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Christian Devotional – May 5, 2017
When reading the next section, Philippians 2:12-18, verse 14 always stands out to me. Do everything without complaining or arguing. That verse by itself flies in the face of everything that we do in our culture today. We complain about things not being fast enough. We complain about how were treated. We complain about things we don’t have. We complain about relationships. We complain about the weather. We complain about anything and everything we can think of. Yet this is not how God desires for us to spend our time. Everything we do should be done in a spirit and an attitude of Thanksgiving recognizing that the sacrifices that we…
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Christian Devotional – May 3, 2017
As we went through Philippines 2:5-11, we get a glimpse into who Jesus Christ truly is. The enormity of the sacrifice that he made coming to Earth to live amongst us becomes very apparent when we see him full of Glory, high and lifted up, exalted above all others. Jesus Christ has the name that is above every other name and yet he chose to humble himself, come to Earth, and be the sacrifice to restore the relationship between us and God. The very first verse, verse 5, tells us that we are to have the same mindset as Jesus. If that’s the case, then no matter our position, we…
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Christian Devotional – May 2, 2017
Philippines 2:1-4 is such an interesting set of verses. In it, we see how God moves people to unity and how unity leads to humility. When we think we’re better than others, then we won’t be unified with them. If we think others are better than us, then we won’t feel worthy to be unified with them. If we will see each and every one of us as equal through the blood of Jesus, then our unity of purpose and unity of focus becomes nothing less than the will of God in our lives. We have no issues with humility because we desire for Christ to be made much of,…
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Christian Devotional – April 29, 2017
“To live is Christ and to die is gain.” This great statement made by Paul in Philippines 1:21 is the start of a section through the end of the chapter that shows Paul’s great dilemma. He desires to be with God in heaven, but he also knows the importance his witness and testimony is to those still living. While he is still living, he wants to hear of the faithfulness of the people he has led to Christ. Who have we influenced? Do we provide encouragement to other by how we serve God? Do we seek that kind of encouragement from others? Do we really understand that while we are…
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Christian Devotional – April 26, 2017
Reading through Philippines 1:12-20, we find a man in prison who is thankful and grateful for his circumstances. Looking at this passage, it can be hard for those of us who have gone through tough times to really understand that while Paul is in prison, he is still glorifying God and seeing the big picture in terms of how the gospel is spreading. Paul recognizes that his circumstances are a direct cause of people coming to saving faith in Christ. When we look at our circumstances, do we see them in light of people coming to Christ? We are only to live to see Christ high and lifted up and…
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Christian Devotional – April 25, 2017
We’re going to be spending the next several days going through Philippians. Taking a look at the first few verses in Philippians chapter 1, down through verse 11, we see Paul writing a letter to the believers at the church in Phillipi. He is sharing with them that he knows that they are not perfect yet, but that he also knows that God is working in them and through them. God has a desire and a goal for the people and Paul reminds them that is to make them into the likeness of Jesus Christ. As we look at our own lives, we must recognize that God has the same…
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Christian Devotional – April 24, 2017
In Ruth 4:13-22 we see the conclusion of the story and the restoration of Hope. Boaz marties Ruth in order to redeem her and redeem the family. Then Ruth and Boaz have a child. This child becomes the hope not of Ruth, but of Naomi. We see all the women gathering together saying hope has come again to Naomi. Naomi again rejoices. She sees in living form how God has provided a way for her to continue to have a place. God has not forgotten her. When we are facing difficult times, when we feel that there is no hope, when we struggle to see God’s hand in anything, he’s…
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Christian Devotional – April 23, 2017
In the first part of Ruth chapter 4, we see a man on a mission. Boaz has been challenged. Ruth had come to him and it asked him to take up his position as kinsman redeemer for her and her family. Now, Boaz has some work to do. He wastes no time and he goes and finds the people that he needs to make this happen. As we read the first 12 verses of this chapter, we see that Boaz recognizes the correct way to go about meeting this need. He finds the right people, he gets everyone together, he states the problem, and he offers solutions. When we see…
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Christian Devotional – April 22, 2017
In Ruth chapter 3, hope turns to action. Now that Naomi has seen a glimmer of hope it starts to fan into flame in her heart. She has a plan. She takes Ruth and she gives Ruth a very specific plan of action telling her exactly what she needs to do and exactly how to do it. Ruth, trusting her mother-in-law, possibly even seeing a hint of the woman she used to know when she first married her son, has no hesitation at all. Ruth goes, she find Boaz exactly as Naomi said she would, she does exactly what Naomi tells her to do, and Boaz responds in kindness. As…
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Christian Devotional – April 21, 2017
Finally, in Ruth chapter 2 starting in verse 14 we begin to see the glimmer of a hope again for Naomi. Ruth is still out gleaning grain in the field and all of a sudden things just start seeming to fall into place. She starts to notice there’s a lot of grain left out here for her. There’s a lot of help that she’s receiving. She gets fed. Things just seem to be working out. She goes home and tells Naomi all about her day including everyone that she’s met. I can almost imagine Naomi’s face when she hears the name of the individual who took notice of Ruth. Boaz.…