How Chastisement Became Peace

But He was wounded for our transgressions,
    He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
    And by His stripes we are healed.

(Isaiah 53:5)

For the past few days, I have been captured by this verse, particularly the line about “chastisement” and “peace,” and how one was exchanged for the other.

This passage, from Isaiah 52:13 to Isaiah 53:12, is about the “Suffering Servant.” It is a portrait of the Messiah, a prophecy of what He would do — and of what would be done to Him. It is a picture of the Passion, of Good Friday and the Cross.

What happened there that day was a very peculiar thing. To onlookers, it might have appeared that He was suffering on His own behalf, because of His own sins: “Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted” (Isaiah 53:4). However, the opposite was true, as the “but” that begins verse 5 indicates: “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities.” The Innocent One suffered for the guilty, the Righteous One for the unrighteous.

• The transgressions were ours; the mortal wound belonged to us, but He was pierced instead.
• Ours were the iniquities, so also the crushing, disfiguring bruises, but He took them upon Himself.
• The stripes that fell on His back should rightfully have been laid on ours, but He let them be on His so we could be healed.

In a word, He took what belonged to us and gave us what belonged to Him. The world’s idea of justice was turned upside down so that the world could be put right.

Consider, now, how chastisement became peace. The Hebrew word for “chastise” is musar. It may be corporal or verbal; it may be instruction, discipline, rebuke or punishment. A chastisement by words indicates that the purpose is to instruct, but what Isaiah speaks of is a chastisement of wounds, of bruises, of stripes, and the purpose is for peace.

The Hebrew word for “peace” is shalom. It is much more than the absence of conflict or the ceasing of hostilities. It is wholeness, what was once missing now restored, what was once broken now healed.

Jesus, the Son of God become flesh, had no lack. Nothing missing, nothing broken. The lack was ours — a broken relationship with God, with creation, with each other, even with our own selves. The chastisement should have been on us, but He let it come upon Himself so we could have His peace, His shalom, His wholeness.

Strengthened with All Might

Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power. (Colossians 1:11)

Paul prays for the believers at Colosse to be filled with the knowledge of God’s will, so that they may have a walk worthy of the Lord.

THIS IS NOT SOMETHING WE CAN IN OUR OWN STRENGTH — WE NEED THE POWER OF GOD!

That is what Paul is talking about here. In the Greek text, the word for “strengthened” is in the present tense. That is, it is an ongoing activity. It is also a passive participle. That is, it is not something we do for ourselves but something that happens to or is done for us. The sense here, then, is “always being strengthened.”

The word for “strengthened” is dynamis. So is the word translated here as “might.” Dynamis is the ability to get things done. It is, of course, where we get the word “dynamite,” but don’t let that fool you. This power can be very constructive and life-changing in a positive way. “With all power empowered” is the literal reading here. Or as Young’s Literal Translation puts it, “In all might being made mighty.”

With all power empowered? This can come only from God. It is “according to His glorious power.” That is, it corresponds to the power of His glory. The word for “power” here is different; it is kratos, which speaks of manifested power, power in its fullness and dominion. It is most appropriately used of God. In this passage, it speaks of “His glorious power,” or the power of His glory. Where and how has the power of His glory been manifested in all its fullness and dominion? In the resurrection of Jesus the Messiah from the dead.

Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. (Roman 6:4)

That is the highest, most world-changing manifestation of God’s glory and power. And it is the same glory and power God wants to display in you and me, not just in the sweet by and by but in the here and now, where it is so desperately needed. Elsewhere, Paul prayers for believers that we may have the intimate, experiential knowledge of

what is the exceeding greatness of His power [dynamis] toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power [kratos] which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power [dynamis] and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. (Ephesians 1:19-22)

At the end of that book, Paul concludes,

Finally, my brethren, be strong [dynamis] in the Lord and in the power [kratos] of His might. (Ephesians 6:10)

Notice, again, that “be strong” (or empowered, or strengthened) is a present passive, a continuous action that happens to or in us. We are made strong “in the Lord.” It is His power and His might at work. Our part is simply to yield to that work in us.

A walk worthy of the Lord is a walk made in His strength, always being empowered with all power by the magnificent power that manifests His glory and dominion — His resurrection power! It is an amazing strength, and possible for you and me to be always and fully strengthened with it. Or else Paul, praying by the Holy Spirit, would not have prayed it.

*For more about the pastoral prayers found in the New Testament, see Praying With Fire: Change Your World with the Powerful Prayers of the Apostles

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The Focus of Our Faith
Paul’s Letters to the Jesus Believers at Colosse
Bite-Size Studies Through Colossians
by Jeff Doles

Preview with Amazon’s “Look Inside.”

Available in paperback and Kindle (Amazon), epub (Google and iTunes) and PDF.

Knowing God More and More

For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding … and increasing in the knowledge of God. (Colossians 1:9-10)

In verse 9, Paul speaks of being filled with the knowledge of God’s will. In verse 10, he shifts focus to increasing in the knowledge of God Himself. The Greek word for “knowledge” is both cases is epignosis, a depth or fullness of knowledge. Not merely head knowledge, an accumulation of facts or even of how facts work together. Not theoretical knowledge, but experiential knowledge. Not the kind of knowledge that puffs up, but knowledge that is according to love, which builds up (1 Corinthians 8:1).

