Colossians 1:11-14 Leaving the Kingdom of Darkness
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: September 22, 2020 Colossians 1:11-14
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
(Understanding the Text) Paul is speaking of the prayers that he makes for the Colossians. He has already said that he prays that they have a knowledge of God’s will and that they be filled with spiritual understanding and wisdom in order to live in a way that represents Jesus well. Now, Paul continues saying that he desires them to become strong through God’s power that they can endure their trials and have joy as they patiently wait and endure. Paul wants them to thank God as they endure because God has bought us back through Jesus. Paul says that they were under the domain of darkness; in other words, they were slaves of Satan, but Jesus transferred their citizenship to His own Kingdom. They have been redeemed from their captivity and betrayals and their position as enemies of God has been forgiven. I think it’s interesting that Paul says that Jesus qualified us for the kingdom. Qualified implies that we have to meet certain standards. We do not meet those standards, but Jesus did.
(Revelation of God) Paul speaks of domains and kingdoms. There is Satan’s domain of darkness and Jesus’ kingdom. We were automatically citizens of the domain filled with darkness, but the Father has transferred us into a different kingdom. Since one is darkness, the opposite should be light. I think God is all about loyalty. If we are loyal to the darkness, we cannot be loyal to the light, but if we switch our allegiance to Jesus, we cannot be loyal to the darkness. The Father is over all and has glorious power, but He seems to operate by certain rules. He does not arbitrarily assign us to the domain of darkness or kingdom of Jesus. Instead, through Jesus’ actions, He gave us a choice of where we wanted to belong. One thing I don’t quite get. In what way is God’s power glorious? What was Paul trying to say by using that adjective to describe might?
(Application / Prayer) My application for myself is that You have great might and are wanting to use it for me, so I should let You strengthen me with Your power. I want that patience with joy, but I don’t know how to get it. I don’t know how to endure and be joyful at the same time. Please give me that. Thank You.