Tag: Devotional

Philippians 1:7-11 (Devotional Thought)

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It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:7-11 ESV)

Wow. It really sounds like the Apostle Paul is getting a little mushy here! He can’t help but be filled with warm feelings for this church who has stood beside him through some tough things. They continue to love and encourage him even though he’s been put in prison, beaten, and ridiculed for the sake of the gospel. They aren’t ashamed to be identified with him.

But it’s not just Paul’s affection that is flowing in this passage. Paul is saying that he loves them like Jesus loves them! In other words, he can’t help but be crazy about this church because Jesus is crazy about this church! Sometimes as a believer it helps to be reminded that God loves us with a “never stopping, never giving up, always and forever kind of love.” Because Paul loves this church like Jesus loves the church, he prays for them.

How do you pray for the people you love? Do you love the church like Jesus loves his church?

Sometimes we pray for the people we love in a kind of selfish way. “Thank you for my mom and dad.” or “help my dad want to give me that big present I want for Christmas.” Or when someone is sick we pray, “help mom to get to feeling better.” I suppose that those kind of prayers are good to an extent because we are told to “cast all our cares upon Him” (1 Peter 5:7). But these selfish prayers are different than how Paul prays for the church at Philippi.

Paul prays for the church to grow more in love. Sometimes we can think of love as an emotion, but love is more than an emotion. Love requires knowledge and action. I can say that I love my wife but then I have to know her and act accordingly. If I know that she doesn’t like to do the dishes then an act of love might be for me to do something like do the dishes. With knowledge comes the ability to act in a way that demonstrates my love. This is what Paul prays for the church at Philippi, not that they would be filled with an emotion, but that they would know God! Then their knowledge of God would drive their actions and emotions. That they would look more like Jesus because of how closely they walk with him. That’s how Paul prays for the people he loves. That’s a gospel payer.

Take time to pray for the people you love today. Pray for them according to the gospel that they would grow in their knowledge of God.

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Philippians 1:3-6 (Devotional Thought)

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I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:3-6 ESV)

When I was twelve I belonged to a BB gun club that met in the basement of a bank. We met each week, shot our targets, talked about BB gun safety, and compared the guns we had. It was cool. I really liked hanging out with my BB gun club friends.

Over 20 years have passed since I participated in the bb gun club and truth be told, I don’t know those guys anymore. I’ve forgotten their names. In these verse we see a picture of a stronger bond than BB guns, sports teams, chess, or stuff like that. He writes about fellowship (it’s the word translated at partnership in the passage above).

Fellowship rightly translated as partnership here is more than getting together and hanging out. It’s a deep bond where both parties are committed to a common goal or agenda. Fellowship requires a commitment of time, energy and even finances.

If you haven’t already, look back at Acts 16 and read about the first three converts to Christianity at Philippi. They hardly had anything in common: a wealthy business women, a formerly demon possessed slave girl, and a suicidal jailer. They were from three different economic classes. They probably didn’t move in the same social circles. They were probably different ages. If they had facebook, twitter or Instagram back in those days they wouldn’t have even crossed lines on social media… but something drew them together! It was the power of the gospel! This rough group of people had a common experience with Jesus Christ that so changed their lives that they partnered together so that other people might experience the same relationship with God that they had.

From the very start the people of this church were dedicated to seeing the gospel not only transform their lives, but transform the lives of others as well! They worked to help establish the church at Philippi, they gave money to help take the good news of Jesus to those who hadn’t heard yet, they are faithful in prayer for the Apostle Paul. This is why Paul can say “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). Paul knew that the gospel had truly impacted their lives because this church was partnering together in various ways to spread the gospel all over the world.

How has the gospel changed your life? If you don’t see how the gospel has changed your life, spend some time in prayer asking God to reveal this to you.

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Philippians 1 (Devotional Thought)

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Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:1-2 ESV)

Sometimes it can be easy to pass over words like these that are an introduction to a book of the Bible. We don’t think that they can make sense for our lives and so we hurry over the words or we skip down to something more interesting. Today though I want to challenge you to think a little deeper. What do you know about the Apostle Paul? Write down everything you know. No worries, I’ve got time. (If you are unfamiliar with Paul, you can read his back story over in Acts 8-9 where he went by the name of Saul).