Paul speaks of “increasing” in this knowledge. Actually in the Greek text, this word is in the passive voice. That is, it is not something we do to ourselves but something that is done to us. We do not increase ourselves in the knowledge of God; we are increased in the knowledge of God. Only God can do that for us, and He does it by the work of the Holy Spirit.

For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.

These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:11-16)

Notice also that this increase is in the present tense; it speaks of continuous action. God’s plan is that we are always being increased by Him in the knowledge of Him, continually knowing Him more and more. It is a growth process. Peter says, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).

This is personal, intimate, revelation knowledge of God — He reveals Himself to us in personal, intimate relationship! Through Jesus, through the Spirit, through the Word. He fills us with the knowledge of His will, revealing His desire, revealing His heart. Every response we make to that revelation in faith, and the obedience of faith, will be pleasing to Him and will bear the fruit and good works He desires. A walk worthy of the Lord is all about walking with the Lord. The more we walk with Him, the more we will know Him. He will not hold back but will reveal Himself freely to us as we walk along with Him.

*For more about the pastoral prayers found in the New Testament, see Praying With Fire: Change Your World with the Powerful Prayers of the Apostles.

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The Focus of Our Faith
Paul’s Letters to the Jesus Believers at Colosse
Bite-Size Studies Through Colossians
by Jeff Doles

Preview with Amazon’s “Look Inside.”

Available in paperback and Kindle (Amazon), epub (Google and iTunes) and PDF.

Every Good Work

… being fruitful in every good work. (Colossians 1:10)

Yesterday we talked about a life of fruitfulness, what it means to be fruitful. Now let’s talk about “every good work.” In Ephesians, Paul tells us that salvation and grace and faith are the gift of God.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8-10).

“Good works” are not the cause or basis of salvation but the result or benefit of salvation. They come from God, because we are His workmanship, His “doing.” They come through Jesus the Messiah, because of the new life we have in Him and the life He lives in us.

“Every good work” is one of Paul’s favorite phrases; we find it a number of times in his letters. The author of Hebrews also uses it, and in a way that sounds very much like Paul.

And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. (2 Corinthians 9:8)

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work. (2 Thessalonians 2:16-17)

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men. (Titus 3:1-2)

Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. (Hebrews 12:20-21)

The grace of God supplies us, equips, prepares us, establishes us and makes us complete in every good work. He even supplies for us in our finances (which is the context of 2 Corinthians 9), so that we may always have all we need, plus abundance so we have something to give for “every good work.” He supplies the seed and even multiplies it to “increase the fruit of your righteousness, while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God” (2 Corinthians 9:10-11; see Seed is for Sowing). From beginning to end, it is God at work in us, to bless us and make us a blessing to others and a praise to Him.

“Every good work” does not mean that we are always doing everything all the time. After all, we do have to sleep! What it does mean, though, is that no matter what times and circumstances we find ourselves in, there is always something we can offer, some good we can do, some fruit we can bring forth to bless others. As we pay attention to where God has placed us, what He has supplied and how the Holy Spirit is working in us, and we yield ourselves, God will lead us.

*For more about the pastoral prayers found in the New Testament, see Praying With Fire: Change Your World with the Powerful Prayers of the Apostles.

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The Focus of Our Faith
Paul’s Letters to the Jesus Believers at Colosse
Bite-Size Studies Through Colossians
by Jeff Doles

Preview with Amazon’s “Look Inside.”

Available in paperback and Kindle (Amazon), epub (Google and iTunes) and PDF.

A Life of Fruitfulness

For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask … that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. (Colossians 1:9-10)

In verse 6, Paul gave thanks to God that the gospel was bearing fruit and being increased all over the world, and that it had come to the Colossians. (The Greek word for “being increased” is not in the Greek text from which the NKJV version, above, was translated, but it does appear in some older manuscripts.) It echoes the mandate God first gave the man and the woman in the Garden of Eden: “Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it” (Genesis 1:28).

Now in verse 10, Paul picks up on that theme again in his pastoral prayer. He asks that these believers in Jesus may now be fruitful in every good work and increase in the knowledge of God. (Actually, the verb for “increase” is in the passive form, i.e., “being increased” — but that is for another day.)

God has always been interested in fruitfulness. It is part of the series of blessings in Deuteronomy 28: “Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks” (Deuteronomy 28:4). It is part of the happiness and prosperity of those who meditate on the instruction of the Lord.

He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.

(Psalm1:3)

Then there is the teaching Jesus gave to the disciples on the night of the Last Supper, about the vine and the branches:

I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. (John 15:5, 8, 16).

In Galatians, Paul talks about the “fruit of the Spirit,” in contrast to the “works of the flesh.”

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23)

This fruit cannot be produced by keeping laws or observing rules; it is the work of the Holy Spirit to bring forth this fruit, which is the character of Jesus. Fruit is the overflow of the life of the vine, the life of Jesus at work in us. Our part is to yield to this life and the fruit will come.

(For more on fruitfulness, see The Fruit of the Righteous ~ A Tree of Life, Don’t Strain, Abide and Transformed by the Holy Spirit.)

*For more about the pastoral prayers found in the New Testament, see Praying With Fire: Change Your World with the Powerful Prayers of the Apostles.

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The Focus of Our Faith
Paul’s Letters to the Jesus Believers at Colosse
Bite-Size Studies Through Colossians
by Jeff Doles

Preview with Amazon’s “Look Inside.”

