May 5, Colossians 1:8 Bible Study Notes

Welcome! 

This blog is used to share some of our notes from each day’s journaling while we were in Bible study with The Holy Spirit. At the bottom of each blog page, you’ll see which Bible we used and additional resources that may have informed our thinking and learning. We are curious and humble #Biblenerds. Each day we GET TO use the Word of God to learn more about His never-changing character, how much Jesus loves us and how The Holy Spirit guides us through a heart transformation one verse at a time. The Bible reads us just as much as we read It. 

We hope these perfectly imperfect notes help you as you join us weekday mornings 8:00 - 9:00 EST via Facebook & Youtube. And, of course, we welcome you whenever and wherever you get a chance to learn along with us! 

In His Love, 

Joy Lee & Tara Ouellette 

 

Joy’s Notes:
“and who also informed us of your love in the Spirit” (Berean)
—————————-
• Read psalm 139

P E A U N U T
B U T T E R

“Peanut butter fills in the cracks of your heart”

Even a well loved little boy felt that “emptiness”

An emptiness that’s implanted there on purpose by God for God

PB= people, places, things, food, shopping, position, status, perfection, etc

“ I realized it never reached my heart. & thats when I realized Jesus was my peanut butter.” ~Shea
———————-
L O V E
D E P R I V A T I O N

Love deprivation is a LIE from pit of hell.
⁃ Satans native language is deceit & whipers “you’re love deprived.”
⁃ “You MUST find someone or some thing to fill that void”
⁃ there’s no level of darkness we won’t go in order to fill the “love-deprivation hole.”
⁃ But we’re NOT love deprived! The Holy Spirit has administered the purest form of love straight into the heart (rom 5:5)

• God IS love (1John 4:8)
• It’s His IDENTITY.
(I am female w/ blue eyes)

Shea’s heart was YEARNING for the source of Love!!!!!

—————-
Lion king

⁃ Simba dad dies & he’s an ORPHAN & feels UNLOVED
⁃ Mufasa (Satan) tells him to RUN!! (Fight/flight )
⁃ Monkey takes him to the water (living water🙌) “you’re dad is alive!”
⁃ “He’s alive IN YOU!”
⁃ Dad says...” simba, you’ve forgotten me, because you’ve forgotten who you are!
⁃ “Remember who you are ... You are MY Son!”

SONG- “Recovery” =
“God, I saw your PERFECTION in my
REFLECTION”

(But I didn’t see His PERFECTION, only my
DEPLETION)
————————
Jesus baptism :

1. This is my son
2. Whom I LOVE
3. Who brings me great joy (NLT)

Joys baptism of HS
(Water of love)

👉I am Gods daughter
👉 God loves me
👉I bring my Father
great Joy

(The joy I felt when my baby crawled into my lap for safety & comfort)
———————

“All I really need to know... I learned in kindergarten.”
-Robert Fulgum

Love IS fundamental & foundational to the Christian faith — AND YET 90 %+ of those I’ve counseled can’t believe theyre Loved by God.

(“Love your God with all your heart mind soul strength ”)

• We love God because we K N OW He loved us first & at my worst!!

LOVE IS NOT BASED ON ME- IT’S simply PLACED ON ME

“In the 33 years since I was first ambushed by Jesus, I am now I really convinced that on judgment day Jesus will ask one question and only one question. “Did you believe that I loved you? That I desired you? That I waited for you day after day? That I longed just to hear the sound of your voice?”Some of respond and say, “I believed in your love and I tried to shape my life as a response to it.” But many of us who were so faithful in our ministry, our practices, our churches, even those who have preached it, are going to answer, “well frankly no sir. I never really believed it.”

TRUTH BOMB:

👉The reason we can’t RECEIVE Gods love COULD be because we’re obsessed with trying to get it from somewhere /someone else.

We can’t have both.

We can’t continue chasing down counterfeit mechanisms of love - & believe they hold the love I need....
• W H I L E, fully receiving Gods love.

It can’t be done at
same time!

• This is why so many experience & receive the LOVE of God “hitting rock bottom”

Jer 2:13
“For my people have done two evil things:
1. They have abandoned me— The Fountain of Living Water (love)
2. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all”

Jer 2:24-25
“You’re like a wild donkey (A#% ) sniffing the wind at mating time!” (Unsettled, etc)
“ Who can restrain her lust? “
Those who desire her don’t need to search, for she goes running to them!
When will you stop running? (Simba)
When will you stop panting after other gods?
But you say, “save your breath. I’m in love with these counterfeit gods and I can’t stop loving them now!”
—————
“ May you have the power to understand, as ALL GODS PEOPLE SHOULD....
how wide,
how long
how deep
His LOVE is
~ Eph 3:18

“Define yourself as one radically absurdly, incomprehensibly, transformationally, immeasurably, perfectly, unfathomably, undeservingly loved by God....
THIS, is your true self.
Every other identity is only an illusion.”
~ Brennan Manning

 

Tara’s Notes:

Colossians 1:8 NLT 

He is the one who told us about 

the great love for others

that the Holy Spirit has given you. 

One way I meditate on scripture is to repeat several times, aligning my spirit with His Spirit. As I repeat, sometimes I feel led to look at additional translations and sometimes He prompts me just to keep rereading until I hear a word from Him directly. No commentary. No additional sources of information. Just Him. through His inspirited Word.

NLT/Tara’s spin

Epaphras is the Christian brother who told us about 

the GREAT LOVE 

for OTHERS 

that Jesus Christ’s Holy Spirit 

has given you, the Colossians 

Interlinear 

The one having made known to us 

your love in the Spirit (wind, breath, spirit) 

 Interlinear/Tara’s spin

Epaphras made known to us

How much you, Colossians, love in the Spirit 

1.     LOVE is the number one characteristic that is focused on at this point.  

2.     God, Christ Jesus and now the (Holy) Spirit

What a great compliment from Epaphras about the Colossians church. Hmmm…what is being said about our Christian church body in 2021? What’s being said about me? What my reputation as a Christ follower? What flows through me - love?

Romans 13:8-10 Fulfilling the Law Through Love

8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Galatians 5:13-15  Life by the Spirit

13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh[a]; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”[b] 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. 

This verse reminds me that we are triune beings, made my God. We have a body, mind and a spirit. Our spirit connects to His Holy Sprit through JESUS from God.

Ephaphras & Colossians/body

spoke it out, showed love 

 *

Ephaphras & Colossians/soul – mind, will, emotions 

CHOSE to set his heart & mind on things above (Colossians 3:2)

 *

Ephaphras & Colossians/spirit – 

Stating that his/their spirit is connected with Christ Jesus’ Spirit

 Galatians 5:16-18

16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever[a] you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

James 4:1-2  Submit Yourselves to God  (CONFLICT) 

4What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God.

I wonder if the Holy Spirit feels like “chopped liver” most of the time.  We, Christians, function so much from our souls (center of our lives) rather than partnered with the power of the Holy Spirit who’s connected to Jesus who’s connected to God  all things above  HOPE! 

James 2:26 The body without the spirit is dead – we are at-risk, we are dead people walking too often.  What makes us come alive in the spirit so we can LOVE: 

*God’s Word – Bible (this is our mirror to become more love more Christ-like overtime)

*Prayer – in the spirit/Spirit 

*Praise & Worship 

*Love others/faith in action 

 
Season 1: ColossiansJoy Lee