Poetry Sample 1
As I was studying the book of Colossians the name Epaphras was mentioned. Do you know of Epaphras? Not an immediate name we go to when thinking of characters of the Bible, but worthy of naming in this holy book, which gives us insight into the qualities and characteristics that God values and wants us to know of. There are only 66 God-breathed books and his name is mentioned with careful purpose.
Epaphras was a man who served and served well. His mentions are few in the Bible, but his reputation and the way he served is such a wonderful example to us, God’s chosen people. Epaphras is mentioned three times in the New Testament, twice in Colossians and once in Philemon, he was a believer in Christ. Epaphras served alongside Paul in the things of Christ. He is referred to “as our dear fellow servant,” “a servant of Christ Jesus,” as well as naming the godly attribute of prayer; “always wrestling in prayer for you.”
As a member of Colossae himself, Epaphras was committed to the things of God. As read in chapter one, he not only ministered the gospel to his community but reported the love of the spirit in the community back to Paul as an encouragement of the faith. He had initially met Paul in prison in Rome shortly before this letter was composed and delivered.
Key Verses:
Colossians 1:15-16, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him.”
Colossians 2:8, “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.”
Colossians 3:12-13, “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”
Colossians 4:5-6, “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.
The morning conversations with my husband are my favorite.
As we sit and discuss, explore and revel in the majesty that God is, the rooms are filled with peace. The vastness of God and His word, the feet of Jesus that walked this earth, the complexity, yet accessibility of God to us, man and woman, is hard to comprehend. His spirit is ushered in when we speak of Him in such ways. He is welcomed in our conversations and shows up.
Today we spent time considering how God works in the lives of His people. The management of our lives and circumstances is enough to bury anyone under stress, the feeling of being misunderstood by God, unused by God, such a sinner that we deserve no good thing from God or even from life.
You see, these “rules” are made up. Perhaps by the ways of the world that we grew up with or perhaps it was the way we were raised, whatever our ideals are and the way we unfold what is right and wrong and the way things work. This negates the overall truth; the sovereignty of God reigns. The mind of God is what we must measure our truth by. The way things work and why they work (or maybe why they don’t) are laid out with total accessibility in the Bible, in Scripture.
Websters meaning of sovereignty:
sov· er· eign· ty ˈsä-v(ə-)rən-tē -vərn-tē,
1a: supreme power especially over a body politic
b: freedom from external control : AUTONOMY
c: controlling influence
2: one that is sovereign
especially : an autonomous state
When we lean into the the sovereignty of God, we purpose in our minds and hearts to understand the will of God. To understand and believe that there is a plan and a purpose in and through all circumstance. We can never totally understand the breadth, width, height and depth of God and how He uses all things for His glory, but it a promise to the ones who call on God as their Lord and savior.
“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28.
There was a time in my walk where I realized that I was seeing things out of the scope of my own eyes, my own rules. It could have been my own social conditioning or rational thinking and what I believed to be my own understanding of truth. I’m also quite well aware that I most likely still do reason things out and arrive at a conclusion that has nothing to do with God. It is void of God’s will for me, my life, or a specific circumstance. Whatever hardship I am going through, I might be missing the fact that He is honing me, pruning me, preparing me and there with me throughout the hard. He was and is doing a work and would reveal things in time. In sitting with this awhile, I found that an answer was not what I was looking for anyway. I was looking for and needing and desiring the presence of God, the comfort of God and His perfect plan that I would trust whether I could see it or not. I was looking to “feel” and “know” the comfort of the Shepherd. Looking for a place to rest.
It’s difficult, but often times, we cannot see where we are missing the trusting of God’s sovereignty until it is revealed to you by God! And this is a favorite part of my relationship with God and my favorite part of what my pastor and husband has taught me over the years, GOD DOES THE WORK. God reveals where we are in need of trusting Him. Where we stumble in our own efforts and forget to welcome Him in to our hard and our need.
Is there strife? Is there anger? Is there envy? Are you exhausted and weary? Is there confusion and tears and careful evaluation, your own spirit of rebellion? Have we dismissed the God who failed to answer us and moved ahead without Him? Are we just done and tired of trying? The list goes on and on and is only known by you. How do we know when we are moving through life on our own accord and measuring circumstances by our own standards? Fruit. Godly fruit. Peace. Contentment. Joy. Patience… We all know the ways in which we find ourselves needing more of God- it’s found in the deficit my friends. Missing Him and living without His presence and movement in our lives and we know because we long for Him. His presence. His answer, His tenderness and mercy and love.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23
Peace. Contentment. Godly outpouring of who He is in and through us as believers and sojourners in this life. Are we edifying and holy, set apart from the things of this world? Have we become like the world and spill out things that look a whole lot like those who don’t walk with the Lord and live, knowing their calling, their eklektos. (see Matt 22:14)
When life gets us down and we begin to question God’s movement in our lives, this is a perfect time to take inventory of our relationship with the Master, the King. Where is He moving in a what way you can see Him doing so? When did we start measuring fair, right and wrong by our own set of standards and start living life outside that of the Word of God? When did my sense of what’s what become the end-all-be-all of truth.
If you are struggling with where God is in your life, a specific circumstance, or His presence as a whole, take heart beloved sister, you are perhaps being pruned which leads to deepening, which leads to holiness, which leads to Godliness, which ultimately leads to to God himself. It’s refinement and it needs to be welcomed. As God reveals our inadequacies, let us be faithful to trust Him to reconcile them in us as well.
Finding that you are missing God somewhere in your walk of life is expected and not at all uncommon. We are a constant beautiful work in progress by the Master’s hand, all of us. Even the most wise and seasoned Christian men and women, leaders and saints, suffer from the revelation that they forgot to invite God into something and are suffering in some way because of it. It may be discouragement. It may be weariness. It may be defeat. Only you know what is lacking. All God’s people are made to long for Him and want for the intimacy of God. We were created for this relationship and without it we shall surely find ourselves anemic, exhausted and treading water, lacking peace, comfort and true contentment.
As we take hold though, He reveals all things. As we seek in earnest through worship, prayer and the Word, the Bible, He is faithful to show up. And I feel the necessity to share how essential it is to read the Bible my friends. You cannot get the totality of who God is without diving in and breathing out the knowledge that God has given to us. His Word is light unto our feet, so that we know how to walk, where to walk and how to ascertain one thing from another. As we bravely believe and trust that God will reveal these things, He will meet you and show you He is ever present in your life- in the hardships, the sufferings, the weariness and the good, He is there. Especially in the hardships, He is there, walking with you, bearing it with you and He has never left you, not for one minute. I always liked the saying, “there is no spot where God is not.” Nothing is beyond His scope of sight of care. Not even our lack of faith, He knows that too and meets us right there. Right there in that place where His sovereignty sits. Steadfast and reliable. Consistent and faithfully, He is there.
- Pray: Lord you are good, holy and perfect. Thank you that you see my frailty as a human, that there is nothing that you don’t see and nothing that you don’t know. Thank you Lord that my life belongs to you and you will redeem every circumstance. Please Lord let me see you reign and rule over all things for me today and every day. Let me see your hand working in my life and I thank you that you have given me eyes to see truth and wisdom, wisdom from above. Thank you Lord for your true sovereignty, the governing over all things large and small, they all matter to you. Thank you that I am in your hands. I trust you Lord and I seek after you, hard and fast, I seek after you. Reveal yourself to me as I set my heart before you, patiently waiting. Help me in any area I have disbelief so that I may be encouraged and lifted up so I might draw near to you and know you deeper. Thank you for your grace, I am humbled and look forward to seeing you move in my life.
- Reflect: Romans Chapter 5