Author: emmanuelpcgateshead

TUESDAY 15^th

Philippians 4:8-9

NIV (v8) – ‘Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.’

ESV (v8) – ‘Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.’

This verse must be connected to what Paul has written before it and therefore means that one of the ways to ensure that we have peace in our hearts and our minds is to think about right things and Paul lists what those right things are.

We spend a lot of our time thinking even without realising it! And we can choose to think on negative issues and dwell on them or on positive issues, good things.

The negative will bring us to a place of despondency, the positive will bring us to a place of victory. Now, I don’t mean here what is the teaching of some streams of the error strewn ‘Word of faith’ movement that we have the power to positively think things into being, or by negatively speaking out something that it will happen. As an example I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease back in 2013 after years of struggling with illness and not getting to the source of what it was, within a couple of years of diagnosis I had to have major bowel surgery to attempt to deal with it, but immediately afterwards the Crohn’s returned and I remember saying to somebody in the Church, that the Crohn’s was back, and that person immediately responded, ‘You shouldn’t have said that, it’s a negative thought, you should be declaring ‘I don’t have Crohn’s’, be positive about it instead of negative. The problem is that if I did what he had told me to do, I would have fallen into sin, because by saying ‘I don’t have Crohn’s’ I would have been lying! So that persons ‘positive’ to me was a ‘negative’! The evidence was clear, the colonoscopy clearly showed Crohn’s riddling my bowel again. See we must be truthful about the reality of our circumstances, lying about it under the guise of ‘positive thinking’ is not the way to be, instead we can think positively about it in different ways, yes, I can believe positively that although the Crohn’s has returned, that if he wills God can heal me, and I believe that, but if healing doesn’t take place, then God will give me the grace and strength required to live with it, that is positive thinking. And so far, God has never failed me, his grace and strength have constantly been made available toward me. It is nothing but a miracle that I am still able to do so much as what I am able to do, because of God’s grace, that’s positive thinking and a positive outcome, having a positive attitude because of God’s presence in the midst of the ongoing battle. Can I add this, God does not always take us out of our trial, but he will always be with us to take us through. I read this comment some time ago, God does not always remove our mountains, sometimes he wants us to go around them!

I wonder how many of us (and I think I may have mentioned this before) lie awake at night and we think about things and for some reason it always seems to make things worse than what they really are. We wake the next morning and think, why ever did I worry so much about it, it is at those times we need to learn to turn our thoughts away from the negative to the positive, we need to redirect our mind towards thinking about other things, things more positive, more encouraging, more peace educing. When it happens to me, and it does, I often just turn my mind to the Word of God and begin to meditate upon it, in fact those moments are quite often the moments when God begins to plant something in my heart to prepare for future ministry.

‘Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.’

MONDAY 14^th

Philippians 4:5-7

NIV (v7) – ‘And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.’

ESV (v7) – ‘And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.’

Yesterday we learned that we can rejoice in the midst of our circumstances because the Lord is at hand, he is ready as it were to act on our behalf, we could spend a devotion just on this thought, as a few examples he is at hand ready to bind up the broken hearted, he is at hand ready to impart strength to the weak, he is at hand to shine light into the darkness, he is at hand to impart peace into confusion. He is exactly as David said, the Shepherd ready to move us into green pasture, to provide the still waters, to restore the soul, to prepare a table in the midst of our enemies, to walk alongside us through the valley of death, and to take us by the hand and bring us into the eternal home he has been preparing for us.  In Jesus own words, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you’. (Hebrews 13:5 see also Deuteronomy 31:6, 31:8, Joshua 1:5, 1 Samuel 12:22)

In our text today we have the wonderful assurance concerning the peace of God:

It transcends all understanding

It will guard your heart

It will guard your mind

In Christ Jesus.

First to know this peace we need to be ‘in Christ Jesus’ and we are placed in Christ Jesus through the new birth experience, and being placed in Christ Jesus means that we have been placed into a position of salvation, safety and serenity.