Available in paperback and Kindle (Amazon), epub (Google and iTunes) and PDF.

The Lord’s Prayer and Postmillennialism

In a recent chat online, I posted that I am postmillennial in my eschatology. Eschatology is the doctrine of “last things,” i.e., what happens at the end of things. Postmillennialism is basically the view that when Jesus returns, the Church will have been successful in the mission He gave to disciple all nations, teaching and baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:18-20). Someone asked me if this has led me to pray the Lord’s prayer less than Christians did a millennium or two ago. Here is how I answered:

I pray the Lord’s prayer more now that I ever have in my life, and I pray it more aggressively. Wherever I see something out of alignment with heaven, I pray, “Kingdom of God, come! Will of God be done here as in heaven!”

When I pray over someone who is sick, it is, “Kingdom of God, come into this body! Will of God, be done in this body as it is being done in heaven” (because there ain’t no sickness in heaven).

When I hear about the troubles in the world, say in Libya, I pray, “Kingdom of God, come into Libya! Will of God, be done in Libya as it is in heaven.”

My conviction is that the kingdom of God is forcefully advancing in the world, ever since the days of John the Baptist, and forceful men lay hold of it (see A Kingdom Forcefully Advancing). And my confidence is that the kingdom of God will increasingly saturate the earth and the will of God will increasingly be done on earth as it is in heaven. And I am convinced that when we pray the way Jesus taught us to pray, God hears and answers.

I am postmillennial because I believe God intends to answer the Lord’s Prayer. And because I believe that the Great Commission, to make disciples of all nations (not just in all nations) will be fulfilled, because all authority has been given to Jesus in heaven and on earth. That does not cause me to slack off but to move forward with greater passion and assurance.

Am I Seated in Heaven?

When I was at Bible college, there was an evangelistic tract we used quite extensively that was titled, “Am I Going to Heaven?” It was about what happens to us when we die. We thought of heaven as someday and out there.

Today, if I were to write a tract, I think I would call it, “Am I seated in Heaven?” Heaven is not just about when we die; we begin to participate in the life of heaven here and now. Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:7). The Greek word for “again” can just as well mean “from above,” that is, from heaven.

Paul tells us that our citizenship is now in heaven (Philippians 3:20). In another place, he tells us that we have made alive together with Christ, raised together with Christ and seated together with Christ in the heavenlies (Ephesians 2:5-6). This is not a future promise but a done deal and a present reality. We are meant to live from now on out of that reality.

The answer to both questions is the same and comes about the same way. In John 3, where Jesus speaks of being born “from above,” it says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (v. 16).

In Ephesians 2, where Paul talks about being made alive, raised up and seated together with Christ, he says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (vv. 8-10).

In other words, it is by faith, believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, God's Son. That is how we enter into the kingdom of God, which is here and now as well as there and then.

A Life Pleasing

For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask … that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him. (Colossians 1:9-10)

In speaking of walking worthy of the Lord and fully pleasing to Him, Paul certainly has Lord Jesus in mind, for we read in Colossians 1:19, “For it pleased the Father that in Him [Jesus] all the fullness of should dwell.” Jesus’ modus operandi was all about pleasing the Father:

• “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner” (John 5:19).
• “I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me” (John 5:30).
• “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.” ” (John 8:29).

But perhaps Paul was thinking also of Enoch. The book of Genesis tells us about him:

Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah. After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. (Genesis 5:21-24)

Enoch walked with God all the days of his life. He did not die but was simply taken by God. This was very unusual and, unsurprisingly, a theology developed around it. The author of Hebrews sums it up this way:

By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. (Hebrews 11:5)

Enoch walked with God and had this testimony: He pleased God. Certainly, this was a walk worthy of the Lord — and with the Lord — but how did Enoch please God? It was by faith, as the author of Hebrews explains:

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6)

Enoch believed God and because of that, God was pleased with him. In the Bible, faith is about believing what God has said. Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness, rightness with God (Genesis 15:6). Hebrews 11 is full of Old Testament saints who pleased God by believing God.
It is by faith that Lord Jesus pleased the Father, believing everything He heard the Father say and do, then saying and doing it in agreement with the Father’s will. That is how Jesus operated in His divinity and His humanity, and that is how we live a life that is fully pleasing to God. By believing whatever He says and does, then speaking and living in agreement with it.

*For more about the pastoral prayers found in the New Testament, see Praying With Fire: Change Your World with the Powerful Prayers of the Apostles. 

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The Focus of Our Faith
Paul’s Letters to the Jesus Believers at Colosse
Bite-Size Studies Through Colossians
by Jeff Doles

Preview with Amazon’s “Look Inside.”

Available in paperback and Kindle (Amazon), epub (Google and iTunes) and PDF.

A Walk Worthy

For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. (Colossians 1:9-12)

Paul’s prayer is that believers may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will, so that they may “walk worthy of the Lord.” By “walk,” Paul means how you live your life. Walking is a process, one step after another, “picking ’em up and putting ’em down.” There is a consistent pattern to a proper walk, or else we will stagger, limp along or stumble altogether. A walk worthy of the Lord is a life that is appropriate and fitting for our relationship and who we are in Jesus the Messiah. What does such a life look like? In this letter, Paul lists five characteristics.

• Fully pleasing to the Lord.
• Always bearing fruit in every good work.
• Always being increased in the knowledge of God.
• Always being strengthened with all might (Colossians 1:11)
• Always giving thanks to the Father (Colossians 1:11).

