My squad had our 4 month debrief before we left Costa Rica. Each morning we start with a devotion and I was asked to lead one. I thought I would share it with you. Here goes!
Colossians
We are going into a season of change. Team changes. Continent changes. We’ve become comfortable with our teams. We’ve become comfortable with Spanish and the Central American way of life. Today we get new teams. Tomorrow we leave Central America to begin our journey to South East Asia. Crazy!
In thinking about what to share today, I thought about my mom’s prayer for my team month 1. She prayed through the book of Colossians. I read through it again and there are so many gems applicable to our lives right now! I’m going to read Colossians to you guys as a letter (since that is its nature) and then go back and pull out some of the gems.
[I’ll let you read Colossians in your Bible, rather than typing it all out on here.]
Paul addressed his letter to “God’s holy people” (1:2). He called the believers in the city holy. In 1:22 he writes, “But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation” (italics mine). Why does he call them holy? “Because of Christ’s substitutionary death for the Colossian believers, they are declared holy in the sight of God, and because of the Holy Spirit’s work they are continuing to be made holy in their lives” (NIV Study Bible footnote on 1:2). Jesus himself said in John 17:19, “For them I sanctify myself that they too may be truly sanctified.” This is how we should view ourselves! Sure, we may not be perfect; but we are holy.
One of the major themes of this letter is prayer. Paul wrote about his prayers for the church–how much he prays for the church and what he prays for the church. He also instructed the church in how to pray.
The first time we see this theme is in 1:9-12. “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, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.”
We should be praying this for each other. We should pray that God fill us with the knowledge of His will through the Holy Spirit. That means we have to be open to hearing from the Holy Spirit. Although Paul uses ‘wisdom’ and ‘understanding’ to describe knowledge, it’s not just the possession of facts that he prays for. The knowledge he means is also practical–it results in godly living, a life worthy of the Lord.
Epaphras, who is the guy at Colossae and the surrounding cities, also has a prayer for the church there. Paul shares in it 4:12: “He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured.” That’s a pretty good prayer, worthy of imitation.
In 1:23 Paul writes something that grabbed my attention. “This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.” I’m going to read it again, but I’m going to substitute my name. “This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Anna, have become a servant.” Now you read it with me and substitute your name. “This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, ___, have become a servant.” When we accepted Christ, we became servants of the gospel. When we were accepted into the World Race, we became the feet that are taking the gospel into the world. That’s a huge mission, and an honor. We have become a part of something that began 2,000 years ago! When you doubt what you are doing on the race, go back to this verse.
In 2:2 Paul writes, “My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ.” United in love. Jeremy brought out the other night that we are 1 squad, 1 family. Despite team changes, we are still the same squad. We have still been digging in and pouring out to all of the people on our squad these 4 months. Team changes shouldn’t affect the unity of our squad. We shouldn’t be nervous about or fearful of any changes that are coming–that brings a spirit of disunity. Whatever happens, we need to embrace it and move forward together. United in love.
Seasons of change come with a disturbance of routine. As we get used to a new team, a new continent, a new culture and language, remember to continue rooting your life in Christ. “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” (2:6-7). Here’s that word: ‘thankfulness.’ One of Paul’s themes. It has already been mentioned by more than 1 person this weekend to have an attitude of thankfulness, especially when things are hard. And 4 months into the race, things get hard. Not just the change, but the missing of things: a closet full of clothes that are cute, being able to go anywhere you want alone, shopping for groceries and cooking a deliciously flavorful meal that doesn’t involve rice and beans, fill in the blank. It’s easy to focus on those things right now. OR you can start thanking God for all the things around you, for all of the experiences you are having, for all of the people you are meeting. Last month (in Nicaragua), we were doing construction in direct sunlight and 100* heat. One day I was about to grumble about the wind blowing dirt in my face. I caught myself. Then I thanked God for the wind that momentarily cooled me off and made the heat more bearable. Talk about an attitude shift!
Chapter 3 ties back to Paul’s prayer in 1:9-12. He tells the church to rid themselves of the bad things. “But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator” (3:8-10). If you take all of that off, you must replace it with something. “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (3:12-17). The things listed in these verses describe the godly life, the ‘life worthy of the Lord.’ This passage is pretty self-explanatory, so I won’t harp on it.
Paul tacks on some final instructions before he closes his letter. “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. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone” (4:2-6). Almost an afterthought, the instructions are full of amazingness! 1) Devote yourselves to prayer, being spiritually alert and thankful. 2) Pray that God will open a door for the gospel to be proclaimed. 3) Pray that he [Paul] will proclaim the gospel clearly. 4) Be wise in how you interact with nonbelievers. 5) Make the most of every opportunity. 6) Let your conversation be always full of grace. I hope I’m not alone in thinking that these are awesome imperatives for us as world racers. Paul was one of the greatest missionaries. He knew the importance of prayer and he knew how he needed to be prayed for. And this: make the most of every opportunity. Yes!!
Colossians has a lot more meat to it than I have pointed out. Paul was writing to refute heresy, the false teaching that was going around. So there’s a lot of awesome stuff about Christ. Worth going back and meditating on. But for now, I want to end this time doing something Paul exhorted the church to do. Pray.
*All Scripture quotations from the NIV text
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