Salvation means we have peace with God, safety means we have peace during conflict and serenity mean we have peace within ourselves which should be extended in our relationships towards others.

Remember what Pastor Peter Vincent reminded us when he shared God’s word in the video a few weeks ago, that this peace is ‘shalom’ which is ‘things being exactly as God intends them to be.’ We know what God intended things to be by going back to the Garden of Eden where everything was in perfect harmony, their were no wild animals, all the animal kingdom lived in harmony, and man could have just slept peacefully and safely alongside the lion or tiger, there was harmony between the man and the woman, and there was harmony between man and God, so much so that God came down in the cool of the evening and had fellowship with Adam and Eve, it must have been amazing, but Adam and Eve  blew it when they chose to ignore the instruction God had given them and yielded to the lies of Satan, and the harmony was broken, the peace was shattered, and things became the opposite to what God intended. But thank God he had a plan which he put into effect which was to bring peace again through the Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, and so peace is available between man and God, as a result we can have peace with one another and the day is coming when their will be peace again in the animal kingdom when the lamb will be safe to lie down with the wolf. (Isaiah 65:25)

The good news is we can begin to enjoy that peace now, we can begin to enjoy the benefits of that peace now as we come to put our faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. We find it in Ephesians 2 where it says ‘For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.’ (vv14-18) Peace with God, peace in ourselves and peace with one another.

The peace the world talks about is a fragile peace, it is peace that can be gone in an instant, it is a peace that fluctuates according to the mood of the nations, the peace that God gives is a perfect peace, a perpetual peace and a purposeful peace, perfect in that it comes from a perfect God, perpetual in that it is constant and never changing and purposeful because it achieves what it had set out to do, to bring peace that is real, peace that is permanent.

The wonder of this peace is as Paul says, it will guard our hearts and our minds. The devil loves to attack us in both of these areas, the mind, our thoughts, our desires and our emotions, he would love to mess us up in these areas of our lives, but as we stay close to Jesus, and we cannot get any closer than to be found in him, in Christ, then we can know his peace to enable us to fend off, to fight the wrong thoughts and desires and to remain in a place of peace and harmony in our relationships, first toward God, secondly toward ourselves and then toward others.

SUNDAY 13^th

Philippians 4:4

NIV (v4) – ‘Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!’

ESV (v4) – ‘Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.’

I guess we have all heard the little joke, ‘Some mornings I wake up grumpy’ (pause) that then continues with ‘but some mornings I let her or him lie in!’ We all have what we call our bad hair days, we would actually rather not get up and face the world, or we have got up and something goes wrong that alters our mood, ‘she’s or he’s like a bear with a sore head today.’ We need something to lift us, cheer us and bring us out of whatever is causing the low mood. Let us be honest, we would rather spend our time with a happy person. Someone who is bright and bubbly, cheery and always ready to put a smile on your face and to be doing things that make us feel happy. This year has been one of those years that would cause even the jolliest of people to feel down, the virus itself, then the restrictions that come out of the virus, the risk to your job, unable to visit family or friends, worse still the risk of exposure and weeks in hospital and of dying. The list could go on. What is the antidote? Well it would be great if the vaccines they are preparing will be successful in protecting and wiping the virus out, it will be great to be able to live without the restrictions and have everything running back to normal again, it would be good . . .  and we could continue to make a long list, but the problem is that once we have turned one corner there always seems to be something else that will hit like a ton of bricks and cause us to feel despondent again, to bring us low again.

Here in this chapter in Philippians Paul is bringing an antidote, ‘Rejoice in the Lord’, it may seem to be a bit of a cliché, to which we would reply, ‘you don’t know what I am going through’, ‘you try standing in my shoes’, ‘if only you knew what I am going through,’ ‘How can you tell me to rejoice?’ etc. Well the sure answer would be, No, Paul, I,  or we may not know what you are going through, but there is one who does and his name is Jesus, and he has promised to be with us. Remember Paul was writing this letter from a prison cell, his circumstances were not exactly rosy nor pleasant, he certainly did not know what lay around the corner, would he be released or would he face death! Note what he says in verses 5-6 ‘Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.’ These are our verses for tomorrow, but to just notice for today, ‘the Lord is at hand’.