Notice that there is a fullness and a constancy to these things. It is a strong and steady walk Paul is talking about, but it is important to understand that we do not do this in our own strength or even in our own understanding. Remember that this is a prayer, something Paul is asking of God, and his primary request is that believers “be filled” with the knowledge of God’s will “in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.” “Be filled” is passive, not active. We cannot fill ourselves with the knowledge of God’s will, for who knows the mind of God except God? No, God is the one who must fill us; our part is simply to let Him, to look to Him and to yield to Him in everything. “In all wisdom and spiritual understanding,” Paul says. This is the wisdom of God and the understanding that is imparted to us by the Spirit of God into our spirits. As we yield to this fullness that comes from God, we will find all we need for the life God calls us to live.

*For more about the pastoral prayers found in the New Testament, see Praying With Fire: Change Your World with the Powerful Prayers of the Apostles.

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The Focus of Our Faith
Paul’s Letters to the Jesus Believers at Colosse
Bite-Size Studies Through Colossians
by Jeff Doles

Preview with Amazon’s “Look Inside.”

Available in paperback and Kindle (Amazon), epub (Google and iTunes) and PDF.

Seed is for Sowing

Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God. (2 Corinthians 9:10-11)

The Bible has a lot to tell us about seeds and sowing, more than I can do justice to in this short blog, but here are a few that have somehow come to mind. (For more, see Sowing and Reaping.)

Faith is like a seed. Jesus said, “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:20).

The kingdom of God is like a seed. Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches” (Matthew 13:31-32).

The kingdom of God is like one sowing seed. Again, Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come” (Mark 4:26-29).

In Galatians 6:7, Paul reminds us that what we sow is what we will reap. In 2 Corinthians 9:6, he reminds us that how we so is also how we will reap; if we sow sparingly (stingily, holding back) we will also reap sparingly, but if we sow bountifully (generously, freely, “with blessing”), we will also reap bountifully. In 2 Corinthians 9, particularly, Paul is actually talking about finances. He was preparing to receive an offering to help the believers at Jerusalem who were in distress, and he was encouraging the believers at Corinth to be generous with their “seed,” which is to say, their financial resources.

It is in this context, then, that Paul makes the statement that appears at the top of this post. It is a benediction*, a word of blessing, and it expresses what God wants to do for us and how He wants to work through us. He wants to give us all the bread we need, but He also wants to give us seed for sowing bountifully. Because sowing seed is as important for us as the bread we eat.

God not only supplies seed for us to sow, He also multiplies it and causes it to increase. It becomes a blessing to others and results in us being enriched, made wealthy, in everything and in every way so that we can be even more generous, to become even more of a blessing. That results in thanksgiving to God because of how we have let Him work through us. It is win-win-win: for those who are blessed by our sowing, for us doing the sowing and for God who receives the praise for what was sown.

You may only have one small seed to begin with. No matter. If you sow it in faith (because faith is like a seed), you will be proclaiming the kingdom of God (because the kingdom is like the seed and the one who sows seed). It will display the generosity of God and prophesy the prosperity of God.

*For more about the pastoral prayers found in the New Testament, see Praying With Fire: Change Your World with the Powerful Prayers of the Apostles.

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The Focus of Our Faith
Paul’s Letters to the Jesus Believers at Colosse
Bite-Size Studies Through Colossians
by Jeff Doles

Preview with Amazon’s “Look Inside.”

Available in paperback and Kindle (Amazon), epub (Google and iTunes) and PDF.

Develop a Prosperous Tongue

Once again, the first of the month finds me at Psalm 1. A fresh month, a fresh opportunity to think about the prosperity God desires for you and me. It looks likes this:

He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.

(Psalm 1:3)

There are two things necessary for experiencing this prosperity in our lives, one positive, and the other negative. The positive is found in verse 2:

But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.

Notice the word “But.” It is the hinge point that turns from the negative to the positive. The negative is found in the first verse and it is just as important as the positive.

Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful.

Now, the first line, of course, is positive, “Blessed is the man.” Or better, “Oh, the happinesses of the man!” But the next three lines set up the negative, about what the man who is blessed does not do.

• He does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly.
• He does not stand in the path of sinners.
• He does not sit in the seat of the scornful.

The tendency here might be to think of those who are flamboyant in their ungodliness, or accentuated in their sinfulness or very loud and exceedingly abusive in their mockery. It is pretty much a given that we should not follow them and their ways. But it is the more subtle forms that we should really be watching out for. They can be much more dangerous to us, and the blessing and prosperity God has for us, because they can be so deceptive and yet seem so reasonable. They show up, for example, when we make decisions that leave no room for God, or God becomes merely an afterthought, even when we are trying to do something good. Then we are leaning on our own understanding and there is no dependable direction when we come to the crossroads (see Proverbs 3:5-6). They show up as pride and arrogance, the puffing up of ourselves and supposing that our own needs matter more than others. We have long been discipled in the subtle art of rationalization. Jesus nailed some these subtle forms in the Sermon of Heaven on Earth (my title, a. k. a., “Sermon on the Mount”), when He declares, “You have heard it said … but I say to you” (see Matthew 5:21-22, 21-32, 33-34, 38-39, 43-44).

Then there is the matter of what we do with our mouths. Not merely open mockery, which is easily detected and avoided, but the little ways we tear things down with our words, and especially how we belittle each other, and ourselves, by the things we give voice to. Our words are very powerful, and how we use them is very important.

