Good Morning!
Let’s pause for a moment and please join me for a daily scripture break. This passage really impacted me in a way I can't easily explain. I recommend you read the passage slowly and maybe several times. I read Colossians 1:1-8 for context - it was helpful. Paul's love for the Body of Christ is so palpable - it made me emotional.
Colossians 1:9-14:
"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. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."
Let’s consider this passage in context; Paul is writing to the Church in Colossae. He's greeting them in this letter with this beautiful synopsis of Christian living, and what an eloquent framework Paul described! It leaps off the page at you.
I’ve taken this passage and organized this framework into smaller sections with supporting scripture references. Only if it is helpful, please envision the shape of a triangle and as we examine the passage, visualize the stacking of each component of this framework with prayer as the base and eternal salvation as the apex of the triangle.
Let’s begin.
Level 1 - The base of this framework.
1. Praying for others. I've found this to be very true. Spend time thinking about and praying for others especially in the Body of Christ. Avoid constantly bombarding God with your problems; He already knows what they are. Give your problems to Him and take up your yoke and pray for others (or whatever the Holy Spirit leads you to pray about during your quiet time). Constantly thinking about your own problems can lead to anxiety and fear; it also confirms you aren’t trusting God’s Word and His promises. Trust Him implicitly.
Please follow along as each (italicized) reference from our passage above, is coupled with a supporting scripture reference.
a. Paul begins, “…we have not stopped praying for you.” Supporting reference (SR) - (I Thessalonians 5:17)
b. “We continually ask God to fill you with knowledge of his will (through all wisdom and understanding)...”
Supporting reference (SR)- (Col 2:3)
Level 2 - The building blocks of the framework.
2. Paul continues, "Live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way.” How do we do that?
a. Bearing fruit in every good work. SR - (Matthew 7:16-20)
b. Growing in the knowledge of God. SR - (II Peter 3:18)
c. Being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might. SR - (Ephesians 6:10)
d. Develop “great endurance and patience.” SR - (Romans 5:3-5, James 1:2-3)
e. Giving joyful thanks to the Father. SR - (I Thessalonians 5:16-18)
Level 3 - The apex of the framework.
3. We couldn’t live this Christian life without God’s Mercy and Grace. God facilitated our ability to receive our inheritance. Sometimes, as Christians we think we are more important than we really are - consider the evidence. God reached out to us in love while we were still sinners. (Romans 5:8). He then offered us a priceless gift, a spiritual inheritance of eternal salvation. Without it, we would have no hope in this world.
a. Paul concludes, God “qualified us to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.”
b. God "rescued us from the dominion of darkness.”
c. God “brought us into the Kingdom of the Son he loves.”
d. The Son obtained our “redemption, the forgiveness of sin.”
For members of the Body of Christ in Colossae and us as well, Paul sets an unmistakable tone of exemplary Christian living beginning with faithful prayer and thanksgiving. Let’s not forget, Paul begins each of his New Testament letters offering prayers of greetings and thanksgiving to each individual community.
Here are a few additional exhortations that augment this framework of Christian living.
We are instructed to pursue a life of holiness. (Hebrews 12:14) We are also encouraged to live a life of prayer - asking God to fill us and the Body of Christ with knowledge of His Will (by studying God’s Word). (Ephesians 5:15-17) We must obediently pursue a life worthy of the Lord and also remember this beautiful Christian life is a gift from God (without Him we can do nothing - John 15:5).
I don’t know about you but I’m in awe. Paul's ability (under the guidance of the Holy Spirit) to precisely craft such a perfect, concise roadmap for Christian living into this short passage is truly astonishing. This is a fantastic starting point for any new Christians out there. Sometimes when you get overwhelmed - just consult the roadmap. God bless you.
Peace and be prepared.
This letter from 60 Minutes’ new EP, Nick Bilton, is so telling and transparent.
It’ll be hilarious to listen to anyone defend Pelley after reading this. And when they do, they will do so dishonestly.
Letter from Bilton to Pelley below.
Here is:
Barack Obama, in the early 1990s, leads a protest at Marxist Harvard University in support of then-professor Derrick Bell.
