Philippians 4: 4-5
Note: For the Summer we are reprinting some devotions that ran back when we were getting this site up and running. Hopefully this is new content to you, and we will get back into writing fresh devotions as our schedule allows.
4Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
I guess this verse doesn't really need an explanation does it? Be joyful all the time. Don't get caught up in the pettiness of life, but fix your focus on Heaven. When you're having a bad day, remember that soon you won't be here anymore, and when you're having a great day, thank God for it!
What kind of day are you having today?
-Jeff-
Philippians 3: 18-21
Note: For the Summer we are reprinting some devotions that ran back when we were getting this site up and running. Hopefully this is new content to you, and we will get back into writing fresh devotions as our schedule allows.
18For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. 20But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
If your God is really your stomach, does that mean my God is bigger than yours? Sorry, I couldn't resist... Nevermind... Anyways... If you've ever gone on vacation for a period of time you know that eventually your thoughts turn towards home. I doesn't matter how much fun you're having, you start to miss your friends, or your routine, or your Wii. When Tiffanney and I got married we went to Hawaii for our Honeymoon. It was glorious! We had so much fun there, laying on the beach, then swimming in the ocean, then swimming in the pool, then laying next to the pool, it was one of the coolest things I've ever done. But something strange happened around day four or five. We found ourselves longing for home. That's right, we wanted to leave HAWAII and return to rainy, dreary, cloudy Washington! (We've vowed that when we go back, we won't make that same mistake, lol).
If you are a Christian the Bible says that you are born again and that you become a citizen of Heaven! And as a citizen of Heaven we should be focused on that eternal prize, rather than on food, pleasure or any of the other things that so often sidetrack us. So forget those things today and try to live life looking towards the prize!
-Jeff-
Philippians 2: 9-11
Note: For the Summer we are reprinting some devotions that ran back when we were getting this site up and running. Hopefully this is new content to you, and we will get back into writing fresh devotions as our schedule allows.
9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
My mentor used to always say, when you're reading the Bible and come across a therefore, you better see what it's there for. Haha. Sorry, enough Bible study humor. God put Jesus in the highest place in the Universe, that at His name everything would bow. Now a days we don't bow to anyone. We don't need to. Even the President of the US gets a handshake. But back in those days they understood what it meant to bow. Failure to bow before a King meant death. Basically Paul is saying that anyone who refuses to obey and accept Jesus is doomed.
So the question is why. Why did God give Jesus this high place? What was so special about Him? This goes back to that therefore. If you read the verses before this one, you'll see that Jesus made Himself nothing. This reminds me of Jesus' words when He said: "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all." (Mark 9:35) Jesus made Himself last, became the servant (through dying for us) of everyone else, and therefore was pushed into this lofty position.
That's the way things operate in the Kingdom, so get to work making yourself last.
-Jeff-
Philippians 1: 28-30
Note: For the Summer we are reprinting some devotions that ran back when we were getting this site up and running. Hopefully this is new content to you, and we will get back into writing fresh devotions as our schedule allows.
28 Don’t be intimidated in any way by your enemies. This will be a sign to them that they are going to be destroyed, but that you are going to be saved, even by God himself. 29 For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him. 30 We are in this struggle together. You have seen my struggle in the past, and you know that I am still in the midst of it.
At some point in our lives we've all been picked on. We've all had people say things behind our backs, or take our lunch money or whatever. Here Paul tells us not to be afraid when people say things about us, why, because we are citizens of Heaven! Jesus tells us not to fear people who can hurt us physically, but instead to fear God and do what He wants.
Sometimes when you read the Bible through you get the idea that God wants us to be in pain. In verse 29 it even says that we've been given the privilege of suffering for Him. Later in Philippians it talks about fellowshipping with suffering, like it's fun to hang out with or something. But when we know that God has a plan, when we realize that this is not our home, and when we know that He's right there with us, everything gets easier to handle. I don't like to hurt, but when my hurt draws me closer to God it's worth it.
-Jeff-
Philippians 1:27
Note: For the Summer we are reprinting some devotions that ran back when we were getting this site up and running. Hopefully this is new content to you, and we will get back into writing fresh devotions as our schedule allows.
27 Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ. Then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you are standing together with one spirit and one purpose, fighting together for the faith, which is the Good News.
You are a citizen of Heaven! This place, with all of it's hardships and sorrows isn't your home. Here in Washington State we've pioneered a method of camping that's rare elsewhere. You may not know this, but usually when it rains, normal people don't go camping. I know it's weird, but only here in the Pacific Northwest do you see people putting tarps up, most people just stay home. Have you been on a trip like that? Remember how wet and miserable you were? Remember how you tried to convince your parents to end the trip early? You wanted to get home because it was comfortable there. Well guess what!?! This isn't your home!
When you think about it that way, what does it make you want to do? How do you respond knowing that you won't have to stay here forever? For me it means that the hard times don't affect me as much. I don't sweat small things, because my perspective has changed. I can deal with the mud and yuck for a time, because I'm headed for streets of gold and a crystal sea!
How has this changed your perspective?
-Jeff-
The Parables of Jesus: Matthew 20:1-15
1"For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. 2He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
3"About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4He told them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' 5So they went.
"He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. 6About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, 'Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?'
7" 'Because no one has hired us,' they answered.
"He said to them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard.'
8"When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.'
9"The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. 10So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12'These men who were hired last worked only one hour,' they said, 'and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.'
13"But he answered one of them, 'Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? 14Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?'
The parable of the workers in the vineyard, basically the workers that worked all day were angry because the land owner paid the one’s who came to work for him at the end of the day the same. Relating this to Christ, God isn’t going to treat you any better in heaven if you’ve been a Christian for 30 years or 1 week. All who truly believe will go to heaven, One’s good works will not get you there. We must all the live the way Christ has called you to live young or old.
Kris McCollum
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