TODAY'S QUOTE

"In worship, the worshipper comes to minister

to the Lord, not to receive anything.  It is a 

time of giving to God the glory due unto His 

Name." 

 

-Brother Bakht Singh of India

ME OR JESUS

Still browsing around in the book of Philippians

we find this sad comment.

"I have no one else like Timothy, who genuinely

cares about your welfare.  All the others care

only for themselves and not for what matters

to Jesus Christ."  

(Philippians 2:20,21 NLT)

Paul of course is writing from prison in Rome

at this point.  You will remember that there is a 

church or group of Christians in Rome and they

have been encouraged in their living for God by 

Paul's presence there in prison.  And it seems that

there are some companions along with Paul.

But,

out of all of these there is only one person who

cares enough about other Christians to go check

on them for Paul.  The others were all too selfish

in their affairs to worry about the work of Jesus

Christ.

When asked about the greatest commandment

Jesus himself stated;

"You must love the LORD your God with all

your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.

This is the first and greatest commandment.

A second is equally important: 'Love your

neighbor as yourself. The entire law and all

the demands of the prophets are based on

these two commandments.'".  

(Matthew 22:37 - 40 NLT)

Now caring only about your own interest is 

not loving your neighbor as yourself.

God allows us to make the choice,

am I going to be interested in the things

that concern me and mine or the things

that are of concern to Jesus Christ.

PRAISE GOD, PRAISE GOD, PRAISE GOD

Pardon me if I brake stride a little on this post today.

But you see, yesterday afternoon I was simply 

overwhelmed by the mercy and goodness of God.

You know, when something good happens you just

want to share it with somebody.  And, you are the

somebody.

Yesterday morning I had gone into town for a routine

check up at the oncologist.  Yep, even if we are under

quarantine.   It was hard to understand all the nurses with

their masks on.  But all was well.

Then I came home to an annual "honey do".  That is

a lot of work.  You see, my wife has this area she calls

her yard.  It extends from the house out to the retaining

wall.  You guys will understand this.  It is an area that 

needs to be mowed, but being a woman she makes it

into an obstacle course filled with all these plants that

have to be mowed around, trimmed around and weeded.

Then to add to it, years ago she planted a lot of clusters

of pampas grass around the retaining wall.  At least 

that helps keep you from falling off over the wall and

breaking your neck.

Now more to the point.  As you understand every spring

all the dead growth in the pampas grass has to be cut off

back to the new growth.  Over the years the pampas grass

has grown bigger and bigger - and I have grown older and

tireder and tireder.

After all the pampas grass was cut back and the old growth

raked up and hauled away to be burned the wife made me 

sit down and rest.  Yes I was ready.

But after a short rest, I was ready to go again and went

down to the shop and was loading up a bunch of scrap

wood on the truck to be hauled off.  When it hit me.

Here I was eighty six years old working along and enjoying

it and I should have been dead about seven years ago.

I began to realize how good God had been to me and 

it was almost more than I could take.

You see, back probably the last week of July in 2014

I ended up in the Emergency room at the local hospital.

The cause was my body had quit making blood.  A man

is suppose to have a blood count of 15.  But my blood 

count was only 5.  Try working with only 1/3 of the blood

you need and you will understand my problem.

From that day until October 25, 2015 I have been in 

one hospital or another four times.  And of course a time

or two a week hooked up to a machine living on other 

peoples blood.

This is not the point here.  But for a year I lived on other

peoples blood.  And it calls to mind another principle.

If we are going to avoid the fires of and eternal hell, 

we need to appropriate the blood of Jesus Christ for 

our selves and have the life of God himself instilled

in us.

Back to my point.

I am throughly convinced that all the serums and things

that the doctors gave me are not what healed me.

But that is was the answer of prayer to God almighty.

And God leading me in a different direction than the 

doctors were taking me.  I have proven this to myself

several times.

But what ever the cause I want to,

Praise God.

TODAY'S PROMISE

"Take delight in the LORD,

and he will give you your heart's desires."