Because the Lord is at hand, we can learn to rejoice in whatever our circumstances are for he is faithful and will never let us go. With whatever you or I are facing today or over the next week, we can face it knowing that the Lord is at hand, and therefore we can learn to rejoice, as Paul says ‘always’, not just when we feel like it!  Remember the story of the disciples in the ship in the midst of the storm, they were terrified, forgetting at first that Jesus was in the ship with them, therefore also in the midst of the same storm with them, and when they remembered they awoke him with the statement, ‘Don’t you care that we are perishing’ of course he cared and the truth is because he was there they were not actually perishing! and he spoke and the storm became calm, prompting someone to eventually compose  the children’s chorus, ‘with Christ in your vessel you can smile at the storm’, The disciples went into a state of fear, panic and maybe even anger, not realising as Paul says, ‘The Lord is at hand, be anxious about nothing.’ The presence of Jesus should encourage us to cheer and not fear, to rejoice and to be glad.

I am needing to learn as well, the best way to start the day is by rejoicing, we can easily start a day with all the negatives rather than concentrating on the positives, I recall one of the Gaither videos, (can’t remember which) where one of the guests was asked how are you? To which he replied ‘I’m vertical and ventilating’ in other words he was grateful to be alive. It’s great to be alive, yes, our circumstances might not always be the best, but ‘Rejoice always’ be happy, be joy-filled and joyful, be jolly, for the Lord is at hand, he is with us ready to take us through whatever we are faced with.

This is not the first time that Paul had told the Philippians to rejoice, he has already said it in chapter 3:1, ‘Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord.’ I hope the fact that it says ‘brothers’ doesn’t mean that Paul thinks that it is only the men who can be grumpy!  

SATURDAY 12^th

Philippians 3:1-11

NIV (vv10-11) – ‘I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.’

ESV (vv10-11) – ‘. . . that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.’

If I were placing headings for each devotion the one that I would give for today would be:

With what or who are we placing our confidence?

Paul had a long list of credentials, things in which he could place his confidence in, he lists them in verses 4-6. From the point of the flesh, they were good credentials, there is one thing for sure he outsmarts me in every way! But he had made an important decision, ‘Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.’ He continues, ‘Indeed, I count EVERYTHING as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.’ Wow! He was willing to lose everything so that he might know or gain Christ. Even as it says in verse 8 to count it as rubbish or dung.

As a secular man, he could have gone a long way, he could have excelled to the highest of positions or places of authority, he could have been a somebody in the then known world, but it would have meant nothing to him in comparison to knowing the Lord Jesus Christ and being the man that God wanted him to be. He desired not self but Christ, he desired not personal ambition and promotion but for Christ to be displayed and exalted through him. He was wanting to place his full confidence in Christ.

He knew that what he was, would never have led to what he needed, he says it in verses 9, ‘. . .and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, (he knew he was not good enough, not capable enough to attain righteousness) but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from god that depends on faith . . .’ He knew that the source for righteousness that saves or leads to God was not of himself but found only in Christ Jesus.

There is nothing wrong with personal ambition, promotion at work, not even in wanting to excel well in the academia, we thank God for those who as a result of attaining such that much of what we enjoy in life and in regard to health care etc would not be possible without them, but it is sad if as a result of achieving it has been at the cost of not giving one’s life over to the Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul knew his pursuing the road he had been on would have prevented him from becoming and being who God was calling him to be. And many who have excelled well or could have excelled well have given up for the cause of the gospel.  

