COl 4 Bond Servants of Christ

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.

Colossians 4
1 Masters, be just and fair to your slaves. Remember that you also have a Master—in heaven.

An Encouragement for Prayer
2 Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart. 3 Pray for us, too, that God will give us many opportunities to speak about his mysterious plan concerning Christ. That is why I am here in chains. 4 Pray that I will proclaim this message as clearly as I should.
5 Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be gracious and attractive[a] so that you will have the right response for everyone.
Paul’s Final Instructions and Greetings
7 Tychicus will give you a full report about how I am getting along. He is a beloved brother and faithful helper who serves with me in the Lord’s work. 8 I have sent him to you for this very purpose—to let you know how we are doing and to encourage you. 9 I am also sending Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, one of your own people. He and Tychicus will tell you everything that’s happening here.
10 Aristarchus, who is in prison with me, sends you his greetings, and so does Mark, Barnabas’s cousin. As you were instructed before, make Mark welcome if he comes your way. 11 Jesus (the one we call Justus) also sends his greetings. These are the only Jewish believers among my co-workers; they are working with me here for the Kingdom of God. And what a comfort they have been!
12 Epaphras, a member of your own fellowship and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends you his greetings. He always prays earnestly for you, asking God to make you strong and perfect, fully confident that you are following the whole will of God. 13 I can assure you that he prays hard for you and also for the believers in Laodicea and Hierapolis.
14 Luke, the beloved doctor, sends his greetings, and so does Demas. 15 Please give my greetings to our brothers and sisters[b] at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church that meets in her house.
16 After you have read this letter, pass it on to the church at Laodicea so they can read it, too. And you should read the letter I wrote to them.
17 And say to Archippus, “Be sure to carry out the ministry the Lord gave you.”
18 Here is my greeting in my own handwriting—Paul.
Remember my chains.
May God’s grace be with you.
Footnotes:
a. Colossians 4:6 Greek and seasoned with salt.
b. Colossians 4:15 Greek brothers.

~ Lena’s Journalin’~
Every leader alive is responsible to God for their leadership, whether they acknowledge it, act like it, believe it or not. Those who acknowledge it well, do better at leading. There is an accountability. If we give account now, we won’t have as much to give an account for later on.
Our Pastor used to explain it this way, stating that life is like a mortgage. Everyday a payment is due from us to God. We give God our lives, for they belong to Him, He created us and He purchased us back from the enemy’s hands, by His death on the cross. We owe God, whether we want to pay, feel like paying or not. Judgment day is the payment due date. The payments that were due all called in. If we’ve given our lives to God while living here, everyday, we give our lives in spiritual and natural service for His kingdom, then on judgment day, there’s only one payment left, and therefore it’ll be like every other day. If we never acknowledged Him or His Son, Jesus, then there’s a hefty amount due us on that day. We may not have it, for the more we refused Him the more we incurred to the balance, and will find we won’t ever have enough to pay it. That’s where we’ll be condemned, for we could have had Him pay for us, forgiving us the full payment due, but we wanted to do it ourselves our own way.
We are all responsible before God to live here and now for Him. That’s what we owe today. We are “slaves”, because we choose to work our life’s indebtedness out with our Father, rather than try to work it out with a liar, thief and a robber.
Here are some ways we can spend our days as slaves of Christ in God- Pray, be thankful, live wisely- not wasting time, being a light to those who need to come out of darkness and have their debts paid before it is too late for them. Be gracious, loving, kind, inviting people into this life of willing slavery to God, with grateful hearts of praise. We need to pray that people will hear our message and receive payment for their sin, that they’d not be caught having to pay a huge lump-sum and not be able to, and in their inability to do so, they end up in a horrid eternal state.
Pray that believers will follow after the whole will of God and not be deceived by the trickster who hates them and their Father God. Pray for endurance to stay in ministry, and in His will.
Are you in chains?
If so, whos?
If not, Why not? It’d be better to be a bond servant of the Lord than mastered by sin. If not in the yoke with Christ, you are in a yoke with something. It is time to acknowledge the will of another, and put your head in His yoke.
Awaken oh church, the bride has become a responsible wife! It’s not about Me, me, me anymore. It is all about Him!

Daily Thought to Ponder -
“Oh Give Thanks to the Lord for He is Good!”