JOY

Philippians 2:1-4

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

JOY – Jesus, Others, Yourself

As a child, I was taught that this is the order in which we should be focus, first on Jesus, then on others, and yourself last.  This certainly does not line up with the worlds falsify that if you don’t take care of yourself first, no one else will.  Philippians clearly tells us that others should be put above ourselves. 

Today I just wanted to bring this simple reminder to each of us as it’s so easy to get caught up in our own world and not even notice when someone around us is suffering and needs to see Christ in us.  I encourage you today to reach out to someone else and just let them know that you are praying for them.

Thurs Devo: Jesus Reigns!

Often it is hard for me to keep it in perspective that this life isn’t all there is. Jesus will return, destroy evil, judge the ungodly, reward believers, and righteously reign for all eternity! 

Revelation 11:15-19  ¹⁵ The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said:

“The kingdom of the world has become
    the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah,
    and he will reign for ever and ever.”

¹⁶ And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God,¹⁷ saying:

“We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty,
    the One who is and who was,
because you have taken your great power
    and have begun to reign.
¹⁸ The nations were angry,
    and your wrath has come.
The time has come for judging the dead,
    and for rewarding your servants the prophets
and your people who revere your name,
    both great and small—
and for destroying those who destroy the earth.”

¹⁹ Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a severe hailstorm.

Evil seems to prevail now, the ungodly rewarded and believers oppressed, but that will all change in a moment.

Do you and I think others are thwarting God? Or do you and I truly believe God will reign forever? How will you and I let that change our perspective on life today?

Alice

A Change Of View

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.  Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.  Romans 12:1-2

How often do we see a problem and look to place blame on others.  For example, let’s start by looking at how children behave today.  There is a part of me that saw today’s children as being somewhat self-centered and narcissistic.  My thought went, “They only think of themselves.  Whatever happened to sharing and giving?  They only see the world as something they are entitled to, and they want everything right now.  That explains why they are so distant from the church, right?”  They must certainly be punished for this!  Then, I said to myself, “What if God did that to me?”  What if He looked and saw all of my flaws and imperfections and said, “Enough!  Kent is no good, and let him burn for all of eternity!”  Instead, He sent His only son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for our sins with the hope we would come around and serve Him.  With that in mind, I took my own view and tried to see the world as God would.  What if children’s feelings of narcissism were not really the problem at all?  What if the issue is the world crushes their spirits such that they do not feel special?  Thus, the problem is no longer their focus on self.  The problem is helping them understand their own value and both lifting up and serving others as a greater than serving self.

When we give ourselves to God, we are offering everything including our minds so that we learn more of God’s plan for us.  We often look at what goes on in the world, and give up saying to ourselves that is just the way of the world.  We rarely believe that we can make a difference.  However in serving the one true living God, we must always remember to see things through His eyes and not our own.  Through our own grace, we gained something special and God inspired.  Someone you see begging on the street becomes the motivation to volunteer for a food drive, and seeing poverty motivates you to give time toward a troubled youth program to help uplift others from their situation.  We no longer see problems as an issue with the world.  Instead, it becomes something God can inspire action toward truly making a difference.

Each day that we walk with God gives us greater insight into His plans for our lives.  Today’s verses talk of God transforming us.  To do this, we must learn to toss away our worldly view, and learn to see the world as He sees it.  If we realize how much God gave us through the gift of grace, we can begin to see the depth of His love for us, and through that, we can love others such that it may transform them as much as we have been. What problem can stand a more godly view in your life?  How can you continue to push your thinking toward allowing God to transform you?  My prayer is that we take off our worldly view on things and allow God to change our view to His.  Amen.

Tues Devo: Mind to the good

Colossians 3:1-3 “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (NASB)

Hello,

This past weekend my wife and I were spending some time with the kids, and I recall several times telling them to think positively about what they were doing – that they could achieve what they were doing. Now, just thinking something doesn’t make it happen – but your starting mindset will set you up towards success or failure. I think about this when it comes to the spiritual battles we face as well. If we are constantly thinking about we are trying to not do or avoid – that is all we will think about! When we mentally spend time on things, they tend to become our focus – the opposite of what we were hoping for. Instead, we should put on our minds on whatever it is we are trying TO do, the things we want to see accomplished.  Where we set our mind is reflective of our focus and priority. Our walk with God is not to be focused on what not to do, but rather what will glorify Him.

Where is your mind set?

Will Hill

RLD Week 6 - Creating a Relational Environment

 You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. 2 Timothy 2

Last week was about your own leadership abilities, but this week is about how your group responds to each other.  In reading through the study guide, there's lots of talk surrounding how well you know the other people in the group.  (Keep in mind that this study guide is to be done in a small group, I'm doing it on my own)  I've been through a variety of small groups over the years, and I've never felt the type of small group they're describing.

They're talking of a small group that knows the needs of others within the group and responds to it.  A widow didn't have to move anything when she moved houses, because everyone from her small group showed up to help her.  A man was in the hospital and everyone from the small group showed up to be with him and his family.  A new mother turned away a neighbor bringing a casserole dish because everyone from her small group had already filled up her fridge.  Maybe I'm cynical, or maybe I haven't been in those types of groups, but whenever a situation arose with someone, everyone else would offer to pray about it, but never gave up their own time to do this type of service towards each other.

I started to think about it, and when I say that no one in the group did that, I include myself.  I didn't give up my time to this level to support others in the small group.  Nor did I share enough about myself to let others in the small group even know when I went through difficulties that may have warranted this type of a response.  This type of environment doesn't just happen when a group is brought together, it has to be created.  You have to put yourself out there first, and offer your help first, before others will start to do so.  It's exceptionally hard for me to really open up in these types of environments, so the next group that I join, I'm going to make an effort to always put out a prayer request for me.  I might include a friend or family's request, but I'll put out something about what I need help with.  The few times that I did do that, I'd get people coming up to talk to me later about it, and I would do the same for others who brought up their own requests.  That's the start of creating that relational environment.  It feels risky and awkward, but it's the first step.  Put yourself out there, and you'll be able to support others.