(Psalms 37:4 NLT)

SHINING FOREVER.

Do you feel like a "nobody"?

I sure do.

In fact I cannot even make "a has been".  I am a

"never been", a no body.  But while browsing around

in the book of Philippians I find an encouraging thought.

"... Work hard to show the results of your salvation,

obeying God with deep reverence and fear.  For God

is working in you, giving you the desire and the power

to do what pleases him."

(Philippians 2:12b, 13 NLT)

Now some translations say it this way;

"... work out your own salvation with

fear and trembling."

That makes it sound like we have to work to

be saved.  That of course is not the case.

The apostle Paul the writer of the book of

Philippians is also the author of the book

of Ephesians where he said;

"God saved you by his grace when you believed.

And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift

from God.  Salvation is not a reward for the 

good things we have done, so none of us can

boast about it.  For we are God's masterpiece.

He created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can

do the good things he planned for us long ago."  

(Ephesians 2:8-10 NLT)

But back to the point at hand.

If I am a true Christian, a child of God he is saying;

God is working in me.  God is giving me the desire

and power to live in a pleasing way to him.

As a child of God, I may be a NOTHING the way

the people of the world look at things.  But God

is working in me and I am to;

"Do everything without complaining and arguing,

so that no one can criticize you.  Live clean, 

innocent lives as children of God, shining like

bright lights in a world full of crooked and 

perverse people."  

(Philippians 2:14,15 NLT)

Did you catch that?

If we do nothing more than live the way God

wants us to, i.e, a good "Christian" life we really

are like "... shining bright lights ..." in this old

dirty sinful world.  Now that is far better than 

being a "movie star" or some celebrity.

Further, our day is still to come in the near 

future.  The prophet Daniel when speaking of

the time in which we live says there is coming

a time when;

"Many of those whose bodies lie dead and buried

will rise up, some to everlasting life and some to

shame and everlasting disgrace.  Those who are

wise will shine as bright as the sky, and those who

lead many to righteousness will shine like the 

stars forever."  

(Daniel 12:2,3 NLT)

TODAY'S QUOTE

"Those who testify to a genuine deeper encounter
with God all experience this brokenness and 
humility that result from submission."

- K.P. Yohannan
Touching Godliness Through Submission
p.145

A DISCIPLE OF CHRIST'S ATTITUDE

We are living in a world that is suffering from an 

overdose of self-esteem.  The pride of mankind

is damaging our relationships with each other.

Admittedly, as we watch these proud peacocks

running around trying to portray the image of;

an important business man or an intellectual

or a super model or a big bad biker or just

a good old boy or even a super saint - we 

scoff at them - to ourselves.  And might even

laugh out loud when they trip and fall.

God tells us that there will be a time when this

will all be brought down.  I confess, I'm looking

forward to it.

"Human pride will be brought down,

and human arrogance will be 

humbled.

Only the LORD will be exalted

on that day of judgment."

(Isaiah 2:11 NLT)

But as a Christian or a disciple of Jesus Christ 

what is to be my attitude?

The apostle Paul tells us;

"You must have the same attitude that Christ

Jesus had.

Though he was God,

he did not think of equality with God

as something to cling to.

Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;

he took the humble position of a slave

and was born as a human being.

When he appeared in human form

he humbled himself in obedience to God

and died a criminal's death on a cross.

Therefore, God elevated him to the place of

highest honor

and gave him the name above all other

names,

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." 

(Philippians 2:5 - 11 NLT)

Notice, 

the very creator of the universe, Jesus Christ

himself;

1. Voluntarily humbled himself.

2. He suffered for it.

3. And is now be exalted for it.

We are to have the same attitude.

Look how the apostle Peter addresses

the issue;

"So humble yourselves under the mighty power

of God, and at the right time he will lift you up

in honor.  Give all your worries and cares to 

God, for he care about you."   

(1Peter 5:6,7 NLT)

I love that.
If I humble myself,
at the right time God will lift me up in honor
and in the meantime - I am to give him ALL
of my worries and cares.