Happy New Year!  2016 has arrived.  A new year, a new start. Perhaps a new beginning to this devotional blog?  We'll see...

Colossians 1

Verses 9-12 contain a prayer that I pray on a regular basis, " .. For this reason, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask;

that you may be filled to the full with the knowledge of His will

in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,

so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord,

to please Him in all respects,

bearing fruit in every good work,

and increasing in the knowledge of God,

strengthened with all power according to His glorious might,

for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience;

joyously giving thanks to the Father,

who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light."

The next verses are a beautiful exaltation of the Father and of "the incomparable Christ"

The Father:

Has delivered us from the domain of darkness.

Has transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sin. 

Jesus Christ is:

The image of the invisible God.

The first-born of all creation.

By Him all things were created both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible.

All thrones, dominions, rulers, authorities... all things have been created by Him and for Him.

He is before all things.

In Him all things hold together . 

He is the head of the body, the church.

He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead;

He has first place in everything.

The Father was pleased to have all the "fulness to dwell in Him"

Through Him all things are reconciled to Himself. 

He has made peace through the blood of His cross.... on earth and in heaven.

He has reconciled us, in His fleshly body, through death.. in order to present us before Him, "holy and blameless and beyond reproach" as long as we "continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven..." 

Paul calls this a great "mystery", once hidden, but now revealed.  God has made known "the riches of the glory" of this truth "Christ in you, the hope of glory ".  It is in proclaiming Christ,  sometimes with admonishing, sometimes with teaching, sometimes with much labor and striving... for the purpose of presenting "every man complete in Christ". 

Father in heaven,  all power, all might, all glory, all majesty.. all holiness is in You.  You have created all things and all things belong to You. We thank You for revealing Yourself to us and making Your will known to us.  Increase our understanding of "the grace of God in truth".  Open our eyes Lord, to see Your glory and the hope that is in Christ Jesus, Your Son.  Fill us. Change us. Perfect us. Make us holy and blameless and preserve us in our Redeemer until the day of His return. Amen.