What jumped out to me as I read this passage was, “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation…” Now we’ll all admit that this year has been a season of discontentment, and with the Holidays fast approaching, many of us have been forced to make very hard decisions about our usual family gatherings. Add this to the last nine months of frustration and it’s not surprising that we feel resentment and bitterness. But here we have Paul, who I don’t need to remind you is writing to the Church in Philippi from a Roman prison, telling them he is content. But how? In Colossians 1:11, again Paul is writing from prison when he encourages the Church to …”grow in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience…” Paul was able to grasp and draw on the Lord’s strength when his was waning. He was able to discover the previously undisclosed ability to not only endure but to handle anything thrown his way with grace and a quieted mind.
Category: Daily Inspirational Devotional
John 15:7-8 “If you remain in Me and My Words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to My Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be My disciples.”
“Ask whatever you wish and it will be given you,” is not a blank check for us to use on every whim and fancy. For here Jesus is showing us that if we first abide in Him and His Words our requests will then line up with the Will of God. This is echoed in Matthew 6:33, “But seek first His Kingdom and all things will be given to you as well.” Asking in accordance to God’s Will is developed by experience and exposure…by developing a deep abiding relationship with Jesus Christ, and immersing ourselves in His Word.
John 15:5-6 ” I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in Me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.”
I think the most thought provoking phrase in these verses is, “Apart from Me you can do nothing.” Now immediately our fleshly nature bristles at this statement and rejects the notion that we can’t take care of ourselves. But frankly, we can’t…we’re not skilled enough, competent enough, or powerful enough to do this life on earth alone…we need Jesus. We need that life-giving union between Jesus and us in order to be the very best person we can be. For as we stand firm with Him, He nurtures and sustains us as a young shoot grafted onto the vine.
John 15:3-4 ” You are already clean because of the Word I have spoken to you. Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me.”
“Remain in Me.” Jesus is telling us several times in this passage, but what is He saying? The Greek word for “remain” means to abide or dwell, but there’s more to it. It’s more than dependence, communion, and obedience…it’s a little used word now a days…sanctification. A example of sanctification is found in Ephesians 5:26, “Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the Word.” Through Jesus’ sacrifice we are sanctified and made clean from the guilt and shame of sin. In other words, we are set apart and consecrated to Him…this is called sanctification or holiness unto the Lord and something all Believers should be striving for.
John 15:1-2 ” I am the true vine, and My Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.”
If our lives are in Christ it will be evidenced by the fruit we produce. This fruit being all the positive attributes described in Galatians 5:22…love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. But even when our lives are yielding good fruit, God may prune us…removing unwanted parts to insure greater productivity in the future. Now this type of pruning can be confusing and even painful during the process. For all we see is a ministry, service, or work that we really love and may have been doing for years…but God sees it as a obstacle to His greater plan and purpose. So by pruning that area of “small” fruit from our life, God makes way for a much larger crop in the future.
Proverbs 12:9 ” Better to be a nobody and yet have a servant than pretend to be somebody and have no food.”
In the world today, where material things and the need to impress is flaunted everywhere, this simple proverb proves different. It tells us that the good and right thing to do is to live in quiet humility, not showy or flashy. It means living within our means, paying our bills on time, and having money in the bank. It means we don’t draw attention to ourselves, but live a life of integrity and honesty. But for those who make believe and feign status and wealth…they’re only deceiving themselves. They will bolster their so called life-style with a wallet full of credit cards that are all totally maxed out, all the while calling attention to themselves and their things… as the bill collectors call on their new and latest cell phone. We all need to realize then, this is not the way to live and surely not how the Lord wants us to use His resources.
Matthew 3:8-9 ” Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.”
In these verses, John the Baptist is speaking harshly to the religious authorities that have come out to the desert, by the banks of the Jordan River, to see what all the commotion was about. He cuts to the chase and uncovers the awful truth about them…they are pinning their hope on the shirt-tails of their distant ancestor, Abraham, and arrogantly presuming that their lineage will get them to heaven. But it doesn’t work that way…for them, or for us today. Repentance needs to be personal, taken seriously, and followed by evidence of said repentance…or as Paul explained in Acts 26:20 about his ministry to the Gentiles, “I preach that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds.”
Psalm 40:1-2 ” I waited patiently for the Lord; He turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.”
“He who digs a hole and scoops it out falls into the pit he has made.” (Psalm 7:15) The Hebrew word for “hole” in this verse, and “slimy pit” in the verses above is identical… of describing death as a giant pit. That’s because as much as we hate to admit it…most of the time the consequences we face from disobeying God are of our own making…we stumble into serious predicaments with no one to blame but ourselves. But the Lord is there, ever ready to bring us out if we will just turn to Him. And He will be faithful to place our feet on the firm foundation of Christ …or as Isaiah 26:4 tells us, “The Lord is the Rock eternal.” or Psalm 19:14, “O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.” Today, let us look to the steadfast certainty of standing on the Rock of Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 11:6 ” And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”
Within the words of this verse lies the Litmus Test of Christianity…for it separates the true Believer from the wanna-be, only on Sundays, if it suits the occasion, believer. We all know people like this…ones that rely on man-made ceremonies and observances to pin their faith on, rather than putting their actual trust in Jesus Christ. The Writer of Hebrews tells us elsewhere, “One Who has become a priest not on the basis of a regulation as to His ancestry but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life. The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless (for the Law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.” (Hebrews 7: 16, 18-19) Our hope can only be in Jesus Christ…for as we draw near to Him, He forgives us of our sins, by suffering in our place the penalty to which we were subjected to, and then giving us the gift of eternal life.
I Samuel 2:8-9 ” For the foundations of the earth are the Lord’s; upon them He has set the world. He will guard the feet of His saints, but the wicked will be silenced in darkness. It is not by strength that one prevails; those who oppose the Lord will be shattered.”
God’s total sovereignty is on full display in these verses. The wicked of the world may think they’re getting away with violating the rights of others through oppression, greed, exploitation, dishonesty, and injustice…but their time is coming. That’s because evil will never triumph over good….sin will never be able to declare victory…and wickedness will never overwhelm righteousness.
