Category Archives: Colossians

²⁴ 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. ²⁵ God has given me the responsibility of serving his church by proclaiming his entire message to you. ²⁶ This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to God’s people. ²⁷ For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.

²⁸ So we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ. ²⁹ That’s why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me.

Colossians 1:24-29

Dear God, Christ lives in me. That’s the secret according to Paul in verse 27. Christ lives in me. Well, there are some days when I give him more space than others.

I lost a little bit of sleep last night. As I was in bed and had different things running around my head–the mother I talked with yesterday about her son and his addiction issues, issues at work, issues in the community, etc.–I found myself sometimes praying for people, sometimes complaining about them in my head, and sometimes just wishing I could go back to sleep. I was trying to make room for Jesus, but there was probably a lot of me in those thoughts and not as much Jesus. More judgment in me for others and the way they act, and not as much grace and trying to look behind the facade to see the pain.

Jesus, if you are to live in me then I am going to have to do better. Yes, you live there already. Your Holy Spirit is in me. The God of the universe is in there with me. But I am still more likely to judge others, get frustrated and lash out, or simply try to resolve issues myself instead of leaning into you. So help me Jesus. Help me, Holy Spirit. Help me, Father. Help me to completely submit to you and bring my being just a little closer to you. Oh, how I would love to be a little more Christlike today. I give myself over to you and ask that you help get me there.

I pray all of this in my savior Jesus, and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.
Colossians 3:12-15

Dear God, I’m in a chapel on Thanksgiving morning and praying for some people I love. Two, in particular, are quite sick—one gravely so. My heart is heavy for them and the earthly paths before them. It is also heavy for their spouses and children. One of them, the more ill of the two, still has living parents. My heart hurts for them as well.

So my wife and I are here this morning. In other circumstances, I might be feeling sorry for myself because not everything is as I would hope it would be. But today, I’m really not thinking about myself at all. I’m here to ask you for your comfort for each of these people and their families. I ask for healing where you will it. I ask for a smooth path no matter the circumstance. I ask that you teach me how to love them. I ask that you not let the pain of these situations be wasted on anyone touched by them.

Oh, God…Oh, Father…Oh, Jesus…Oh, Holy Spirit, please be with the people. Be with my wife. Be with me. Father, heal and do your will. Jesus, teach and love. Holy Spirit, comfort and pray.

I pray all of this through the grace given to me through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus,

Amen

So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding.

Colossians 1:9

Dear God, maybe this is how I need to start praying for fellow believers. I supposed it has the third element of the “Serenity Prayer” from Alcoholics Anonymous to it. It’s a good thing to pray for myself too.

What would it be like to have complete knowledge of your will? To have spiritual wisdom and understanding? To hear your still, small voice at any given time and peacefully follow it–whether into action or inaction? So often I am impetuous and I act before I think. And I think before I pray. There have been times when I’ve screamed at you to understand your will and heard silence. In retrospect, those were times when you just needed me to wait.

Father, Holy Spirit, Jesus–especially Holy Spirit in this case. As the Father’s presence with me now and throughout this day, help me to have your wisdom. Help me to take in the world through your eyes and ears. Help me to be the friend you need me to be for the friend I’m about to spend several hours with. Help me to be the husband and father you need me to be. I confess to you that I have pride. I want to take glory for myself. All glory to you. I pray that you will increase through me and that when people see me they will see you instead.

I pray this through Jesus,

Amen

Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.

Dear God, what do I do about this? You know I have love in my heart. You know I have forgiveness even. I have mercy for how someone is and the lens through which they enter the world. But there is a group of people in various areas of my life where the relationships are broken. And they fall into different categories. Well, maybe they don’t. I’ve told each of them why I’ve done what I’ve done and why I feel the way I do. Some are defensive and don’t want to even consider they’ve done something wrong. Others simply see the situation differently than I do, probably because we are each working from different pieces of information and using what we know as the basis of our viewpoint. For my part, I’m willing (at least I think I am) to hear what I’ve done wrong and have an opportunity to apologize.

So what do I do from here? Where do I go with your peace filling my heart? Maybe I go to hope and the hope you offer me. Our small town does an annual church-to-church walk Christmas service in December, and I’ve been given a speaking assignment at one of the spots this year. I was assigned “Celebrating Hope in Christ.” The three other stops are “Celebrating Peace in Christ,” “Celebrating Love in Christ,” and “Celebrating Joy in Christ.” I received the assignment this morning and it immediately stumped me. Hope in Christ? What do I have to say about that? But maybe this situation lends itself to that hope. I have hope that you will move the world in the direction you want to move it regardless of how wrong or right I am. I have a hope that you will provide for my situation beyond anything I can imagine working. When I think now about Zechariah’s (John the Baptist’s dad) prophecy after he is allowed to speak again, it is all about hope. When I think of Mary’s song, “The Magnificat,” it is layered with tons of hope. Simeon and Anna, at the temple when Jesus was circumcised, had hope. There is a hope that this is all worth it. All of this pain counts. You are using it. You are redeeming it. You are breaking us, melting us, molding us, and filling us. We just have to press into you and worship you, and the hope will start to flow because we will stop looking at our own lives and be only about your will. To quote another song, the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of your glory and grace.

Father, thank you for my hope. Thank you for giving me hope through all of this. I trust in you. I believe in you. I love you. I worship you.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone.