But I want to lead on to what Paul says in verses 10-11, ‘that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.’ Paul realised that eternity mattered more than time, and what mattered even more was that eternity was spent in the right place! And to be sure of arriving there, Paul knew that he had to throw away his own self-confidence, and place his confidence in what Christ had done for him at Calvary, the place where Paul’s sin had been placed on Jesus so that the righteousness of God may be placed on him and then to pursue the path of getting to know the Lord Jesus Christ even more. Personal faith leads to a personal relationship which should in turn leads to a desire for the deepening of that relationship. And Paul realised he needed to know the power of the resurrection of Jesus in his own life, he needed to know the quickening power of the Holy Spirit, he needed to know what it meant to suffer for Christ in the same way that Christ had suffered for him, becoming like him in his death, which surely means to living a life of obedience (remember Philippians 2:8 where it says ‘Jesus became obedient to the point of death, even death on the Cross) even if it led to death or martyrdom so that he continues ‘that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection of the dead.’

Paul wanted to make certain that when the day arrives that he speaks of in 1 Thessalonians 4 ‘For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of the archangel and with the sound of the trumpet of God’ (v16), that when the dead in Christ rise, he wanted to be sure to be among them!

He continues in the following verses in Philippians 3 that he has not arrived there yet, he is still learning,  he is still getting to know, he is still pursuing, saying ‘I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.’ (v12) I close with the question I started with: With what or who are we placing our confidence?

Yes do your best to excel in the academia of this world, pursue a good career, and everything else that is a part and parcel of life here on this earth, but please don’t pursue anything at the cost or risk of losing Jesus, for in the end it will lead to the losing of ones own soul. Place your confidence in Christ Jesus and from out of that with your trust placed squarely and firmly in him, pursue the path that he wants you to follow.

FRIDAY 11^th

Philippians 2:14-18

NIV (v16) – ‘. . . as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labour in vain.’

ESV (v16) – ‘. . . holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labour in vain.’

I have included this verse in our studies for I see in this a plea from the heart of Paul to those who have received the word of God, a plea from the shepherd heart of God’s servant to the sheep that are under his care. ‘hold fast to the word of life.’  It has a twofold purpose, one is that they will hold fast, secondly so that as a result Paul might be proud or could boast in the day of Christ that all that he has done was not in vain, in other words, by holding fast they would be the proof or the evidence or the substantial fruit of his ministry. Paul’s being proud here or being able to boast isn’t in a gloating sense where he could say ‘look what I have done’ but that they would be the fruit born out of his obedience to go as he was commissioned by Jesus himself to the Gentiles. (Acts 9:15) and they were the joy of his labouring. They would have gladdened his heart.

With the Galatian Church Paul had concern that he may have laboured over them in vain, ( ‘I am afraid I may have laboured over you in vain.’ 4:11) you will remember that they were turning to something else, and he entreated them to come back, but for the Philippians, they were still running the race or as he puts it in 2:12 working out there salvation with fear and trembling and he longed for this to continue.

This should be the longing of the heart of every pastor, everyone who has been called to shepherd the flock of God, that the sheep ‘hold fast to the word of life’ that they keep going, keep growing, keep trusting, keep running the race of faith right up to and through the winning post. But at the same time, it should be the sheep’s own personal longing as well!

Here at Emmanuel Pentecostal Church, Gateshead there have been many who have had the privilege and responsibility of shepherding the flock under their care, at the present this is myself along with the oversight and we would join alongside Paul and say ‘hold fast to the word of life.’ The enemy would love to distract us, he would love to get us to find a hole in the fence and to wander off, he would love to see us get caught in some briar of some sort, issues that cause us to get tangled or entangled with the affairs of the world, but may I encourage each one of us, for myself as the shepherd as well that we don’t give the devil an inch, cause there is no doubt he would try to take a mile, but instead that we remain steadfast, holding onto the word of life.

THURSDAY 10^th

Philippians 2:1-11

NIV (v9-11) – ‘Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,  that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.’

ESV (vv9-11) – ‘Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.’