Death and life are in the power of the tongue,
And those who love it will eat its fruit.

(Proverbs 18:21)

But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh. (James 3:8-12)

A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matthew 12:35-37).

No man can tame the tongue, it is attached to the heart and merely reveals what is in the heart in abundance. In other words, to deal with the tongue, you have to deal with the heart. How important it is, then, to continually meditate on the instruction of the Lord and let if fill your heart to overflowing. Then His words will inform your words, and when you speak, you will be speaking in alignment with the prosperity of God. Your faith will be activated and you will see that divine prosperity begin to come forth in your life.

Filled with the Knowledge of His Will

For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. (Colossians 1:9)

This is Paul’s prayer for the believers at Colosse. It is a pastoral prayer.* He asks of God that they may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will “in all wisdom and understanding.”

First, note the word “filled” (Greek, pleroo). The idea of fullness shows up a number of times in this letter. This suggests that one of the errors Paul may have been addressing is a teaching that one can have the fullness of divine blessing through the legalistic and pagan notions being introduced to the Colossian believers by false teachers.

Gnosticism (from the Greek word gnosis, “knowledge”) taught that the universe was created imperfectly by demiurges, intermediaries or emanations of God, and that an esoteric knowledge of this was necessary in order to escape the material world. One of their terms for God was Pleroma, the Greek word for “fullness.”

Paul’s message to the Colossians is that the fullness of God is not found through some special knowledge of divine emanations or the exaltation of angels, but in knowing the will of God. But what is the will of God? Paul talks about it at the end of chapter 1 (of course, there were no chapter or verse divisions in the original letter), when he speaks of “the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:26-27).

This is not an esoteric knowledge but a mystery, a secret that has now been revealed to all the saints (remember that “saints” does not refer to elite believers but to all believers). The will of God has everything to do with this: “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” In other words, it is in Jesus the Messiah, not in angels or hierarchies, that we have every expectation of the fullness of God’s glory being revealed in us.

Paul’s prayer for believers is that we may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will. The Greek word for “knowledge” here is epignosis. It is a fullness of knowledge, not some vague mental notion of God’s will, but a personal, intimate experience of God’s will — a personal, intimate experience of Jesus living in us.

“In all spiritual wisdom and understanding.” This wisdom and understanding comes to us by the Holy Spirit ministering to our own spirits. The role of the Spirit is always to point us to Jesus. Speaking of the Spirit, Jesus said, “All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you” (John 16:15). Here is the fullness of God revealed to us in the Son by the Holy Spirit.

In the mystery of God, which is freely given to every believer, and in Jesus the Messiah, who is revealed in us by the Holy Spirit, we find “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3). Here is all the fullness, all the wisdom, all the knowledge we need. Not in angels or hierarchies, but in Jesus the Messiah. When we understand who Jesus is in us, individually and as the Church, we understand what the will of God is all about.

*For more about the pastoral prayers found in the New Testament, see Praying With Fire: Change Your World with the Powerful Prayers of the Apostles.

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The Focus of Our Faith
Paul’s Letters to the Jesus Believers at Colosse
Bite-Size Studies Through Colossians
by Jeff Doles

Preview with Amazon’s “Look Inside.”

Available in paperback and Kindle (Amazon), epub (Google and iTunes) and PDF.

Jesus Above All

For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you. (Colossians 1:9)

Their faith in Jesus the Messiah, their love for all the saints, the hope laid up in heaven for them, their love in the Spirit — Paul is thankful to God for all these things. Prayers of thanksgiving, such as Paul offered in Colossians 1:3-4, are about where we have been and where we are now, and they are quite wonderful in themselves. However, Paul now takes a turn in his prayer for them, a prayer that will launch them into where they are going. It is a pastoral turn, so I call this a pastoral prayer*.

In Greek, the word for “pastor” is the word for “shepherd.” That is what a pastor is, a shepherd. The concern of the pastor/shepherd is to guide the sheep to good pasture and protect them from wolves. It will become apparent, as we continue in his letter to the believers at Colosse, that Paul sees wolves (false teachers) circling and that he is writing to protect the sheep and direct them to safe feeding ground.

Commentators on the book of Colossians have never been certain of the exact nature of these teachers and the philosophies they were bringing, but the teaching seems to be a mixture of three things:

• Jewish legalism — with an emphasis on things like circumcision, dietary laws, sabbaths and new moon celebrations (Colossians 2:16).
• Pagan elements — “according to the traditions of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ” (Colossians 2:8). The “basic principles of the world,” particularly, seems to be a reference to pagan ideas of elemental spirits and hierarchies.
• Christian veneer — These false teachers smuggled their legalist/pagan mixture into the church under the guise of Christian doctrine, but were actually exalting angelic hierarchies above Jesus.

For all that, we do not know exactly who and what these teachers and their doctrines were, although they may represent an early form of Gnosticism. Paul does not address them head on. He does not define the error for us; instead, he focuses on the truth. It is all about Jesus the Messiah, in whom and through whom God has accomplished everything that needs to be done in the world.

As we work through this letter to the believers at Colosse, we will see a number of “in Him” and “with Him” statements. It will help us see Paul’s point if we read them with emphasis on the word “Him” (that is, “in Him,” “with Him”) in contrast to the “basic principles of the world” and the erroneous emphasis on angels. This will also help us better understand, by a sort of mirroring technique, the error Paul addresses as he stresses its opposite, the all-encompassing truth God has revealed to us in Jesus.

