Colossians
Tuesday, June 15, 2004
My Prayer Today
Heavenly Father, I know that if I want to bring You honor and praise, I must live from spiritual wisdom. I pray today that You will give me that wisdom, that You fill me with the Holy Spirit so that I will trust You enough to hear Your voice and do Your will regardless of what the world may think about it. I pray that You will give me courage to stand up for You even when others around me do not. This I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
God's Word For Me Today
Colossians 1:7-14
7Epaphras, our much loved co-worker, was the one who brought you the Good News. He is Christ’s faithful servant, and he is helping us in your place. 8He is the one who told us about the great love for others that the Holy Spirit has given you.
9So we have continued praying for you ever since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you a complete understanding of what he wants to do in your lives, and we ask him to make you wise with spiritual wisdom. 10Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and you will continually do good, kind things for others. All the while, you will learn to know God better and better.
11We also pray that you will be strengthened with his glorious power so that you will have all the patience and endurance you need. May you be filled with joy, 12always thanking the Father, who has enabled you to share the inheritance that belongs to God’s holy people, who live in the light. 13For he has rescued us from the one who rules in the kingdom of darkness, and he has brought us into the Kingdom of his dear Son. 14God has purchased our freedom with his blood and has forgiven all our sins.
Reflecting on God’s Word
Would you say that you know God better and better as you go through life? Why or why not?
A Deeper Exploration of God’s Word
According to Paul, what is the outcome of living a life that is filled with spiritual wisdom? (1:9-10)
How does our spiritual maturity show itself in our relationships with others? (1:10)
How does our spiritual maturity show itself in our relationship with God? (1:10)
Understanding God’s Word
What is the connection between what we know and what we do according to today’s Scripture?
What would it look like in practical terms to live out today’s Scripture in everyday life?
Applying God’s Word to Our Lives
What one thing will you do as a result of reading today’s Scripture?
Thoughts...Always Honoring and Pleasing the Lord...
Every Christian wants to honor and please the Lord. Today’s Scripture makes it clear that in order to move from wanting to honor and please the Lord to actually doing it is a matter of gaining spiritual wisdom and then applying it. Leo Buscaglia once said, “To know and not to do is not yet to know.” His obvious point is that we can’t truly say we know something if we aren’t applying it in our lives. We may know that Jesus taught us to do to others what we would have them do to us, but until we rely on the Holy Spirit to empower us to actually do to others what we would have done to us, we will never do it, and we won’t actually KNOW it either. Imagine the difference in our world if Christians were always honoring and pleasing the Lord! That’s what He expects of us, and it IS possible as we read His word, learn its lessons, and then apply it through the grace and power of the Holy Spirit. Make a commitment to act on what you know from God’s spiritual wisdom today—ALL day. That’s the first step in always honoring and pleasing the Lord! Amen.