded and unrewarded. Draw us near to you. Give us a clear sense of your hand at work even in the darkness of the unknown and the mystery of unanswered questions about our situations and about the future. I pray that we would be so deeply rooted in Your presence and affection that we would be able to smile at the future. ~Amen
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