Ok. Lets compare notes: Paul used to persecute Christians! He went around from town to town locking Christians in jail and in some cases even approving of their murder (Acts 8:1)! Then through a dramatic encounter with Jesus, on the Road to Damascus, Paul’s life was changed. He went from being a guy who went from town to town persecuting Christians to a guy who now went from town to town telling people about Jesus! He was even thrown in jail, tortured and beaten for telling others about Jesus! God had radically changed Paul’s life.

Paul is the human author that God used to write the book of Philippians. That’s important because God uses the most unlikely characters to do great things in his name. Next question: Who do you think the book of Philippians written too? Go ahead write down your answer. I got time. When you’re done click the more tag.

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James 5:19-20 (Devotional Thought)

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My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. (James 5:19-20 ESV)

My family loves to go hiking. Since we really don’t have any mountains to hike around Pensacola we do the next best thing, we go for a walk through the woods. One time we were walking through the woods and I stopped abruptly. My three-year-old wanted to keep on trekking and started to go around me and I snatched him back and held him close to me and said, “Wait! Do you see that stick there in the middle of the path?” The stick was actually a snake and I had prevented him from stepping on it. Thankfully that particular snake wasn’t poisonous, but my son did learn a valuable lesson. Look out for snakes!

James says that when we bring someone back from wandering that we cover over a multitude of sin. The sin being talked about here is the sin of the person who has wandered. When I reached out and pulled my son back from the path I kept him from being bit by a snake. When we reach out to those who are wandering from the faith we are keeping them from hurtful behavior that can hurt themselves or others.

When I was younger I was angry about some things that people had done to our family and I responded by hanging out with the wrong crowd and drinking. When my dad became aware of my alcohol abuse he confronted me about it. I repented and haven’t been drunk since. My dad knew all about alcohol because his dad was an alcoholic. I was already showing the classic signs of being an alcoholic by drinking alone, etc. I am confident that my dad’s intervention changed the course of my life for the better and in the end covered over a multitude of sins.

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James 5:13-18 (Devotional Thought)

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Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit. (James 5:13-18 ESV)

I bet you didn’t know that I’m an award winning actor. Well actually the award was from the Missouri district 5 acting competition for high schools… But I got first place, name in the paper and everything. Initially I was afraid to act. I had this weird thought that everyone else at the competition was going to be better. I thought they had all been acting since birth and that as an 11th grader I was late to the game. I really only signed up for the acting class because I thought it would be fun (that was before I realized that you had to memorize your lines). But then my friend Ian and I actually won the duo-acting part of the competition. I went on to star in high school plays, church dramas, and even wrote the script for a church musical before I finally retired from acting.

James says that prayer can be like that. It can be intimidating at first. You can think of all kinds of people who might be better at prayer than you and so you don’t bother, but James reminds us that even the really famous prophet Elijah was human. Elijah had prayed for the rain to stop and it stopped raining for three years! Effective prayer really only requires one thing… a heart submitted to God and ready to be used by him.

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James 5:12 (Devotional Thought)

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But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation. (James 5:12 ESV)

Have you ever made a promise while crossing your fingers or made an oath to a friend and said, “cross my heart and hope to die”? Those are things I used to do as a little kid. You would cross your fingers when you knew you were going to break your promise (somehow that made it okay to do) and you swore on your life (that’s crossing your heart and hoping to die) when you wanted someone to believe your promise.

People swear or “promise” based on something. They might say, “I swear as sure as I’m standing here” or “I swear on my momma’s grave.” While those are weird things to swear by they reveal something about the person who is swearing…. They normally lie. If people won’t believe what you say, it’s probably because you crossed your fingers one too many times and they are reluctant to trust you. James says that you are not to swear or promise by anything, rather just speak the truth.