The heading in the ESV that I use has for these first eleven verses in chapter 2, ‘Christ’s example of humility’, Paul is teaching from the example of the Lord Jesus Christ what humility truly is. He says have the same mind, the same love that Christ exhibited, don’t do anything to put yourself up on a pedestal, but rather out of humility think of others as being more important than yourself, and don’t selfishly think of only yourselves but think of others, consider their needs – be like Jesus. This is one of the reasons why society does not want Jesus and the message about Jesus because it stands in stark contrast to what fallen humanity is like, fallen humanity is self-centred, egocentric, and selfish. See the message of the Cross calls us to die to self, to love others and to consider one another. The devil would rather see us be self, self and even more self, satisfying our own inner desires, satisfying the lust of the eyes and the desires of the flesh.

Christ is our great example, we see it in the gospel of John where he girds a towel and stoops down to wash the disciple’s feet, but here in Philippians 2 we are reminded that he stooped down from the heavenly realm to earth, he could have remained in that place of holding tight to the position of equality with God, but no, he emptied himself, I like what the Amplified version says here in the Zondervan Edition, ‘he emptied himself [without renouncing or diminishing His deity, but only temporarily giving up the outward expression of divine equality and His rightful dignity] by assuming the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men [He being completely human but was without sin, being fully God and fully man]. (Philippians 2:7-8 AMP) And he humbled himself further, not just in stooping to wash the feet of his disciples, but by being obedient to his Fathers will and submitting to death, even death on a Cross. He did not have to do it, he could have remained in heaven at his Father’s side, enjoying glory, but no, instead of thinking of himself he was thinking of you and me. That is humility, as Paul puts it in verse 3 ‘. . . but in humility count others as more significant than yourselves.’

As a result of his humility it leads to those great verses that we love which are our text for today, starting with the word ‘therefore’. That is because of what happened before, something follows on, and the ‘what happened before’, was Jesus’ humility and humbling of himself which led to the ‘what happened after’, his glorious exaltation. He stooped to earth, he stooped to the Cross, he stooped to the grave, but resulting from his obedience was triumphant resurrection a conquering victory, and a glorious ascension and Jesus is back where he belongs, at his Father’s side, exalted with a name which is above every name, not just Jesus Christ, but Lord, so that every knee should bow in heaven and upon earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

This is a sobering thought ‘that every knee should bow . . . and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord . . .’ It speaks of a future day when ultimately everyone will be found standing in the presence of Jesus, yes, everyone! Regardless of race, colour, nationality, ethnicity, sex and RELIGION, that is religious or non-religious, using the three categories that we often use, whether theist, agnostic or atheist, there is one thing for sure denying the existence of God does not make him non-existent, he is still there and the atheistic person will suddenly realise the error of his way, the religious person will suddenly realise the error of relying on good works, the agnostic will suddenly realise the error of not making up ones mind, those going down the road to destruction will suddenly realise there was another road, a road that led to life everlasting, and everyone along with those of us who already believe and declare it will have to utter from their lips while bowing the knee before him, ‘Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.’ But then it will be too late, for now, today is the day of salvation, and if you are an unbeliever reading this, why not today, hear his voice and respond as he calls you to come to him for salvation.

And for those of us who believe, how about realising afresh the challenge not only of the gospel call, but the ringing out of the gospel, for we are charged with the responsibility of pointing people to Jesus, before it is too late, that they may bow the knee in time and confess in time, willingly now, rather than under compulsion in that day that is coming.

WEDNESDAY 9^th

Philippians 1:19-30

NIV & ESV (v21) – ‘For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.’

As we continue in Philippians, we have another word beginning with the letter ‘p’ which I have not yet focused on, although I mentioned it when referring to Acts 16 and it is the word ‘prison’.

