Bringing it to Completion
Philippians 1:3-6 ESV
I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 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.
My life is blessed by all the
wonderful Christians I have known throughout my life who have loved the Lord,
who have walked by His Spirit, and who have been partners in the gospel of
Jesus Christ. I am especially blessed these days by all the wonderful saints of
God I have had the privilege to get to know via the internet and Christian
websites and blogs. So, I thank the Lord for you all, and I pray for your
encouragement in the Lord.
I thank the Lord for all of
you who are partners in the gospel of our salvation, who are courageously
sharing the whole counsel of God, and who are not compromising truth or
diluting the gospel message in order to appease human flesh. I honor you! I
value you! At a time in our lives when so many Christians are making
compromises with the world, and have returned to walking according to the
flesh, you have persevered in your faith, and have stood strong despite great
opposition, all glory to God!
Please know that your work
for the Lord will not go unrewarded. You may be going through great trials
right now because of your faith, and because of your stand for truth, but don’t
get discouraged when you see few people turn their hearts over to Jesus Christ,
or when those you have prayed diligently for are still walking according to the
flesh and have not yet yielded their hearts to Christ. If you are following the
Lord with your life, it is He who began this work in your life, and it is He
who will carry it to completion.
The Affection of Christ
Philippians 1:7-8 ESV
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 defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.
I can tell you that I have great
affection for my fellow Christians with whom I enjoy Christian fellowship face
to face, and with those I share in fellowship on the internet via Christian
websites and blogs. I love you in Jesus! You are precious to me. You encourage
me! I look forward to our times together with great anticipation. There is
nothing so wonderful to me on this earth, other than my times of fellowship
with Jesus, than the times I have with my fellow Christians in deep fellowship
in the Spirit of God. Praise the Lord!
I appreciate your love for
the Lord and your commitment to him and to his service and to the saints of
God. I appreciate the things that you share about your walks of faith and how
God is encouraging you or teaching you from His Word. It blesses my heart! It
means a great deal to me that you care about me, too, and that you take the
time to encourage me in the Lord and to pray for me, as well. I pray for your
strengthening, too.
For those of you I only know
via the internet, I look forward to meeting you all one day in heaven face to
face. Oh, what a glorious day that will be when we see Jesus face to face and
we are forever with our Lord in glory. Amen!
Your Love Abounding
Philippians 1:9-11 ESV
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.
I pray for all of you for
your walks of faith and your maturity in Christ and your growth in the Spirit
of God. I pray that your love for God and your love for others will abound more
and more. I pray that the Lord will give us all much discernment in the Spirit
to know truth from lies, and to sense when someone is trying to trick us, or
manipulate us, or persuade us to go the wrong direction. For, this is done very
subtly and cleverly so that it is not easily detected, so we need much wisdom
and understanding in this area.
I pray for you, too, to
remain steadfast in Christ, and in His Word, and to not give way to
discouragement or to temptation. I pray that you will be totally committed to
Christ in every respect and that you won’t have one foot in the world and the
other on the side of faith so that you don’t end up becoming lukewarm or vacillating
continually between faith and flesh. I pray that you would all walk in purity
and that you would not compromise in any respect in this area, but that you
will set your minds on things above, and not on things on the earth. I pray all
these things for myself, as well.
And, I pray that our lives
(our lifestyles) will all be for the praise and glory of God by what we do,
what we think, what we believe and what we say. And, I pray that we will live
lives which are fruitful for God’s kingdom and that we will impact many lives
for Jesus Christ, and that they, too, will walk in Christ’s righteousness and
no longer according to human flesh, for the glory of God.
Your Manner of Life
Philippians 1:27-30 ESV
Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.
None of us who have trusted
in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives should be living to please
our flesh and not to please God. We should all be living lives worthy of the
gospel of Jesus Christ, in holiness, in purity, in truth, in righteousness, and
in love for our Lord and for others.
This is not to say that any
of us are perfect, but that lack of perfection should not be used as an excuse
for continued and willful sin against God in rebellion against him and his
purposes for our lives.
Together we must stand strong
in our faith and on the Word of God and on the truth of the gospel (the whole
counsel of God). For, it is the truth which sets us free. It is the knowing of
the truth and the walking in the truth that brings freedom from sin’s
deceitfulness.
And, the truth is that Jesus
Christ died that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; that we might
no longer live for ourselves, but for him who gave his life up for us. For,
when we trust Jesus to be Savior of our lives, we die with him to sin, and we
are raised with him to newness of life in him, created to be like God in true
righteousness and holiness. So, we must no longer walk (live) according to our
sinful flesh, but now we must put on Christ and walk by the Spirit in the ways
of the Lord (Rom. 8:1-17).
We need to stand together in
this for we will be opposed and we are being opposed greatly by Satan and his
many hordes. We need to stand united in spirit because we are under attack of
the enemy, and we are suffering much persecution for righteousness’ sake. So,
we need to encourage one another in the Lord and in his mighty strength, and
together put on the armor of God with which to fight off Satan’s evil attacks
against us.
And, the Lord will deliver
us. He will deliver those who are bound by sin’s deceitfulness, and he will
deliver those of us who are being oppressed by Satan and by the sins of others.
For, our God is able to deliver us. Amen!
He is Able to Deliver Thee
Hymn lyrics and Music by William A. Ogden, 1887
’Tis the grandest theme through the
ages rung;
’Tis the grandest theme for a mortal
tongue;
’Tis the grandest theme that the world
e’er sung,
“Our God is able to deliver thee.”
’Tis the grandest theme in the earth or
main;
’Tis the grandest theme for a mortal
strain;
’Tis the grandest theme, tell the world
again,
“Our God is able to deliver thee.”
’Tis the grandest theme, let the
tidings roll,
To the guilty heart, to the sinful
soul;
Look to God in faith, He will make thee
whole,
“Our God is able to deliver thee.”
He is able to deliver thee,
He is able to deliver thee;
Though by sin oppressed, go to Him for
rest;
“Our God is able to deliver thee.”
*Copyright status is public domain
Tuesday, July 10, 2018 –
Thank You, Jesus, for these encouraging words. And, thank you for the saints of
God who are walking faithfully with you.
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