*For more about the pastoral prayers found in the New Testament, see Praying With Fire: Change Your World with the Powerful Prayers of the Apostles.

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The Focus of Our Faith
Paul’s Letters to the Jesus Believers at Colosse
Bite-Size Studies Through Colossians
by Jeff Doles

Preview with Amazon’s “Look Inside.”

Available in paperback and Kindle (Amazon), epub (Google and iTunes) and PDF.

Love for the Saints, Love in the Spirit

Who also declared to us your love in the Spirit. (Colossians 1:8)

In verse 4, Paul gave thanks to God for the believers in Colosse, for their faith, their hope and their “love for all the saints.” Not just for their own little group, but for all the saints. Love does not take offense, keep score or bear grudges. There is no place for unforgiveness in love.

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)

How does that happen? Where do we find that kind of love with which to love everyone that way? Paul leads us to an the answer. In verse 7-8, he speaks of Epaphras, one of their own, who “declared to us your love in the Spirit.” Paul presents us with two aspects of love. Where verse 4 speaks of the object of their, “all the saints,” verse 8 identifies the source of their love, “the Spirit.”

Love is the “fruit of the Spirit,” Paul tells us (Galatians 5:22). Now, fruit is not something that you clip on to the branches of a tree; it arises from the life of the tree. That is the way it is with love; it arises from the Spirit of God within us. “Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God” (1 John 4:15). We become the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in us (1 Corinthians 3:16). As we yield ourselves to God and allow the Holy Spirit to fill us, God brings forth the fruit of the Spirit, which is the character of Jesus, in our lives. Now it is possible for us to love in a way and with a depth we never could before.

A word about saints: They are not elite or super spiritual, just everyday believers in Jesus the Messiah, from the greatest to the least of them — without any consideration of greatness or leastness. To be a saint means to be sanctified, to be holy, which is to say, set apart as God’s own. The believers at Colosse came to have love for all the saints.

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The Focus of Our Faith
Paul’s Letters to the Jesus Believers at Colosse
Bite-Size Studies Through Colossians
by Jeff Doles

Preview with Amazon’s “Look Inside.”

Available in paperback and Kindle (Amazon), epub (Google and iTunes) and PDF.

Fellow Servant, Faithful Discipler

As you also learned from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, who also declared to us your love in the Spirit. (Colossians 1:7-8)

As the gospel, the good news about the grace of God through Jesus the Messiah, began to fill the world, it soon came to Colosse, where some believed. Ever since then, Paul says, it has been bringing forth fruit among them. The grace of God is not a one-off experience where you hear the good news, believe it and that’s that. That is just the beginning. There is a new life, and a new way of living. The grace of God continues to work, bearing its fruit in us. In Galatians, Paul speaks of the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). The grace of God is a tree of life within us, and the process of learning to walk in this grace and experience this fruit is called discipleship.

“You learned this from Epaphras,” Paul says. The Greek word for “learn” is manthano. From it comes the word mathetes, the Greek word for “disciple.” The believers at Colosse were discipled, taught how to live in the grace of God, by Epaphras. So who is this guy?

• He is one of their own, a man of Colosse — one of you,” Paul says (Colossians 4:12) — who ministers throughout the region, in Laodicea and Hierapolis (4:13).
• He is a well-loved “fellow servant” with Paul and Timothy, and indeed of all who serve Jesus the Messiah.
• He is a faithful “minister.”
• He is a man of fervent prayer and great zeal (4:12-13).
• Not only a fellow servant, he is also a “fellow prisoner” with Paul. That’s what Paul calls him in his brief letter to Philemon (v. 23), one of the believers at Colosse. Paul wrote both of these letters, as well as the ones to believers at Ephesus and Philippi, while he was in prison for proclaiming King Jesus.

Notice that Paul calls Epaphras both a “fellow servant” (Greek, syndoulos, slaves together) and a faithful “minister” (Greek, diakonos, deacon). Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words explains the difference between these two words this way:

Diakonos is, generally speaking, to be distinguished from doulos, “a bondservant, slave”; diakonos views a servant in relationship to his work; doulos views him in relationship to his master. See, e.g., Matt. 22:2-14; those who bring in the guests (vv. 3-4, 6, 8, 10) are douloi; those who carry out the king’s sentence (v. 13) are diakonoi.

Servant speaks of the One to whom Epaphras belonged. Minister speaks of the function he performed, the service he rendered to Jesus and His church. It was a work in which he was found to be trustworthy. He did not just introduce the Colossians to Jesus; he ministered the grace and hospitality of Jesus to them. With fervent prayer and great zeal, he discipled them in faith, hope and love and became founding pastor of the Church at Colosse.

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The Focus of Our Faith
Paul’s Letters to the Jesus Believers at Colosse
Bite-Size Studies Through Colossians
by Jeff Doles

Preview with Amazon’s “Look Inside.”

Available in paperback and Kindle (Amazon), epub (Google and iTunes) and PDF.

Lenten Thoughts

Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent remind us that we are the dust of the earth ~ and the breath of God. The season of Lent is a time to consider again what it means to live out our Baptism in the world.

Here is a quote I came across in my reading. I was impressed enough with it to put it up on my Facebook page, though I did not initially think of it in the context of Lent. But upon reflection, I see that it does have a Lenten meaning.