Dear God, I’m about to spend the morning among a lot of people who need you, but it will be awkward because they will be people who are in line for food. Guide me in each interaction. Show me how to love. Show me what to say. Show me what you would have me to do. This is a pretty simple prayer today. Rich Mullins had a song called “Let Mercy Lead.” Help men to lead with mercy, Father.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

Colossians 3:16-17

Dear God, what kind of representative of you am I? I think that maybe I’m not giving others a hypocritical life to observe, and that’s good. But going back to my prayer the other journal about the cycling program I use and how much better I am about being an ambassador for that than I am for you and my faith in you. But it all starts with the example I am living because I can say all of the things I want to say, but if my actions don’t back it up then I am, to quote Paul in 1 Corinthians 13, a clanging gong.

I’m listening to a Christian music mix on Pandora while I type this, and I just saw an artist come up who lost his son due to tragic circumstances in the last two years. I don’t know the details, and I don’t need to know the details, but I get the feeling that it was a devastating cause of death. And now as I sit here the day after Thanksgiving, thinking about how my own Thanksgiving Day didn’t fit the American mold of what Thanksgiving should look like I find myself taking my eyes off of my own self-pity and thinking about how hard Thanksgiving must have been for him and his family. What went wrong? What went wrong? It’s a question that haunts a lot of us.

Father, I simply have a life to live today. I get to see my parents and love them. I get to spend the day with my wife. A front is supposed to be coming and it will be colder so I’ll respond to that accordingly. My point is, I just have this day in front of my, and it’s my job to worship you, thank you for all you’ve done, and simply ask that the Holy Spirit will grow in me to the point that others will see you and not me.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.

Colossians 2:6-7

Dear God, my head is just not in the game today. I had visions of fasting today to cover our organizations big fundraiser and ask that your spirit be with it, but I’m taking an antibiotic that must be taken with food so I can’t do that. I chose to wore glasses today instead of contacts, so that always tweaks my mood for the worse. I found out about a staffing issue that is brewing that will need to be addressed at some point. It just feels like a lot o things are swirling and I started my day out selfishly instead of stopping to pray to you. In fact, I’m typing this during my lunch hour because I feel so unbalanced. I cannot go another minute without connecting to you.

I love the imagery of this passage from Paul: “Let your roots grow down into him.” Over a year ago, I started using a new exercise program for cycling. I’ve loved it so much that I’ve told a lot of people about it. I’ve even convinced at least one person to get it too. Last night, I told my wife that I had mentioned it to someone else that day and then I said, “It’s too bad I don’t share Jesus like I share about Zwift.” I said it as a joke, but it stuck with me. Why am I not as excited to share about my faith with people as I am my cycling program? Is it that I don’t appreciate what you’ve done for me as much as I appreciate the cycling program? How much do I really take you for granted.

Father, I am humbled before you right now. I’m so sorry. I’m just sorry. I’m sorry for the sin I commit. I’m sorry for not worshipping you as you deserve. I’m sorry for not appreciating the very basic grace and freedom from my sin that you’ve given to me. I’m so sorry. Help me to grow my roots through the bedrock they seem to have hit and “grow down into [you].”

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory. So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming. You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world. But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him. In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us. Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful. Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

Colossians 3:1-17

Dear God, as I read this passage this morning, I couldn’t figure out where to break it off and make it into a more bite-sized chunk. It starts with all of the stuff I am supposed to give up. And it’s a good list:

• Sexual immorality
• Impurity
• Lust
• Evil desires
• Greed (and the idolatry that comes with it)
• Anger
• Rage
• Malicious behavior
• Slander
• Dirty language
• Lying

I am always fascinated that Paul almost always leads off lists like this with sexual immorality. I supposed nothing is new under that sun. In this case, sexual issues get at least two out of the first three (unless you consider impurity to be sexual as well, in which case you get all three). But I find it interesting…no, interesting isn’t the right word. Not interesting. I guess it’s just a fundamental truth that these are the things to which we are drawn apart from you. The instinct is to satisfy self. I want to satisfy my desires and needs. If I have a sexual desire, it should be satisfied immediately. If I see something I want then I should have it. If someone offends me or violates my self-perceived rights then I should express anger and rage over that. If someone is getting ahead of me or achieving more than me, then I can take them down through malicious behavior and slander. If I want people of like spirit to like me, then bawdy language is something I can use to ingratiate myself to them. And then there’s lying–the simplest form of protecting myself from people knowing the truth about me.

But here’s what Paul gives us as our new standard after we’ve given up our lives and embraced you:

• Tenderhearted mercy
• Kindness
• Humility
• Gentleness
• Patience
• Allowing for others’ faults
• Forgiveness
• Love

And what happens when we die to our own rights? The peace that comes from Christ rules in our hearts–in my heart. Paul explicitly calls these things the “fruit of the Spirit” in Galatians 5, but he finds a way to spread them throughout the letters he writes to the early church. Beyond getting to go to heaven and getting my fire insurance, a relationship with you brings about some amazing things while on earth, the most important of which, in my mind anyway, is peace.

Father, please continuously point out to me where I have allowed lust, greed/idolatry, anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, dirty language, and lying to still reside in my heart. Please forgive me for these things. I am sorry, and I truly want to be better. But I don’t want to simply be better so I can experience peace, or even heaven, but so that I might be of use to you in this world. I want others to be drawn to you through my life. Help me to
“[die] to this life” and fully live in the “real life hidden with Christ in God.”

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen