Rescue Me!
Opening Prayer
Lord, I come into Your presence in my weakness. I need Your power to strengthen me and give me faith to hear Your voice.
Read Colossians 1:1–14
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
2 To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father.
Thanksgiving and Prayer
3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people— 5 the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel 6 that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
9 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, 10 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, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 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. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
When was the last time you thanked God for fellow believers?Paul is not a man for small talk. After a few words of greeting, his readers are immersed into the great swirling themes that so fascinate him. He wants them to know that the message they have believed is true, productive and wise. God is with them, strengthening them with his “glorious might” (11). His opening salvo reaches a deafening crack when he tells them that through Jesus they have been rescued from the clutches of a powerful darkness and safely delivered into the Lord’s domain. They are free people. More than anything else, Paul is anxious to teach them that through faith in Jesus, a great change has taken place.
God’s power has taken them from darkness and into his light. No other teaching or knowledge can affect such a great change. Ernst Käsemann, a New Testament scholar, sees in verses 12–14 an early Christian baptismal liturgy. Christians now share in the heavenly life, have been saved from dark danger, and are living in freedom. Paul is already countering some of the ideas beginning to circulate in this church that to be truly knowledgeable and free, the Gospel needs to be supplemented by other ideas. And he’s not standing for it.
Apply
Write your own “song” or declaration of thanksgiving to God.
Closing prayer
Lord Jesus, help me today to love You with all my heart, mind and strength.
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