And to the question, “What is meant by the Fall?” I could answer with complete sincerity, “That whatever I am, I am not myself.” This is the prime paradox of our religion; something that we have never in any full sense known, is not only better than ourselves, but even more natural to us than ourselves. ~ G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

Lent is a season to consider King Jesus the Messiah, who He is and who we are in Him, to become who we are. Not only in what we leave behind, but also in the yoke we are called to take upon ourselves — His yoke, which is easy and the burden light. To learn from Him who is gentle and lowly in heart, and so find the rest for which our souls are so desperate (Matthew 11:29).

Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, six weeks before Easter Sunday. Like Advent, it is a time of repentance and preparation. The ashes on the first day of this season represent mourning over sin and the longing for holiness. In Lent, we remember the temptation of Christ in the wilderness and His journey to the Cross. We become aware of how Christ humbled Himself and how God calls us, also, to humility as we participate in His redemptive purposes. We consider, also, what our own place of service and sacrifice is in His divine plan.

Lent concludes with Holy Week. On Palm Sunday, we think of the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, knowing that soon He would be rejected by the very ones who waved their branches and shouted Hosanna! The irony of this is subtly observed by the burning of this year's palms to become next year’s Lenten ashes.

Holy Thursday commemorates the institution of the Lord’s Supper. It is also called Maundy Thursday because of the new commandment Jesus gave His disciples to love one another (maundy comes from an Old Latin term for “mandate” or “command”). On Good Friday, we think of Jesus on the Cross and behold the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” Holy Saturday recalls how the world hung between death and life, sin and righteousness, darkness and light. It is a vigil for the Light.

Be Fruitful and Fill the Earth

Which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth. (Colossians 1:5-6)

We are breaking into the middle of one of Paul’s ponderous sentences (of which there are many in his letters). So far, he has thanked God for the faith and love evident in the believers at Colosse, and the hope laid up for them in heaven. They came upon this hope — this positive expectation, this joyful anticipation — when they heard the “word of truth,” the good news of the gospel that was brought to them, and experienced the grace of God.

There is an interesting comparison between what Paul notes was already happening with the gospel, and the divine mandate given to first man and woman Genesis 1, especially when we remember that the gospel results in new creation: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). The one who is in Jesus the Messiah is not only a new creature himself, but he is part of the new creation, which God has already begun and will culminate in a new heaven and a new earth. In 1 Corinthians 15:45, Paul compares Jesus to Adam: “So it is written, ‘The first man Adam became a living being.’ The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.” Closer to home in the context of this letter, Paul calls Jesus “the firstborn over all creation” (Colossians 1:15).

When God created the first man and woman in the divine image and likeness, He blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it” (Genesis 1:28). Notice especially in this divine commission the idea of fruitfulness and of filling the earth. Do you hear the echoes of it in Colossians 1:6 with respect to the gospel, which even in Paul’s own day was filling the world and bringing forth fruit?

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and He did it by the Word: “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God” (Hebrews 11:3). The new creation comes the same way, by the Word of God, which Paul here calls the “word of the truth of the gospel.” Jesus, who by His resurrection from the dead became the firstborn of the new creation, gathered His disciples and gave them this commission:

All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

This was already beginning to be fulfilled, as Paul attests. The gospel had come to Colosse, “as it has in all the world” and it was bearing fruit, “as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth.”

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The Focus of Our Faith
Paul’s Letters to the Jesus Believers at Colosse
Bite-Size Studies Through Colossians
by Jeff Doles

Preview with Amazon’s “Look Inside.”

Available in paperback and Kindle (Amazon), epub (Google and iTunes) and PDF.

Heaven as Your Source

Because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel. (Colossians 1:5)

In the Bible, hope is not wishful thinking or maybe so/maybe not. The biblical words for “hope” in the Old and New Testaments speak of expectation. Hope is a positive expectation, a joyful anticipation. Hope is about things that are not yet seen but which we fully expect to see. The author of Hebrews tells us that faith is the underlying reality of hope and the evidence of things not yet seen (Hebrews 11:1).

Paul gives thanks for the hope that belongs to the believers at Colosse, a hope “laid up for you in heaven.” We often think of heaven merely in terms of destination, especially as future destination. Many also often think of it as a place far, far away, somewhere out in space, at the edge of the universe or beyond.

For those who know Jesus the Messiah, though, heaven is a present reality. Paul tells us that God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies (Ephesians 1:3), that He has made us alive together with Jesus the Messiah, raised us up together and made us sit together with Him in the heavenlies (Ephesians 2:5-6). Notice the tense. These are not future events but accomplished acts and present realities. They are both now and forever. Heaven is not far away — how can it be when we who are of earth have already been seated there with King Jesus? Think dimensionally instead or merely geographically.

Think, also, of heaven, not merely as destination, but as source. Paul tells us that our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20). Although he traveled far and wide preaching the gospel, his citizenship was in Rome. That brought with it certain benefits and privileges, which Paul could invoke no matter where he was in the empire. Likewise, our citizenship in heaven brings with it certain benefits and privileges, which we may call upon at any time wherever we are in the world. Heaven is not just our destination and our location; it is our source.

