PRESSING ON TOWARD OUR GOAL
Greetings in the name of Jesus:
All of us have different objectives and goals in our life, but in Christ the main goal we should have is in knowing Christ more intimately. One of my goals is to learn better how to pray for those around me. Sometimes we wonder how to pray for missionaries and other leaders we have never met. Paul had never met the Colossians but he faithfully prayed for them. When you find all writing to the Colossians in chapter 1: 9- 14. In this section of Scripture he asks them to understand God's will, to gain spiritual wisdom, by honoring God, very good will fruit,and growing in their knowledge of God.
We find Paul telling them that they will be filled with God's strength through the power of God's Spirit with great patience and endurance as they remain in the joy of Christ Jesus for all of their needs.
Paul gave us five benefits for all believers through Christ Jesus, and those were: 1. He made us qualified to share in this inheritance according to 2 Corinthians 5: 21 which says "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." Because of what Jesus is done on our behalf God no longer sees us in the state we are, but he sees us as being a part of Christ. 2. Jesus rescued us from Satan's dominion of darkness and he made us to be his children. It tells us in 2 Corinthians 2:15" for we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing." Because we are claimed by Jesus the true nature of our human condition has been canceled in the eyes of God. 3. He brought us into his eternal kingdom according to Ephesians 1:5-6 which says "in love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given to us in the one he loves." Jesus has redeemed us and bought our freedom from sin and judgment he has forgiven all of our sentence and I think God for what we have received.
As we pray for one another we should be able to utilize this message effectively because of the supremacy that God is given Jesus Christ our Lord. I just want to go over seven of these ways to pray for one another that can be useful as we look at earlier versus in Colossians 1:.
1. Be thankful for their faith and changed the lives 1:3
2. Ask God to help them know what he wants them to do 1:9
3. Ask God to give them deep spiritual understanding 1:9
4. Ask God to help them live for him 1:10
5. Ask God to give them more knowledge of himself 1:10
6. Ask God to give them strength and endurance 1:11
7. Ask God to fill them with joy, strength, and thankfulness 1:11
I just wonder how many people in your life could be touched if you prayed for them in this way? It is the divine nature of Jesus Christ that gives us all the strength that we need to pray effectively. One of the strongest statements about the divine nature of Christ is found in Colossians 1:15-16 when it says "he is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 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." It is by this statement made by Paul in Colossians that we can honestly say that Jesus is the physical manifestation of God. I want to talk more about that manifestation of God as it concerns the Trinity and how people deal with the three personalities of God in one in the next blog. May you richly bless God through your life in him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
All of us have different objectives and goals in our life, but in Christ the main goal we should have is in knowing Christ more intimately. One of my goals is to learn better how to pray for those around me. Sometimes we wonder how to pray for missionaries and other leaders we have never met. Paul had never met the Colossians but he faithfully prayed for them. When you find all writing to the Colossians in chapter 1: 9- 14. In this section of Scripture he asks them to understand God's will, to gain spiritual wisdom, by honoring God, very good will fruit,and growing in their knowledge of God.
We find Paul telling them that they will be filled with God's strength through the power of God's Spirit with great patience and endurance as they remain in the joy of Christ Jesus for all of their needs.
Paul gave us five benefits for all believers through Christ Jesus, and those were: 1. He made us qualified to share in this inheritance according to 2 Corinthians 5: 21 which says "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." Because of what Jesus is done on our behalf God no longer sees us in the state we are, but he sees us as being a part of Christ. 2. Jesus rescued us from Satan's dominion of darkness and he made us to be his children. It tells us in 2 Corinthians 2:15" for we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing." Because we are claimed by Jesus the true nature of our human condition has been canceled in the eyes of God. 3. He brought us into his eternal kingdom according to Ephesians 1:5-6 which says "in love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given to us in the one he loves." Jesus has redeemed us and bought our freedom from sin and judgment he has forgiven all of our sentence and I think God for what we have received.
As we pray for one another we should be able to utilize this message effectively because of the supremacy that God is given Jesus Christ our Lord. I just want to go over seven of these ways to pray for one another that can be useful as we look at earlier versus in Colossians 1:.
1. Be thankful for their faith and changed the lives 1:3
2. Ask God to help them know what he wants them to do 1:9
3. Ask God to give them deep spiritual understanding 1:9
4. Ask God to help them live for him 1:10
5. Ask God to give them more knowledge of himself 1:10
6. Ask God to give them strength and endurance 1:11
7. Ask God to fill them with joy, strength, and thankfulness 1:11
I just wonder how many people in your life could be touched if you prayed for them in this way? It is the divine nature of Jesus Christ that gives us all the strength that we need to pray effectively. One of the strongest statements about the divine nature of Christ is found in Colossians 1:15-16 when it says "he is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 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." It is by this statement made by Paul in Colossians that we can honestly say that Jesus is the physical manifestation of God. I want to talk more about that manifestation of God as it concerns the Trinity and how people deal with the three personalities of God in one in the next blog. May you richly bless God through your life in him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
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