THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13
Scripture: Colossians 1:24

Colossians 1:24 says, “I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints.” I am not sure I like this passage. Philippians is bad enough but Colossians adds insult to injury. It is not enough that we must suffer loss that we might gain the fullness of what Christ has for us, but now we must be willing to do it for the church? It is hard enough to walk this path for ourselves, but it seems we have to go through it for others as well. It’s hard not to say, ‘Lord, that is just too much!’ Is this Who Jesus is to us? If it is, then sometimes we get to pioneer in things called revelation and we get to bring it to other people. Every single one of us need to answer the question, is this Who Jesus is to me? Am I willing to walk the Colossians walk in order to gain the Colossians victory? No matter how you cut it, it is one tough question. Even if we are not called into the ministry, it is a difficult question. But every person who says yes to Christ is called to ministry and the job of the five-fold is to equip believers for the work of ministry. Why then do leaders go through the Colossians walk? So we can lead and guide other believers through it. Walking the walk enables us to talk the talk. If believers hope to walk through the last days and gain the promised harvest, they must know this Jesus. Is Jesus, the Jesus of Colossians, to us? There can only be one answer if we really want the fullness of Christ. We either yield to Him or we don’t. Who is Jesus to us?