We are people of heaven and earth. God’s plan is that, in the end, heaven and earth will come together as one (see Revelation 21, which portrays the New Jerusalem, the city of heaven, coming down to unite with the earth). It has already begun. Jesus said, “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it” (Matthew 11:12 NIV; see also A Kingdom Forcefully Advancing). Our job is to lay hold of it by faith and to pray, as Jesus taught us, “Kingdom of God, come! Will of God, be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10 JVD). The apostle John tells us, “The darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining” (1 John 2:8).

These are all present realities, in the process of coming to pass in the here and now. Though we do not see them all now, we can have every expectation that they will be revealed. As we joyfully anticipate the completion of what God has already begun, we can, by faith, draw on heaven as our source and supply. This is good news from the gospel.

For more about heaven on earth, see The Kingdom of Heaven on Earth: Keys to the Kingdom of God in the Gospel of Matthew.

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The Focus of Our Faith
Paul’s Letters to the Jesus Believers at Colosse
Bite-Size Studies Through Colossians
by Jeff Doles

Preview with Amazon’s “Look Inside.”

Available in paperback and Kindle (Amazon), epub (Google and iTunes) and PDF.

The Divine Power Trio

In rock and roll, a power trio is bass, guitar and drums (no rhythm guitar, no keyboard). But I have something different in mind, a power trio that comes from God.

We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints; because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel. (Colossians 1:3-5)

Having pointed out his and their identity in God and extended to them the blessing of the Father, Paul now offers a word of thanksgiving to God for the Christian believers at Colosse. Three things that stand out in them for which he is especially grateful.

• Their faith in Jesus the Messiah.
• Their love for all the saints.
• The hope laid up for them in heaven.

Faith, hope, love. These are huge on Paul’s list — and God’s. They are the “abiding” things. Remember how Paul ends his discourse on love 1 Corinthians 13. “Now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (v. 13).

Notice, however, that Paul does not thank the Colossians themselves for these things, as if they somehow worked them up within themselves. No, he gives thanks to God, because they come from Him. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17), which is given by inspiration of the Spirit of God. Love is a fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22). Hope, which is a positive expectation, a joyful anticipation, comes by the work of the Spirit: “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13). Because this is the work of God, and not of ourselves, it is possible for faith, hope and love to be revealed in our own lives. Our part is simply to yield to the work of God in us.

Faith, hope and love are a divine power trio. All three come from God, and all three work together to release heaven on earth. Faith is the underlying reality of things that are not yet apparent but which we fully expect to see (Hebrews 11:1). However, faith without love is meaningless and vain, of no value or profit (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). This is because faith works through love, expressed and energized by love (Galatians 5:6). That is why, of the three, the greatest is love.

(For more about the prayers of thanksgiving found in the New Testament, see Praying With Fire: Change Your World with the Powerful Prayers of the Apostles.)

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The Focus of Our Faith
Paul’s Letters to the Jesus Believers at Colosse
Bite-Size Studies Through Colossians
by Jeff Doles

Preview with Amazon’s “Look Inside.”

Available in paperback and Kindle (Amazon), epub (Google and iTunes) and PDF.

Claim Your Inheritance, LORD

Psalm 2 begins with a question — or is it a cry?

Why do the nations rage,
And the people plot a vain thing?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
And the rulers take counsel together,
Against the LORD and against His Anointed [Messiah], saying,
“Let us break Their bonds in pieces
And cast away Their cords from us.”

(Psalm 2:1-2)

God’s response to these kings and rulers? Yahweh laughs. Then He goes on to say,

“Yet I have set My King
On My holy hill of Zion.”
I will declare the decree:
“The LORD has said to Me,
‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.
Ask of Me, and I will give You
The nations for Your inheritance,
And the ends of the earth for Your possession.’”

(Psalm 2:6-8)

This is about the Messiah, Jesus. God is giving Him the nations for His inheritance, and the ends of the earth for His possession. After the Cross and the Resurrection, and before He ascended to His throne at the right hand of the Father, Jesus came to the disciples and said,

All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:18-20)

Jesus has been given all authority in heaven and on earth, and out of that authority, He sends us to make disciples of all the nations, to baptize them in His name and teach them to obey His teaching. Luke records how Jesus gave His disciples the power to fulfill this Great Commission to the nations.

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

God has given Jesus the nations for His inheritance and the end of the earth for His possession. The prayer of my heart as I read this psalm today and consider the turmoil in the world is a prayer of agreement:

Claim Your inheritance, Lord.

A Prosperous New Month

As many of my regular readers have probably picked up by now, I pray through the book of Psalms each month (150 psalms divided by 30 days in a month = five a day). At the beginning of each new month, I start again at Psalm 1. And here is what greets me:

Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.

(Psalm 1:1-3)

Blessed! It is my confession. To confess something means to speak in agreement with it,* and I speak in agreement with this psalm.

• I am a blessed man.
• I do not walk in the counsel of the ungodly.
• I do not stand in the path of sinners.
• I do not sit with the scornful.
• I delight in the instruction of the LORD.
• I mediate in it continually.
• I am like a tree planted by rivers of water.
• I bring forth fruit in its season.
• My leaf shall not wither
• And whatever I do prospers.

I say these kind of things out loud, sometimes very loud and with great enthusiasm, and I recommend it to you. It is a wonderful way to start off a prosperous month.

For more on this, I’ve written a number of times about Psalm 1 and also about confession. Click the labels at the bottom of this post.

*Someone recently asked if our ministry practices “positive confession.” I answered that we practice speaking in agreement with the Word of God.