Timing….
Several years ago, I heard of a man calling for help…no, not physical help but, spiritual help…he lived on the edge of “nowhere” in Mongolia ..he had heard the gospel via the radio, accepted Christ as his personal Saviour and wanted someone to talk to, training on how to learn and teach others about Christ…
By the time his call was heeded and answered, he was already leading a small group in his remote area…no Bible, no study guides, but the radio and the Holy Spirit…
Reading Colossians, I can picture Paul sitting there in prison in Rome…asking God, “who would You like me to write to and encourage?”
And God in puts Colosse on his heart…
Strangers , whom Paul had not met and would not visit in his life time became the recipients of a letter which we can still read today…
Epaphras, whom Paul had met, came from Colosse, taught faithfully in the town and the surrounding region.
Paul knew exactly what to say to these believers…God gave him a message…and when we look back historically, there was an earthquake that destroyed the town…not many years after this letter…they needed to hear it ….
So, Paul writes in the first chapter…
“ And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church.
He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
Col.1.9-20Col.1.28-29
Words of encouragement…building up…confirmation…rememberance…
And when I think of Jesus praying in John 17..
“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
John.17.20-21
He was praying for Paul and all those of us who came and have come after…down through the ages…
Paul may have been in a prison …or this man may have been at the edge of nowhere in Mongolia…these are not limits to where God can speak…teach, comfort…no there are no limits to God…He send out…letters, the radio, people to tell the World about His saving grace…
THANK YOU…
Warrior….
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