Lying is what we do when we don’t trust God. Swearing is what we do when we’ve lied so many times that people won’t believe us… James reminds us not to cross our fingers or swear by anything because someone who trusts God has no reason to lie.

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James 5:7-11 (Devotional Thought)

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Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. (James 5:7-11 ESV)

I hate waiting but sometimes I’ll go stand in line to wait just to get into some fancy place to eat. Then I’ll order something off the menu and sit around and wait for my food to be delivered. Most of the time the end product is worth the wait. But what if I didn’t understand that good food takes time to prepare and so I bad mouthed the chef the whole time we waited? They would be back in the kitchen slaving away to present an awesome meal and I would be out front thinking that they had it in for me and they hated me for making me wait.

James says that part of being a Christian is waiting for God to deliver on his promises. We know that God will deliver, but sometimes it seems like we are waiting a long time. James reminds us that God’s timing is always perfect and has a purpose. When we have patience we are demonstrating that we trust God to deliver us and that he is still as merciful and compassionate as he has ever been.

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James 4:13-17 (Devotional Thought)

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Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”– yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. (James 4:13-17 ESV)

I had the benefit of getting my master’s degree a few years ago. I was in my early thirties and as old as some of the younger professors at the school, so for a joke one time I walked into a class on the first day and began to act just like I was the professor. I said things like, “Ok everyone get out your text books for the course.” The charade lasted only a few minutes before the real professor came in and the joke was up. Everyone soon recognized that I was a student just like them.

Sometimes we like to pretend that we know more than we do. I was pretending to be a teacher, but I was really there to learn. Sometimes we pretend to be like God and make plans as if we know everything that will happen. The truth is we don’t. We don’t even know what the next moment will truly hold. Only God does. James writes and reminds us to submit everything to God, even how we speak needs to be seasoned with an honest submission to God’s authority. We can say, “This is my plan and I think it’s good, but only God truly knows what will happen.” By approaching our life and plans like this we are recognizing the Lordship of God in everything we do.

James 4:11-12 (Devotional Thought)

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Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor? (James 4:11-12 ESV)

I used to play flag–football on Sunday afternoons. Our team got really good and we started a league so we could play other teams. We started out just calling the rules ourselves like if we stepped out of bounds we would call it or if we stopped short of a touchdown we would call it. But we soon learned that this wasn’t the best way to oversee a game. Generally both teams had a difference of opinion on every call. Someone would say we stepped out, but we were sure we remained in. Someone would say that they grabbed our flag before we crossed the goal line and it went on and on.

That’s the way it is in life sometimes. We look for the mistakes of others while hoping that our own mistakes go unnoticed. We are quick to talk about a friend who stabbed us in the back by gossiping about us, but we don’t realize that we are guilty of the very same sin when we talk about them. James reminds us that we are responsible to honor God, not pick on others who have fallen short. God will judge them fairly and He doesn’t need your help. Everyone will pay for their sin in one of two ways. They will face eternal destruction in Hell or they will embrace forgiveness in Christ. Either way, who are we to condemn someone that Christ has forgiven or who will face God’s wrath?

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James 4:1-10 (Devotional Thought)

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What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. (James 4:1-10 ESV)

Have I ever told you about the time that I almost scored for the opposing team? It’s pretty embarrassing. I was in middle school and I was playing church league basketball. Because it was church league there was a very broad age range and so there were lots of guys better than me. But also because it was church league I got to play at least two minutes every quarter. So they put me in just after the half and I get the ball and start dribbling towards a wide open goal. There is no one in my way. I hear the other team yelling, “Stop him! Stop him! He’s going to score!” What I didn’t realize was that it was my own teammates yelling out. You see we had switched goals at the half. The goal I was headed towards was now our opponents goal. The sad part is that I actually shot the ball and missed before I realized that I was headed the wrong way. I was more concerned with making a goal than playing with my team. I’ve never been so happy to miss a goal in my life!

You know we fall into trouble when we focus on ourselves rather than focusing on God. The author of James reminds us that when we focus on ourselves we miss God. The good news is that if you catch yourself being selfish all you need to do is repent, return to God and he will give you a fresh start.

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