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Welcome to the Well Soul Podcast, where we pause to drink and scripture, reflect and pray. I am your host, Seana Scott, and sometimes life leaves our souls feeling parched, so come to the well of living water—that never runs dry.
For the last few weeks, we have meditated on passages in the Book of Colossians. We have learned that the Colossian church was a mixture of those coming out of Pagan religious practices and Jewish believers (believers in Jesus as the Messiah).
In this series, we have meditated on Scripture that encouraged us to not be led astray by fine sounding, but unsound teaching–and to not hold on to religious practices more than we hold on to the gospel.
Religious practices are helpful, as long as they lead us toward genuine connection with the Lord, and not self-made religion—that might look holy on the outside, but it's not profitable to make us increasingly more like Christ with a genuine heart of repentance and obedience.
We also explore the trap of judging one another in how we live out our devotion to Jesus. We are free from human rules, but we should do what is needed to restrain ourselves from what Paul called sensual indulgence. In other words, to have self-control, to do what is right. Not to depend on what feels good.
Feelings are real, but they're not always true and good.
Last episode, we meditated on setting our mind on things above, not on earthly things. In that line of thought, Paul then described what this might look like, putting off sinful habits and practicing putting on Godly habits like compassion, kindness and forgiveness. And of course we see in Galatians 5, a few books earlier in the Bible, that in order to have these kind of qualities, we need to be filled with the Spirit because the fruit of the Spirit comes by the Spirit dwelling inside of us by repentance. That is, turning away from our sin and placing our faith in Jesus Christ.
Paul concluded this passage in Colossians chapter 3 with the encouragement: Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him (Colossians 3:17).
Paul then encourages Christians to live honorably with one another in a section known as, “The Rules for Christian Households.” His final instructions after his thoughts on household relationships, before his closing greetings, is what we will meditate on today.
Before I read, take a moment to breathe in and prepare your mind to listen. To God's word.
Colossians 4:2—6. Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
What did the Holy Spirit highlight for you? Dwell on this for a moment.
Devoting ourselves to prayer can be difficult in our actual lives. Work, chores, relationships, and if you're raising kids, it can feel impossible to have a thought to yourself at times, let alone praying all the time.
Let me suggest two things.
One, practicing an awareness of the presence of God, is prayer. It's dwelling in His presence by being mindful of His presence as we pay the bills, sit in the meeting, chat with a loved one at dinner.
Second, establishing a pattern of focused prayer also can help. It can look like praying every time you wash your hands or setting up a rhythm of praying and journaling in a specific time of the day.
Whatever prayer practices you learn, devoting ourselves to prayer can be more practical than we imagine.
I'm going to reread the passage once again. Listen for what the Holy Spirit highlights for you.
“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”
What did the spirit highlight for you this time?
Take a moment to pray about anything the Spirit brought to mind, or simply take a moment to sit in God's presence.
Let's pray.
Father, Son, Holy Spirit, one and only true God, we worship you. Lord, we want to be devoted to prayer, but honestly, we don't know how. We're not some monastic in a tower somewhere focusing on praying all day. We're in the middle of our messy lives with responsibilities and chores and bills and work and loved ones to care for.
So God, show us how to be creative in keeping our minds occupied in connection with You throughout our day. Help us to hear You. Help us to speak to You. Help us to connect with You. Help us, Lord, to learn all the practical ways to pray without ceasing. In Jesus' name, we pray, amen.
Thank you for joining me today on the Well Soul Podcast for our journey in the book of Colossians. Next episode, we'll be doing a mini two-week series for Pentecost from Acts chapter 1 and 2, and I hope you will join us by subscribing to the podcast.
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Are you actively involved in a worship community in a local church? God created us for community and growing in Christ's best done with a group of genuine Christ followers where we all serve one another with our spiritual gifts to build up each other and to be witnesses to the world around us.
If you're not active in deep life relationships in your local church, I encourage you to get connected.
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In closing, I would like to thank Dr. Sandra Glahn for her Colossians Bible study. See the link in the show notes to grab a copy.
Also, I will give special thanks to my late friend Brian Vasquez, who made this podcast possible.
God bless you, and I pray that you have a well soul.