connecting

Saturday, July 21, 2018 (7:14 a.m.)

Holy, Blessed God,

Thank You! You provided a day of connecting yesterday. Four friends learning more about ourselves and one another than we ever have before.

Yes Father, thank You! Thank You for Your hand in all of our lives. Thank You that as we shared our stories with one another we were able to freely express disappointments, fears and hope.

Yes Father. Hope! Hope in You. Hope for the future. All because of our hope in You. This is where I want to go this morning. Our hope in You.

Holy God, even here I get to turn to Your Word. The Passion Translation (Colossians 2:19) speaks of our need to be connected with Jesus.

“They [early Gnostics] refuse to take hold of the true source. But we receive directly from Him, and His life supplies vitality into every part of His body through the joining ligaments connecting us all as one. He is the divine Head who guides His body and causes it to grow by the supernatural power of God.”

This verse is found in a section (vs. 6-23) titled Freedom from Rules and New Life in Christ. I recognize the peace that came to me over eight years ago from reading, believing and standing on the Truth of verse seven.

“Let your roots grow down into Him and draw up nourishment from Him, so you will grow in faith, strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught. Let your lives overflow with thanksgiving for all He has done.”

Yes Father, yes!

The comments in The Life Recovery Bible encourage exercising our faith in and conscious contact with You, “so that His power will be at work within us, filling us with joy and thanksgiving. Without God’s power nourishing us, we are at the mercy of our destructive habits and dependency” (2:6-7).

Oh yes Father!

Trying “to change through our own efforts, we realized just how powerless” we are. Yes Father, “everything we need is found not in ourself, or even in other people, but in Jesus Christ. A recovery that is not built on the person and power of Jesus Christ will always be incomplete” (2:9-10).

It is Jesus’ power that “is able to restore us to sanity and help us overcome our destructive patterns from the past” (2:11-15). Our freedom is found only in You!

“Paul tells us that we won’t find success in our own strength or rules, which lead us away from the only adequate power source - God. He is the only one with the power to transform us and help us conquer evil and rebuild our life” (2:20-23).

Talk yesterday circled around our hope of joy for one another. While we truly connected deeply with each other, it is only through our connecting directly with You that will ever lead us to the freedom and joy for which we so desperately long.

Father God, thank You. Thank You for the ways You work in our lives. Be with me as I go out to approach this brand new day. I love You. I long to live as You would have me live. Free and full of joy.

Please. Thank You. I love You. Amen.

(552 words ~ 8:34 a.m.)