Take 1 minute to read the scripture Take 1 minute to read the thought Take 1 minute to think about them Take 1 minute to pray Take 1 minute to finish your coffee
Colossians
Week Day 1
Reading: Colossians 1:3,9; 4:2-4 “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you” “For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives” “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.” NIV
Thought: Paul thanks God for these people and prays from them constantly, prayer is integral to Paul’s ministry. In the start and end of his letter he encourages us to pray. One would have thought that someone as important as Paul, as busy as Paul, as prolific a writer and thinker as Paul would not have found the time to pray as much as others. From here we can see Paul prays for the people he ministers to constantly. Often in church we look at prayer as a ministry area; I personally find it very hard to pray for extended periods of time and I know others seem to find it easy. But that is no excuse; it must change in me because prayer is the bedrock of fellowship with God and knowing His will. John Wesley said “God does nothing except in response to believing prayer.” Charles Spurgeon said “I would rather teach one man to pray than ten men to preach.” Prayer is often one of the most overlooked things in the church, but from these verses, it is obvious that prayer is one of the most fundamentally critical to all of our ministries and should be ordinary in our lives.
Prayer: Lord teach me to pray and help me to do it more often! Day 2 Reading: Colossians 1:15, 19-20 “The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” “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.” NIV
Thought: Sometimes things in life seem to raise a question in our minds. Who are you God that you would allow this to happen to me? It is hard to relate to statements such as God is good, or God is love. We know God is all-knowing and almighty, so trying to understand why things are the way they are and who God is that he would allow such things is very difficult. Ultimately in these times we would just love for God to show up, blast a few people and calm a few storms so that we can have a peaceful life and just get on with our
lives. Curious indeed then is it not, that it is then in times of comfort and dare I say it, selfindulgence, that we don’t feel that we “need” God. Suffering brings us to want to know God in the “who”, the “why” and the “where”. These two verses tell us that if we want to know God personally, to look to Jesus for the who, the why and the where. No other religion in the world has God answering the deepest questions in the midst of suffering with a person who is fully God saving us by suffering unjustly at our own hands. Jesus brings us peace.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for saving me. Help me to seek you no matter what the circumstances. I want to know you more every day, help me to seek you even when life is good, help me to see you more clearly and help me to know your presence with me all the time.
Day 3 Reading: Colossians 2:6-7 “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” NIV
Thought: When was the last time you were overflowing with thankfulness? I’m not even sure what that fully means if I’m honest but it must be something like what happens to a child when they are told they are going to Disneyland. I remember telling my own kids once and watching them spin like tops in the middle of the room. They were cheering, dancing, shouting excitement at the top of their voices and completely forgetting where they were for that moment. That is what pure gratitude does, it takes over, makes us forget where we are and focuses our minds on hope and the joy of life itself. Is that the kind of life we will have if we live our lives in Christ? This is indeed the kind of thankfulness and what a blessed assurance! If we truly realise that we are going to Heaven; a permanent, unchanging and everlasting promise of eternal, unrelenting, love filled, joy filled, hope filled, life filled existence we’d get a little excited too even for an Englishman! If we root our daily faith in Christ in full knowledge of this promise, nothing could stop us from overflowing in the thankfulness of this reality. I invite you to lower the English reserve for just a moment… Disneyland has nothing on heaven, and Christ has invited us… come.
Prayer: Lord, woooooooooooooopppppieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Day 4 Reading: Colossians 2:13-15 “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” NIV
Thought: Have you ever been driven your car over the speed limit? How did you feel? Some would say they feel guilty; others would only feel guilty if a blue light suddenly appeared behind them and the feelings of exhilaration turn to guilt. Guilt is not a feeling, it is a legal category, and shame is the feeling we have when we are found to be guilty. God through Christ has cancelled the charge of our legal debt created by our sin. Our guilty
charge was nailed to the cross and the authority of death that would seek to keep us hidden in shame because of our sin has been dealt with. We are no longer dead in our sin but alive in Christ because of the cross. We do not have to live in shame but realise that our guilt is dealt with! The priority then to all of us living with shame is to receive the forgiveness given to us by Jesus. It does not make what was done right, it was wrong. But our focus should be on what we have received from Christ and therefore what we have to give through Him to others.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for dealing with my guilt, please help me to know your forgiveness so that I do not live in my shame.
