Fact of intimacy... The Father qualified you to participate in Jesus' inheritance
Colossians 1:1 Paul , an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 2 To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
We should stop and consider this was penned of the Holy Spirit and God is speaking even in the greeting. Paul was an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. You are who you are in Christ by the will of God. God’s heart has always been for you and it always will be for you! He chose you from the foundation of the world! Yes the opening line in Colossians starts with the intimacy of God toward man! Intimacy with God is found in Jesus Christ. Oh that we would learn to meditate on the Word of God. It is the source of life. We live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
To the saints and the faithful brethren. God sees you as one belonging to Him; that is what makes you saints. God see you as through the eyes of Jesus that is what makes you faithful. Divine influence and oneness with God belong to you. The source of the divine influence is God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. What benefits living in Christ!
Colossians 1:3 We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints; 5 because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel,
I love Paul ’s heart; it is full of thanksgiving for the believer; remember he is writing from a jail cell! Some of the sweetest revelations of the word of God were written by Paul from a jail cell. What a relationship with Jesus this man had; ministering life to the believers who were free while he himself was imprisoned. This series is the intimacy of Colossians and the joy of Philippians. Paul could have joy in the jail cell because his heart was for the children of God; he was not self-centered to any degree. What comes out of your heart in your bad times? Is it a self-centered pity party or is there a reaching out to further the kingdom of God ? What a measuring stick; what a godly example!
Having faith in Christ and love for all the saints is what a healthy Christian looks like! Be encouraged by the hope which is laid up in heaven which we heard by the gospel of grace. Oh, that the church would preach the gospel found in Jesus Christ alone.
Colossians 1:6 which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth;
The gospel message brings fruitfulness to those who hear and know the grace of God. Many have heard, but those living in victory have come to know the grace of God in intimacy.
Colossians 1:7 as you also learned from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, 8 who also declared to us your love in the Spirit.
Revelation in every verse, godly leadership will be faithful and have a heart for the people God has brought into their sphere of influence. The Colossian church was commended, encouraged, warned, but not rebuked. They walked in love; may we be a reflection of this new testament church.
Colossians 1:9 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
Paul ’s prayer for the Colossian church can be our example; we can pray for the saints of God in the same way. Not only does it teach what to pray, it reveals to us the Father’s heart for His children. May the church be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Knowing the Father’s will in intimacy with all wisdom and spiritual understanding is the heartbeat of the Father’s desire for you.
Colossians 1:10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy;
Intimacy with God will produce a walk worthy of the Lord. This is not talking about the great performers of men’s own good works. Rather, it is the fruit bearing of the divine influence in your life. The same good works without the intimacy of relationship with the Father will only produce self-righteousness. Intimately knowing God overflows into good works. It brings a strengthening via His glorious power working in you. This intimacy brings patience and longsuffering with joy!
Colossians 1:12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.
This intimacy produces a spirit of thanksgiving. We can thank the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. God saved us from sin to be partakers! His intended purpose is for us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. Too many believers are still walking in darkness in areas of their lives; unable to fully partake in the inheritance. We settle for the status quo, or accept the defeated circumstances that surround us. The Father’s desire is to illuminate us to the understanding you are already qualified by the Father’s goodness. Some think they can partake when they get to some mysterious plateau that is never reached. However the text clearly says the Father has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. Know the Father qualified you already!
Colossians 1:13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,
It was the goodness of the Father that delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. What a good God!
Colossians 1:14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
It is all about what Jesus did for us on the cross. We have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. Rise up child of God declare “I am redeemed” Let the redeemed say so!
Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
The One who shed His blood is the image of the invisible God; Jesus came with the glory of the Father and want to bring the revelation of His goodness!
Colossians 1:16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.
By Jesus all things were created that are in heaven and that are on the earth. Everything was created through Him and for Him! Jesus is the exalted One!
Colossians 1:17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
Jesus is before all thing and in Him all things consist. Jesus is the head of the body, the church! That in all things Jesus Christ may have the preeminence. Jesus has preeminence and you’re his body! You have an inheritance of authority and dominion!
Colossians 1:19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.
It pleased the Father that in Jesus all the fullness should dwell! All things are reconciled to the Father by Jesus Christ and the blood he pour out on Calvary .
Colossians 1:21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight;
You were once separated from God yet Jesus has reconciled you in the body of His flesh to present you holy, and blameless, and above the reproach. YET NOW JESUS HAS RECONCIL D . Sweet intimacy that bring us near to God!
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