Wednesday September 24, 2025 - Alpha & Omega

 Chapter 17: Alpha & Omega Day 4

Praying the Name: 

Colossians 1:15-20 - 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. 19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

Revelation 21:1-7 -  Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. 2 Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. 4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”  Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”6 And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. 7 He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be My son.

Father, 

    I want to praise You for all Your sufficiency, for being enough for me, more than enough to work in my life and do the things that You desire for me. I praise You for all Your love and work in my life and the desires to stand with You that is in me now. Why could we have not done this years ago? 

    Thank You for coming down as mere human and God together so that You understood us and could relate to our lives. Thank You that You were God as well and could live without the sin so that You could die for us giving us that life forever in Heaven. Thank You for loving us so much that You came and were our all in all. 

    Forgive me for the times that I try to rely on myself rather than You. Give me the strength and wherewithal to work at relying on You in all ways in my life and know that You are giving me the ability to stand in You and be the person that You desire me to be. I want to give all of me over to You and stand in Your love and power in the life You provide me. 

    Please Father, the emptiness inside me needs to be filled more by You that I would not need others to make my life complete. I want to lean on You and get my people fix in Nana and the cats, keep me holding onto You in this life and to be the person that You desire for me to be. I do not have a great empty spot, as You fill me and the girls give me the people that I need. I like the life I have now except for chicken sweaters. 

    I pray that You give me the grace to know that I need You I know that I have a great need for Your filling and no matter how full I am on earth I will never be full until we get to heaven out of these sinful bodies. Take away all that opposes You and Your greatness in me. Rid me of the pain that is in my soul with the sin that lives inside. 

    Forgive me for the self-reliance that keeps me from trusting You fully. I need to be filled each day with You so that the sin in me is far from my life. That I can be the person that You desire me to be. 

    I pray for the girls and the way You have given me to serve You and keep You alive in the girls and their lives I know this is my calling forever. 

    Thank You for touching my life with Your love and Word each day. 

In Jesus Name, 

    Amen 

    

    The word abundancy made a bit of a come back a few years ago when a feel good book entitled, 'Simple Abundance', scaled the best seller list. This book of daily readings tapped into the sense many of us have that our lives are long on stress and short on serenity. Though we may life in the midst of affluence, many of us sense that something vital is lacking. We long for a greater sense of purpose, and a deeper sense of fulfillment. But how does our need for fulfillment connect with Jesus as the Alpha & Omega? A description of Jesus as A and Z and all in between, the center and circumference of all things, I like that description because it echos the statement in Colossians that God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Jesus. 

    Christ is indeed the source of all beauty and the end of all yearning. He is truth, peace, healing, comfort, purity, power and love. He is the beginning of the world, and the end of the world and it is literally true that we have no good apart from Him. To say that God's fullness dwells in Jesus is to say that though Christ is human there is no part of Him that is not divine. Deity fills Him, as one theologian puts it from Him as the bearer of divine fullness, vital powers flow into the church so that He may be said to fill it. 

    But if vital powers are to flow into us by virtue of our belonging to Christ, why is it that we often feel so lacking in power? Perhaps it is because we are so busy trying to fill ourselves with things incapable of satisfying. You cannot after all fill a bucket with fine cut diamonds if it is already packed to the brim with potting soil. Perhaps too we fail to grasp and obvious fact that God's power flows down and not up. In other words, receiving everything that Christ has for us requires a willingness to tolerate our emptiness for a while it requires admitting our inability to satisfy our deepest needs. All the while believing that Christ will, and this faith joined with humility and obedience, will act as a powerful force a kind of spiritual gravity to attract Gods gifts and His blessings. 

    In 1 Corinthians Paul talks about God's ultimate aim, He says there will come a time when through the work of Christ, God will finally be all in all, everywhere you look God, everyone you look at God within, this is God's plan for you, for the church and for this world. He wants to fill us with Himself the richest of all blessings.