Paul is writing this letter while in prison, he had a prison experience while in Philippi, now he is writing the Philippian epistle while in prison. You will recall he took advantage of his being in prison with Silas in Philippi by singing hymns an praying, they had a midnight prayer and worship service that ended up with incredible things happening, now he is in prison again and Paul is recounting what has taken place, you would think that prison would have had an aggravating effect, after all it wouldn’t be the accommodation of anyone by choice, but Paul says it was advantageous in advancing the gospel – again! The whole imperial guard knew why he was in prison – for Christ, and it also resulted in giving his fellow brothers boldness in their speaking or preaching the gospel without fear, and whatever the future held for Paul he was confident that Christ would be honoured. It is out of this that he then says what is our text for today, ‘For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain’. In other words, as far as he was concerned, he was a winner whether he lived or died!

Paul practised exactly what he preached and that was that he had died to self and had been raised in newness of life, he was sold out for the Lord Jesus Christ, as far as Paul was concerned the only thing that mattered was a life lived for the Lord Jesus Christ, so if he came out of prison alive, it would lead to further opportunity to live for Christ, to preach Christ and him crucified. But if he did not come out alive, well he would gain, for he would leave this world and enter into the immediate presence of the one of whom was the reason why he was in prison and whose name he was defending while in the cell. To live was a winning situation – more opportunity to declare Jesus, to die was a winning situation – he would gain Christ, be found in his presence.

We sing a song, ‘Blessed assurance Jesus is mine, O what a foretaste of glory divine’ We do not know what songs Paul and Silas sang in prison, nor Paul while there again on this occasion, but this would have been a good song to sing, having a sure and confidence assurance that whatever happens ‘Jesus is mine’. If I live, I preach him, even more, if I die, I see him.

Death held no fear for Paul, in fact in verse 23 he says, ‘my desire is to depart and to be with Christ, for that is far better.’ (Philippians 1:23) He tells the Corinthians of how fearless death should be for the believer by making the amazing declaration, ‘Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’  

As we close the end of this first chapter, verses 29-30 we learn something else that is valuable for us as believers, the Christian life is not a bed of roses. PLEASE do not believe those who preach that if you are suffering you must have sinned, those who say you should always be healthy and wealthy for this is certainly not the gospel that Paul preached, yes we do believe in spiritual and material blessing, we do believe in divine healing, yes some suffering may be a result of sin, but we also as well have to be willing to tread the road of difficulty and suffering if this is what God wills. Paul knew difficulty, he knew what it was to suffer, he knew what it was to be hard pressed, perplexed and he knew what it was to be in want or to be in plenty, he also knew the secret came from the sufficiency of Gods grace to bring him through. Philippians 4:13 ‘I can do all things through him who strengthens me.’ And how does he strengthen us? 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, ‘But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.’

Praise the Lord if we are physically well and fit, praise the Lord if we have money in the bank and food in the cupboard, but we also need to learn to praise the Lord when the storms of life come upon us, for he is still there, he is still faithful, and we learn in those time to cling to him tighter than we may ever have done so before.

Paul suffered much for the sake of the gospel, but he knew that the eternal reward far outweighed it all, for, for him to live was Christ, for him to die was gain.

TUESDAY 8^th

Philippians 1:9-11

NIV (vv9-11) – ‘And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may 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.’

ESV (vv9-11) – ‘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.’

In verse 3 Paul God thanked God in prayer for the believers, here in todays verses he prays for them, and what a prayer:

‘that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and discernment,’ ‘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.’

Paul talks of increasing love in his letters to the Church at Thessalonica, in fact a similar prayer ‘. . . and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.’ (1 Thessalonians 3:12–13) ‘We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing.’ (2 Thessalonians 1:3) Paul is indicating that we can never outgrow love, we can never love enough, we need to be expanding continually in love toward God and one another, he adds with knowledge and discernment, what can he mean by this? I suggest that we learn to love and grow in love toward that is which is  good and upright, for it is possible to love the wrong things! John shows this in his epistle, ‘Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.’  (1 John 2:15-17) We need to be careful with what (and who) we fall in love with! It is only as we love rightly that we will be able to prove that which is excellent and be pure and blameless for the day of Jesus Christ. One of the verses I ended the devotion with on Sunday was from Romans 12:1-2, ‘I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.’ Do not be conformed to this world could so easily also say ‘Do not fall in love with the world’ or as James says do not be friends with the world (that is its ungodly and unholy practices) for ‘Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God.’ (James 4:4).

