The Apostle Paul was asking the people to examine their own lives and personal relationship with the Lord… and then to turn that outwards towards others. He was exhorting the Church in Philippi to be joined together as one community of life and love, having the same mindset as they moved forward. Paul was using the example of Christ’s unconditional love, mercy, and compassion towards them as a catalyst to spur them on to imitate Christ within and outside the church walls. Even today, we could benefit from Paul’s appeal…all being like-minded in love and purpose as the Church moves forward into the future.
Tag: jesus
Psalm 9: 9-10 ” The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Those who know Your name will trust in You, for You, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.”
God is that shelter from danger…He is that fortress where we can flee to be safe from attack. If we have a relationship with the Lord, our trust and confidence will be in Him and Him alone…knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that He will never abandon us in the middle of the turmoil. Trust Him to be that citadel of strength and power when worries and distress come into your life…seek Him always as your safe haven.
Esther 4:16 “…When this is done, I will go to the King, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.”
Even though she was Queen, Esther had to be summoned by King Xerxes to enter the inner court. If he did not extend his golden scepter towards her, she would immediately be put to death. Esther entered that inner court with fear and trembling, not knowing how the King would react to her. By contrast, we can enter the Great Throne Room of Grace like a little child running into their parents room…laughing, joyful, without fear, totally trusting we won’t be rejected by our Heavenly Father. The Lord wants to spend time with you today..listening to every little thing you have on your mind. So go boldly into His inner court…He’s waiting for you!
Colossians 2:6-7 ” So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strenghened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”
Why shouldn’t everyday be an overabundance of appreciation?… Why do we spend a good part of our days grousing rather than being grateful? If we haven’t put into place the elements of the first part of this verse, unfortunately, we will never achieve the latter. It says that once you receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior you are to continue your Walk…growing in the knowledge of Him, ever-increasing your trust and confidence as you learn from your Teacher and Lord. Thus, with this ever-increasing Faith within, you too will overflow with thankfulness and gratitude.
Matthew 7:3 ” Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?”
Jesus liked to use analogies when He taught the crowds that followed Him, and He had just spoken about judging others, when He gave this comparison. How can you be so concerned and finding fault with your brother who has a fleck of sawdust in his eye, while not even considering the wooden beam in your own? If we belittle someone else, and find fault, it somehow makes us feel our own shortcomings aren’t that “bad”. If we just focus on their weaknesses…we don’t have to face at our own. Jesus wants us to remove the plank out of our eye first…and then we can see clearly enough to take that speck out of our brother’s.
John 9: 25 ” One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see.”
The beggar had been blind since birth… but if you think about it, we are all born blind…born with Spiritual blindness. It says that Jesus spat on the ground, made some mud, and smeared it on the man’s eyes, and then told him to go wash in the Pool of Siloam. There are several stories throughout the Gospels of Jesus using this unusual tactic to heal…He was literally placing a piece of Himself- His DNA, on the person needing the healing. Later, after the Pharisees were done interrogating the man, Jesus found him, and asked if he believed in the Messiah. And for the very first time the man “saw” Jesus for who He really was. Open your eyes and see your Savior.
Mark 10: 14-15 ” Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
To get the essence of what the Lord is saying in this passage, we all need to go visit a Kindergarten class. While there, we will see every kind of emotion freely expressed by children who have yet learned to “stuff” feelings. They will have absolute trust in their teacher, and will look to her/him for help in every problem that arises. They will freely show love, acceptance, and enthusiasm towards others without reproach or bias. Ah, to have child-like faith…the world would be a much better place if it was one big kindergarten class with Jesus as our loving teacher!
I Chronicles 4: 10 ” Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, ‘Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.’ And God granted his request.
When your mother’s birth of you is so traumatizing that she names you ‘Pain’… you’ve got one strike against you from the very start! But it says that Jabez was more honorable than his brothers…honorable meaning wealthy and renowned. So what had turned his life around? It was the prayer that he cried out to the Lord…a prayer seeking His blessing, asking that God would multiply his sphere of influence, and beseeching the Lord to protect him. And it says that God bestowed on him what he had asked for. Right now, consider praying this powerful prayer into your own life…regardless of your past, God can bless you today!
Proverbs 16:7 ” When a man’s ways are pleasing to the Lord, He makes even his enemies live at peace with him.”
Even though Joseph was thrown into prison after Potiphar’s wife falsely accused him, God granted him favor in the eyes of the Prison Warden, who gave Joseph the position of Administrator over the entire jail. God was well pleased with Joseph, and made even the Palace Guard live at peace with him…which probably drove Potiphar’s wife crazy! She wanted him punished for resisting her advances, and instead, he was granted a very powerful position. If God takes pleasure in us, even our worst enemies will befriend and show us partiality.
John 6: 5-6 ” When Jesus looked up and saw the great crowd coming towards Him, He said to Philip, ‘Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?’ He asked this only to test him, for He already had in mind what He was going to do.”
As the Disciples traveled with Jesus ,they were witness to countless miracles, so when Jesus asked Philip where they should get food to feed this huge crowd, He was really asking him a much more serious question. He was asking… where is your faith level Philip? On our journeys you’ve seen many miracles…can you now use what you’ve seen and apply it here? Jesus wanted Philip to stop looking at things from his perspective, and start seeing them through God’s limitless one…He wanted Philip to take his eyes off the temporal and catch a vision of the boundless power of God. How would you answer that question?
Safetypinlove 