Paul asks the Colossians to pray that God would provide opportunities for sharing the Gospel. I find it quite instructive that he requests the opportunity. He doesn't pray that those he is ministering to would believe or understand the message.
Paul sees his job as explaining the unexplainable, and making the eternal known to the temporal. He asks that he can be faithful to the call of proclaiming the mystery of the Gospel.
Paul sees his job as explaining the unexplainable, and making the eternal known to the temporal. He asks that he can be faithful to the call of proclaiming the mystery of the Gospel.
This underscores the fact only God can change hearts. He is the one who actually changed hearts. The role we played was to give up to His sovereign care.
God gives us opportunities and we make the best of them. We don’t create these opportunities. We can’t make people believe the Gospel. We can’t change anyone’s heart. Heck, we can't even change our own hearts.
Don't you find it interesting that Paul sees the purpose for his imprisonment was that he would be able to share the Gospel with his hearers? Since he was shackled to a Roman soldier, he had a captive audience.
Oh, to get to that place where I view all things as from the Lord. Whether good or bad, everything has purpose to and for the Lord. And, His purposes are the best.
I remember when my wife of nine years told me that she needed to donate her kidney to her youngest sister. I demanded that her middle sister give the kidney. I later learned she would have kidney issues of her own. It was a must that my wife give her youngest sister one of her kidneys.
That was twenty-one years ago. Although I couldn't see it then, there were many purposes to all of that madness. My wife's middle sister would have been in a world of hurt, not to mention the youngest sister, because she would later need a kidney transplant of her own.
Through all of that which took place in 1997, I saw that the Lord sees and knows the big picture; I do not. I discovered it is best to leave it all, the good and the bad, up to Him. Trusting that it all has purpose. My responsibility is to walk through the doors He opens, and as clearly as possible, proclaim the mystery that I've come to understand.
Don't you find it interesting that Paul sees the purpose for his imprisonment was that he would be able to share the Gospel with his hearers? Since he was shackled to a Roman soldier, he had a captive audience.
Oh, to get to that place where I view all things as from the Lord. Whether good or bad, everything has purpose to and for the Lord. And, His purposes are the best.
I remember when my wife of nine years told me that she needed to donate her kidney to her youngest sister. I demanded that her middle sister give the kidney. I later learned she would have kidney issues of her own. It was a must that my wife give her youngest sister one of her kidneys.
That was twenty-one years ago. Although I couldn't see it then, there were many purposes to all of that madness. My wife's middle sister would have been in a world of hurt, not to mention the youngest sister, because she would later need a kidney transplant of her own.
Through all of that which took place in 1997, I saw that the Lord sees and knows the big picture; I do not. I discovered it is best to leave it all, the good and the bad, up to Him. Trusting that it all has purpose. My responsibility is to walk through the doors He opens, and as clearly as possible, proclaim the mystery that I've come to understand.
