Colossians

I read this book the other day while on a break from work. I have found that if I read the Bible on my breaks I feel so much more rested and filled, but I also tend to get so engrossed that I forget all concept of time and just sit there reading forever... opps. But as I read this book it sounded so much like a friend writing encouragement to me. I found myself transposing it into what it might sound like that way. In my mind the first chapter went a little like this:

From your friend, and facilitated by God,
To a faithful saint and sibling in Christ,
I wish you grace and peace this day from our Father.
I give thanks to God when I think of you, and I am always praying for you, ever since I first learned that our faith was mutual. And since I first heard of your great love for others who love Christ, because of the great hope which we place in Christ; which came as soon as you first heard of Christ, and has continued to bring forth fruit in you from the time when you first learned of grace.
I also heard from our dear friend who told of your great love in the Spirit.
And because of all of this I am praying that you will be filled with knowledge of God's will, his wisdom, and for spiritual understanding.
For when you have those you will walk worthy of Christ, you will be fully pleasing to Him, you will be fruitful, and you will increase in knowledge.
All this will strengthen you with His might, because of His glorious power.
And this will bring to you patience and longsuffering with joy.

That is just up through verse 11, but it was such an encouragement to me to think of it that way. I had been loving my friends and Christian siblings, and others in the world, but I had lacked some key elements, knowledge of his will and wisdom, and therefore I wasn't completely producing the fruit that I could have been, which would have helped me to have patience, and in the end, joy. I fed off of these verses, and their encoraging message, for the rest of the work day.
posted by AbbyLinn 7:09 PM

 
Our relationship with God is important, for as our Savior and Father, he wants to know us, spend time with us, and care for us.

". . He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being."
ACTS 17:27b&28a
He is always with us

". . For I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day."
II TIMOTHY 1:12
He is faithful

"Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God."
EPHESIANS 2:19
He gives us family and fellowship

"For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, you are God's building."
I CORINTHIANS 3:9
We are his temple

"For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus."
GALATIANS 3:26
"No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you."
JOHN 15:15
We are his children

". . We also rejoice in God through Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation."
ROMANS 5:11
We have forgiveness

"So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another."
ROMANS 12:5
"For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones."
EPHESIANS 5:30
We are one through him

"And He said, 'To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God . . .'"
LUKE 8:10a
He gives us wisdom
posted by AbbyLinn 5:48 AM

 
Today I'm reflecting on who God is, and what He is like.
"I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You."
JOB 42:2
Unstopable

". . The things which are impossible with men are possible with God."
LUKE 18:27
Unimpossible

"The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork."
PSALM 19:1
Obvious

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end."
ECCLESIASTES 3:11
Artist

"You are great in counsel and mighty in work, for Your eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, to give everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings."
JEREMIAH 32:19
Wise

"Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, measured heaven with a span and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure? Weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?"
ISAIAH 40:12
Huge
posted by AbbyLinn 8:18 AM

 
Our relationship with Christ defines who we are, and what we do.

". . This is the victory that has overcome the world; our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?"
I JOHN 5:4&5
No one can overcome the world, flesh, and hinderances unless they are with Christ. He is what gives us the strength we have, and the power to overcome.

"For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain."
PHILIPPIANS 1:21
yikes. this one can be tough. I've gotten to the point where I see that to die is gain, but I'm still working on the "to live is Christ part". I have a feeling it requires sacrifice... yeah, still working on that one.

"Our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ." PHILIPPIANS 3:20
Hey, this is an encouraging one. Next time someone makes me upset I can say, "You know what? I have reservations, gotta get going..." :o)

"I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."
PHILIPPIANS 3:14
Ah, pressing. Pressing I can do! I press on, I strive, I'm working toward a goal, and though I may not have reached the goal yet, I'm pressing.

"There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling."
EPHESIANS 4:4
There is a "one" theme here that seems significant. One body (the church) One Spirit (God) and One hope (that we have salvation).
posted by AbbyLinn 4:19 PM

 
"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age; against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."
EPHESIANS 6:12
When problems arise, remember that they are not just physical things, but are actually influenced by the spiriitual world. During spiritual warefare remember:

"Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to
quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one."
EPHESIANS 6:16
faith is the antidote.

"Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you."
JAMES 4:7
resistance is key

"I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and
justice for the poor. Surely the righteous shall give thanks to Your name; the upright shall dwell in Your presence."
PSALM 140:12&13
God will watch over the troubled

"You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that
flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the
destruction that lays waste at noonday."
PSALM 91:5&6
there is no reason to fear

"For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers; but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."
I PETER 3:12
evil will not prevail

"'For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but My
kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,' says the Lord, who has mercy on you."
ISAIAH 54:10
even when it looks bad, God is there.

posted by AbbyLinn 11:08 AM