May 14 – Now Complete In Him

“For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority;” Colossians 2:9-10 (NASB)

The promise we find in the selected verse for today should give us encouragement in our relationship with Jesus Christ. He is our Savior and in order to be our Savior he had to be more than what we are; He had to be perfect. We’re thankful that Jesus, the Son of God came to earth so long ago and lived his life in the form of a human being like you and me. Jesus was fully a human and he was also fully God. We are reminded today that when Jesus returned to heaven after his ministry on this earth and after his death and resurrection, that His work here on earth continues, but in a different way. He is present working through those who trust and obey so that is happens. It happens when we believe in Him and allow Jesus to work through us. Our mission is to tell others by word and by life example what Jesus has accomplished for all people. Anyone who believes receives Jesus into their life. The promise is that those who choose to believe and receive forgiveness and eternal life are made complete by the rule and authority of God.

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March 13 – Verily True

“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” – John 16:13 (ESV)

We learn through these passages and others that a primary objective of the Holy Spirit of God was to reveal truth. For three years Jesus had taught and demonstrated by example who He was and the program of God as it would be worked out.  Recorded in chapter 14, that same evening, Jesus had said, The Helper, the Holy Spirit, … he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” It was not going to be possible for the apostles and disciples to remember all that they had be taught and would proclaim by to the nations. Especially those who would be authors of the books and letters in the New Testament. That was the role of the Holy Spirit. One God indivisible, The Spirit was with the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit would be the one to convey to the apostles and others who would be used to record what the Father says and the Son did. It was what made the inspired scriptures truly the Word of God. All that they remembered and all that was revealed to them would come through the Spirit of truth.

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March 8 – The Only God Who Can


“Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.” – Jude 24–25 (ESV)

How is it that we’ve received this promise from God? After all, we possess very little perfection to keep us from stumbling⸺actually no perfection or ability of our own. But, in this one-chapter book of Jude, we are promised that “Him who is able to keep you from stumbling…does so in order to present us blameless to God.” Wow! If that is not a promise that causes our hearts to leap for joy, it should. The ‘Him’ is God the Holy Spirit. After saving us by grace through faith⸺a bundled gift from God⸺we are promised that we will stand before the one and only God who chose to save us and we will do that through what the Son of God, Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. It is a bit mind blowing if we mediate on this promise. God is One and he is able to keep us from stumbling. God’s Holy Spirit presents us blameless in the glorious presence of God who saved us according to His will. All this is accomplished because God the Son provided a way through His obedience to death on a cross and God raised Him up from the tomb.

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