Friday – July 1, 2016
ZION’S CHURCH, GREENLAND
Has everyone made the decision to take the Word of God for today, prove it, and take all that is good and make it their own? Friday is also the day that we remind ourselves to make a special point to pray for the people in and out of the Church. Pray first for those in the Church, and then how the Lord would have us to reach those outside the Church. When I say in and out of the Church I am saying those who are Christian and those who are not Christian. Those in America and those in Greenland. The lost generally know who they are, but in any event it is not up to us to judge them, it is up to us to judge ourselves so we not open the door for the devil to get a judgment against us. It is up to us to pray and keep our focus on Him and the mission He has for us individually and corporately.
Colossians 3:12-15 (KJV)
12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
14 And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
Because we have received of the Grace of God we are focused on Him and we are focused on being just like Him so that we can say as Jesus said, if you have seen me you have seen the Father. Because we are forgiven much and shown much love (charity-old English word for love) by our Heavenly Father we are quick to forgive and not quarrel. Unforgiveness brings and keeps stealing, killing, and destroying in our lives as does quarreling. These also cause divisions among peoples, families, and churches divisions are the devils playground.
As we study and meditate our text of Colossians 3:12-15 we see that ‘charity’ which is an old English word for Bible ‘love’ is above all the other things we are to put on and it brings the completion to our clothing so to speak. Sort of like getting dressed then putting on a hat on the way out of the house. Without operational Bible love, Gods love, operating in our lives we are not accomplishing things on a supernatural level. The power of faith is love (Galatians 5:6) and the only way to please God is faith (Hebrews 11:6), faith in God. This faith is not just believing in God but believing God. After all the devils believe in God and tremble (James 2:19) but they are not doing the will of God. Love at its core has to do with focus, motivation. Real Bible, Godly love, is selfless, adheres to The Blood Covenant, and obeys the Word of God without fail. Now let’s move on to verse fifteen.
Colossians 3:15 (KJV)
15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
As we finish our study for today I want to define a few words in the preceding text and I am going to start at the end and work toward the front of the verse. We find something that hopefully we already know and that is we are called to one body and we are to be thankful. At salvation we become a part of the body of Christ. I know many think they became Methodist or Baptist or something else but they became a Christian. Now will we act like a Christian, will we focus on becoming like Christ? Our text ends with the command to be thankful. Being thankful in the body of Christ is not optional for effective spiritual development, it is essential. Scripture tells us that being thankful brings the victory and causes us to triumph. The Word teaches us that we can and must be thankful for all things and in all things because we are more than conquerors. The word ‘hearts’ in our text is that decision making area of our spirit man or soul. As you read this you are making decisions to accept or not, to prove it or not, to meditate it or not, to speak and do it or not. Next week I will pick up with “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts”.
