Philippians 4 - 2.2.2024

Scripture - Pick one verse that stood out to you.

Philippians 4:4-7, Psalms 68:4-6

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Sing to God, sing in praise of his name,

    extol him who rides on the clouds;

    rejoice before him—his name is the Lord.

A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows,

    is God in his holy dwelling.

God sets the lonely in families,

    he leads out the prisoners with singing;

but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.

Observation - What about this verse stands out to you?

I had a moment this morning, where I was reading God’s word (and listening to worship music) that I physically felt the peace of God wash over me. Better than any exercise, stretch pose, food or drink, the Holy Spirit bathing my heart and mind in peace was exactly what I needed. 

Application - How will you apply this to your life?

Prayer. Petition. With Thanksgiving. In every situation. This is how I will let go of my anxiety today and hopefully every day. 

Prayer - Write out a prayer.

Lord, I thank you for the words of your apostle Paul. Thank you for the reminder this morning to rejoice in You! I thank you for the poetry of Your servant David. Thank you for being my Father. Thank you for being my mother’s Defender. Thank you for providing me with my family.

In the name of Jesus do I pray, amen.

-kenneth lee

Philippians 3 - 2.1.24

S - Philippians 3:12-14: 12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

O – Paul’s main goal was to live for Christ and to teach others to do the same by striving to become more and more Christlike. He tells us to rejoice in the Lord always and be joyful. Joy comes not from “happiness” which is an emotion we feel because of our circumstances, but instead, it is a state of being, from the continued assurance of God’s love and work in our lives. This is Paul’s Joy letter to the Philippians.  Although the Bible states that Paul has an impressive background between his upbringing, his family, inheritance, orthodoxy, activity, and morality, he is very aware that nothing he has done, or will do, will ever earn him salvation. He counts all his impressive background as garbage because none of those things will matter at the end of his life. We will only get to eternity (the end of the race) through salvation in Christ. It is only because of God’s grace and salvation, and nothing that Paul did, that caused him to have a complete shift in his previous way of thinking. He went from persecuting Christians to being the example that Christians should follow. What?! How can that happen other than by the grace of God and His love for us! Paul is perfectly humble and aware that He has not, and will not reach Christ’s perfection until He is seated in the Heavenly realms with Him. None of us will.

A – One of my favorite quotes is, “I may not be where I want to be, but I’m certainly not where I used to be.” Try as we might, we will never attain perfection. We will always end up hurting or disappointing some people, making mistakes, and we will never lead sinless lives. We will never be done learning and working to become Christlike. But the work we do on ourselves, and for God, should be born out of our love and commitment to God alone. It is not and cannot be done in the flesh. If we want success in anything we do, we need God IN it….leading us every step of the way. As Pastor Levi preached on Sunday, we need to have our horns filled with oil (the Holy Spirit) to go and do all that He calls us to do. That can only happen by spending time with Him.

John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

NOTHING that says. Yet how many times do I try to do things in my own strength only to grow weary and discouraged. As I was talking over coffee with my dear friend and Spiritual mother, Tina, the other day, she pointed out some fruit I was experiencing lately and how that is in direct correlation to my pressing into Him this year.  But I still fail lots! And I struggle with guilt over each failure. I was telling her that my biggest fear after our fast is going back to my old routines. I want to stay in His presence, in His perfect will, and see more fruit! That means staying connected to Him. That also means not being preoccupied with my own needs and wants, and spending time with Him (PB&J), not making excuses as to why I’m too busy, and working for Him (ministry). No amount of religious efforts I give are going to get me to the end of the race, however, working for Him is our outward expression of gratitude for all He has given to us. We must continuously FILL ourselves of Him to then go out and do, give, and live by example.

We have all done things in our past that we regret and are ashamed for. Things we wish we could take back with all of our hearts. But God has washed all of it away and given us a renewed spirit. He tells us to spend each day “focused on the prize” which is an eternity in heaven with a Father who will one day look at us and hopefully say, “WELL DONE!”

P – Lord Jesus I pray that as we come to the end of our fast this week, you continue to show me and our church family more and more the ways you want us to move; that you would cause each of us to let go of the past, the pain and regret so that we can press forward and run the race with love, joy and compassion…through your strength that gives us the POWER to move in the Holy Spirit; to change and influence the destinies of others, to influence those we have relationship with, leading by example. I pray people see who we are IN Christ and WANT to emulate us, just as Paul wanted the Philippians to live as he modeled. May we take every opportunity to press in so that we are available to receive what you are pouring out on us. May we serve you sacrificially and become the best Christlike versions of ourselves that we can be, until we are made perfect in Heaven!

Note: Please don’t forget to sign up for our 40-hours of prayer this weekend. Keep the momentum going! Don’t stop, don’t grow weary. Do everything unto the Lord for HE is good!  40 Hours of Prayer — Signup Sheet | SignUp.com

-Crystal Flory

Philippians 2 - 1.31.24

Scripture

Philippians 2:14 Do everything without grumbling or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure

Observation

God wants our obedience, but He wants our heart also.

Application

Do everything without grumbling? I have to admit that I am a master grumbler. I do think we should be able to let our feelings out and then move on. But I think there a few caveats:

1. We should be expressing our feelings to God rather than others

2. When we feel like grumbling, we need to examine our hearts

For me, sometimes I can convince myself to obey, but I grumble along the way. God wants us to obey because we love Him and want to please Him. He wants us to trust Him and understand that He wants the best for us. He wants our hearts. He wants us to obey, but is a half-hearted obedience really obedience? Imagine a time when God speaks and we simply say yes!

A verse stood out to me from our reading in Malachi 4 last week:

Vs. 2 - But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves.

I felt like God was reminding me how much He loves me and encouraging me to focus on positive things rather than on problems and obstacles. Today is another reminder that He wants to change my heart from the master grumbler to the master truster.

Prayer

God, thank you that you love me and have such patience with me when I don’t deserve it. Thank you for this reminder today that you want a heart of love for you and a desire to please you. 

To those of you reading this, please help me with this challenge - the next time you see me, ask me to name something I am grateful for.

- Debbie Dunn