Bell was a founder of DEI and critical race theory. He spent his career teaching that Whites are oppressors and Blacks are victims. He went on strike at Harvard, demanding the school hire more Black professors. Sounds familiar?
Over a dozen Harvard professors went to work for the Obama abomination administration after he won the election in 2008.
And that’s how Marxists—DEI—Woke—have effectively hijacked and infiltrated the U.S. government.
Finally getting over the asthma - and here's the org chart of the Newark protests, as promised. A few are missing, particularly the Catholic NGOs. But this is the basic template for how mass protests are coordinated so quickly.
Imagine you are a dental hygienist and live in Sweden..
You are employed to help “migrant children” with their dental issues.
As part of your job you examine the wisdom teeth development of the kids and you notice that 80% of those “kids” have fully formed wisdom teeth, implying they are not kids at all but adults older than the age of 18.
You tell the Swedish Migration Agency and they advise you to put it in writing.
When you send exact details, with examples of specific patients you are suspended, investigated and fired for disclosing private information relating to patients.
This happened to Bernt Herlitz in 2017.
When he appealed the unfair dismissal he ultimately lost and was fined about $50,000.
He and his family faced financial hardship and almost lost their home, until some generous benefactors raised money for him. Bernt remains unemployed today, despite staff shortages for dentists in his area in Gotland.
At the time, Sweden scoffed at the tests and claimed they were “discriminatory” but since then they have quietly brought in mass dental testing, for those whose age is in doubt, by the National Board of Forensic Medicine.
Bernt deserves a medal. Not vilification and unemployment.
NBC says the quiet part out loud
LA won’t have results tonight because tonz of mail-in ballots will be arriving over the next few days which will help the Democrats
This is how they cheat
Remember how Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar promised that he would be the one to lead Hamas in destroying the State of Israel?
Here he is, eliminated by Jewish warriors after he hid in women’s clothing, terrified.
He died a pathetic coward.
President @realDonaldTrump
You told us to save the names of our killers.
Here they are:
Mojtaba Khamenei
Masoud Pezeshkian
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf
Ahmad Vahidi
Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei
They are still killing our people every day.
Keep your promise and save us.
How do I know the media is brainwashing people?
Obama's ICE Chief received the Presidential Award for Distinguished Service for removing over 900,000 illegal aliens.
Trump's ICE Chief is called a Nazi.
It is the same person.....Tom Homan....
The only difference? The narrative.
FROM A FRIEND IN CALI 🚨
California polling is absolutely insane.
I roll up, no Identification no ballot and ask if they can print me out a ballot. They say sure. Whats the first 3 letters of your last name and first 3 letters of your first name? Sil and Chr
They come back with Christian Silviera on Ripon rd. Easily could have said yes but didn't. Went through about 20 names until he found mine with the correct address. Prints it out and sends me to a station to fill it out. Now I guarantee there's professional voters running around this state just spitting names out and hitting up as many locations as they can. This isn't fair elections it's pure corruption.
In Florida you showed up, handed your identification over to be scanned then it was printed out and you were removed from a list. That seems a whole lot more sensible than this operation.
🚨RECAP:
An Illegal Alien, who failed his CDL test TEN TIMES, finally gets it in California then proceeds to drive across the country and kill 3 people in Florida with his truck.
The Florida AG takes the case to the Supreme Court, looking to stop California and Washington State from endangering Florida's citizens with drivers that don't speak english and are unqualified.
SCOTUS declines to hear the case for reasons we, including Justice Thomas, cannot fathom.
This is BEYOND absurd.
HAPPENING NOW: Southampton Police station
Protestors in Southampton are FURIOUS
“Take the knee and pay your respect for Henry”
“We are fucking tired of you and every police officer in the force. Your Leftist ideology is warped and ruining the country”
Steve Hilton is buried behind multiple groups of names you have to scroll through to vote for in the California Primary Election
Democrats put pages of random names no one is going to vote for in front of Steve Hiltons’ name to select for Governor
The official reason for this is ‘The Secretary of State conducts a randomized alphabet drawing to determine the order of candidates for each race’
Sure…. We totally believe that Steve just happened to be thrown at the bottom….