
Discipleship Devotional Study Guide – God’s Word – Colossians 3:16 – Dwell In You Richly – Growing As Disciples
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. Colossians 3:16 (NIV)
Dwell Richly
Now those are two very important words. What’s that? Dwell and richly, those are the words that I want you to consider. What would your life look like if my word dwelt in you richly? I know one thing that would need to happen for sure. What’s that? I would need to set a time and a place to meet with you in your word on a daily basis. Your word dwelling in me richly will never happen on a “when I get around to it, hit and miss basis.” If I don’t set a time and a place to meet with you in your word it will never happen on anything close to a regular basis. So, you want to make meeting with me a priority in your life. Yes, I do. That has been a big struggle for you. Yes, it has been. You have tried to meet with me in my word on a regular basis many times before, isn’t that true. Yes, I have. Were your efforts successful? No, they were not. Why is that? I didn’t really take the time to develop a strategic plan to meet with you. I was doomed to failure right from the start. What do you mean by that? I started with unrealistic goals. Like what? I said to myself that I would meet with you every morning for an hour. What was wrong with that? I haven’t been a morning person and the length of time I selected with was far too long, at least to start. So what would happen? I would have very short-term success, end up getting up late and need to rush off to work without meeting with you. Then I would give up and feel very guilty about my failed effort.
That was then. What about now? I have developed a regular pattern of meeting with you in your word. What does your regular pattern look like? How did you get started? First of all I didn’t pick an exact time to meet with you. I picked a particular space in my day. When was that? I said that I would meet with you in your word every night just before I went to bed. This worked well for me because nothing would compete with this space in my day. I could have picked right after work or any other space in my day that didn’t face a lot of competition for my time. So, you set apart a sacred time in your day that would be our time to meet together in my word. Yes, I did. Did you also select a particular place? Yes, I did. I should tell you that I wasn’t alone in selecting a time and place to meet with you. Tell me about that. My spouse and I made this decision together. So, you could each encourage other then? Yes, that’s exactly what has happened. We selected our bedroom as the place where we would meet together with you in your word. So, every night for many years now we have been meeting with you in your word without fail. We started really small. How small? I’m almost embarrassed to say that we started reading your word and praying together for five minutes just before bed every night. Why would you almost be embarrassed at only meeting with me for five minutes? Five minutes doesn’t sound anything like letting your word dwell in me richly. But, you’re not embarrassed are you? No, I am not. Why not? That small amount of time with you in your word gave us a taste of meeting with you. Now, we hunger and thirst for meeting with you in your word. Our time meeting with you in your word and praying together at night has grown dramatically. We now also have our own separate time and place to meet with you in your word. Meeting with you in your word has now become an absolute priority in our lives. We now are truly letting your word dwell in us richly. Yes, you are and that is very good and pleasing to me. Tell me the prayer that was on your heart when you first began to meet with me in my word. Here it is…
Lord, I will meet with you daily to pray and read your word. I have picked out a time and a place. This will be our time. I know it’s just a beginning. I want you and your word to dwell richly in me. I’m excited. Let’s begin right now. Amen
Key Question… What have you learned and been able to teach others as a result of God’s word dwelling in you richly?
Living It Out… Set a time and a place to meet with God in His word on a daily basis.
Seeing It Happen… Have faith that God’s word dwelling in you richly will change your heart, transform your mind and guide your life.
Get Ready To Share… Share with another person or your small group how you are letting God’s word dwell in you richly on a daily basis.
Prayer To Bless Others… May you let the word of God dwell in you richly, so you can live the life He has given you to live.
For today’s complete 4 page Discipleship Devotional Study Guide click here:
God’s Word – Colossians 3-16 – Dwell In You Richly – 4 Page Discipleship Devotional Study Guide
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