substance

Sunday, July 31, 2011 (7:33 a.m.)

Beloved Lord God,

Thank You! Thank You for a successful ‘welcome party’ in honor of a yet to be born little one. Thank You for the one day postponement of rain and thundershowers in our area. Thank You for friends and family who gathered together with love, good wishes and gifts. SO many gifts!

Thank You Lord for the work You do behind the scenes of our lives. Work deep down inside of us. Growing us into people of substance.

And just like that, here I am again in the book of Colossians. Reading words I’ve read before. Words that inspire and excite me. Words which describe our going From the Shadows to the Substance. Colossians 2:6-7, “And now just as you trusted Christ to save you, trust Him, too, for each day’s problems; live in vital union with Him. Let your roots grow down into Him and draw nourishment from Him. See that you go on growing in the Lord, and become strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught. Let your lives overflow with joy and thanksgiving for all He has done.”

Ah Lord! “Meaningfulness, significance, importance, validity, foundation; character, backbone, mettle…” Substance.

Colossians 2:8-10, “Don’t let others spoil your faith and joy with their philosophies, their wrong and shallow answers built on men’s thoughts and ideas, instead of on what Christ has said. For in Christ there is all of God in a human body; so you have everything when you have Christ, and you are filled with God through your union with Christ. He is the highest Ruler, with authority over every other power.”

YOU are our substance! It IS in You “we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28)! “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).

Dearest Lord God, You truly are our substance. We can choose to work ourselves into dithers. OR we can choose to trust in You. Thank You Lord for the reminders of how much better it is when we choose the latter!

Keep working in us Dearest Lord. Ever changing us from the people we think we are supposed to be, into the people that You know we are! You are good. You are mighty. Faithful. Perfect. Holy. Loving. And we want desperately to be like You, ‘following Your example in everything we do just as a much-loved child imitates his father’ (Ephesians 5:1).

Yes Lord, continue Your work – growing us into a people of substance. Oh how deeply and truly we love You. Thank You Lord. Amen.

(434 words ~ 8:27 a.m.)