If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is you life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them.But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:1–17
In the Prayer guide that we’ve developed for these 31 days leading up to the presidential election in the United States. Which by the way, if you’d like to follow along with that guide, then you can download it at Radical.net. But the passage to meditate on and pray according to today is Colossians 3:1–17.
As we seek after the Lord, may the words of Colossians 3:1–17 be true of our lives.
And the prayer guide says to pray for all that you see in these verses to be true in your life and in your relationships with others during these days. Repent of any ways that these verses have not been true in your life. So instead of we normally do on this podcast. Just reading a verse, then saying a few things about it and praying according to it.
Raised with Christ
I want to pray through the passage. So Colossians 3:1–17, it’s obviously a bit longer, but I’m just going to pray through it. Almost reading the passage as a prayer for these things to be true in our lives and our relationships with others, especially during these days. And God would convict us by his word and his spirit of ways that we need to repent in ways that these verses have not been true in our lives.
So let’s pray Colossians 3, starting in verse one. Oh God, we praise you, that we have been raised with Christ. So help us to seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Oh God, it’s so much going on in the world around us, help us to set our minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
Colossians 3:1–17 Prays for God to Help Us Repent
Knowing that we have died and our life is hidden with Christ right now in God. When Christ, who is our life appears now we will also appear with Him in glory. We can’t wait for that day. So help us today to put to death whatever is earthly in us. God help us to turn from repent of sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
Knowing that only a count of these, your wrath is coming. Knowing that we once walked in these things when we were living in them, but now we’ve put them away. God help us to put away anger, wrath, malice, slander, all obscene, talk from our mouths. Help us not to lie to one another to speak truth.
Seeing that we have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self. Which is being renewed in knowledge after your image, as our creator. Knowing that here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised, uncircumcised, barbarians, Gethians, slave, free but Jesus is all and He’s in all. God we pray for this awareness and understanding and unity as your church.
Colossians 3:1–17 Thanks God for His Peace
We pray that you’d help us to put on as your chosen ones. Holy and beloved compassionate hearts. We pray for these things for kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, help us to bear with one another. And if one has a complaint against another to forgive each other, as you have forgiven us and above all these help us to put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
And may the peace of Christ rule in our hearts to which we have been called in one body and help us to be thankful in all circumstances, to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly, through teach and admonish one another in all wisdom, as we sing Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, as your people with thankfulness in our hearts to you.
Whatever we do during these days, specifically leading up to this election and in our voting and how we steward our vote in everything we do and say in word or deed. Help us to do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus. Giving thanks to you, our father, through Him. Thank you for this passage of scripture. May it be true in our lives we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