May we learn to love and may that love abound more and more, for it only through this way that we will become as Paul prayed for the Philippians ‘filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ.’

MONDAY 7^th

NIV (v7) – ‘It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me.’

ESV (v7) – ‘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 defence and confirmation of the gospel.’

We started our devotions in Philippians with the word prayer, we moved to purpose and partnership and today we come to partakers, partakers of grace.

Paul tells the Philippian believers that he should feel how he does about them because they were partakers together of grace, this must mean that as they partnered with Paul, they also cared for him which was an evidence of the grace of God in their lives. Later in the letter he says that no other Church had shared the same concern for him than that which the Philippians had 4:14-15 ‘Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble. And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only.’

We who are saved are all partakers of God’s grace which we often refer to as ‘amazing grace’, the NIV says ‘you share in God’s grace with me’, it speaks of fellowship flowing from grace, this means as believers we are there for one another in the high moments and also in the low, in the good times and what we may consider the bad or tough times, in the joy or in the sorrow, in the smooth or in the rough. The other Churches may have either forsaken or perhaps forgotten about Paul, but the Philippian Church had not and whenever opportunity made itself available, they ministered to him and they met or ministered to his need. Chapter 4 says that they had revived their concern for him, not because they had forgotten him, but circumstance prevented them, but as soon as opportunity arrived, they took it. (4:10-11)

As we partake of God’s grace may it be demonstrated in the love and concern that we all have toward one another, as we pray for each other, as we encourage one another, as we support one another, because we have been brought into fellowship with one another, amazing grace that has impacted our lives outworked in our care for others,

We have probably all heard the saying, out of sight and out of mind, may we never be like this as believers, but whether we can be in fellowship together as gathered Church or as it has recently been unable to gather and so out of sight, may we never forget one another, but continue to be partakers of grace together.

SUNDAY 6^th

NIV (v6) – ‘. . . being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.’

ESV (v6) – ‘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.’

God had purpose for the Church at Philippi, Paul and his companions setting sail from Troas was not by chance, Paul meeting Lydia at the riverside was not by chance, Paul speaking deliverance into the life of the fortune teller was not by chance, even the anger of the woman’s owners was not by chance because God had a plan and a part of that plan involved Paul and Silas being thrown into prison so that the jailor would be saved and that was not by chance but because of God’s eternal purpose. And God’s plan did not end abruptly once Paul left, God had something for this newly formed Church to do and here in this verse Paul calls it ‘a good work’ and Paul saw this in the Philippians and he was confident that what God had started he would bring to completion. God never leaves a job half done, he never does anything in half measures, he always completes what he has started, and the wonder is that he choses to use us, men and women who have been touched and saved by his grace to be involved in the work, it doesn’t mean it will always be easy, but if it is his work we are involved with then we do it with and through his strength and according to that which is his eternal counsel and will.

And the moment we were saved, God began a good work in us and has called us to good works, we need to discern that which is his good and perfect will for our lives (Romans 12:1-2) and then allow him to complete it, we need to surrender wholeheartedly to him. We can learn from Paul and Silas that God sometimes uses difficult circumstances to bring his plans about, of themselves they would have never chosen prison, but when it happened they used it for Gods glory, the prison experience was as much a part of Gods ‘good work’ as the rejoicing over seeing Lydia and her household being baptised. (we see this in the life of Joseph as well)

What is God’s ‘good work’ that is taking place in your life, we need to learn to trust him that whether the day is good or in our eyes bad, God will complete that which he has started as we remain pliable to his will.

I will close the devotion with some Scriptures.

Romans 12:1-2 ‘I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.’

Psalm 57:2 ‘I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfils his purpose for me.’

Psalm 138:8 ‘The LORD will fulfil his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.’

1 Thessalonians 1:2-3 ‘We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labour of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.’