Day 5 Reading: Colossians 3:1-4 “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 minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” NIV
Thought: When a sculptor takes a piece of marble, they have their eyes set on what it will become, they do not focus on the pieces being chipped off, they focus on revealing the masterpiece underneath. It was always there, in the sculptor’s eye, it merely needs to be revealed by shedding the parts that cover it. The life of a Christian is heaven focused not earth focused. In the eye of a Christian is the prize of Christ and eternity. Our lives are hidden with Christ in God, not because we are pure, but because Christ makes us pure. These verses encourage us to set our sights on the eternal prize of life with Christ in God. To shoot for it, to aim for holiness and to live the life we have been saved for, one full of the fruit of the Holy Spirit and put to death the old life daily, being rid of the works of the sinful nature. To die to our sin and allow God to chip away at the old habits and over time reveal the masterpiece of His handiwork underneath.
Prayer: Lord, give me a heart that longs after your fellowship, a soul that is thirsty for your kingdom and a mind determined to bend the will to you.
Day 6 Reading: Colossians 3:23-24 “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” NIV
Thought: Sometimes in life we give time, money and effort to something or someone and they let us down, mistreat us or downright abuse us. This is not right and they in all probability have not acted rightly. Often we feel like what we have done was wasted, we feel let down or even enslaved and we feel that all our efforts have been spoiled. Paul would remind us that we serve the Lord not human masters and we work as if it was for the Lord, we give as if it was to the Lord and we serve as if we serve the Lord. This is inspiration to work hard because we know God will not waste our efforts. We must remind ourselves that whenever we feel let down by men, unappreciated or even abused; we are only feeling these things because we were looking for human recognition. It is not our job to bring
people down, or impress others, but merely to do our best with what we have in serving God. Our minds must be on doing all things as unto God. Let God be the one that deals with the failure of others, He shows no favouritism.
Prayer: Lord, may I seek your smile above all others. Help me to work hard and do all things as if I was working for you and help me to avoid the trap of seeking to impress or flatter others for my own gain.
Day 7 Reading: Colossians 4:18 “I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.” NIV
Thought: Sometimes the world tries to silence Christians or imprison them, sometimes it seems like the system is beginning to close us in, trap us and squash us. History is littered with the death of Christians at the hands of people and political systems bent on the destruction of our faith. The Bible is still the most banned book in History. People have proclaimed its annihilation throughout the centuries and it has outlived its pallbearers. Let us remember that for 2000 years people have been imprisoned for the sake of Christ and in that 2000 years billions of people have come to know him. We stand on the shoulders of the giants of our faith and no matter what man may do, nothing can chain the gospel, nothing can destroy Christ and no man no matter how tall, how clever or how influential will ever conquer our God. So here is a thought from Napoleon Bonaparte: “Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne and I myself have founded great empires; but upon what did these creations of our genius depend? Upon force. Jesus alone founded His empire upon love, and to this very day millions will die for Him.... I think I understand something of human nature; and I tell you, all these were men, and I am a man: none else is like Him; Jesus Christ was more than man.... I have inspired multitudes with such an enthusiastic devotion that they would have died for me.... but to do this it was necessary that I should be visibly present with the electric influence of my looks, my words, of my voice. When I saw men and spoke to them, I lighted up the flame of self-devotion in their hearts.... Christ alone has succeeded in so raising the mind of man toward the unseen, that it becomes insensible to the barriers of time and space. Across a chasm of eighteen hundred years, Jesus Christ makes a demand which is beyond all others to satisfy; He asks for that which a philosopher may seek in vain at the hands of his friends, or a father of his children, or a bride of her spouse, or a man of his brother. He asks for the human heart; He will have it entirely to Himself. He demands it unconditionally; and forthwith His demand is granted. Wonderful! In defiance of time and space, the soul of man, with all its powers and faculties, becomes an annexation to the empire of Christ. All who sincerely believe in Him, experience that remarkable, supernatural love toward Him. This phenomenon is accountable; it is altogether beyond the scope of man's creative powers. Time, the great destroyer, is powerless to extinguish this sacred flame; time can neither exhaust its strength nor put a limit to its range. This is it, which strikes me most; I have often thought of it. This is which proves to me quite convincingly the Divinity of Jesus Christ.”
Prayer: Lord, help me to remember the chains of my brothers and sisters around the world suffering for the gospel. Help me to stand no matter how dark the times become, help me not to fear the chains of man because I know that you alone have my heart.