March 2018 – Colona Community Church

Triumphal Entry

March 25, 2018 by Laurin, posted in Church Information, Devotion

I was watching golf with my dad a few weeks ago, when Tiger Woods made another return to the course. Even with all the controversy that has surrounded him in recent years, the cheers for his appearance were loud and long.

Almost two thousand years ago, another controversial person made a triumphal entry–not onto the golf course, but into the city of Jerusalem. For three years, Jesus had been traveling the countryside, stirring up people with His rebellious ideas. Then, when the time had come, He headed back to Jerusalem. Matthew 21:1-11 describes the Triumphal Entry of Jesus. As Jesus rode a donkey into the city, people laid down their coats and cut palm fronds to lay in the street to honor His passing. They shouted, “Hosanna!” The Hebrew word hosanna means “save us.” They did believe Him to be the Messiah, but misunderstood the way He would save us. They thought the Messiah would come to lead the armies to crush their Roman oppressors and usher in an age of unparalleled prosperity. But He didn’t come to save us from government oppression or financial woes or hard times. He entered Jerusalem knowing He would die to save us from so much more–from our own sin and death to righteousness and eternal life with Him!

Tiger Woods can’t save us–he honestly can’t even save himself. Only Jesus can save us. Has He saved you? Has He made His Triumphal Entry into your heart? If not, there’s no better moment than now to make a decision to follow Him out of death and into life.

I pray that this Holy Week, you would be abundantly blessed and that we would all take time each day to reflect on all Jesus did for us.

And if you’re in the Montrose or Ridgway area, please join us next Sunday for a special early Easter worship service at 8:30 am, followed by a fellowship breakfast, and regular Sunday service at 10:30 am at Colona Community Church. We hope to see you there!

Saving Daylight

March 11, 2018March 11, 2018 by Laurin, posted in Devotion

It’s a crazy time of the year for me, and changing over to Daylight Savings doesn’t help in the matter. I’ll never understand why they call it “Daylight Saving Time,” since there are actually no more hours of daylight than there were before. Yet the clocks change, and my system is thrown into a tizzy (It makes me almost miss living in Arizona, where they don’t follow Daylight Savings!). I should laugh at man’s attempt to control what only God has power over, but instead I am too tired to laugh, because somehow, man has managed to steal an hour of my life.

count rugen!!!!! — At least we can laugh at Princess Bride memes about Daylight Savings!

While the clock ticks away, and I look at the pile of things I haven’t finished yet, one verse continues to flit through my mind: “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). I know that is Him, speaking to my heart, urging me to remember that all of this is in His hands. He’s reminding me that if I simply take a moment to quiet the chaos, He will give me the energy and wisdom to complete all I need to do.

And I’m so grateful for that reminder, for knowing that I need not struggle to focus and check items off of my to-do list while desperately trying to keep my eyes open with one less hour in my day today. I can choose to be still and rest in Him, and I have faith that the work will be accomplished with renewed energy…tomorrow!

I pray that you have a blessed and restful day with the Lord.

Be Magnified

March 4, 2018 by Laurin, posted in Devotion

Magnification. The older our eyes get, the more we appreciate it! But there is another type of magnification that the Bible speaks of which is much more important to our souls than our eyes.

When Mary, at that time the soon-to-be mother of Jesus, said, “My soul doth magnify the Lord” (Luke 1:46, KJV), what did she mean? Mary was saying that she gave more importance to the Lord than anything else. She magnified Him above all things. Even King David, a man who ruled all of Israel, spoke of magnifying the Lord and how God desired that from us even more than a sacrifice on the altar (Psalm 69:30-31, NKJV).

Magnifying God above all else is not easy to do. We have a plethora of distractions available to us every moment of every day. Smart phones, TV, the Internet, work, general busyness, there is always something that can keep us from resting in Him, focusing on Him, worshipping Him. But the benefits of magnifying the Lord above the things of this world are eternal!

There is a song by the group We Are Messengers that speaks so beautifully to this, called appropriately, “Magnify.” One verse of the song says, “My sight is incomplete and I made You look small; I’ve been staring at my problems for way too long.” We humans have a tendency to do just that—focus on all the things that are going wrong, instead of how the grace of God has brought us through so much. Yet when we magnify the good, when we adjust our heart lenses to focus on the grace of God, when we examine our lives from His perspective, we see how truly blessed we are. And all our troubles seem much smaller, much more easy to manage, when God is magnified, instead of our problems.

Do you want peace in the craziness? Magnify the Lord. Do you want hope in your desperation? Magnify the Lord. Do you want light in the darkness? Magnify the Lord. Magnify Him: seek Him first, set Him higher, honor Him more, and all these things shall be added unto you.

I pray that He is magnified in your life today and every day! God bless you!

If you’d like to hear the whole song by We Are Messengers, you can click here for a link to the YouTube page to watch the official music video. 🙂