by Pastor Cecil | Oct 12, 2010 | Colossians
Colossians 3:16-17
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him.”
He’s so heavenly minded he’s no earthly use. For years I have heard people use this expression. I have no idea where the saying started, but I think it is intended to describe a believer who knows God’s truth, but does not apply it.
I recently read a comment by Grant Jeffrey that seems to accurately describe that condition of our modern world: He’s so earthly minded he’s no heavenly use! When I read that statement I was forced to agree that it is all too true.
What would people say about your Christian walk? As we read each of these statements, it is clear that neither is what Christ desires for us. We have been called to live a life that is normal and authentic. Anyone at anytime should be able to see the reality of Jesus living in us.
How do we accomplish this? I think that we can easily adopt the question that was posed in the Christian classic novel, In His Steps by Charles Sheldon: What would Jesus do? We should live such a balanced life that we will show the world that we do indeed, have heaven in our heart!
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
360-570-0074
PastorCecil@Daily-E-Votional.com
by Pastor Cecil | Jul 7, 2010 | Colossians
Colossians 3:9-10
“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.”
The sounds of loud fireworks are still ringing in my ears. Long into the night last night people were igniting fireworks of every description — the louder the better, or so they thought.
It reminded me of an incident when I was a police officer in Nampa, Idaho. I was attending college during the day and working at the department at night. I usually worked on the front desk as dispatcher.
Earlier in the evening the officers had been called to a park because someone had fired off a loud aerial firework. It was the kind that had a base charge that sent a very loud salute high into the air where it would explode. Three of the salutes had not gone off.
About 3:00 a.m. the shift sergeant who was in command came into the station. We talked about the salutes and how loud they must have sounded. One thing led to another and we convinced ourselves (in great hilarity) that it was our duty as law enforcement officers to neutralize that terrible device.
Laughing like a couple of school boys, we took it out in front of the City Hall and lit the fuse. We almost fell on the steps as we were laughing so hard. I have never heard anything so loud in all my life as those three explosions. Fireworks my eye, they sounded like dynamite.
Immediately the switch-board lit up as concerned citizens wanted to know if they were in danger. One of the calls was from the Chief of Police. Now here is where I did one of my song and dance acts that was intended to tell the truth and not tell the truth at the same time.
I asked the Chief, “What direction did the explosions sound like they were coming from?” He responded, “From downtown.” I innocently said, “That’s what all of the others are saying as well. We are checking it out, Sir.” Beep, Cecil! A lie is a lie!
Someone squealed and I was called into the Chief’s Office the next day where he read the riot act to me. I was sure I was going to be fired when he started to laugh and told about one of his silly pranks when he was a young officer.
I want to make the point that we can lie even if the facts may be true, but we are leading people to a wrong conclusion. The Chief may have let me off with a warning, but the Lord convicted me of my sin and I had no peace until I repented.
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
360-570-0074
PastorCecil@Daily-E-Votional.com
by Pastor Cecil | Dec 15, 2009 | Colossians
Colossians 1:10
“And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God.”
In Monday’s E-Votional, we looked at Paul’s instructions for praying for the saints that they may be filled with spiritual wisdom and understanding. That suggests to me that we are to pray for the spiritual growth and maturity of every believer.
In today’s Scripture Paul gives the reason for spiritual maturity: that we might produce fruit in every good work as our knowledge of God increases. As I read this passage I get the impression that we are to bear fruit in the process of growth.
It is easy to have the false notion that we have to “arrive” at some level of competence before we are to produce fruit. That is not the case. Our testimony about what the Lord Jesus has done for us does not require special training. It just has to be authentic!
As we discover more and more truths from God’s Word, we will be able to have a greater impact as we share what we have discovered in our personal study of God’s Word. It seems to me that the lamest idea of discipleship is to drag someone to church so the “preacher” can hammer away with the truth of the gospel.
What if there was no “preacher” and you were the only one to snatch a human soul from the road that leads to hell? Would you be prepared to accomplish the task? In 2 Timothy 2:15, Paul admonishes Timothy to study so that God will be pleased as he becomes a worker who knows how to correctly divide God’s Holy Word. That is my prayer for each of us.
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Dec 14, 2009 | Colossians
Colossians 1:9
“For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.”
It seems that God’s children have always had a question of how to pray. Jesus’ disciples asked Him how to pray, even though they had been in His presence and had heard many of His prayers personally. So how are we to pray—above and beyond the Prayer Jesus taught His disciples to pray—what we have come to know as the Lord’s Prayer?
I think we have all experienced prayer services where no prayer has been requested or offered that was not for a physical need. That is not to say that we are not to pray for physical afflictions, but we seem to be banging our head against the wall if that is the extent of our prayers.
We are repeatedly told that we are to praise the Lord in our pray times. In spite of that we usually launch into a laundry list of requests instead of magnifying and glorifying the Lord who has given us eternal life.
Besides praising the Lord, how should we be praying for others? In today’s Scripture, Paul has just received word from Epaphras of the faith of the saints living in Colosse. His prayer for them should be a pattern for each of us as we pray for fellow Christians. He prayed continually for God to fill them with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. That is my prayer for each of you as you read this Daily-E-Votional!
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Sep 10, 2009 | Colossians
Colossians 1:9
“For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.”
I am ashamed to admit that I have often promised to pray for someone—even had the best intentions to do so—but became busy and forgot my promise. Because of this I have made a separate file to visit and pray for requests.
That being said, what kind of prayers should we offer up? The book of Colossians was one of the four letters that Paul wrote from prison. The other three are Ephesians, Philippians and Philemon.
Paul had heard of the faith of the church in Colossae and this letter was sent to be an encouragement to their faith in the face of persecution. In today’s Scripture Paul says he is praying for “God to fill them with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.”
In the next few verses Paul becomes very specific in what he anticipates as the result of his prayer. Let me list four of them for you:
- Bear fruit in every good work.
- Grow in the knowledge of God.
- Be strengthened with God’s power for endurance and patience.
- Joyfully give thanks to the Lord.
Do you observe these qualities in your own spiritual life? I fear that our walk with the Lord is very superficial. We want what will make us feel good or get us out of a difficult situation rather than what will be to bring honor and glory to the Lord.
The next question I direct to myself as well as to you: How do we pray for others? How do you think Paul would pray for the church in our day and age?
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Jul 29, 2009 | Colossians
Colossians 3:22-23
“Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.”
It seems I can still hear our kids in play as one would remark to the other, “You’re not the boss of me!” I don’t know that anyone appreciates being bossed around, so it is no wonder that resentment often arises on the job. We do not like someone telling us what to do—even when they are our supervisor. Who is your boss?
Today’s Scripture convicted me many years ago. I was working for a man who seemed to view himself to be a Viking warrior. He was the topic of conversation in the break room and at any other time a group of us gathered together. Our comments were not at all respectful of his position.
As the Lord convicted me, I went to his office and asked for his forgiveness for the manner I had behaved toward him. I confessed that I had made derogatory comments about him and was truly sorry. I asked for his forgiveness and made a pledge to speak to him directly if I disagreed with his decisions.
What I did not know was that he was aware of the things being spoken behind his back. The other thing I did not know was that he had just been authorized to promote someone to the position of deputy director. He chose me ahead of others who had more seniority, in part because I was someone he could trust.
Today’s Scripture is very clear about how we are to behave in the workplace. If Paul is saying how slaves are to respond to their masters, how much more does it apply to employees. He says “in everything” and even when the boss is not around. Not to get a promotion, but doing it as unto the Lord. How do you stack up?
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
